Java technology was created as a computer programming tool in a small, secret effort called "the Green Project" at Sun Microsystems in 1991. The secret "Green Team," fully staffed at 13 people and led by James Gosling, locked themselves away in an anonymous office on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, cut off all regular communications with Sun, and worked around the clock for 18 months. They were trying to anticipate and plan for the "next wave" in computing. Their initial conclusion was that at least one significant trend would be the convergence of digitally controlled consumer devices and computers. A device-independent programming language code-named "Oak" was the result. To demonstrate how this new language could power the future of digital devices, the Green Team developed an interactive, handheld home-entertainment device controller targeted at the digital cable television industry. But the idea was too far ahead of its time, and the digital cable television industry wasn't ready for the leap forward that Java technology offered them. As it turns out, the Internet was ready for Java technology, and just in time for its initial public introduction in 1995, the team was able to announce that the Netscape Navigator Internet browser would incorporate Java technology. Now, nearing its twelfth year, the Java platform has attracted over 5 million software developers, worldwide use in every major industry segment, and a presence in a wide range of devices, computers, and networks of any programming technology. c++ During the 60s, while computers were still in an early stage of development, many new programming languages appeared. Among them, ALGOL 60, was developed as an alternative to FORTRAN but taking from it some concepts of structured programming which would later inspire most procedural languages, such as CPL and its succesors (like C++). ALGOL 68 also influenced directly in the development of data types in C. Nevertheless ALGOL was an unspecific language and its abstraction made it little practical to solve most commercial tasks. In 1963 the CPL (Combined Programming language) appeared with the idea of being more specific for concrete programming tasks of that time than ALGOL or FORTRAN. Nevertheless this same specificity made it a big language and, therefore, difficult to learn and implement. In 1967, Martin Richards developed the BCPL (Basic Combined Programming Language), that signified a simplification of CPL but kept the most important features the language offered. Although it continued being an abstract and somewhat large language. In 1970, Ken Thompson, immersed in the development of UNIX at Bell Labs, created the B language. It was a port of BCPL for a specific machine and system (DEC PDP-7 and UNIX), and was adapted to his particular taste and necessities. The final result was an even greater simplification of CPL, although dependent on the system. It had great limitations like it did not compile to executable code but threadedcode, which generates slower code in execution, and therefore was inadequate for the development of an operating system. Reason why from 1971, Denis Ritchie, from the Bell Labs team, began the development of a B compiler which, among other things, was able to generate executable code directly. This "New B", finally called C, introduced in addition, some other new concepts to the language like data types (char). In 1973, Denis Ritchie, had developed the bases of C. The inclusion of types, its handling, as well as the improvement of arrays and pointers, along with later demonstrated capacity of portability without becoming a high-level language, contributed to the expansion of the C language. It was established with the book "The C Programming Language" by Brian Kernighan and Denis Ritchie, known as the White Book,
and that served as de facto standard until the publication of formal ANSI standard (ANSI X3J11 committee) in 1989. In 1980, Bjarne Stroustrup, from Bell labs, began the development of the C++ language, that would receive formally this name at the end of 1983, when its first manual was going to be published. In October 1985, the first commercial release of the language appeared as well as the first edition of the book "The C++ Programming Language" by Bjarne Stroustrup. During the 80s the C++ language was being refined until it became a language with its own personality. All that with very few losses of compatibility with the code with C, and without resigning to its most important characteristics. In fact, the ANSI standard for the C language published in 1989 took good part of the contributions of C++ to structured programming. From 1990 on, ANSI committee X3J16 began the development of a specific standard for C++. In the period elapsed until the publication of the standard in 1998, C++ lived a great expansion in its use and today is the preferred language to develop professional applications on all platforms. Structured programming Structured programming (sometimes known as modular programming) is a subset of procedural programming that enforces a logical structure on the program being written to make it more efficient and easier to understand and modify. Certain languages such as Ada, Pascal, and dBASE are designed with features that encourage