Advertise with Googlier.com tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794Fri, 24 Jul 2026 06:07:45 +0000Press Ctrl-F to Search This Pagehttp://asimjalis.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Asim)Blogger163125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-296173537333727021Wed, 09 Apr 2008 15:05:00 +00002008-05-20T16:21:22.536-07:00Check out Google App Engine. http://code.google.com/appengine/ There is a waiting list for developer accounts so I would recommend signing up ASAP. Google App Engine enables you to build web applications on the same scalable systems that power Google applications. No assembly required. Google App Engine provides a fully-integrated application environment. It's easy to scale. Google http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2008/04/google-app-engine-and-python.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-6373156068175232985Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:51:00 +00002008-04-04T09:18:29.252-07:00So the question is: Are we living in a matrix universe or is the real stuff really real and not a simulation. The simulation/matrix idea suffers from the problem of infinite regress - if this universe (u_0) is a simulation inside another universe (u_1) and u_1 is a simulation inside u_2, where does this end? If it ends at n then don't we have the same dilemma at u_n? http://en.wikipedia.org/wikihttp://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2008/04/matrix-universe.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-6262031109032186014Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:48:00 +00002008-04-04T07:49:19.430-07:00HARD ALGORITHMS Work on hard algorithms problems. For example: (a) Speech: Hidden Markov Models. (b) Optimization: Monte-Carlo simulations, simulated annealing, etc. (c) Clustering. (d) Conjoint Analysis. (e) Operations Research: Simplex, and other algorithms. BUG TRACKING 2.0 Create a traditional web services company with a 2.0 abstraction twist. (a) First create a REST-ful XML http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2008/04/product-ideas.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-115601022126149551Sat, 19 Aug 2006 17:42:00 +00002007-09-26T09:42:49.756-07:00Here is an example of how to use analysis to arrive at somewhat unconventional conclusions. See which of the premises and arguments look suspicious. * * * No single story has done as much to stereotype step-mothers as Cinderella. But why has this happened? Cinderella is a fictional story. Let's not stereotype all step-mothers based on this made up story. For all we know this is pure http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2006/08/truth-about-cinderella.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110642538554223295Sat, 22 Jan 2005 20:23:00 +00002006-07-07T06:41:18.156-07:00I wrote a small program that tells you how popular a word or phrase is on Google. It's a good way to compare different things for Google popularity. (See the end of this post for the code.) For example, to see how many times the words cat and dog appear on the web, I typed: gcount.sh cat dog. Here are the results that I got: cat 128,000,000 dog 83,000,000 Clearly, cat-lovers dominate http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/google-counting.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110577967373239010Sat, 15 Jan 2005 09:01:00 +00002005-01-15T01:01:13.733-08:00There is something about wikis that disturbs me and I couldn't quite put my finger on it before. Here is a stab at it. The trouble is that they don't play well with non-wiki sites. It's hard to integrate a blog into a wiki. Suppose I want to set up a shareware site. It's hard to do this on a wiki. I mean the wiki does not really make things easier for me. It makes them harder. It's usually easierhttp://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/wiki-versus-unix-philosophy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110577966118643689Sat, 15 Jan 2005 09:01:00 +00002005-01-15T01:01:01.186-08:00Here is a technique I have found useful for planning small projects: Write down the goal. Then write down the steps working backwards from the goal. For example, if my goal is to resolve a bug, I start with a list that looks like this: [ ] resolve bug Then with some thinking I come up with things I need to get there, and write them down higher up in the list. So I get something like: [ ] http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/plan-projects-backwards-from-goals.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110577914544661465Sat, 15 Jan 2005 08:52:00 +00002005-01-15T00:52:25.446-08:001. The internet was hard to design (it did not happen earlier) because the software architects charged wtih designing networked communication systems assumed complete information was necessary. 2. The href style link is an innovation because it makes no assumptions about the link. It does not assume that the link exists, or that the browser knows or needs to know whether the link exists. 3. Thehttp://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/internet-innovation-google-software.