February 2015 Learn More Links – 30 STEM Links a Week

Staples

Staples doesn’t appear to have a website page dedicated to 3D printing services You’ll have to call or visit your local Staples to see if they offer 3D printing. They do sell 3D printers and supplies.
http://www.staples.com/3D-Printing-Center/cat_BI878929
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-04-10/staples-wants-to-bring-3-d-printing-to-the-masses

FedEx Store

As with finding Staples locations with 3D printing services, FedEx Office has no dedicated website page for 3D printing. You’ll need to call or visit a FedEx Office location to find out if they offer this service.
http://www.fedex.com/us/office/

Shapeways

http://www.shapeways.com/

i.Materialise

http://i.materialise.com/

Ponoko

https://www.ponoko.com/

Sculpteo

http://www.sculpteo.com/en/

Kraftwurx

http://www.kraftwurx.com/

MakeXYZ

http://www.makexyz.com/

3D-Heights

Local to New York City, for the moment, this is a great neighborhood option.
http://3dheights.com/

What is 3D Printing?

https://kidscodecs.com/what-is-3d-printing/

3D Printing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_printing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwPWLCVekGc

Bits to Atoms: Your 3D Printing Software Options

http://www.tested.com/tech/3d-printing/460165-bits-atoms-your-3d-printing-software-options/

Gartner Says Consumer 3D Printing Is More Than Five Years Away

http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2825417

3D Printing Doesn’t Live Up To The Hype Yet

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mitchfree/2013/03/12/3d-printing-hype-doesnt-equal-reality-ye/

The Sweet, Creamy Goodness of 3D Chocolate Printing From Hershey and 3D Systems

http://www.3dprinterworld.com/article/sweet-creamy-goodness-3d-chocolate-printing-from-hershey-and-3d-systems

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fused_deposition_modeling

ABS/PLA Plastic

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylonitrile_butadiene_styrene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polylactic_acid
http://www.protoparadigm.com/news-updates/the-difference-between-abs-and-pla-for-3d-printing/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoplastic

Slicers and 3D Software

http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Slicers_and_user_interfaces_for_3D_printers
http://slic3r.org/

8 Tips for 3D Printing with Sketchup

Includes a definition of “watertight” and solutions. Applies to any 3D software used to create models.
http://www.mastersketchup.com/8-tips-for-3d-printing-with-sketchup/

Sterolithography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereolithography

What 3D Models Print Best?

https://kidscodecs.com/3d-modeling-best-practices/

Bits to Atoms: 3D Modeling Best Practices for 3D Printing

http://www.tested.com/tech/3d-printing/460456-bits-atoms-3d-modeling-best-practices-3d-printing/
http://www.tested.com/tech/3d-printing/460165-bits-atoms-your-3d-printing-software-options/

The Essential Calibration Set

A cube you can use to calibrate your models with any 3D printer.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5573

8 Tips for 3D Printing with Sketchup

Applies to any 3D software used to create models.
http://www.mastersketchup.com/8-tips-for-3d-printing-with-sketchup/

How To Make a 3D Model for 3D printing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj3E2SDByYU

Modeling for 3D Printing with Shapeways

3D modeling best practices to print with the Shapeways online service. Methods should work for printing on home 3D printers and other printing services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnCf-5G7DYc

netFabb Basic

http://www.netfabb.com/basic.php

Meshlab

http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/

How to Fix and Repair Your 3D Files Using Meshlab and Netfabb

http://www.shapeways.com/tutorials/how_to_use_meshlab_and_netfabb

TinkerCAD

A web browser-based tool to create 3D models.
https://www.tinkercad.com/

How To Design & Print 3D Moving Parts In Minutes (Tinkercad)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9BvoDl0thQ

Blender 3D Software: Noob to Pro/Avoiding Headaches Early On: Good 3D Modeling Practices

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Avoiding_Headaches_Early_On:_Good_3D_Modeling_Practices

3D Modeling System Best Practices

University of Wisconsin guidelines for creating models as part of their coursework.
http://homepages.cae.wisc.edu/~me231/online_notes/cad/modeling%20practices.pdf

Unity Software Art Asset Guidelines

Guidelines used for this game creation software tool.
http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/HOWTO-ArtAssetBestPracticeGuide.html

Prepare your model for 3D printing with SolidWorks

http://www.sculpteo.com/en/prepare-your-model-3d-printing-solidworks/

Dead Programming Languages

https://kidscodecs.com/dead-programming-languages/

5 Programming Languages Marked for Death (Dice.com)

http://news.dice.com/2014/10/09/5-programming-languages-marked-for-death/

The Top 10 Dead (or Dying) Computer Skills

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2541481/data-center/the-top-10-dead–or-dying–computer-skills.html

The Rise and Fall of Languages in 2012

http://www.drdobbs.com/jvm/the-rise-and-fall-of-languages-in-2012/240145800

I Use Dead Programming Languages

http://marxsoftware.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-use-dead-programming-languages.html

6 Ways to Determine a New Programming Language is a Turkey

http://blog.smartbear.com/codereviewer/6-ways-to-determine-a-new-programming-language-is-a-turkey/

TIOBE Index

An updated list of commonly used programming languages, one way to measure the mortality of languages.
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html

List of Programming Languages (Wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programming_languages

Perl

https://www.perl.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl
http://www.fastcolabs.com/3026446/the-fall-of-perl-the-webs-most-promising-language
https://sites.google.com/site/steveyegge2/ancient-languages-perl

ColdFusion

http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion-family.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_ColdFusion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ColdFusion_Markup_Language

Flash

http://www.adobe.com/products/flash.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Flash_Professional

Not Dead Yet: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Java

http://redmonk.com/sogrady/2011/02/11/rise-and-fall-and-rise-of-java/

COMDEX

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMDEX

Floating Point Numbers

https://kidscodecs.com/floating-point-numbers/

Floating Point Numbers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_point
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E19957-01/806-3568/ncg_goldberg.html

IEEE 754 Floating Point Number Standard

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/mostRecentIssue.jsp?punumber=4610933
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_floating_point
http://steve.hollasch.net/cgindex/coding/ieeefloat.html

What can be done to programming languages to avoid floating point pitfalls?

http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/62948/what-can-be-done-to-programming-languages-to-avoid-floating-point-pitfalls

Floating point arithmetics in 19 programming languages

http://itreallymatters.net/post/386327451/floating-point-arithmetics-in-19-programming

Model Monetary Data

This tutorial shows how you handle monetary data and floating point numbers with the MongoDB database. It’s a great practical example of how coders think through the problem.
http://docs.mongodb.org/manual/tutorial/model-monetary-data/