MetaFilter posts tagged with ComputerScience

Asking for an apology.

idiopath — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:36:55 -0800

Alan Turing , one of the men responsible for computers as we know them today, was persecuted by the British government for being a homosexual. Richard Dawkins and John Graham-Cumming want the British government to formally apologize.

The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences

parudox — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:37:33 -0800

Ever wondered what comes next, and why? The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences has the answers. (Previously.)

The Price of Anarchy

parudox — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:23:01 -0800

Braess' paradox and the price of anarchy [PDF]: "We had three tunnels in the city and one needed to be shut down. Bizarrely, we found that car volumes dropped. ... We discovered it was a case of Braess' paradox, which says that by taking away space in an urban area you can actually increase the flow of traffic, and, by implication, by adding extra capacity to a road network you can reduce overall performance." The Price of Anarchy in Transportation Networks is the paper mentioned in the first link — see that for maps of Boston, London, and Manhattan that show which roads were beneficial to block (individually) in a simulation. If you are interested in selfish networks and are not afraid of math, check out Selfish Routing and the Price of Anarchy (review) as well as this paper for some bounds on the price of anarchy.

Malcolm Gladwell on genius

louigi — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 17:42:11 -0800

Malcolm Gladwell asks: is there such a thing as pure genius? An essay (in fact, a book extract) on the how genius seems to very often be a combination of (a) some base level of ability, (b) lots and lots of practice, and (c) luck and circumstance. Rings true from the perspective of this mathematician, at least. Via.

Computer science doesn't require a computer

orthogonality — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:12:13 -0800

Learn (or teach) fundamentals of computer science, without a computer. Provided as hands-on exercises suitable for children, or even CS-illiterate adults. (If this is too basic for you, go here.)

Big book of algorithms

Wolfdog — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 07:02:22 -0800

If you could use a great big free handbook of discrete math and algorithms, Jörg Arndt's fxtbook wants to be your friend. Plain text table of contents to whet your appetite.

"That half-destroyed paperwork is a tantalizing secret."

amyms — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:42:54 -0800

"That half-destroyed paperwork is a tantalizing secret." The Stasi fostered a pervasive and justified paranoia. And it generated an almost inconceivable amount of paper, enough to fill more than 100 miles of shelves. The agency indexed and cross-referenced 5.6 million names in its central card catalog alone. Hundreds of thousands of "unofficial employees" snitched on friends, coworkers, and their own spouses, sometimes because they'd been extorted and sometimes in exchange for money, promotions, or permission to travel abroad. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Stasi tried to destroy its records. Now, with the help of computer science, the "billion-piece puzzle" is finally coming together. The article is an interesting update on the one featured in this 2003 Metafilter post . Related: The Stasi Museum in Berlin If It Had Not Been For 15 Minutes (an incredible defection story)

Pixar's papers on computer graphics

brundlefly — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 21:39:14 -0800

1982-2007 Pixar's papers on computer graphics

Computing In Dark Rooms

migurski — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:01:54 -0800

Courtesy of Daniele Gallifa's Mentegrafica, a video demonstration of Multi-User Interaction using Handheld Projectors. An update to the classic Ghostbusters toy, this set of position-aware hand held projectors lets users share information by shining light onto walls. Some of the smart details in the video include: sharing calendars by overlapping light from two projectors, adjoining projections to create larger screens, and blurring private information when outsiders are nearby. No mention of applicability to first person shooters.

Gerrymandered

chunking express — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 06:23:31 -0800

The shortest-splitline algorithm for drawing N congressional districts. You can seee examples of their unbiased district-drawing algorithm in action compared with the gerrymandered districts drawn by politicians.

Jeff Hawkins unleashes his brain: Numenta's new AI platform

grumblebee — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 13:35:42 -0800

Jeff Hawkins, co-founder of Palm and Handspring, has started a new company, called Numenta, to test his controversial theory of intelligence. Whether you find his theory plausible or not, his book, "On Intelligence" is fascinating. Numenta is attempting to build A.I.s using Hawkins' theory as a backbone. They've developed a software engine and a Python-based API, which they've made public (as free downloads), so that hackers can start playing. They've also released manuals, a whitepaper (pdf) and videos [1] [2]. (At about 30:18 into the first video, Hawkins demonstrates, with screenshots, the first app which uses his system.)

