Mark Zuckerberg: The Real Face Behind Faceboo

The film titled “Mark Zuckerberg: The Real Face Behind Facebook” narrates the story about the process that Zuckerberg followed to found a company that would become the biggest social network. I consider that some key facts that led him to success were the vision to see a new opportunity in the market with an innovative idea, the network (friends, investors, classmates) he created to get support during the whole process and the commitment and passion to develop his idea.

Understand your goals and aspirations; the goals should be both personal and professional Entrepreneurship is not about making money, it is about achieving self-actualization. Mark’s idea started just as a game to vote for who were the most handsome people in his university by comparing two photos at a time. He just wanted to prove his abilities in programming and to have fun, but he never knew that this would be the first step to create Facebook.

The ability and skill in attracting other key management members and then building the team is one of the most valued capabilities investors look for. Mark was able to convince his friend Eduardo Saverin to invest in the initial process of the project. Eduardo was good in finance and he knew that this could be a potential market but then he decided to stop investing because Mark disagreed with him about including advertisements in the website, years later Eduardo would regret.

In order to become an entrepreneur you should be seeking for creativity and unexpected and exceptional ideas. Mark needed to be confident that the new ‘business’ could scale to a level where he will be able to pay himself a better salary compared with what he was making at the initial steps The most rewarding and satisfying careers are those which are created for oneself; create a company rather than a job. Entrepreneurship is defined as any attempt to create a new business.

Revolution OS

I consider that the work in team is essential for the development of a company or a society. In addition, there is no meaning if a person is a genius and he or she knows a lot about some topic but does not share that knowledge. At the beginnings of the hardware and software development, most of the people and organizations tried to keep in secret their work they had developed and never shared the code of their programs. In one way it was a good idea because you might think that you are the only one who deserves to receive recognition or money for the effort and time you have put to write a piece of code. Nevertheless, I think that you can continue learning and maybe improve your results if you share your work so other people can learn from it and then they could support you.

It is quite common that you have spent hours trying to find a bug or mistake in your code and you never find it. Then one of your friends reads your code and in a few minutes he/she finds it. This is a good example on how can you benefit from the others.

I consider that in software production the idea of open source has been a crucial development. It revolutionized the way of thinking of all the developers. The movie describes the history of the GNU project, Linux and open source movement. Richard Stallman and Linus Torvalds are two of the biggest figures related to the development of the OS. The philosophy of open source and free software can be compared to the idea of communism and capitalism.

In conclusion, I think that we should support the philosophy of Stallman. As a university student I would not have Ubuntu to make some of my assignments and use programs to write most of my code. It is important to support and learn from the others so you can get a good feedback that would enrich your life.

Software Architecture

I consider that in every activity that we perform in our life one of the most important steps is the planning. This stage is crucial because it helps us to visualize the panorama of whatever we want to do or develop and to avoid some mistakes that would be harmful for the future. Concerning about the development of software, the application and development of a good architecture before starting to write of code is one of the most important aspects. A good architecture design has to be simple, utile, beauty, clear and with the possibility to be modified in the future.  

I still remember myself in the first semester of my degree when I did not give importance to the design and I started to write my programs before understanding each of the classes and the relation between them. As time went on, I found really useful to make diagrams and to draw graphical representations of what the code did. This did not help me only me but also my friends who were working with me in the different projects. The same happens with the software architecture. It must be easy to understand and work with. In addition, every detail in the architecture has to be documented and updated every time a new change is made so the future developers could understand and could make some changes to improve the code.

The most popular architectural styles are the following:

·       No architecture: Not a planned architecture

·       Layered: Several layers arranged one over the other like in a stack

·       Pipe and filter: Good canal for its contents, good to handle particular situations.

·       Client / Server: Two complementary strands that work together. It is common in the networks

·       Component-Based: Components are separated and work together in a simple way.

·       Frameworks: You do not have to develop the complete architecture. It is almost done for you.

Finally, I think that a simple and clear architecture will help you to understand the program and to save time and money for the company.

Moon Machines

The video “Moon Machines: The Navigation Computer” exemplifies how the evolution of technology is crucial to understand the world and the universe. In this case, a lot of people had to work to develop a system that was being able to navigate to the moon without the manipulation of a person. I consider that the development of technology can have a double face; it can help the people or even destroy them. In the video one can see how the lives of the people do not have to be put in risk to go to space and make some investigations. On the other hand, the same technology could be used to pilot an airplane and attack civilians in a war.

One of the main concerns in technology is the fact of size. Experts try year by year to increase the performance and reduce the size of hardware trying to make it more practical for the people. In spite the hardware may had been ready for the launch of the spacecraft, it was not complete without the instructions to control it: the software. It took hours of work and hundreds of people to create what would be one of the most impressive software developments by the MIT. Certainly, one of the key points that make the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) to be successful was the team work and the communication between the members.

If the man was able to get to the moon during the 60’s it is hard to imagine what is the current situation and ambitions of the man regarding the technological advances.

Introducing myself

Hello everyone!

For those who don't know I'm Hector and I currently study the last semester of the university. What I expect to learn from this module is the structure of a software system, a new programming language, the components of a software and the relation between them.

I love practising any kind of sport but especially those related with martial arts. This semester I'm enrolled in gym, salsa, saloon dance, basketball and parkour lessons. I like to talk to people from different cultures to share our traditions or points of view about different topics that would help me to grow up.

I don't spend a long time watching the TV but I love going to the cinema. My favourite movie genres are SciFi, Suspense, those that makes you think about the bad and good things of your life and definitely Disney films rather than Pixar, but the old ones. Some of my favourite films are Pulp Fiction, American History X, The Fight Club, Goodfellas and Good Will Hunting.

Finally, I couldn't live without eating chocolate, 'quesadillas', travelling, drinking coffee frappe and practicing activities that makes me feel the adrenaline running through my veins.