Jack Carder

[cs-student-things]

Blog 8 - Where Do I Go From Here?

            My dream job in computer science is kind of a difficult topic for me to cover. Since this is my first semester here at Kansas State University, i am not entirely sure about what I want to do yet and am kind of exploring my options more and more, the more classes i take. However, there are a few fields of study that i find particularly interesting as of right now that i would not mind working in. These fields of study include, but are not limited to, video game programming, Artificial Intelligence programming and research, and Cyber security / defense.

            Personally, I really enjoy topics that have cool real world applications or have an output i can tangibly interact with. These include, but are not limited to, programming robotics or something that can move, something that takes in data to produce a result, and recursion. An emphasis on the higher languages might also be nice since i found python to be tedious and annoying to work with compared to the three other languages that i know how to write in.

            Some classes that I am quite excited to take down the proverbial road are mostly all within the advanced class structure of the graduate / professional program and primarily cover some of the things i mentioned above. Things like how to properly optimize the code for robotic systems, genetic or learning algorithms and how to apply them to machines or programs in order to accomplish more complex tasks.

            In terms of areas i wish the class covered in a more in depth manner, i would say that sorting algorithms are among my top things that the class is qualified to cover. The book Nine Algorithms that Changed the World did a pretty good job at this on its own. However there was still somethings from the class that i feel could have been covered better in class.

            In Patter on The Stone chapter 1 covered the basics of some computer logic. This included “boolean logic”, “bits and logic blocks”, as well as simple computers like the “Fluid computer”, and the one made out of tinker toys. Over all this chapter was quite informative and eye catching. This was quite apparent towards the end when the focused switched from logic to the different types of unorthodox computers people have built like the Tinker Toy computer described on pages 16-18 of Pattern on The Stone.

            In Tubes  chapter 1: The Map, it starts off talking about when the author arrived there one January in winter. he then goes on to go over the history of the area and goes in-depth on how the industry grew in the area once things were more connected. He then relates this to the internet and the transfer of files from one place to another “frictionlessly” since he claims the internet is a safer place. He also goes on to talk about his search for the physical internet. This chapter was kind of interesting in the sense of the revealed history and a northern town’s relation to the internet. It was also kind of a boring way to start a book in my opinion. Considering how that book was supposed to be about the internet it certainly took its time getting to the connection.

            In Nine Algorithms That Changed The World  chapter 1: Introduction: What are the Extraordinary Ideas Computers use Every Day, John MacCormick talked about how computers do some tasks through the use of algorithms as well as a little bit of computer history. These algorithms are described to anything from simple addition, to complex mathematical models among other things. It also described the “Great algorithm” which was described to do many many things. Overall I think that this chapter was quite entertaining to read. It was a great way to ease into the rest of the book and fit quite nicely.

            As for what areas i want to learn more about, that answer can be found above in paragraphs one through three in this post.

[cs-student-things]

Blog 7 - Making Meaning: 9 Algorithms that Changed the World

             The book 9 Algorithms that Changed the World: The ingenious Ideas that Drive Today’s Computers by John MacCormick was a pretty interesting read. However it was less interesting than others. Some of it was pretty cool like how Chapter 1: Introduction: What are the Extraordinary Ideas Computers use Every Day . However there were many parts that I found really complicated and confusing like in chapter 3: PageRank: The technology that Launched Google . I will elaborate as I go through and review each one individually bellow.

            In chapter 1: Introduction: What are the Extraordinary Ideas Computers use Every Day, John MacCormick talked about how computers do some tasks through the use of algorithms as well as a little bit of computer history. These algorithms are described to anything from simple addition, to complex mathematical models among other things. It also described the “Great algorithm” which was described to do many many things. Overall I think that this chapter was quite entertaining to read. It was a great way to ease into the rest of the book and fit quite nicely.

            In chapter 2: Search Engine Indexing: Finding Needles in the Worlds Biggest Haystack, he goes in-depth on how search engines work and find the pages you want. This includes things like how search engines rank pages, the indexing of words, and the meta word trick. All of these together form the basics of any search engine algorithm and are immensely useful when applied fully. Overall, this chapter was pretty interesting because of the little bit of insight that it shared on how search engines. However it was fairly complicated in its explanations and relied quite heavily on its illustrations to give meaning to them.

