PC Lube and Tune is a Service Station and convenience store in business since Feb, 1994 at Exit 130.132 on the National Information Highway. An ordinary Service Station provides gas, sodas, repairs, maps, and advice. The PCLT objective is to supply usable introductions, tutorials, and education on technical subjects to the large audience of computer users. The method is to supply system independent hypertext files through the Internet and World Wide Web.
Articles in PCLT are freely available for network browsing by individuals. Anyone can
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An Introduction to PC Hardware - The PC may say Dell or HP on the outside, but inside it is assembled from a dozen standard components manufactured by companies whose names you have never heard. To make the parts interchangeable, all the standards are public. You can learn as much as you care to about how it all works and what the buzzwords really mean. No prior knowledge is assumed, and everything is explained in simple, clear terms. [This has always been the most popular article in PCLT]
Exception Handling in Java and C# - Every time the industry moves to a new language or runtime environment there is a tendency to forget everything we already know about good program design. This paper proposes "best practices" for program design in the new languages. It is based on some basic principles of practical Software Engineering that don't change with the latest fashion. Rather than just declaring that one technique is "good" and the other is "bad", this paper explains every decision with concrete examples and clear arguments. Exception handling isn't an afterthought that you throw in reluctantly after everything else has been coded. It should be a central element in any professional component design.
The Graphic User Interface - The idea of the GUI was popularized by the Macintosh, but it is now a feature of every operating system, development environment, and modern computer language. Everyone uses it, but few people learn how the trick is done. This article shows how this entire user interface is based on a small number of simple programming techniques.
Computers, Video Files, and HDTV - Just as the old LP record has been replaced by CDs, and the VHS tape is being replaced by DVDs, so the cable companies and TV broadcasters are moving to the digital transmission of TV programs, and consumers are adopting devices that digitally store TV programs on hard disks. This article has no sales pitch. It doesn't talk about makes, models, or program packages. This is strictly about how things work. How does a conventional TV work? What are the differences between a TV and a computer monitor? How does digital TV broadcast work? What kinds of hardware connect your PC your TV set? If nothing else, after reading this article you will realize just how little those sales clowns at Circuit City really know about the stuff they are selling.
Technical Perspective on The Microsoft Antitrust Case - This case pits the Department of Justice and some State Attorneys General, a pack of lawyers, against the one large US corporation run top to bottom by engineers. It is a dispute between two professions. Although portrayed as struggle between right and wrong, it is really a struggle to define what right and wrong mean. The lawyers think Microsoft did something bad, by which they mean immoral. If you design boats, however, a good design is one that floats and a bad design is one that sinks. The difference isn't morality, its a question of basic technical competence. This case raises serious questions about the competence of the judicial system to handle complex technical matters.
The Tragedy of Microsoft and Java - After two years of enthusiastic Java development, a court order froze Microsoft involvement with Java in Nov. 1998. A second court order in Jan. 2003 has pushed Microsoft to begin winding down distribution of the Microsoft JVM. It is time to write the obituary and give some credit for the unique technical innovations that were lost when a courts passes judgment without taking the time to understand what they are talking about.
Character Encoding and Web Standards - The Web displays information in French, Hebrew, and Japanese. All national character sets can be embedded in the HTML and XML Web standards. The exact details about how this is done are fuzzy to most people in the US. They may even be hidden from people in specific foreign countries who use a Web editor customized to their local character set. This article is an attempt at a definitive explanation, accessible to everyone, of the standard, the problems, and the possible solutions.
Microsoft .NET Framework - There is a little too much sales information on the Web about how Visual Studio.NET makes application development faster and ASP.NET makes Web sites easier to code. All that may be true, but before you get lost in the marketing hype, it is useful to know what the .NET environment really is and how it fits in the larger history of Software Engineering.
Distributed Applications and the Web - There has been a recent rush of announcements from Netscape, Oracle, and Microsoft about new generations of Web servers that provide a new programming environment for distributed applications. The capabilities and limitations of Java, JavaScript, CGI, Forms, and the HTTP protocol need to be clearly and objectively explained.
Das Boot - How to plan, partition, install, and remove DOS, OS/2, NT, and other operating systems on the same disk at the same time. How to diagnose boot time failures. Topics include: FDISK, MBR, Boot Manager, Dual Boot, boot sectors, primary partitions, logical volumes.
The Storm Before the COM - A discussion of COM ports, modems and the new ISDN communications option. Why do COM ports have all these settings when there is only one right value? What is a "16550 UART" and why do you need one? This article explains how personal communications works and how to solve common problems.
Introduction to SNA - To make the transition to Client/Server technology, it will still be necessary to communicate to legacy systems. To make the transition from Research to Production, networks have to achieve a high level of management and reliability. SNA provides mainframe and corporate access, and as it has evolved to provide more flexibility. Unfortunately, it is still almost impossible to understand the key concepts within the mass of standard documentation.
Introduction to TCP/IP - A bit more about the communications protocol used on the Internet.
Introduction to APPC - Lurking within the stupendously complicated collection of state-tables and return codes is a fairly simple and very powerful communications protocol. APPC is the most efficient choice for communications with a mainframe, an AS/400, or for transport through the big corporate backbone network. The traditional manuals are definitive, but impossible to understand. This paper approaches the same subject from a more reasonable perspective.
Ethernet - the most common choice for high speed communication to the desktop.
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