or enforce a logical program structure. Structured programming frequently employs a top-down design model, in which developers map out the overall program structure into separate subsections. A defined function or set of similar functions is coded in a separate module or submodule, which means that code can be loaded into memory more efficiently and that modules can be reused in other programs. After a module has been tested individually, it is then integrated with other modules into the overall program structure. Program flow follows a simple hierarchical model that employs looping constructs such as "for," "repeat," and "while." Use of the "Go To" statement is discouraged. Structured programming was first suggested by Corrado Bohm and Guiseppe Jacopini. The two mathematicians demonstrated that any computer program can be written with just three structures: decisions, sequences, and loops. Edsger Dijkstra's subsequent article, Go To Statement Considered Harmful was instrumental in the trend towards structured programming. The most common methodology employed was developed by Dijkstra. In this model (which is often considered to be synonymous with structured programming, although other models exist) the developer separates programs into subsections that each have only one point of access and one point of exit. Almost any language can use structured programming techniques to avoid common pitfalls of unstructured languages. Unstructured programming must rely upon the discipline of the developer to avoid structural problems, and as a consequence may result in poorly organized programs. Most modern procedural languages include features that encourage structured programming. Object-oriented programming (OOP) can be thought of as a type of structured programming, uses structured programming techniques for program flow, and adds more structure for data to the model. Ethics Ethics refers to standards of conduct, standards that indicate how one should behave based on moral duties and virtues, which themselves are derived from principles of right and wrong. In order to apply this definition to practical decision making it is necessary to specify the nature of the moral obligations considered intrinsic to ethical behavior.
Aspects of Ethics There are two aspects to ethics: the first involves the ability to discern right from wrong, good from evil, and propriety from impropriety; the second involves the commitment to do what is right, good and proper. Ethics is an action concept; it is not simply an idea to think and argue about. Values vs. Ethics The terms "values" and "ethics" are not interchangeable. Ethics is concerned with how a moral person should behave, whereas values simply concern the various beliefs and attitudes that determine how a person actually behaves. Some values concern ethics when they pertain to beliefs as to what is right and wrong. Most values do not. The False Notion of "Personal Ethics" While every person inevitably must decide for himself/herself how to regard his moral obligations, to say that ethics are "personal" misconstrues the nature of ethics. It is likely that personal conscience will embrace a wider range of values and beliefs than core, universal ethical norms. When these "extra" values simply supplement ethical norms with personal moral convictions that are compatible with the dictates of normative ethics, there is no conflict between universal ethics and personal ethics. Unfortunately, some people are "moral imperialists" who seek to impose their personal moral judgments on others as if they were universal ethical norms. A bigger, sometimes related problem is that some people adopt personal codes of conduct that are inconsistent with universal ethical norms. Clearly, not all choices and value systems, however dearly held, are equally "ethical." If they were, there would be no legitimate basis for distinguishing between Hitler and Gandhi. A person who believes that certain races are inferior to others and therefore that it is "right" to oppress or persecute those races has adopted a personal value system that is inherently "unethical" according to the universal and consensus values associated with normative ethics. Similarly, an individual who has decided that lying is proper if it is necessary to achieve an important personal goal cannot assert personal ethics as a shield against impropriety. Simply put, all individuals are morally autonomous beings with the power and right to choose their values, but it does not follow that all choices and all value systems have an equal claim to be called ethical. Ethical Commitment Ethical commitment refers to a strong desire to do the right thing, especially when behaving ethically imposes financial, social or emotional costs. Surveys taken by the Josephson Institute reveal that, regardless of profession, almost all people believe that they are, or should be, ethical. While most are not satisfied with the ethical quality of society as a whole, they believe that their profession is more ethical than others and that they are at least as ethical as those in their profession. Unfortunately, behavior does not consistently conform to self-image and moral ambitions. As a result, a substantial number of decent people, committed to ethical values, regularly compromise these values - often because they lack the fortitude to follow their conscience. People need to understand that ethical principles are ground rules of decision making -not just factors to consider. It is OK to lose; in fact, it is preferable to lose than to lie, steal, or cheat in order to win. People who are unwilling to lose have to be willing to do whatever it takes to win. Ethics has a price and sometimes people must choose between what they want and what they want to be. But ethics also has a value, which makes self-restraint and sacrifice, service and charity, worthwhile. http://sun.menloschool.org/~sportman/ethics/definition.html
