aShademan

March 30, 2006

{dev.tools} Eclipse SDK


Being in a competitive environment helps you stay competitive. I hate to say this, but I observe the job market as a horrible gigantic monster that eliminates all who don't stay as dark and competitive as the monster wants you to be (is it why the job searching agency is called monster.com?). That's why I endure the cold spring in Edmonton.

I have minimal and rather linear understanding of software engineering and software architecture. For unknown reasons (I am still blaming super powers that govern our destiny for this), I have enrolled in a graduate course related to software architecture and formal methods. Not that I regret it, no! The course is very challenging for me (with a vivid lack of computing science knowledge), and at times, very difficult to follow. The bright side is that it serves a fast forward review and hands-on-experience of the concerns of softwer engineering researchers and developers without knowing what actually they have been through during the few past decades.

As the first part of this course, we dealt with model checking, which is a well-known concept in softer engineering. We used a new symbolic model verifier (SMV) called nuSMV. Then, we moved on to model extraction and in particular we used Agile Framework for model checking and extraction. This latter is developed by the course instructor, Jim Hoover. You can read more about agile framework.

As the second part of the course, we are now dealing with another problem that software engineers face: respecting design intent. If you are not in the field of software engineering, the terminology I am using may sound alien to you. It did sound alien to me, but to some extent, I am getting more comfortable using them. Perhaps, a knowledgable person (such as Jim himself) would recognize that I do not sound correct in some occasions. Like I have mentioned previously, I use this blog to self-organize my unstable state of mind and state of knowledge. Mind you, I don't fancy sharing my personal life with anonymous readers (like I've got many!). Anyways.

To capture and confirm aspect of design intent, they have developed the Structural Constraint Language (SCL). It seems that Daqing Hou has contributed to this approach the most. He gave lectures in class and it seems that he has been spreading out the word here and there. He has developed his SCL in Java, which gives me a chance to work with Eclipse SDK. It is an open source dev tool. Ken and Bruce helped me install Eclipse and SCL. Okay. My mind is straightened. I have to get back to do my homework. Before I go, I just found this piece of news:

Google Considers Joining Eclipse

There is a bright future for what I have just installed on my machine.

aShademan is out.

March 28, 2006

{dream.job} astronaut


Moving to University of Alberta got me one step closer to my dream job. Don't take me wrong. Earning a PhD (stands for Piled Higher & Deeper) is not a dream. It's a step. Don't take me wrong again. Being hired as a university professor is also not a dream. It's another step (maybe not!). I always wanted to become an astronaut and explore the unknown. Why, you asking? Donno!

Star Trek influence might it be;
Star Wars passion might it be (I adore you master Yoda);
Whatever it is, it's real folks.

I never wanted to become a surgeon (though I may end up doing Robotics Tele-Surgery at some point!) to serve humanity by saving (or not saving) lives. I am not a huge fan of bloodshed, nah! I always wanted to become an astronaut and destiny is helping me contribute (though very slightly) to building a system such as NASA's Robonaut. If I am good, they may want me to maintain it on site. Wait! Did the project proposal say autonomous?

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March 27, 2006

{computer.games} Sensible Soccer


Call me old-fashioned. Call me a loser. Call me whatever you want.

I have missed playing Sensible Soccer on an Intel 80286 machine.

March 24, 2006

{daily.howto} How to tell if spring has arrived

Mathematicians:
S={days|days belong to spring}
if n(S)<>0 then it is spring. The abstraction is left for the reader as an excercise. We have an empty set in Edmonton.

Astro-physisists:
If the earth has completed on full turn round the sun, it is spring again. The reference for the start of the spring is its previous year. The first spring we can track, dates back to the big bang when t=0, where t is the time. It is spring in Edmonton.

Computer Scientist Wanna-Be's:

#define SPRING_TEMPERATURE 10 /* Unit is Celesius */

int isSpring( struct days day ) {
    if ( avg_temperature( day.temperature ) >= SPRING_TEMPERATURE )
        return 1;
    else
        return 0;
}

If you are in Edmonton, make the following change:
#define SPRING_TEMPERATURE 0 /* that's right, zero is the measure! */

It is not spring in Edmonton.

Humble man in the woods:
Burry the girl with April in her eyes after she died by your firelight. Check to see if flowers have grown on the grave. Because of that basterd who ordered his slaves to turn her away, it won't be spring in your area until next year. This is happening every year in Edmonton.


All right, all right!

You don't need math to tell when spring has arrived;
You can't trust the crazy computations in astronomy, either;
You don't need to write a program for everything;
You don't need to listen to old songs to figure things out;

You just need to go out and smell the freshness in air.
Not in Edmonton though. You will freeze everything in your nostrils.

March 22, 2006

{hobbies.robotics} NXT to be released in F'06


Robotic kits may be a toy for many big kids, but for me they are more. Sort of similar to the map of the treasure island, which is more than just a map or a puzzle. Robotic kits are the guide to a valuable treasure.

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March 21, 2006

{entertainment.movies} Mission Impossible VI opens March 31, 2016



They have ran out of ideas. It's easier to duplicate good ideas than to generate good new ones. Basic Instinct 2! That's a crazy choice. Do they also refer to the leading roles as Sharon Stone 2 and Michael Douglas 2?

Seriously, how far would this movie business go? Imagine 10 years from now. Would you go to watch Mission Impossible VI that features Tom Cruise III?

March 20, 2006

{annual.report} 365 days ago

Almost 365 days ago, destiny striked me again. It was written that I get closer to the arctic. A few months after, I tried to change it. It was all written.

It's all written, don't you get it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it. It's all written. The power of will may not change your destination, but it sure will change the way you want yourself to be in that designated destination. Albeit a bit. I am where I was written, but I have attained more than was written. I have more. And I am happy.

Happy Norouz.

March 19, 2006

{nigtly.zen} geometry

What is the geometry of a box?
What is the geometry of a textured box?
What is the geometry of two boxes?
What is the geometry of structured scenes?
What is the geometry of unstructured scenes?
What is the geometry of natural scence images?

Once we answer these questions, we would be half-way to completion of the game. The other half is completed when answering questions that only come to existence while we are searching for the answers to previously known questions. THE END

March 18, 2006

{amateur.poetry} Melt away


I envy the colour green,
That mighty and warm colour green.

Under the piles of white snow,
It's that mighty colour green,

-That makes all the difference-
That wants to be seen.

Winter is arrogant around here
Why are people so jealous and mean

Melt away beautiful white winter
Melt away-
It's time to turn it all green.

Blossoms missing in yer white dress
It's not winter anymore; It's not a wedding.

It's just spring,
and we all want the spring,
to be green, green, and green.

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March 16, 2006

{human.male} that strange thing

Femmes have a specific useless kind of it too, but for some valid reasons no one calls it by its real name on them. Beard is certainly much more than just facial hair on male entities.

-It can turn into a thermometer in under -20C weather;

-It can show that you know a lot (esp. when you scratch it);

-It can increase your maturity; yet it can decrease your maturity if you spend more than 46 minutes for shaving it according to a design;

-It can show that you are fashionable or cool if you change the style every once in a while; It can show you are negligent about your looks if you don't trimm it;

-It can show that you belong to a certain religion (combined with lack of mustache for example);

-It can hide your age; yet it can reveal your age if you are under 20 or above 60;

-It can swallow the eraser you are playing with during a a confusing lecture; it can spit erasers (among other things) when you shampoo it;

-It can get sweet after eating ice cream; or red if ketchup's on your meal;

-It can tickle someone pleasingly at certain situations; It can annoy a newly born kid;

It can do so many strange paradoxical things. It's the strangest thing about us.