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Tuesday, June 26th, 2007

after much running around outside of the programming spheres, i’m finally back in the work and starting up much needed catching up and whatnot. the funusual moments are somewhat punctured here and there.

first off, i’m heading in the right direction (at last!). i found out yesterday i’m going to lead a team of one (me) in creating production software to read and transform data from a variety of lame sources (XML, excel, access) and pretty it up into a more sensible database. that starts in august, and continues on through january (for now).

right now, i’m creating a facade that links up an ArcMap plug-in (UI) to the backend code. it involves serializing objects to and from XML. it’s actually more fun than it sounds, since it’s my first real foray into a practical C# application.

today i got distracted and played around some with F#, microsoft’s implementation of ML with .NET framework.

that’s all for now. i swear i’ll make it to octane one of these days and meet up with you cats.

Posted in A Boring Default | No Comments »

special cases of bipartite matching

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

programming new variants on bipartite matching at work. fun stuff. film at 11.

Posted in Brain Candy | 1 Comment »

Senior Seminar / Final Quarter Final Chapter

Friday, March 16th, 2007

It’s not final until I have a diploma bearing the Terminator’s name, but I’m pretty sure I graduated.

Senior Seminar:
Finished my paper, and turned it in on Wednesday. I have no more to do for that class.

Real Analysis:
I need to study for my final on Tuesday, but it shouldn’t be a very difficult test.

Latin:
Some more study is needed, but I will do fine.

I’m glad to be finishing.

Posted in Personal | No Comments »

Senior Seminar / Final Quarter Chapter 5

Tuesday, February 20th, 2007

Senior Seminar:
I’ve been looking at Virtanen’s PhD. thesis, and I checked out some books on machine learning.
If anyone has any recommendations for machine learning, or AI books please send them along.

Real Analysis:
47/50 on the Midterm. I’m doing well so far. This last homework has been difficult but I am going to office hours tomorrow.

Latin:
Still ruling.

Posted in Personal | No Comments »

The Internet Is Epic

Tuesday, February 13th, 2007

I’ve been trying to figure out what this video actually says. All that I’ve come up with is that it gives me a vague sense of hope about the possibilities of the Internet, but it is not a very meaty intellectual chunk. I feel that this could have been a short film about the wonders of flint, and that as long as it is set to a techno sound track with clever editing it will give the viewer a vague impression of a message. The message being "Humans Rule."

I mean to belittle neither flint nor the Internet, but I feel that more should and could be said about the Internet. Sure the Internet is a fast communications network, and we’ve never had anything like it before. People are communicating on a mass scale never before seen. That is the "What." I don’t feel that any assertions were actually made about how the speed, and massive size of this communication is effecting culture.

Here is a different video.
I think I tend to agree with the response. On the whole I feel like not all that much has changed.
However, this is coming from someone who grew up with the Internet.

I will make an assertion of my own:
Whatever ‘sea-change’ is/was/will be upon us with regard to the Internet, it will not be extensively commented on by members of my generation. Yes the Internet is a good tool, but it is as much a matter of course as the automobile. With respect to the life of the heart we’ve been the same old humans from antiquity until now.

Posted in Brain Candy, Personal | No Comments »

Senior Seminar / Final Quarter Chapter 4

Saturday, February 10th, 2007

On Wednesday I gave my senior seminar presentation. It went well.
I am pleased with the effort I put into it, and I am relieved that that part of the class is over.
It was exciting to talk about something that I am interested in. I also feel that my understanding of the Discrete Fourier Transform has deepened.

Senior Seminar:
Now all I have to do is write a 10 page paper. I have begun it all ready.
The next step is to finish reading Virtannen, to begin understanding polyphonic source separation algorithms.

Real Analysis:
I have a midterm on Monday. This weekend I will study.
Homework is due on Wednesday. I will do some homework.

Latin:
Homework due on Monday.

Posted in A Boring Default, Personal, Project | No Comments »

Senior Seminar / Final Quarter 3.5

Tuesday, February 6th, 2007

Senior Seminar:
I’ve finished my presentation, and practiced it a few times.

Real Analysis:
I’ve finished my homework for tomorrow.

Latin:
I’ve finished my homework for tomorrow.

For the first time in a long while I feel that feeling from earlier in school when all your homework is done and you can do whatever you want for the rest of the evening. So relaxing. I’m going to go get some ice cream and then go to bed.