            In chapter 3: PageRank: The technology that Launched Google, John talked about all of the little tricks the worlds largest search engine does. This would be a pretty good follow up to the previous chapter, however it is dreadfully complicated and very hard to follow. Even with the pictures and diagrams parts of the chapter like “why all incoming links should be treated equally”(pg 27) or just the random surfer trick in general.

            In chapter 4: Public key Cryptography: Sending Secrets on a postcard, he talked about basic encryption methods and some of their practical applications. These applications could include things in the real world such as work in the CIA. This chapter was pretty interesting. The inner child in me thought “ oooooo secret messages” so it had to be good.

            In chapter 5: Error-Correcting Codes: Mistakes that Fix themselves, John talked about very complex codes that do some pretty wild stuff. To be honest this chapter was another one that i couldn’t follow easily and was really confusing and difficult to get through.

            In chapter 6: Pattern Recognition: Learning From Experience, he talks about how computers and their algorithms and getting better and better at recognizing patterns more and more quickly. This type of development can also be called machine learning if the algorithm is self improving. This Chapter was pretty interesting overall and wasn’t too hard to get through.

           In chapter 7: Data Compression: Something for Nothing, was all about the simplification of data to make it easier to store and/or transmit. This is just about everywhere in today’s society like in YouTube videos, pictures and even some numbers. This chapter was a pretty cool one and was interesting to see what all goes into compressing an image or other forms of data.

            In chapter 8: Databases: The Quest for Consistency, John talks about the storing of data and the long journey these databases had to go through to have all of their data formatted in a similar fashion. In fact this journey is still going on today. This chapter was pretty easy one to get through and was intriguing because of how it described how different each database can be.

            In chapter 9: Data Signatures: Who Really Wrote this Software, He talked about how there are so many programs and softwares out on the internet and in real life that it can be hard to tell who made it. That’s why certain programmers developed their own sort of “signature” to distinguish things that they’d written from others. Overall this chapter was kind of a “meh” since it wasn’t too interesting but it wasn’t hard to follow.

            In Chapter 10: What is Computable?, He goes over what all can be reasonably put into a computer as well as things like whether something is true or analyzing another program. Overall this chapter was another “meh” being easy to follow but not too engaging as a whole.

             Chapter 11 is just a conclusion over the whole book and talks about the more potential you can go with these algorithms.

            Overall, this book was pretty good and decently interesting to read even though some chapters are kind of hard to follow or were a bit on the dull side.

[cs-student-things]

CIS 115 Blog 6 - Computing Science & Mathematics

            When talking about Computer science and math, in many cases you are talking about the same thing. Applied mathematics, in this case, is simply math that finds use in numerous fields / areas such as engineering, business, industry, science, and of course computer science. It is applied in such a way so that more things can become more efficient more quickly than they would have become otherwise. Since “Computer Science relies on logic, algebra, and combinatorics.” as stated in the wiki link for Applied Mathematics in the assignment on Canvas, it it is quite obvious that computer science relies on math. Heck, the logic portion is just the comparison of actual number to determine an outcome. As for algebra and combinatorics, those two are actual fields of math so it is no surprise that they are connected as closely as they are. The wiki link in the assignment on canvas titled “Theoretical Computer Science” elaborates more on this connection by elaborating on how Theoretical Computer Science is all about how math and algorithms fit into the computing of data and numbers among other things. Theoretical Computer Science also covers a very wide variety including algorithms, data structures, computational complexity, parallel and distributed computation, and probabilistic computation to name a few of them.

            The mathematical concept I am the most interested in are some covering algorithms in combinatoric, or discrete, math. These relate to computer science, not in the normal way but in a more theoretical way. These covering algorithms are more related to Theoretical Computer Science by letting computers and computer scientists go in depth on how to best accomplish tasks in the most efficient and least time consuming manor possible for that machine and / or person. Moving in to algorithms for a bit, they relate to mathematics in just about every way even if they were not written for mathematics in the first place. However sorting algorithms, and others of the like, make the most sense when applied to a computer. This is because, even though these algorithms are not that difficult to work through manually, what all would one sort with them outside of a computer? Inside a computer sorting algorithms and others similar to them are the most useful in organizing data and less so in tangible objects. As Stated above, an area of Theoretical Computer Science that i am interested in is the area pertaining to covering algorithms in the combinatorial / discrete math field as well as the use of intricate graphs to portray data in complex ways. These fields / areas interest me because of the way they are solved as well as what they are commonly used for in real world situations has always captivated me and gotten me to take a closer look at them whenever i encounter them. So far this year though, the textbooks have almost exclusively dealt with mathematical implications of computer science, aside from the purely computer science topics of course. Moving on to major historical figures, these include people like Charles Babbage and Alan Turing among other people. They are significant to both Computer science and mathematics because they tarted in math, then moved to computer science, even if they didn’t call it that. They started out as brilliant mathematicians and used their math skills to design and build some of the first computers ever made by humans. They revolutionized the way people act, the way people interact with one another, the way our world is perceived, and even more than that. They fought against the common beliefs and used math to create computer science and computer engineering, to create a whole new world of endless possibilities.