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110577087628825698Sat, 15 Jan 2005 06:34:00 +00002005-02-13T17:13:01.656-08:00This analysis is based on voter data from CNN. Here is the URL: Link to http://www.cnn.com. My impression during the door-to-door interviewing was that people who supported Bush considered terrorism as the most important issue. Looking at the issues section, the thing to note is the percentage who found an issue important times the percentage of this segment that voted for Bush. This gives http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/analysis-of-us-presidential-election.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110577087098563651Sat, 15 Jan 2005 06:34:00 +00002005-01-14T22:34:30.986-08:00Here are some more thoughts on how to get things done, when it is easier to come up with ideas than to implement them: 1. To accomplish projects you must finish them quickly. So write them in scripting languages like Perl, Bash, Python, or PHP. Do not write them in C/C++ or Java. Remember that the project is going to lose its charm quickly. A Perl hack is more likely to get done than a C/C++ http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/lots-of-ideas-but-not-enough-time.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110576406093743235Sat, 15 Jan 2005 04:41:00 +00002005-01-14T20:41:00.936-08:00The neat thing about ruby is its blocks and yields. So for example a function f, which takes three arguments and a block can be called as: f(a, b, c) { |x,y| more stuff }. This is what f looks like: def f(a,b,c) # do stuff with a,b,c z = yield x, y # do more stuff end Now yield can be inside a loop. Each time yield is called, it calls the block, and sets its two parameters to x and y. The http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/why-ruby-is-neat.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110576404811486199Sat, 15 Jan 2005 04:40:00 +00002005-01-14T20:40:48.113-08:00It occurred to me that there is a conflict between what I have been doing on my sites, and what I need to do to optimize Google ads. The purpose of a personal site (such as mine) is to publish ideas. From the perspective of ads, there is really no market for original ideas or thoughts. Original ideas don't lead people to make purchase decisions. The purpose of a well-oiled ad site should be http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/conflict-between-google-ads-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110576250706763481Sat, 15 Jan 2005 04:15:00 +00002005-01-14T20:15:07.066-08:00Builder AU has an interview of Damian Conway (which is also posted on Slashdot). Here are some interesting comments that Damian made about the nature of software development: It seems that every few years a new development technique is hailed as the start of the Programming Renaissance, the Golden Age of Scientific Software Development. And none ever is. [...] Of course, the problem http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/damian-conway-on-software-problem.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110574176426626524Fri, 14 Jan 2005 22:29:00 +00002005-01-14T14:29:24.266-08:00GROWN-UPS AND CHILDREN The grown-up and the child principles form a duality along a continuum. For example, IBM is a parent. Apple is a kid. In the middle Apple tried to become a parent and almost went out of business. Google is clearly a kid. Their acquisition of KeyHole.com only makes sense if you look at them this way. The whole company feels like a kid's room. There are giant inflatable http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/kid-principle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110574167836950033Fri, 14 Jan 2005 22:27:00 +00002005-01-14T14:27:58.370-08:001. Google has recently released http://desktop.google.com, which lets you google your hard drive. It is quite good. Also the size is small. The download is about 400k. The memory footprint is about 1 Meg. In other words, you could fit this on a single floppy. 2. The user interface is IE. The application spawns a tiny web server and then connects to it with IE. In other words the application hashttp://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/google-command-line-and-gui.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110573267276677582Fri, 14 Jan 2005 19:57:00 +00002005-01-14T11:57:52.766-08:00Here is a post that John Baez posted on usenet, that I think is worth reading: ________________________________________ From: John Baez (baez@galaxy.ucr.edu) Subject: Re: Help, I'm arXiv drowning! Newsgroups: sci.physics.research Date: 2003-03-05 13:47:02 PST Serenus Zeitblom wrote: > These days I seem to spend more time reading and trying to > understand arxiv postings than doing actual http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/john-baez-on-having-angle.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110572665905788682Fri, 14 Jan 2005 18:17:00 +00002005-01-14T10:17:39.056-08:00There are two key things to keep in mind in exams: (a) to not stress out, (b) to allocate the time optimally. Of these allocating the time is the most important point. Here's usually how I did the time allocation: 1. Divide the total time available by number of problems and then round down to 5 or 10 or 15, to get a rough idea of how many minutes per problem I had. 2. Skim through the exam http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/quiz-and-exam-techniques.