tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78724642024-03-13T23:17:13.445-07:00Brain DumpThoughts, ideas, activites, opinons, anything that I find interestingFred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.comBlogger214125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-5674412726894771812012-08-24T10:02:00.004-07:002012-08-24T10:02:57.761-07:00Algorithms<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"For me, great algorithms are the poetry of computation.
Just like verse, they can be terse, allusive, dense, and even
mysterious. But once unlocked, they cast a brilliant new light
on some aspect of computing" - Francis Sullivan<br />
<br />
Algorithms. I think they are fascinating, scary, and, as the author above states, like poetry. In just a few lines of code, pseudocode, or math, a whole concept and idea can be expressed. But once you get that a-ha moment of understanding, its a great rush, and can be quite beautiful (see fractals, etc..). They require (for me at least), multiple readings and deep study to pull out the underlying meaning. Then putting them to use is another big challenge. As any computer scientist knows, an algorithm can make the difference between a program that runs, and one that will never finish. <br />
<br />
To further my knowledge on algorithms, I've enrolled in the <a href="http://www.coursera.com/">Coursera</a> algorithms class which has so far been pretty good. I think they are taking a great approach to understanding the algorithm, and having the students implement them. Thus far my favorite has been Union-Find, of which I'll try to do a writeup of tomorrow.</div>
Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-75394923759719426062011-02-22T09:28:00.001-08:002011-02-22T09:28:33.273-08:00Abstraction<div class='posterous_autopost'><p>We've been learning a bit about Abstraction in my software engineering class. As part of our assigned reading we had to read the following Wikipedia articles:</p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction_(computer_science)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction_(computer_science)</a></p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction_inversion">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abstraction_inversion</a></p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encapsulation_(computer_science)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encapsulation_(computer_science)</a></p> <p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specification_(technical_standard)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specification_(technical_standard)</a></p> <p>I also found this article on the Pragmatic Programmer website that I think is pretty good:</p> <p><a href="http://www.pragprog.com/magazines/2011-02/abstraction">http://www.pragprog.com/magazines/2011-02/abstraction</a></p> <p>I found the relation between Abstraction & Duplication interesting, as well as putting TDD in the abstraction context as well.</p> <p>Many of these things seem to also be related to the famous "information hiding" paper from David Parnas:</p> <p><a href="http://www.cs.umd.edu/class/spring2003/cmsc838p/Design/criteria.pdf">http://www.cs.umd.edu/class/spring2003/cmsc838p/Design/criteria.pdf</a></p> <p> </p> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via email</a> from <a href="http://fredhsu.posterous.com/abstraction">What I learned today</a> </p> </div>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-39276712511886027122010-01-14T15:24:00.001-08:002010-01-14T15:24:17.825-08:00Plato's Theory of Forms and Object Oriented Programming?
<div class='posterous_autopost'><p>I'm taking an Object Oriented programming class and was thinking about how it seems to relate pretty well to Plato's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_Forms">Theory of Forms</a>. When you define a class its kinda like creating a non-material ideal, but when you actually implement it, then you create the material form. Or you could think of abstract classes and subclasses of that abstract class in the same way. </p> <p style="font-size: 10px;"> <a href="http://posterous.com">Posted via web</a> from <a href="http://fredhsu.posterous.com/platos-theory-of-forms-and-object-oriented-pr">What I learned today</a> </p> </div> Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-18652130008694928312009-03-26T12:40:00.000-07:002009-03-26T12:44:32.049-07:00OnLive Cloud based video games<a href="http://www.onlive.com/" > OnLive</a> Seems like a really cool idea, play games online from anywhere, no downloads, play the latest games online. Wonder if it will be the game changer its hyped up to be?Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-65516937907733254602009-03-25T17:42:00.000-07:002009-03-25T17:43:52.141-07:00Wolfenstein 3D classic on iPhonePretty cool stuff from iD software, John Carmac has released the source code to an implementation to the 'grandfather of fps', Wolfenstein 3D on the iPhone. http://www.idsoftware.com/wolfenstein3dclassic/Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-61933531362231420762008-03-20T09:09:00.000-07:002008-03-20T09:16:25.140-07:00Jon Kabat-Zinn at Google<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Kabat-Zinn">Jon Kabat-Zinn</a> wrote one of my favorite books on meditation, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401307787?ie=UTF8&tag=braindump0a-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1401307787">Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life</a><img src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=braindump0a-20&l=as2&o=1&a=1401307787" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />, and is a professor at the UMass medical center. Here is a great talk given by him at Google, its a big long since there are some meditation sessions, but worth the time.