XML and Lisp

Just digging up the old debate on XML being a form of Lisp...

alloca

alloca (in C) allows you to dynamically allocate memory on the stack!

Here is a example:



Note that using this function isn't really good practice. If there is a stack overflow, the behavour is undefined. But there are advantages of using alloca as well.

Further reading: an alternative to alloca: obstacks

P!=NP?

Keeping track on what's going on:
http://rjlipton.wordpress.com/
http://michaelnielsen.org/polymath1/index.php?title=Deolalikar%27s_P!=NP_paper
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinay_Deolalikar

Federation

I recently attended a talk on Hadoop by Robert Chansler. One interesting concept I picked up was the concept of "federation" or simply "playing nice with users".

In the context of Hadoop, this means achieving backward compatibility with legacy versions of the software. E.g. when users run "old code" in clusters with a newer Hadoop version, their code can run correctly without modifications.

Titbit about Hadoop: the next Hadoop milestone will focus on security.

Scientific Paradigms

Foreword: This post is a follow up from a previous post on the Forth Paradigm.

The Four Paradigms and some examples:

1st Paradigm: Experimental
Conducting simple experiments to confirm hypothesis (e.g. Ben Franklin and the Kite Experiment), Young double slit experiment, chemical reactions, etc

2nd Paradigm: Theoretical
Theories of the Natural Sciences, Theoretical Computer Science,

3rd Paradigm: Computational Science
Engineering based fields, Solving games, Four color theorem, computer simulations, etc

4th Paradigm: Data-Intensive Research
Data mining, the schematic web, machine learning, distributed systems, the LHC, etc


Question: what makes the 4th paradigm compelling: how does it stack against the previous paradigms (e.g. efficiency, feasibility, etc)

For download: The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery (the book)

Bell's Law of Computer Classes

Bell's Law of Computer Classes formulated by Gordon Bell in 1972 describes how computer classes form, evolve and may eventually die out. New classes create new applications resulting in new markets and new industries

The Forth Paradigm

Dr. [Jim] Gray called the shift a “fourth paradigm.” The first three paradigms were experimental, theoretical and, more recently, computational science. He explained this paradigm as an evolving era in which an “exaflood” of observational data was threatening to overwhelm scientists. The only way to cope with it, he argued, was a new generation of scientific computing tools to manage, visualize and analyze the data flood.

Thomas Kuhn was the first to coin the phrase "paradigm shift". It is fascinating to see how the idea of "paradigm" (with respect to science) has developed in more recent times. Is there even a forth paradigm as suggested by Dr Jim Gray?

Stanford Eng Launches Online CS Classes

For the first time in its history, Stanford is offering some of its most popular engineering classes free of charge to students and educators around the world. Stanford Engineering Everywhere (SEE) expands the Stanford experience to students and educators online. A computer and an Internet connection is all you need. View lecture videos, access reading lists and other course handouts, take quizzes and tests, and communicate with other SEE students, all at your convenience.

This fall, SEE launches its programming by offering one of Stanford’s most popular sequences: the three-course Introduction to Computer Science taken by the majority of Stanford’s undergraduates and seven more advanced courses in artificial intelligence and electrical engineering.

Check it out at Stanford Engineering Everywhere

The first course, Introduction to Computer Science (Programming Methodology), has Mehran Sahami as the instructor.