Category: computer science (Page 2 of 2)

The Google Story

November 29, 2013 / / 0 Comments

The Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our TimeThe Google Story: Inside the Hottest Business, Media, and Technology Success of Our Time by David A. Vise
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tells the Google story, starting with the biographies of the two founders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The two started with Sergey Brin’s initial insight as to how to determine link popularity (modeled on scientific paper ranking by citation counts from other papers) and then worked out how to index the existing internet (in 1998-1999) and return reasonably good search results. Given that decent search was so badly needed at the time, they had a tool that worked well – and that exploded out of the gate. Has a decent explanation as to how Google Ad Words work, and the what the resulting revenue stream has enabled the company to do.

An excellent primer for those who would like to learn more about Google.

The Story of Stuxnet

March 24, 2013 / / 0 Comments

When I started my computer science program, and was taking the first of the introductory classes during fall 2009, our Alice prof mentioned the need for programmers with security training to “harden” critical utility infrastructure. This was before the Stuxnet computer virus did its thing to the Iran centrifuges. Having a bit of life experience, my immediate conclusion was that if the threat had been identified, and was actively being discussed within the U.S., it was because there were tools capable of doing so either in development at a skunkworks, or already deployed against  enemies of the U.S.

Nine months later, Kaspersky Labs first identified the Stuxnet virus used to destabilize the Iranian uranium centrifuges. This article, published by the IEEE’s Spectrum magazine this month, tells the story in some detail.

UAB’s 3-D Printer Lab

March 23, 2013 /

Had a tour of UAB’s 3D printer lab Friday afternoon.

Disclosure: I’m a student enrolled in the UAB business school information systems program. I’m also doing a minor in computer science. The guy who runs the lab, Dr. Sloan, is my algorithms class prof this semester.

Watch parts printed in ABS plastic as part of 3-D Print Lab student project

The 3D printer lab is part of the computer science department at Campbell Hall. They have two industrial printers and 3 MakerBot machines of varying vintages and capabilities. They can print ABS plastic, ABS plastic with a secondary plastic for structures requiring support during production, and a biodegradable plastic which can be broken down and gradually replaced within living organisms.

Dr. Sloan is actively looking for on campus collaborators; if you need to prototype objects as part of your research or development process, he has the facilities. Samples of some of the work they’ve been prototyping while getting started can be seen at http://3dprintlab.cis….

He’s also actively recruiting for a collaborative computer science and art class, CS 491, which will be run during the next fall semester. Computer Science students and art students will be working in pairs to design, program and generate 3-D objects. No formal prerequisites are required, although he suggested that you have a good grasp of either programming or 3-D design/sculpture before enrolling.

How to count to 31 on one hand

March 1, 2013 / / 0 Comments

When I started my computer science studies, as a mature student with no programming experience, I took a class that introduced me to the basic programming and computer science concepts that underpin all computer architecture and programming.

These concepts are:

As part of learning about binary numbers, we learned how to count to 31 on one hand.

This video, from Fuerve, shows you how.

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