Complexity Zoo Poster- June 12, 2008 There is a poster of (some of) the Complexity Zoo that was emailed to me by Ken Regan. It is on line either as a pdf file or a ppt version. (There was an earlier version a while back.) Would this poster make a good syllabus for a basic course in complexity I prefer it NOT as a poster but as an image on line that I can zoom in and zoom out of. Is there any important complexity class that is not on the poster that should be Is there any unimportant complexity class that is on the poster..http://weblog.fortnow.com/2008/06/complexity-zoo-poster.html Impressions of C++- June 11, 2008 I have just finished teaching "Programming for Engineers" at Northwestern, my first time teaching a course on the C++ programming language and pushing me to learn the the many fine points of the language. Yes, I know this is a theory blog but I'm giving you my impressions of the language anyway. C++ was a language written for its time, the 80's, when computers were slow, memory was expensive and machines, for the most part, didn't talk to each other that much. The language, an object.http://weblog.fortnow.com/2008/06/impressions-of-c.html SODA 2009 Call for Papers- and a comment on it- June 10, 2008 (Claire Mathieu requested that we post this.) The web site for submitting papers to SODA 2009 is up and running. Please see the "Submissions" button in the right-hand side menu of the page at SIAM. A few important differences from previous years: There is a pre-submission deadline of June 26, one week before the final submission deadline of July 3. By June 26, authors must have entered a title and short abstract of the paper which they intend to submit. (One goal of this is to...http://weblog.fortnow.com/2008/06/soda-2009-call-for-papers-and-comment.html Journals and Information Obsolescence- June 9, 2008 Eldar Fischer pointed me to the following question asked on Slashdot. With the ability to get information anywhere in the world in seconds, and the virtually immediate obsolescence of any printed work, why are journals such an important part of academic research Many of these journals take two or more years to print an article after it has been submitted, and the information is very difficult (or expensive) to obtain. Does this hinder technological advancement There are certainly other venues..http://weblog.fortnow.com/2008/06/journals-and-information-obsolescence.html email: not as useful as it could be- June 6, 2008 (Can still register for COMPLEXITY 2008: here) Email stories: Recently a co-author and I both thought that the other one was not responding to emails. We were both annoyed at each other. But it wasn't true! Why did it happen A combination of both being busy (so maybe it was a bit true), spam filters, and even a few cases where the email really did not get through and was not spam filtered. We figured out what was going on, stopped being annoyed at each other, and made progress on the...http://weblog.fortnow.com/2008/06/email-not-as-useful-as-it-could-be.html Nerds- June 5, 2008 The Chicago Tribune wrote a feature on "nerds" in Tuesday's paper. Nerds are perceived as authentic because they're unable to follow trends. Authenticity is always in–or a gesture toward authenticity is always in. Nerds are perceived as people who just have to pursue what they're interested in and ignore what's supposed to be cool. Yeah "authentic," that's what I was in high school. Don't miss the photo gallery of fictional nerds. They forgot to mention the...http://weblog.fortnow.com/2008/06/nerds.html High Level Monographs- why- June 4, 2008 I recently got two checks in the mail: (1) $500.00 honorarium for a talk I gave at a University (more than I thought it would be), and (2) $11.00 for book royalties for Bounded Queries in Recursion Theory. Perhaps I should talk more more and write less. I talk much faster than I write, so I could really rake it in. Why do we write high level monographs that very few people will buy Should we We are delusional. We think that a book will sell and make us real money. (I never thought this..http://weblog.fortnow.com/2008/06/high-level-monographs-why.html Outside In- June 3, 2008 After Bill's post yesterday I tried watching the I Will Derive video again and just had to turn it off after 30 seconds. So for the rest of us, here is a video showing how to turn a sphere inside out, first proved by Steve Smale fifty years ago. Not funny but much more interesting. Just make sure you leave yourself twenty minutes before you watch. Thanks to Prahladh Harsha for the pointer.http://weblog.fortnow.com/2008/06/outside-in.html I will derive!- June 2, 2008 BILL: Lance, I have to do a post on the Math Novelty Song I will derive and need you to tell me how to embed a You-Tube Video into a post. LANCE: I'll gladly tell you (HE DOES) but why do you have to post about it I've seen it. Its awful! BILL: Well, clearly I like these sort of things more than you. I've already gotten several emails about the song and if I don't post on it I'll get more. LANCE: Well, what do you think of it BILL: The Lyrics are good but repetitive. I can't tell..http://weblog.fortnow.com/2008/06/i-will-derive.html |