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110572612307379285Fri, 14 Jan 2005 18:08:00 +00002005-01-14T10:08:43.073-08:00Here is a link to a news story about research on impulsiveness in blue jays and the importance of short-term rewards for them: Link to story. Here are some excerpts from the story: > In experiments with blue jays, David Stephens, a professor of > ecology, evolution and behavior in the [University of > Minnesota's] College of Biological Sciences, found that birds > presented with a choice of http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/impulsiveness-versus-patience.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110572281420249194Fri, 14 Jan 2005 17:13:00 +00002005-01-14T09:13:34.203-08:00There is a subtle problem with XP. These problems are hard to get at. Often I know something is wrong, but I can't quite explain it. There is a phenomenon, which I have noticed and Ward Cunningham also mentioned in a conversation, and this is that after a while XP teams tend to get bored with programming. There are different explanations for this. Regardless of what explanation we come up withhttp://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/reflections-on-extreme-programming.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110572280969347522Fri, 14 Jan 2005 17:13:00 +00002005-01-14T09:13:29.693-08:00I am struck by the fact that Godel's proof is really simple and elegant. It has the same flavor as Russell's paradox (consider the set that contains all the sets that don't contain themselves -- does this set contain itself?). The trick of expressing mathematical statements as numbers seems obvious now given that we do this in computers all the time, but was probably a little less accessible inhttp://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/reflections-on-godels-theorem.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110572277008893966Fri, 14 Jan 2005 17:12:00 +00002005-01-14T09:12:50.086-08:00One of the things that gets in my way of getting things done is that if the task is not interesting, I find it hard to get motivated to do it. I know people who don't view things this way. Normally, this ability to discriminate between boring and interesting things is a weakness. The guy who can put his head down and crank out whatever code the customer wants wins every time. But if applied http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/interest-as-strength.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110572276797683260Fri, 14 Jan 2005 17:12:00 +00002005-01-14T09:12:47.976-08:00I am much better at thinking up stuff than at doing stuff. I use a lot of little tricks to stay focused and to get things done. Thoughts and ideas are effortless. Execution is hard. In our conversations about entrepreneurship and money, we have focused on ventures that are based on tangible products. In fact most of the economy is based on tangible products so this focus is natural. Since http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/economics-of-ideas.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110572276605336097Fri, 14 Jan 2005 17:12:00 +00002005-01-14T09:12:46.053-08:00I have always resisted an instinct to focus on concepts at the expense of experience. Even though I prefer to think about what to do, it seems more fruitful to act, to engage with the world, to get real feedback. But accumulating real experiences is so time-consuming and hard and tedious. And so why resist the attraction to concepts. Why not just engage with concepts and abandon the pretense http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/analyzing-versus-executing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110572275738132638Fri, 14 Jan 2005 17:12:00 +00002005-01-14T09:12:37.380-08:00Nicholas Carr appears to be an example of someone who comes up with ideas, but not with implementations: http://www.nicholasgcarr.com/info.shtml Max McKeown is another such person. This weekend I spent some time googling Arundhati Roy, who appears to be another example. Here's what I found out. She studied architecture in school, then fell in love, moved to the beach and sold cakes for a few http://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/making-money-from-thinking.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5357794.post-110571126400804430Fri, 14 Jan 2005 14:01:00 +00002005-01-14T06:01:04.006-08:00One of the neat things about math is that reuse is extremely simple and pervasive. Since mathematical proofs are written for people you can easily allude to someone else's proof and expect the reader to get it. You can say, "based on the result by this other person in this other paper, we know that X is true", and then you can continue from there. In computer science it is not as easy. You can'thttp://asimjalis.blogspot.com/2005/01/math-and-object-oriented-programming.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Asim)0