J_McQuade

Also, for a good probability textbook, I would point you to 'Probability and Random Processes' by Grimmett and Stirzaker. It may be a bit hard-going at first (which is why I recommend How to Prove It to get you used to rigorous maths), but it is a very thorough text that also happens to concentrate on many areas of interest to the average programmer (Markov chains and the like). Together with the companion book of exercises, it should be fantastic for self-teaching, too.

In calculus, you have so many options that I can only really suggest you go out and find one that you like. I used 'Early Transcendentals' by Stewart in my first year Calculus lectures and it's served as a good reference ever since, particularly for basic vector / multi-dimensional calculus. But, like I say, just look around.

For example, I don't have the figures, but I would assume that the USA spends an awful lot more on military R&D than the nations here in Europe, and subsequently is likely to see something of a return when we decide we need a new line of state-of-the-art fighter jets or similar. It doesn't look like the potential returns on the spending have been taken into account in the data, here, which somewhat obscures their significance.

In the end, I feel that form should follow function. Making something like this look like it should be functioning in ways that it never will perhaps just serves to outline its mundanity.

(Ooh err, I've probably gone and thought about it too much again.)

However, I do think that the emphasis on the prestige of one's university in this country (these days, at least) largely stems from a good decade or so of policies pushing perhaps less-than-ideal candidates into higher education. The replacement of vocational training with degree-level equivalents has in many ways depreciated the whole university process, leaving employers necessarily needing to look for the 'value' of a degree anywhere they can.

Actually, this is a question I've thought about a little too much, I'd wager, because, as a prospective undergraduate, I actually turned down an offer to read mathematics at Cambridge and decided to study at the University of Bristol instead. The latter is in itself a well-regarded institute, no doubt, but it cannot be said to have anything near the Oxbridge 'name-weight' (for want of a better term).

Do I regret my choice? In some ways yes, in some ways no. The decision was very much informed by my particularly working class background - I did not believe I would have 'fit in' to the predominantly upper-middle-class culture of either the university or the city that surrounds it. In hindsight, my opinion hasn't changed at all. Bristol suffers many of the same problems as a university, but as a city it is as colourful as they come.

I believe that forgoing the 'top tier' university worked such wonders for my social development (and, hence, my subsequent happiness) that I cannot bring myself to regret it wholesale. However, I can't help but feel there's an undeniable magic that happens when a highly selective and competitive institution brings a bunch of smart, young people together to explore their interests.

Being a part of that could, as the "Disadvantages of an Elite Education" article suggests, have ended up insulating me from the 'regular world', but there is the odd occasion where I cant help but wonder what could have been if I'd chosen to experience it. Maybe that's what it takes, you know? I try not to dwell on it for long, though - I've left that to my folks!

I've not planned to become a high-ranking politician or appear on BBC Radio 4 (yet), so a non-Oxbridge education hasn't hindered me much so far... Either way, though, I'm still (relatively) young and it will be a good few years before I can evaluate these decisions with any great degree of accuracy.

We'll see, I guess.

Ignoring that, though, from what I have seen it appears to be providing the communication benefits that have recently been explored by social networking sites, while cutting out a lot of the potential for the egocentricism that seems endemic to places like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the like.

If it delivers on that, then I shall be very pleased. It'll be good to be able to once again focus on the interaction with my friends, rather than the banner at the top of the page with their name on it.

If you want to go witth straight-up 2D, though, I've found it fairly easy to get simple and stylish results from Inkscape. That way might be better anyway - why do what everyone else is doing?

Either way, I'd recommend just throwing something together quickly until you've got a good 'working model' - then you can either spend a bit more time on the graphics, or consult someone who knows their way around a wacom!

It is impossible to feel frustrated while playing a banjo - FACT.

"If it ain't got no dead president on it then it ain't no damn money!"

I like to avoid giving credence to any negative stereotypes of Americans, but sometimes the internet makes that so very, very hard.

