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Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology

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pointers <strong>and</strong> indirection 375increasingly popular Firefox browser. For example, thereare plug-ins that enable the user to view <strong>and</strong> work withthe HTML <strong>and</strong> other elements <strong>of</strong> the page being viewed.Another popular area is plug-ins that make it easier tocapture <strong>and</strong> organize material from Web pages, going wellbeyond the st<strong>and</strong>ard favorites or bookmark facility.Including plug-in support for an application enables volunteeror commercial third-party developers to in effectincrease the feature set <strong>of</strong> the main application, which inturn benefits the original developer. In the broader perspective,plug-ins are a way to harness the collaborative spiritfound in open-source development, creating a communitythat is continually improving applications tools <strong>and</strong> makingthem more versatile. (The open-source Eclipse programmingenvironment is a good example.)Further ReadingAdd-Ons for Internet Explorer. Available online. URL: http://www.windowsmarketplace.com/category.aspx?bcatid=834&tabid=1/. Accessed August 17, 2007.Benjes-Small, C<strong>and</strong>ice M., <strong>and</strong> Melissa L. Just. The Library <strong>and</strong>Information Pr<strong>of</strong>essional’s Guide to Plug-ins <strong>and</strong> Other WebBrowser Tools. New York: Neal Schuman, 2002.Clayberg, Eric, <strong>and</strong> Dan Rubel. Eclipse: Building Commercial-QualityPlug-ins. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Addison-WesleyPr<strong>of</strong>essional, 2006.Drafahl, Jack, <strong>and</strong> Sue Drafahl. Plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop: AGuide for Photographers. Buffalo, N.Y.: Amherst Media, 2004.Firefox Add-ons: Common Plugins for Firefox. Available online.URL: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox. AccessedAugust 17, 2007.Google Desktop Gadgets [plug-ins] Available online. URL: http://desktop.google.com/plugins/?hl=en. Accessed August 17,2007.Pilgrim, Mark. Greasemonkey Hacks: Tips & Tools for Remixing theWeb with Firefox. Sebastapol, Calif.: O’Reilly, 2005.podcastingPodcasting (from iPod plus broadcasting) lets users subscribeto <strong>and</strong> automatically download regularly distributedcontent (such as radio broadcasts) over the Internet. Themedia files can be stored on an Apple iPod or other mediaplayer (see music <strong>and</strong> video players, digital), personalcomputer, or other device (see smartphone). Podcastingbecame popular starting around 2004–05 <strong>and</strong> has becomewidely used by individuals <strong>and</strong> organizations.Typically, files to be podcast are put on a Web server. TheURLs for the files <strong>and</strong> other information (such as episodetitles) is provided in files called feeds, using a format suchas RSS or Atom (see Rss). The user installs client s<strong>of</strong>tware(such as iPodder), browses the feeds (such as through anonline directory), <strong>and</strong> decides what to subscribe to. The s<strong>of</strong>twarethen periodically checks the feeds, obtains the URLs <strong>of</strong>the latest files, <strong>and</strong> downloads them automatically. The s<strong>of</strong>twarecan, if desired, then transfer the downloaded files to aportable media player, such as over a USB connection.ApplicationsThere are many sources <strong>of</strong> podcasts. News organizationscan provide regular audio or video podcasts as a supplementto regular text material. Podcasting also <strong>of</strong>fers a wayfor a small news organization or independent journalist tobuild an audience using equipment as simple as a microphone<strong>and</strong> perhaps a video camera. Podcasts also providea way for political organizations to keep in touch with supporters(<strong>and</strong> perhaps supply them with talking points). Anysource <strong>of</strong> periodically distributed audio or video can be ac<strong>and</strong>idate for podcasting. These include class lectures, corporatecommunications, <strong>and</strong> even religious services.Further ReadingGeoghegan, Michael W., <strong>and</strong> Dan Hlass. Podcast Solutions: TheComplete How-To Guide to Getting Heard around the World.Berkeley, Calif.: Apress, 2005.Juice: The Cross-Platform Podcast Receiver. Available online.URL: http://juicereceiver.sourceforge.net/. Accessed November7, 2007.King, Kathleen P., <strong>and</strong> Mark Gura. Podcasting for Teachers: Using aNew <strong>Technology</strong> to Revolutionize Teaching <strong>and</strong> Learning. Charlotte,N.C.: Information Age Publishing, 2007.Mack, Steve, <strong>and</strong> Mitch Ratcliffe. Podcasting Bible. Indianapolis:Wiley, 2007.Morris, Tee, <strong>and</strong> Evo Terra. Podcasting for Dummies. Hoboken,N.J.: Wiley, 2006.Podcast Alley. Available online. URL: http://www.podcastalley.com/. Accessed November 7, 2007.Podcasting News. Available online. URL: http://www.podcastingnews.com/.Accessed November 7, 2007.pointers <strong>and</strong> indirectionThe memory in a computer is accessed by numbering the successivestorage locations (see addressing). When a programmerdeclares a variable, the compiler associates its name witha location in available memory (see variable). If the variableis used in an expression, when the expression is evaluated,the variable’s name is replaced by its current value—that is,with the contents <strong>of</strong> the memory location associated with thevariable. Thus, the expression Total + 10 is evaluated as “thecontents in the address associated with Total” plus 10.Sometimes, however, it is useful to have the generalcapability to access memory locations without assigningexplicit variables. This is done through a special type <strong>of</strong>variable called a pointer. The only difference between pointers<strong>and</strong> regular variables is that the value stored in a pointeris not the data to be ultimately used by the program. Rather,it is the address <strong>of</strong> that data. Here are some examples fromC, a language that famously provides support for pointers:Int MyVar;Int *MyPtr;integer// Declare a regular variable// Declare a pointer to an// (int) variableMyVar = 10; // Set the value <strong>of</strong> MyVarto 10MyPtr = &MyVar; // Store the address <strong>of</strong>MyVar in// the pointer MyPtrIn C, an asterisk in front <strong>of</strong> a variable name indicatesthat the variable is a pointer to the type declared. In the

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