Online topics in computer science research and engineering

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 06:57:24 -0800

The University of Washington CSE Colloquium features accessible talks by leading computer scientists and computer engineers from the University of Washington, the region, the nation, and the world, most of which are available as MP3 audio and/or Real/Windows Media video online for free. Personal favorites include talks on quantum computing, de novo protein design, and in silico biology as a smarter way to learn how our genes work.

Who can name the bigger number?

gregv — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 00:16:49 -0800

Who can name the bigger number? I guarantee you will lose to the Busy Beavers. (No, infinity is not allowed, the bigger infinity is a different game.) The author also debunks in very simple terms the recent story that quantum computers perform calculations without being turned on. My first post and disclaimer: I know the author from our mutual field of quantum information.

Intelligent Design by Trial and Error

fatllama — Fri, 26 Aug 2005 09:41:21 -0800

A more efficient microbe genome. A more efficient sorting algorithm. A more efficient keyboard layout.

Can't Get No Satisfaction

andrew cooke — Thu, 05 Feb 2004 08:57:20 -0800

Can't Get No Satisfaction - This unassuming essay (it's in a state of half-decay with missing figures) is a fascinating (and accessible) overview of phase transitions in NP systems (it explains those terms). In other words: complex physical systems and difficult problems in computing are related. The seminal paper is here, and this is a list of other essays by the same author (links at foot of page).

John von Neumann

carter — Sun, 28 Dec 2003 10:14:24 -0800

John von Neumann, 1903-1957 . Today may have been the 100 year anniversary of the birth of John von Neumann (some think he may have been born on December 3rd). Along with Alan Turing and others, Von Neumann is one of the contenders for the title "Inventor of the modern computer." Whatever the precise date, it seems worth celebrating with some von Neumannania: 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, 111, 1000, 1001.

How much RAM would you like with your brain, sir?

zerofoks — Thu, 13 Mar 2003 01:05:03 -0800

World's first brain prosthesis revealed. Well, first hippocampus replacement at least. If this is not a dead end for science (which I doubt), I am gonna get my soul fully digitalized in 2020, then spreading it on the whole net with some new version of a code-red virus. :-)

srboisvert — Tue, 16 Apr 2002 19:21:20 -0800

Shaping the Learning Curve Through a Code. Please do not discuss any typical computer science assignment solutions here. You might get a Georgia Tech student an F for inadvertently learning from non-approved materials. I wonder if there are Georgia Tech admin moonlighting for the RIAA?

moz — Wed, 05 Sep 2001 14:54:27 -0800

Potential forever unfulfilled. Alan Turing was a great scientist and philosopher, though most famous for his work in cracking the nazi Enigma encryption used for communication by their U-boats. Turing, one of the foremost innovators in the field of computer science at its inception, was also a homosexual. Tried and convicted for such acts in 1952, Turing committed suicide in 1954. A bronze statue is now being erected in honor of Turing, even as the research he'd begun in computer science is still incomplete.

paladin — Thu, 05 Apr 2001 18:30:32 -0800

Article on New Scientist about "software that turns everyday language into computer code".

sandor — Wed, 23 Feb 2000 11:16:17 -0800

Apparently, the digitization of all words ever spoken by human beings would take up 5,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes. Or, 5 exabytes. How long will it be before my laptop has that much space?

Awol — Fri, 11 Feb 2000 10:05:49 -0800

Uncle Sam wants YOU to solve the internet's problems. President Clinton announced yesterday that, due to a complete lack of knowledge about the internet, it will cost $2 billion in 2001 to develop anti-hacker secuity. Plus they intend on subsidizing college costs for computer science majors that agree to work for the government. Hey if he'd give me just one million dollars, I'd be able to pay off my school costs and hunt down hackers personally, like Boba Fett.