What is Ethics? Ethics is a set of principles and practices that governs good human conduct. Generally, ethical conduct pertains to other people or living things, as opposed to rocks and other inanimate objects. Clearly, the
scope of ethics is very broad. The words "ethical" and "moral" overlap quite a bit, though "ethical" finds greater use when we speak about professional practices. http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/ethics/what1.htm PROFESSIONALISM A profession is "a vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science." A professional is one who follows "an occupation as a means of livelihood or gain," or one who is "engaged in one of the learned professions." Professionalism is exhibited by one of the "professional character, spirit or methods" or the "standing, practice, or methods of a professional as distinguished from an amateur." professionalism is a matter of attitude and behavior. It means not just knowing how to do your job, but demonstrating a willingness to learn, cooperating and getting along with others, showing respect, and living up to your commitments. It also means avoiding many kinds of behaviors that cause trouble in the workplace. Ethics (via Latin ethica from the Ancient Greek ἠθική [φιλοσοφία] "moral philosophy", from the adjective of ἤθος ēthos "custom, habit"), a major branch of philosophy, is the study of values and customs of a person or group. It covers the analysis and employment of concepts such as right and wrong, good and evil, and responsibility. It is divided into three primary areas: meta-ethics (the study of the concept of ethics), normative ethics (the study of how to determine ethical values), and applied ethics (the study of the use of ethical values). • Meta-ethics Main article: Meta-ethics There are two main strands of thought, "non-realism" and "realism," that attempt to explain what ethical values and claims are actually about. One strand is commonly termed 'non-realism', because it suggests moral values are creations, dependent on people's feelings and goals regarding themselves and others (emotivism or prescriptivism) or on their belief systems (cultural or individual relativism). Despite the name 'non-realist', such theories may see reality as important in shaping the human choice of ethical values. This could occur indirectly by, for example, the evolutionary or developmental shaping of human psychology, or directly through, for example, people assessing and debating the likely consequences of their actions.
Another group of meta-ethical theories, called 'realism', by contrast, hold that moral value is somehow an intrinsic property of the world and that ethical principles are simply discovered or intuited. Under this view, ethical values held by people can at best reflect an independent truth by which their validity must be judged. These theories may be derived from theology or naturalism. Normative ethics Main article: Normative ethics
Normative ethics bridges the gap between meta-ethics and applied ethics. It is the attempt to arrive at general moral standards that tell us how to judge right from wrong, or good from bad, and how to live moral lives. This may involve articulating the character or good habits that we should acquire, the duties that we should follow, or the consequences of our behaviour on ourselves and others. There are three main approaches to normative ethics. Normative ethicists who follow the first approach are often called virtue ethicists, and articulate the various virtues or good habits that should be acquired. Aristotle is a pioneer virtue ethicist. Normative ethicists who follow the second approach are often called deontological ethicists. Immanuel Kant set out a large framework for a deontological normative ethical theory. Normative ethicists who follow the third approach are often called consequentialists or (specifically in regard to the theory of the greatest good for the greatest number) utilitarians; John Stuart Mill set out a large framework for a utilitarian normative ethics. Descriptive ethics Main article: Descriptive ethics Some philosophers rely on descriptive ethics and choices made and unchallenged by a society or culture to derive categories, which typically vary by context. This can lead to situational ethics and situated ethics. These philosophers often view aesthetics, etiquette, and arbitration as more fundamental, percolating "bottom up" to imply, rather than explicitly state, theories of value or of conduct. According to these views ethics is not derived from a top-down a priori "philosophy" (a word many would reject) but is rather strictly derived from observations of actual choices made in practice: • •
