Understanding 2-Way Network Communication

What is 2-way network communication? My answer to that question would sound something like this: it happens to be a near instant connection between 2 network nodes where each node transmits and receives messages. I would hope that my definition is sufficient.

Its pretty clear, though, that my definition is less than ideal for mass consumption. The following video, Universal Orchestra – How it works, introduces the concept masterfully.

The explanation uses vibrant imagery, animation, a clear voice, and, most importantly, an easily relatable example.The resulting video presents a computer science concept in a very accessible way.

The video is part of the Chrome Web Lab, which I recommend visiting. The site presents other videos that masterfully introduce other concepts. At some point, resources on programming will be added, which will reward the more curious. Overall, this project effectively promotes literacy as it relates to computer science. Well done.

HTML5 | Canvas Experiment

There’s a lot of excitement about HTML5, and a lot of developers are experimenting with some of the new elements. So there’s a lot of cool stuff out there. I came across the following experiment with the canvas element and it’s pretty impressive.

htm5boom by Sean Christmann

Basically, the author loads a video into the canvas element using the drawImage function. An event handler is also added to the canvas element that, when clicked, breaks the image into smaller bits (sort of like blowing up the image).