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/3nwwKbM_vJc&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/3nwwKbM_vJc&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-19220746478063260932007-12-19T10:03:00.000-08:002007-12-19T10:06:00.224-08:00The Story of StuffFrom DailyGood today I was shown this great page about how our consumerist economy works, and the consequences of our consumption. The main page has a roughly 20 min video that is a great overview of how what we buy impacts the world. Check it out <a href="The Story of Stuff">http://www.storyofstuff.com/index.html</a>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-4724329357334076222007-11-21T11:18:00.000-08:002007-11-21T11:25:23.882-08:00Keeping TimeLast night I went to a concert featuring tabla master <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakir_Hussain_(musician)">Zakir Hussain</a>. It was an amazing musical performance, his skill with the tabla is simply mind blowing. I don't think I've ever heard a drum that could have so many different tones and sounds. Nor have I heard a player who could play so fast, with rhythm, and complexity. Equally impressive is the improvisiational nature of the music, having to completely focus on the other instrument and play in a complimentary fashion. At that level, it really doesn't seem like the artist is 'thinking', but simply 'flowing' with the music. I wonder how people get into that 'flow' state, and what exactly it is. Is it a different brain process, or perhaps a very well tuned neural network? Would it be possible for a computer to get into a 'flow', maybe a parictular algorithim or hardware design?Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-43569085216715079242007-11-20T07:50:00.000-08:002007-11-20T07:54:35.459-08:00Is the Internet Conscious?I've been reading on some Aritificial Intelligence stuff lately, and was thinking about how the brain is a series of neurons, each firing in response to stimuli. Each individual neuron doesn't really have an idea of what the other neurons are, or what they are doing. Then I began to wonder if the Internet works in the same way. All the users are the millions of neurons, and work independently. But when taken together as whole, is the Internet like a big brain? And if so, is it conscious?Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-31048921722442343852007-06-17T08:50:00.000-07:002007-06-17T09:00:41.947-07:00Give me a home where the kids can go roamThis article by the UK Daily Mail gives an example of how kids today are given fewer opportunities to roam in nature than past generations. I know as a kid, I loved playing outside and didn't have to be driven 20 miles to do so. I could just go outside and play in my neighborhood, and was free to roam about until my mom called me home for dinner. Now, living in the middle of a major city, I rarely see kids outside playing, and I can't really blame them. There is nowhere for them to go, everything is paved, people don't seem to know their neighbors (I know we don't), yards are smaller than living rooms, and busy parents have to drive the kids to the nearest park for the kids to play.<br /><br /><br /><a href="How children lost the right to roam in four generations">http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=462091</a>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-13434060681067861262007-05-21T12:57:00.000-07:002007-05-21T13:02:21.916-07:00Reusing receiptsMy wife came up with a pretty good idea for making shopping lists. Just take your old receipt (grocery or otherwise), flip it over, and write your shopping list on the back. It saves paper, and can make for easy comparison shopping. It works well for us with grocery receipts since they are generally pretty long, and is a weekly occurrence.Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-17242462061687524802007-05-17T14:06:00.000-07:002007-05-17T14:10:47.113-07:00VitaminsI've often thought that I should eat some vitamin suppliments, since I'm not the healthiest eater in the world. However, I always end up forgetting to take them. Well with all the latest reports maybe I'm better off just going without them. Here's one take from the Boston Globe about some of the recent vitamin reports:<br /><a href=http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2007/05/14/the_fading_allure_of_vitamins/>The fading allure of vitamins</a>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-51797235706297735122007-05-07T16:22:00.000-07:002007-05-07T16:23:15.372-07:00ShiftHappensCheck out this really interesting slideshow describing globalization and the role of the U.S. in the 21st century. <br />http://www.slideshare.net/jbrenman/shift-happens-33834Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-59298947004690169262007-05-07T16:10:00.000-07:002007-05-07T16:14:01.211-07:00Donation Meters in DenverFrom Daily Good, an article about parking meters in Denver being used to collect change for the city's homeless. Sounds like an interesting idea, although I wonder why not just give the change straight to the homeless person? An interesting tidbit I got from the article is that the city is trying to eliminate homelessness in Denver within the next 10 years! A great thing for the mile high city to aspire to!