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Ethical codes applied by various groups. Some consider aesthetics itself the basis of ethics – and a personal moral core developed through art and storytelling as very influential in one's later ethical choices. Informal theories of etiquette which tend to be less rigorous and more situational. Some consider etiquette a simple negative ethics, i.e. where can one evade an uncomfortable truth without doing wrong? One notable advocate of this view is Judith Martin ("Miss Manners"). According to this view, ethics is more a summary of common sense social decisions. Practices in arbitration and law, e.g. the claim that ethics itself is a matter of balancing "right versus right," i.e. putting priorities on two things that are both right, but which must be traded off carefully in each situation. Many consider[Who?] this view to have potential to reform ethics as a practice, but it is not as widely held as the 'aesthetic' or 'common sense' views listed above. Observed choices made by ordinary people, without expert aid or advice, who vote, buy, and decide what is worth fighting about. This is a major concern of sociology, political science, and economics.
Those who embrace such descriptive approaches tend to reject overtly normative ones. There are exceptions, such as the movement to more moral purchasing. Applied ethics Main article: Applied ethics Bernard Crick in 1982 offered a socially-centred view, that politics was the only applied ethics, that it was how cases were really resolved, and that "political virtues" were in fact necessary in all matters where human morality and interests were destined to clash.
The lines of distinction between meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics are often blurry. For example, the issue of abortion is an applied ethical topic since it involves a specific type of controversial behavior. But it also depends on more general normative principles, such as the right of self-rule and the right to life, which are litmus tests for determining the morality of that procedure. The issue also rests on metaethical issues such as, "where do rights come from?" and "what kind of beings have rights?" Another concept which blurs ethics is moral luck. A drunk driver may safely reach home without injuring anyone, or he might accidentally kill a child who runs out into the street while he is driving home. The action of driving while drunk is usually seen as equally wrong in each case, but its dependence on chance affects the degree to which the driver is held responsible. Specific questions Applied ethics is used in determining public policy. For example, the following would be questions of applied ethics: "Is getting an abortion immoral?" "Is euthanasia immoral?" "Is affirmative action right or wrong?" "What are human rights, and how do we determine them?" and "Do animals have rights as well?" A more specific question could be: "If someone else can make better out of his/her life than I can, is it then moral to sacrifice myself for them if needed?" Without these questions there is no clear fulcrum on which to balance law, politics, and the practice of arbitration—in fact, no common assumptions of all participants—so the ability to formulate the questions are prior to rights balancing. But not all questions studied in applied ethics concern public policy. For example, making ethical judgments regarding questions such as, "Is lying always wrong?" and, "If not, when is it permissible?" is prior to any etiquette. Ethics in politics and economics Ethics has been applied to economics, politics and political science, leading to several distinct and unrelated fields of applied ethics, including business ethics, binary economics and Marxism. American corporate scandals such as Enron and Global Crossing are illustrative of the interplay between ethics and business. Ethical inquiries into the fraud perpetrated by corporate senior executive officers (e.g., Enron's Kenneth Lay) are a growing trend and the situational ethics of employees, no matter how junior, who follow their unreasonable and/or illegal directives has also come to the fore. It has been argued, based on the legal obligation of corporate executives to maximise shareholder value and the fact that organisations comprise multiple individuals and agendas, that corporations do not have ethics. Instead they do have Public relations. Ethics has been applied to family structure, sexuality, and how society views the roles of individuals; leading to several distinct and unrelated fields of applied ethics, including feminism. Ethics has been applied to war, leading to the fields of pacifism and nonviolence. Often, such efforts take legal or political form before they are understood as works of normative ethics. The UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights of 1948 and the Global Green Charter of 2001 are two such examples. However, as war and the development of weapon technology continues, it seems clear that no nonviolent means of dispute resolution is accepted by all. The need to redefine and align politics away from ideology and towards dispute resolution was a motive for Bernard Crick's list of political virtues.