Sadly, it's not immediately apparent how to turn any of this into a paying 'career' - unless your name's Ray Mears, of course, or you're prepared to do it full-time and become a hermit (tempting, sometimes, I know...).

One of my ideal visions for an outdoors-ish job would be making and installing energy producing wind-turbines from scrap, which is something I've been interested in for a good while now. You'd likely never get rich doing it but there's an increasing market for off-grid energy that may soon be enough to support a person.

However, I am moderately jaded by the notion of usability defined as being "no learning required" - for example, which is more usable, vi or MS notepad? Anyone who has put in the effort would surely be able to use the former far more effectively than the latter, despite the difference in immediate accessibility.

It sort of muddies the water a little, I know, but I just don't think that 'ease-of-use' can be the last word in usability, and I think this is where free software excels - look at Firefox, for example. It has the instant gratification of any modern web-browser, yet offers almost emacs-level configurability.

I think that this is the happy medium that can only really come out of the free software world being, as it is, relatively immune to the sort of market forces that have forced the commercial sector to constantly chase the lowest common denominator. (who, let's face it, are bizarrely resistant to the idea that the incredibly complex piece of machinery in front of them might actually require some knowledge to use properly).

I just get massively incensed with the tone of pieces like this - their strong implication that the pursuit of knowledge is inherently A Bad Thing and the readiness with which they are prepared to be scared is so pervasive that sometimes I honestly get the impression that, to the average person, I must seem like an absolute lunatic for my intellectual pursuits.

For example, I've recently been playing around a lot with the Arduino. An acquaintance of mine, upon seeing my desk strewn with various wires and components, immediately asked "Wow, are you making a bomb or something?" - how crazy is that? Now, this person may not be particularly well versed in science or technology, but the fact that the first thing he thought of when exposed to a bit of it was "BOMB!" could well tell you a little about just how dangerous articles like this one can be once they've become the norm.

Maybe it's just human nature to be scared of things we don't understand, but something seems to be eroding the average person's very desire to understand in the first place. I can't help but think that scaremongering such as this is not helping in the slightest.

(And I apologise for jumping on this article as an excuse to have a bit of a rant, but it just makes me so very, very angry.)

Maybe I should talk to a shrink... Or anyone else who didn't do science or engineering at university, for that matter.

(according to the tongue-twister)"

That was actually surprisingly helpful, as I've never heard the second part! And now I know.

[edit]

"Input interpretation: how many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man? (etc.)

Result: the answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind (according to Bob Dylan)"

They've thought of everything!

Of course, the easiest way to make a programming podcast both interesting and entertaining seems to be just to get Simon Peyton-Jones in it ;).

And a very handy piece of software it is too! Murders the battery life on my N96, though, as if it wasn't pitiful enough. Still, a couple of spare batteries beat the MiFi hands down for price.

I got an Arduino board for Christmas last year, and I have to say that the little blighter has to be one of the friendliest ways for software people to take their tinkering in to the physical world... although, that said, I just can't shake the nagging feeling that one day, for whatever reason, I'll just have to implement Forth on it. Oh, I am so very, very weak.

Though snide remarks aside, while I agree that the tone of the article is patronising and not at all befitting of even a semi-serious piece of writing, I think too much has been made of the dangers of genetic engineering in the past, and actually find myself appreciating the implied "It's still just a blooming virus!" stance. I mean, surely a virus with altered genetic material is about as likely to wildly mutate as one that's entirely 'natural' (whatever that means)?

There is no doubt that such a virus could be dangerous if it had been engineered, say, to be more resilient or to reproduce very rapidly, but I think people get so worried about the scary things that genetic engineering could do (if it wanted to) that they expect it to do so regardless of what is intended. The same could be said of the public perception of science in general, sadly enough - look at the way people have reacted to the LHC.

The first thing I'd like to mention here is that, no matter what you say, smoking is goddamn cool. A lot of senselessly dangerous things are, so just live with it. If I see someone sat with a glass of wine and a cigarette, I think 'cool'. You probably do, to (at least if you've ever spent time in Europe). This is not really relevant, but I just wanted to get it off my (still functioning!) chest.

See, I actually took up smoking a short while ago (definitely old enough to 'know better') and then quit almost a year afterwards - and I did it mainly as an experiment. An experiment, that is, to ease the curiosity of never having known what it is like to be genuinely addicted to something. Properly "I need this" addicted. I mean, I thought I liked chocolate, but I'd never found myself counting the minutes until I grabbed my next mars bar.

But yes, it was interesting in many ways. First of all, nicotine is definitely great stuff - everything smokers tell you about being more alert, awake, on-the ball and in control is absolutely true. If I were to try and describe the effect, I would say that it makes it much easier to be happy. It doesn't make you happy, or alter your state of mind in any really noticeable way, but you'll just find yourself being more contented in what you are doing. You'll be more ready to be pleased with yourself, if you will. And that's nice.

However, I did stop. Smoking is, really, quite naff. Everything anti-smokers tell you about it stinking, making you feel dreadful in between every spark-up, and effecting your general health is also absolutely true. But the strange thing is, I didn't actually care at the time. I only decided to stop because I realised that it had become a habit. I had started to do it less for the positives and more to placate the negatives. It had become irrational, and I didn't like the thought of that.

So yes, I quit. And it was hard. Really hard, actually. I'd probably still be at it now if it wasn't for a Scandinavian friend of mine introducing me to Swedish 'Snus' - a moist ground oral tobacco (debatably) reckoned to be nigh-on carcinogen free. It seems to have none of the drawbacks of smoking, yet all of the benefits (apart from the 'cool' factor - in fact, a wad of sticky brown mud in your top lip is the opposite of cool). It also leaves your hands free for more important things; I mean, try using emacs with a lit ciggy in your hand! I'd say everyone should use the stuff, but it's hard to get a hold of in the EU (senseless blanket ban) and, well, you can imagine how inelegant it is. Certainly helped to wean me off the fags.

All in all, I'd say that it was worth doing. I can now very happily play devil's advocate to any smoking-related rant and have learned to disassociate the practice from any notion of a person's awareness, intelligence or background. Smoking is cool, smoking is pleasurable and, and this is far from unimportant, it is something to do, other than working, studying or idling. And, although this post turned into what seems like a rather off-topic essay (and has perhaps added to the shame I feel at not keeping a blog), I'd like to think that, while the opinions expressed here may not be particularly enlightened (or even interesting), they should, at least, be well researched.

... I think I might need to spark one up. (NO!)

Seriously, though - I can't help but think that no matter how brilliant Wolfram Alpha might be, it will never end up being as good as he thinks it is. I hope I'm proved wrong, but that unpleasant feeling has definitely coloured my opinion thus far.

When I was a young'un, I also had a major fascination with computers (guess it didn't wear off...) and managed to badger my mum into getting me a ZX Spectrum 128 from a car boot sale in the run up to a birthday (perhaps my 10th?). This was already old technology, then - we had a Windows 95 machine at home - but I didn't care. It was MY computer and, with the help of a few yellowed books and the first two volumes of INPUT magazine, I could make it do what I wanted!

I think that this was a very powerful introduction to programming - a good few years of PEEKing and POKEing and dipping into assembly every now and again is perhaps the most natural way to develop intuitive ideas as to how computers work and, although BASIC is frowned upon, it's always good to find out why the hard way! A lot of these ideas sound scary now, but on a small machine a kid can really go wild with them, and that freedom can be the best learning tool of them all.

And another plus with this plan - the kid gets a cool new gizmo. ;)

http://www.kirupa.com/developer/mx2004/platform_game.htm

Which, incidentally, is the first google result for "flash platform game tutorial"