<br /><br /><a href=http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?qid=2961#comments>Kindness Meters</a>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-81065185431968952822007-05-04T12:26:00.001-07:002007-05-04T12:26:14.119-07:00It's a Bird, a plane no a helirickshaw!<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gargi/387839426/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/137/387839426_033222c958_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a> <br /> <span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gargi/387839426/">It's a Bird, a plane no a helirickshaw!</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/gargi/">calamur</a>. </span></div>Check out this rickshaw!<br clear="all" />Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-82958224531483370802007-05-04T08:18:00.000-07:002007-05-04T08:27:32.878-07:00No Impact ManI just came across this great blog by a guy in NYC who is trying to reduce his family's impact on the environment for a year. This means avoiding plastic, eating locally, no TV or movies, giving up cars, subways, new items in packaging, and even toilet paper! Its a bold experiment, and I'm sure they're learning so much from it. It reminds me of the book "Better Off" that I read last year, but they're in NYC! Definitely worth a visit!<br /><br /><a href="http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/">No Impact Man</a>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-58703148878273680242007-04-19T10:40:00.000-07:002007-04-19T10:44:24.966-07:00Pennywise Eat Local ChallengeThere is an annual challenge put forth here in the bay area to try and eat foods that come from a 100 mile radius. This not only means eating locally produced foods, but even the ingredients should be local as well. I've heard many reports that eating locally has a stronger impact than eating organically. With the additionally "Pennywise" aspect, the challenge volunteers also agree to spend no more than $10/person per day. Sounds pretty tough to me! I didn't know that there is no locally grown flour, so that means no bread or pizza. Ouch! Here is an article from the Chronicle:<br /><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/04/18/FDGCEP8HQG1.DTL"> Eating locally for less</a>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-48712404765921603942007-04-03T08:07:00.000-07:002007-04-03T08:09:20.874-07:00Earth hourThe aussies are at it again! First flourecent bulbs, now they banned together to turn off their lights for an hour in sydney. Great stuff! Maybe I need to move to Australia :) Sydney is one of my fav cities.Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-90044464179263067382007-03-21T09:43:00.000-07:002007-03-21T09:45:17.798-07:00Best Green Cities in AmericaCountry Home magazine ranked the major cities of the US on how 'green' they are.. makes an interesting list of places to live. <br />Here's the stie: <a href="http://www.countryhome.com/greencities/index.html">Greenest Cities</a><br />Or if you just want the top 25: <a href="http://www.countryhome.com/greencities/top25.html">Top 25</a>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-88508094617228305642007-03-09T07:44:00.000-08:002007-03-09T07:45:58.884-08:00NC State takes out Duke!!!Ahh yeah! The Wolfpack took out Duke from the ACC Tournament yesterday! I can't remember the last time Duke has been eliminated from the tourney this early! Woohoo Go Pack!Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-71566927723809210752007-02-25T22:03:00.000-08:002007-02-25T22:05:36.409-08:00Voluntary HomelessnessA young student in LA takes an interesting approach to getting out of his credit card debit. He gets a camper shell for his truck and decides to live in his truck for a year! Here's an article from the LA times: <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-truck19feb19,0,4080472.story">Story</a>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-30867440172194908042007-02-15T21:37:00.000-08:002007-02-15T21:38:36.726-08:0010 lessons from the Dalai LamaA list of 10 lessons from HH Dalai Lama and some brief interpretations of them.Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-9541805303295653662007-02-12T16:56:00.000-08:002007-02-12T16:47:43.001-08:00Food not lawnsAn interesting idea about our front lawns. We spend so much time, money, and water on front lawns that are kinda useless, what if we grew food instead? Here is a review of a book discussing that idea.. <a href=http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/02/book_review_foo.php>Food not lawns</a>.Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-84235014045679963552007-02-12T16:46:00.000-08:002007-02-07T17:55:27.507-08:00Greenbridge developmentCheck out this new community coming up in Carrboro, NC (near Chapel Hill). Its a housing community built with Green building practices and looks to be very nice. <br /><a href=http://www.greenbridgedevelopments.com/>Greenbridge</a>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7872464.post-23976981445753398022007-02-07T17:54:00.000-08:002007-02-07T17:55:27.769-08:00NC State upsets UNC!!!This past Saturday the NC State Wolfpack had an awesome upset of the #3 ranked Tar Heels! Ah how sweet it is! Here are some great motivational posters a NC State student put together.. <a href="http://www4.ncsu.edu/~nruhland/posters/">posters</a>Fred Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01605944565710444887noreply@blogger.com0