Posted in Personal, Project | No Comments »

Senior Seminar / Final Quarter Chapter 3

Saturday, February 3rd, 2007

Hello Everyone. My senior seminar presentation is on Wednesday of next week. Here is my current progress:

Senior Seminar:
    I have 16 slides in a power point presentation, and a written outline of what I want to talk about. This weekend I’m going to go home and put the finishing touches on the presentation by adding pictures, and maybe creating some example waveforms.
    While I still don’t feel like an expert on the Fourier Transform I feel like I have definitely learned something, and it will certainly be an informative talk to anyone who hasn’t learned anything about DSP or related topics. I am looking forward to it. I’m going to wear a tie.
    I have started writing the 10 page paper that is due at the end of the quarter. I wrote an introduction paragraph. I am excited to do my best on what is really my final project of my undergraduate career. Oh well, I shouldn’t celebrate yet. I will report on how the project went in a week.

Latin:
I’ve been keeping up with homework pretty well. I should start reading the stories more often, but other than that this class is going fine.

Real Analysis:
I’m doing well in this class also. I started the homework on Thursday (it is due on Wednesday). I hope to finish it soon so that I don’t have to worry while I put the finishing touches on my presentation. This class is really interesting. We learned the definition of a limes superior, limes inferior, and open sets today.

Have a good weekend.

Posted in Misc, Personal | No Comments »

Senior Seminar / Final Quarter Chapter 2

Saturday, January 27th, 2007

This week has been busy, but rewarding.

Senior Seminar:
   This week I met with my professor on Wednesday. I showed him a possible outline. He thought it was too much for a 30 minute talk, so I am pairing down the focus for the talk to just the Fourier Transform.
    I began reading a book entitled "The Discrete Fourier Transform" by D. Sundararajan. It is pretty clear so far, and seems to be a good starting point.
    I started making power point slides on the Sampling Theorem before I met with my professor, so I will have to go back and edit the presentation.
    I took a break from reading Virtannen this week. The paper for the class will still be about polyphonic source separation, but for now I need to focus on the talk.

Latin:
I got caught up. Practiced declensions, and read the stories from chapters 21 and 22.

Real Analysis:
I did another homework assignment. We had a quiz on Wednesday. I got 9/10 on the quiz and 8/10 on the first homework assignment. Hopefully this trend will continue. This class is really interesting.

Things are coming together.

Posted in Misc, Personal, Project | No Comments »

Senior Seminar / Final Quarter Chapter 1

Friday, January 19th, 2007

Hello everyone. I’m Mike. I’m studying mathematics at University of California at Santa Cruz. This is my last quarter and I have a talk that I have to give, and a senior project that I have to do. The idea of these posts will be to track my progress on this project, and my progress in my other classes. I hope that this will help motivate me to do my very best in my last year in university.

Here is the class rundown in order of difficulty:
   Senior Seminar
   Real Analysis
   Latin 2

Here is the broad view:
   Senior Seminar:
       Give a 35 minute talk on a mathematical topic, on February 7th
       Turn in a 10 page paper on the topic by the end of the quarter.

    Real Analysis:
       Weekly homework. Due Wednesdays.
       Reading.
       Tests.

    Latin 2:
       Homework for class 3 times a week.
       Reading.
       Tests.

Listing these is already starting to make things feel more manageable.

Now for some more details on my Senior Seminar:
I want to study polyphonic source separation algorithms. Through what little research I have done so far I have realized that this is too broad a topic to fit into a 35 minute talk. So, my first task is to narrow down what I will talk about. As it stands right now, maybe a short talk on the Discrete Fourier Transform would be good. Right now, the basic structure might go something like this:

1. Explain in broad terms how digital audio works. Samples, sampling frequency, possibly the sampling theorem, Nyquist frequency, etc.
2. Explain the mathematics of the Discrete Fourier Transform. Maybe, talk about the Fourier Transforms uses in other branches of math and science.
3. Explain what polyphonic source separation is, and how the Fourier Transform is used as a tool in polyphonic source separation algorithms.

Somewhere in there I want to talk about psycoacoustics, and cognitive science, but maybe there is not enough time to do that and I will have to save it for the paper.

In conclusion I will leave a list of things that I need to do in the following week:
    Senior Seminar:
       Continue reading Tuomas Virtanen‘s thesis on polyphonic source separation.
       Write a possible outline, and bring it to my professor on Monday.

    Real Analysis:
       Complete homework assignment. Do at least 1 problem every day.
       Finish reading chapter 1. Begin Chapter 2.

    Latin:
       Catch up on backlogged homework. (Tomorrow!)
       Stay caught up. Do a little every day.

Next time I will review my accomplishments, and I will describe a technique developed by my parents to help get ideas down on paper.

-Mike

Posted in Computer Music, Misc, Personal, Research | 1 Comment »