CS Lagado

18/12/2021

Complexity and costs are rising, and not all litho equipment and processes are fully vetted.

05/12/2019

How four enthusiasts helped bring the theory of electromagnetism to light

02/12/2019

你可曾好奇過，海洋世界的真實顏色是什麼？其實，大部分的時候我們看到的鮮豔多彩海底世界照片，可能是後天人工校正、過度調色的結果，不盡然完全正確。海洋學家Derya Akkaynak開發出一套校正水底色差

30/11/2019

Researchers at Google designed a prismatic light-emitting-diode (LED) "egg," to generate remarkable three-dimensional (3D) and relightable models of people within it.

The egg uses volumetric capture, in which multiple cameras in a 360-degree arrangement render a photorealistic representation of a subject in motion, while also allowing the model to be realistically illuminated by virtual light sources. The egg contains 331 LED lights that can produce any hue, and that shift in a specific pattern during subject capture, creating a lighting-agnostic model. Read more via TechCrunch : https://tcrn.ch/2Oqn3ER

16/07/2019

OS (Operating System, 作業系統) 學到的「分時 (Time Sharing)」概念，也是Turing Award得主的貢獻之一。現在想都覺得理所當然，不過能在新的領域應用一些基本觀念上去，並且得到很好的效果，就是研究促成進步的原因。抽象思維就是要訓練這樣的能力。

#抽象思維



https://www.facebook.com/17927643151/posts/10156666045343152/?substory_index=0

recipient Fernando Corbató, whose work on computer time-sharing in the 1960s helped pave the way for the personal computer, as well as the computer password, died on Friday at a nursing home in Newburyport, Mass. He was 93. http://bit.ly/2NV0XvH

The concept of “time-sharing,” in which a computer would switch rapidly between numerous programs, was proposed by several scholars at the end of the 1950s as a way to meet access management challenges. In 1961, Fernando J. “Corby” Corbato built the initial version of the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS) and demonstrated it in November of that year. Later, working in an interdepartmental initiative at MIT known as Project MAC, Corbato was instrumental in developing a second-generation replacement for CTSS called Multics: Multiplexed Information and Computing Services. This went on to become a prototype of a "computer utility" that provides computing and storage service to a large user community.

19/01/2019

“6th Grade Artists are learning how to use the Art Classroom Ipevo Cameras with their Chromebooks to Photograph their Art for their Artsonia Portfolios! ”

28/03/2017

Backus唸書時也是隨性地唸著．在1949年要從Columbia University畢業前，參觀了麥迪遜大道的IBM電腦中心，看到由IBM跟Howard在1944年以真空管做成的SSEC，這台機器佔據一個大房間．參觀過程中，Backus向解說人員提到他正在找工作，結果熱心的解說人員就帶著穿著邋遢的他去找電腦中心的主管面試．然後就被錄取了．

Backus一開始的工作是操作SSEC，這台電腦並沒有儲存裝置，指令表都得查閱使用說明書．操作的方式是利用卡孔紙帶將指令和資料餵進去，操作者必須掌控每一次的運算過程．而且因為組成的真空管多達數千個，真空管的壽命短、容易過熱，穩定性很差，因此這台機器每幾分鐘就會發生問題停止運轉，然後就要想辦法去重新啟動它．這就是當時寫程式的情形

1953年12月，Backus寫了一個備忘錄給他在IBM的上司，建議為IBM 704這台機器設計一套程式語言，以減少寫程式所需花費的時間．這個計畫名稱叫做Formula Translation，而最後制定的程式語言就是FORTRAN．Backus設計之初也沒想過這語言寫的程式會在其他機器上執行，因為那時似乎也沒其他可以跑程式的機器（就是電腦啦）．

後來FORTRAN在工程運算上被大量使用，因為運算正確又快．想當然，這是因為Backus他們的團隊花費一大堆精力在處理FORTRAN compiler的最佳化問題．

https://www.facebook.com/AssociationForComputingMachinery/photos/a.450674248151.237915.17927643151/10154671853128152/?type=3&theater

The fact that John Backus entered the computing field at all is serendipitous. Just before graduating from Columbia University, Backus toured the IBM Computing Center in New York City and saw the Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator (SSEC), a one-of-a-kind relay and vacuum tube computer. After making a passing comment to his tour guide about his interest in working on the computer, he was taken upstairs to meet the SSEC project director, and hired on the spot as a programmer. While working at IBM, Backus invented a program called Speedcoding to facilitate the process of machine-level programming. Backus later proposed the creation of a new language based on Speedcoding that would make it easier to program the IBM 704. After two years of work, Backus and his team released FORTRAN, which quickly gained considerable traction in the scientific community and went on to become the dominant programming language for scientific applications for many decades.

http://ow.ly/uvBL30aeGKU

19/02/2017

楔形文字記載的「蘇美王列表」(Sumerian King List)，是「神」作為君主統治世界，包含人類，數千年以上的一段歷史．

這篇文章中所描述的「神權時期」，跟2016年的電影「荷魯斯之眼：王者爭霸 (Gods of Egypt)」裡面的埃及很像．

不過這之間也可以看到一些數學的影子，埃及的方尖碑上有用他們所使用的數字符號來標示高度；蘇美人的年代則是用六十進制來表示．

「六十進制」還包括「十」的符號，就跟中國的「萬進制」裡面有「千」、「百」、「十」的位數一樣，萬個「萬」進到「億」，萬個「億」進到「兆」，而蘇美人則是六個「十」進到一個「六十」的符號，有趣！

http://hssszn.com/archives/18299

#數學史，＃數字表示方式，＃埃及，＃蘇美，＃楔形文字

...

14/02/2017

上星期在桃山人文館分享了來自拉加島的第一堂電腦課 —「Computer的起源」．

Computer的起源來自運算 (computations)，就是簡單的數學運算 (calculation)．我們討論數學該學到什麼地步？到底是怎麼變難的？

事實上，19世紀起，數學教育就開始著重在如何產生有創造力 (creative)、抽象化能力 (abstract) 的思考方式，而我們中小學數學課所注重的枯燥 (tedious)、重複性 (repetitive) 的計算能力 (computations)，其實是勞工 (laborers) 在做、被視為勞務 (labor) 的工作．

也因此，才有1812年英國人Charles Babbage利用齒輪、滑桿等機械裝置設計的Computer被製作出來 -- 就是要用機器取代人類在做Computer，不然人類怎麼運算都會出錯呀！

兩百多年後的今日，Computer Science的科技不斷演進，我們的教育卻還在訓練計算能力的話，就落後兩個世紀啦！

12/02/2017

不止量子電腦，生物電腦(biocomputer)也來參一腳了！
運算的元件 (Computing device) 除了半導體，現在還用到myosin (肌凝蛋白)當"Molecular motors"，如何達到CS的Automation真的不斷地在演進！

https://futurism.com/scientists-use-nanotechnology-create-super-fast-biological-computer/

Researchers found a new "supercomputer" using nanotechnology. These biocomputers can solve mathematical problems faster, and they are more energy efficient.

16/01/2017

"不要再用紙筆算數學了！改用Excel、Number、或是寫程式的方式來學數學，不要浪費時間在訓練「計算的直覺反應能力」，把「如何解題」當成「如何算計算題」，起跑點就輸了！
學校考試要拿高分就是要背公式、訓練計算成反射動作，題目才寫得完，才能拿高分啊！
所以，你肯根據這套說法來學數學，不在乎學校課堂上的分數嗎？"
http://cslagado.blogspot.tw/2017/01/blog-post.html