Environmental ethics Main article: Environmental ethics Ethics has been applied to analyze human use of Earth's limited resources. This has led to the study of environmental ethics and social ecology. A growing trend has been to combine the study of both ecology and economics to help provide a basis for sustainable decisions on environmental use. This has led to the theories of ecological footprint and bioregional autonomy. Political and social movements based on such ideas include eco-feminism, eco-anarchism, deep ecology, the green movement, and ideas about their possible integration into Gaia philosophy. Ethics in the professions There are several sub-branches of applied ethics examining the ethical problems of different professions, such as business ethics, medical ethics, journalism ethics, engineering ethics and legal ethics, while technology assessment and environmental assessment study the effects and implications of new technologies or projects on nature and society. Each branch characterizes common issues and problems that arise in the ethical codes of the professions, and defines their common responsibility to the public, e.g. to preserve its natural capital, or to obey some social expectations of honest dealings and disclosure. Ethics in health care Main articles: Bioethics and Medical ethics One of the major areas where ethicists practice is in the field of health care. This includes medicine, nursing, pharmacy, genetics, and other allied health professions. Example issues are euthanasia, animal testing, abortion, medical research, vaccine trials, stem cell research, informed consent, truth telling, patient rights and autonomy, rationing of health care (such as triage). Ethics in psychology By the 1960s there was increased interest in moral reasoning. Psychologists such as Lawrence Kohlberg developed theories which are based on the idea that moral behavior is made possible by moral reasoning. Their theories subdivided moral reasoning into so-called stages, which refer to the set of principles or methods that a person uses for ethical judgment. The first and most famous theory of this type was Kohlberg's theory of moral development. Carol Gilligan, a student of Kohlberg's, argued that women tend to develop through a different set of stages from men. Her studies inspired work on an ethic of care, which particularly defines itself against Rawlsiantype justice- and contract-based approaches. Another group of influential psychological theories with ethical implications is the humanistic psychology movement. One of the most famous humanistic theories is Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Maslow argued that the highest human need is self-actualization, which can be described as fulfilling one's potential, and trying to fix what is wrong in the world. Carl Rogers's work was based on similar assumptions. He thought that in order to be a 'fully functioning person', one has to be creative and accept one's own feelings and needs. He also emphasized the value of self-actualization. A similar theory was proposed by Fritz Perls, who assumed that taking responsibility of one's own life is an important value. R.D. Laing developed a broad range of thought on interpersonal psychology. This deals with interactions between people, which he considered important, for an ethical action always occurs between one person
and another. In books such as The Politics of Experience, he dealt with issues concerning how we should relate to persons labeled by the psychiatric establishment as "schizophrenic". He came to be seen as a champion for the rights of those considered mentally ill. He spoke out against (and wrote about) practices of psychiatrists which he considered inhumane or barbaric, such as electric shock treatment. Like Wittgenstein, he was frequently concerned with clarifying the use of language in the field — for example, he suggested that the effects of psychiatric drugs (some of which are very deleterious, such as tardive dyskinesia) be called just that: "effects", and not be referred to by the preferred euphemisms of the drug companies, who prefer to call them "side effects". Laing also did work in establishing true asylums as places of refuge for those who feel disturbed and want a safe place to go through whatever it is they want to explore in themselves, and with others. A third group of psychological theories that have implications for the nature of ethics are based on evolutionary psychology. These theories are based on the assumption that the behavior that ethics prescribe can sometimes be seen as an evolutionary adaptation. For instance, altruism towards members of one's own family promotes one's inclusive fitness. On the other side of the evolutionary fence, Phil Roberts, Jr. has offered a view in which morality, and particularly the capacity for guilt, is viewed as a maladaptive byproduct of the evolution of rationality:
Guilt is a maladaptive manifestation of our need to justify our existence, in this case by conforming to a shared subconscious theory of rationality in which 'being rational' is simply a matter of 'being objective', as exemplified in the moral maxim, 'Love (intrinsically value) your neighbor as you love (intrinsically value) yourself'. Although none of us can actually measure up to this standard, we nonetheless come to experience feelings of worthlessness (guilt) along with a corresponding reduction in the will to survive (depression) when we deviate from the standard to an unreasonable degree. In other words, the capacity to experience guilt (having a conscience) is a part of the price we humans have had to pay for having become a little too objective for our own good.[1] Guilt is a maladaptive manifestation of our need to justify our existence, in this case by conforming to a shared subconscious theory of rationality in which 'being rational' is simply a matter of 'being objective', as exemplified in the moral maxim, 'Love (intrinsically value) your neighbor as you love (intrinsically value) yourself'. Although none of us can actually measure up to this standard, we nonetheless come to experience feelings of worthlessness (guilt) along with a corresponding reduction in the will to survive (depression) when we deviate from the standard to an unreasonable degree. In other words, the capacity to experience guilt (having a conscience) is a part of the price we humans have had to pay for having become a little too objective for our own good.[1] Guilt is a maladaptive manifestation of our need to justify our existence, in this case by conforming to a shared subconscious theory of rationality in which 'being rational' is simply a matter of 'being objective', as exemplified in the moral maxim, 'Love (intrinsically value) your neighbor as you love (intrinsically value) yourself'. Although none of us can actually measure up to this standard, we nonetheless come to experience feelings of worthlessness (guilt) along with a corresponding reduction in the will to survive (depression) when we deviate from the standard to an unreasonable degree. In other words, the capacity to experience guilt (having a conscience) is a part of the price we humans have had to pay for having become a little too objective for our own good.[1] Guilt is a maladaptive manifestation of our need to justify our existence, in this case by conforming to a shared subconscious theory of rationality in which 'being rational' is simply a matter of 'being objective', as exemplified in the moral maxim, 'Love (intrinsically value) your neighbor as you love (intrinsically value) yourself'. Although none of us can actually measure up to this standard, we
nonetheless come to experience feelings of worthlessness (guilt) along with a corresponding reduction in the will to survive (depression) when we deviate from the standard to an unreasonable degree. In other words, the capacity to experience guilt (having a conscience) is a part of the price we humans have had to pay for having become a little too objective for our own good.[1] Guilt is a maladaptive manifestation of our need to justify our existence, in this case by conforming to a shared subconscious theory of rationality in which 'being rational' is simply a matter of 'being objective', as exemplified in the moral maxim, 'Love (intrinsically value) your neighbor as you love (intrinsically value) yourself'. Although none of us can actually measure up to this standard, we nonetheless come to experience feelings of worthlessness (guilt) along with a corresponding reduction in the will to survive (depression) when we deviate from the standard to an unreasonable degree. In other words, the capacity to experience guilt (having a conscience) is a part of the price we humans have had to pay for having become a little too objective for our own good. legal ethics main article: Legal ethics Ethics has been applied to criminology leading to the field of criminal justice. Choices vs. consequences Consequences of personal choices may impact on other people and any associated responsibilities may extend into a wider society. They are major factors in life, as they determine one's relationships with oneself and with others. One's choices often affect one's ethics in a much more grand scheme. Negative choices often create a "numbness" due to familiarity with the negativity (A creates B which perpetuates A, with A being the negative choice and B being the "numbness" due to it), furthering one's negativity. This is known as a downward spiral. In the reverse of this, known as an upward spiral, the same thing occurs but it furthers one's positive aspects; these aspects, whether negative or positive, affect one's life and therefore one's ethics, and so must be largely considered in this article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethics