"You treat a disease, you win, you lose. You treat a person I'll guarantee you'll win." - Hunter Patch Adams (Patch Adams)
In the one class I am taking this summer I am learning a new language ML. We are going to use Caml Light for Unix. There are lots of versions of Caml Light (PC and Mac) available out there.
What is ML (or Caml)? "Caml is a general-purpose programming language". Basically it is all about the functions. There aren't variable names - everything is a function. Everything has a return type. Of course, ML's equivalent to C's void is unit. So when you read in a file it actually returns 'unit' to you. Which the first time it happens is a little wacky.
So today I am hanging out at the union - the sun is shining and within a few minutes a horrible storm begins. And by storm I mean flooding hard rain. It doesn't appear to be letting up very much either. The only plus has been the wind stopped blowing as hard. The rain has let up a little (when it first started people were coming in soaked). I am just hopping it completely stops by the time I head to class at 1 PM.
Of course, while I was at the union Ken and I had had an interesting experience you can read about on his blog. By the way, I would like to thank his for linking to my blog. Ducky!
For those who are talking an AI course this semester: an article about Warren McCulloch.
Someone who won't get elected next time. Favorite part of the article: "he mistakenly sent out an e-mail message that referred to his constituents as 'idiots.'".
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Peano's Postulates
"Mathematics is the art of giving the same name to different things." - Jules Henri Poincare
In my class (Automata and Computability Theory) on Tuesday we discussed Peano's Postulates (also known as Peano's axioms. Giuseppe Peano was a mathematican from the late 1880s (he died in the 1930s). He is best known for his work in the area of set theory.
There are 5 Peano's Postulates.
1. 0 is a number
2. If n is a number then the next number after n is n' = n + 1
3. n' = m', iff n = m
4. There is no natural number before 0
5. If P(0) is true and P(n)=>P(n') then for all n, P(n) is true
The 5th statement actual leads us to doing proofs by mathematical induction (assuming that I didn't get any of the axioms wrong). Now I know you are sitting there thinking - what the heck does this have to do with computers? Using these and a proof by induction we can prove that the square root of 2 is irrational and that real numbers are uncountable. Finally, (after a lot of wondering) we can show that there exists numbers that can not be output from a computer program.
OK, so I am sure you know think I am completely nuts, but I hate to tell you I am not. The proof is easier to understand if you know about the while computer language and a few other things - but it true never the less. Maybe at some future date I will post more of the proof if people are interested.
In my class (Automata and Computability Theory) on Tuesday we discussed Peano's Postulates (also known as Peano's axioms. Giuseppe Peano was a mathematican from the late 1880s (he died in the 1930s). He is best known for his work in the area of set theory.
There are 5 Peano's Postulates.
1. 0 is a number
2. If n is a number then the next number after n is n' = n + 1
3. n' = m', iff n = m
4. There is no natural number before 0
5. If P(0) is true and P(n)=>P(n') then for all n, P(n) is true
The 5th statement actual leads us to doing proofs by mathematical induction (assuming that I didn't get any of the axioms wrong). Now I know you are sitting there thinking - what the heck does this have to do with computers? Using these and a proof by induction we can prove that the square root of 2 is irrational and that real numbers are uncountable. Finally, (after a lot of wondering) we can show that there exists numbers that can not be output from a computer program.
OK, so I am sure you know think I am completely nuts, but I hate to tell you I am not. The proof is easier to understand if you know about the while computer language and a few other things - but it true never the less. Maybe at some future date I will post more of the proof if people are interested.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Lack of a Title
"I thought you had to be convicted of a crime before you lived somewhere like this." - Soren (when they enter the dorm room from The Prince and Me)
On Monday (after getting my cable and internet access fixed) I watched The Prince and Me. OK, so I like watching these kinds of movies. Why? Because they are nice background movies and there are some funny parts. I had seen the movie before (so that's why it could watch it while I worked on other things). However, I like the ending the girl doesn't give up her goals for the guy. It's the fairy tale, but with an altered fairy tale ending.
OK, so now that I have tortured you with that lets move on to things you are probably more interested in reading about:
Apple iPod information (and a little about podcast. Looks like they are only going to make color screens from now on. Nifty ain't it.
NASA just doesn't get any breaks does it? It appears that NASA has not "met the full letter of recommendations made by Columbia accident investigators". The NASA Administrator (Michael Griffin) must decided if they are going to launch the space shuttle Discovery next month.
Vitamin C may not prevent the cold. However, during the study they found that "people who take regular vitamin C suffer slightly shorter colds than those who take placebos". So, it appears that taking the vitamin C isn't a total loss, plus there are other benefits of taking vitamin C.
On Monday (after getting my cable and internet access fixed) I watched The Prince and Me. OK, so I like watching these kinds of movies. Why? Because they are nice background movies and there are some funny parts. I had seen the movie before (so that's why it could watch it while I worked on other things). However, I like the ending the girl doesn't give up her goals for the guy. It's the fairy tale, but with an altered fairy tale ending.
OK, so now that I have tortured you with that lets move on to things you are probably more interested in reading about:
Apple iPod information (and a little about podcast. Looks like they are only going to make color screens from now on. Nifty ain't it.
NASA just doesn't get any breaks does it? It appears that NASA has not "met the full letter of recommendations made by Columbia accident investigators". The NASA Administrator (Michael Griffin) must decided if they are going to launch the space shuttle Discovery next month.
Vitamin C may not prevent the cold. However, during the study they found that "people who take regular vitamin C suffer slightly shorter colds than those who take placebos". So, it appears that taking the vitamin C isn't a total loss, plus there are other benefits of taking vitamin C.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
Miss Congeniality 2
"And I am Gracie Hart and at this moment I am also big bird" - Gracie Hart (Miss Congeniality 2)
On Friday evening I watched Miss Congeniality 2. It is extremely funny with a very interesting cast. Although the part were Gracie Hart gets the feathers of her outfit stuck - they would so pull of easier than that. The material is not that strong nor are those feather - but that is a minor detail. They successfully cover up the fact that one of the actors didn't return for this movie by transfering him to another office. The best scene is were Hart is trying to get into and out of the car with the large feather head dress. If you haven't seen the movie I highly recommend it. It came out on DVD this week.
The weather has centainly changed a lot recently. The last two days have been in the 90's (yikes) and sunny. Of course, it is suppose to change in the up coming week (thunderstorms are scheduled). Also, Monday marks the beginning of classes for the second part of the summer. Anyway, happy weekend. Hope yours is as relaxing as mine.
On Friday evening I watched Miss Congeniality 2. It is extremely funny with a very interesting cast. Although the part were Gracie Hart gets the feathers of her outfit stuck - they would so pull of easier than that. The material is not that strong nor are those feather - but that is a minor detail. They successfully cover up the fact that one of the actors didn't return for this movie by transfering him to another office. The best scene is were Hart is trying to get into and out of the car with the large feather head dress. If you haven't seen the movie I highly recommend it. It came out on DVD this week.
The weather has centainly changed a lot recently. The last two days have been in the 90's (yikes) and sunny. Of course, it is suppose to change in the up coming week (thunderstorms are scheduled). Also, Monday marks the beginning of classes for the second part of the summer. Anyway, happy weekend. Hope yours is as relaxing as mine.
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