[cs-student-things]

CIS 115 blog 5 - Making Meaning: Tubes

            The book Tubes by Andrew Blum was an interesting read however a fair bit of it was kind of dull. Some of it was pretty cool like how Chapter 4: The whole Internet went in depth on the internet. However there were a many parts that i found dull like some parts in chapter 3. I will elaborate as i go through and review each one individually bellow.

            In chapter 1: The Map, it starts off talking about when the author arrived there one January in winter. he then goes on to go over the history of the area and goes in-depth on how the industry grew in the area once things were more connected. He then relates this to the internet and the transfer of files from one place to another “frictionlessly” since he claims the internet is a safer place. He also goes on to talk about his search for the physical internet. This chapter was kind of interesting in the sense of the revealed history and a northern town’s relation to the internet. It was also kind of a boring way to start a book in my opinion. Considering how that book was supposed to be about the internet it certainly took its time getting to the connection.

            In chapter 2: A Network of Networks Andrew Blum talks again about his search for the birthplace of the internet or where it started but as he soon found out, it wasn’t as strait forward as that. Everywhere he looked he found different milestones and different defining events that others declared the starting point of the internet. Later on he goes and talks about the ARPANET and the universities that originally were connected to one another and how that is the commonly accepted theory. This chapter would have been interesting if we hadn’t already gone over it in class in depth a few weeks ago.

            In chapter 3:The Connection he talks about where he lived in-between the internet bubble burst and the re-inflation which happened to be in the heart of silicon valley. He also talks about how companies like Google and Facebook helped make this all possible by connecting people to the internet in a way that had never been done before. I found this one kind of dull because i personally already knew this information like how google was originally in offices above a rug shop(pg 69), and just about everyone i know knows that google was started somewhere near silicon valley.

             In chapter 4:The Whole Internet he talks about how the internet has impacted everyone’s lives. How its transformed the way we operate on a fundamental level and how its existence has been semi-seamlessly into our society. He also briefly talked about how infinitely large the internet truly is. I enjoyed this chapter because it described the sheer size of the internet and i find that awe inspiring thought truly amazing.

            In chapter 5: Cities off Light he talks about when he was in Austin TX for a convention and got to take apart a cable from a major internet hub. His guide explained how they were working on cables that could transmit hundreds of giga-bytes per second and how it will boost overall internet speed by a significant margin. This was a particularly interesting chapter because of how it described what exactly people were doing to improve the internet as a whole and improve peoples lives in the actual world.

            In chapter 6: The Longest Tubes Andrew Blum talks about how long that physical connections of the internet are and about the large undersea cables aren’t enough for some countries to adequately access the internet reliably. This chapter sort of chains together with chapter 5 and flows really nicely. It was quite interesting to read and informative.

            In chapter 7: Where data sleeps he talks about Dulles Oregon and all the industry there. specifically the massive data centers there that house unfathomable amounts of data and processing power they possessed and how astonishing some of the ones he got to see were. This was also a decently interesting chapter when it described the data centers in detail but it could also be seen as really boring to many seeing as the nature of the topic, giant computers that hold data.

             Overall this book wasn’t too bad but it was dull in a few places. I would recomend it to others looing to learn about the history of the internet and its significance. I think this was chosen as a textbook to help know what we are working with on the internet.

[cs-student-things]

CIS 115 Blog 4 - The Filter Bubble

            After watching the Ted talk i can really see that filter bubbles are a growing concern for many, if not all, users of the internet. This filter bubble in essence, strips away the pure rush of exploration an innocence of internet viewing as described on page 105-106 of “Tubes” by Andrew Blum when he talks about his eight-year-old niece and how “She’s an instant messaging, youtube watching, video chatting, iPad swiping member of her generation.”. This shows that she has never known a world without the internet and can view it in a much more physical and exploitative point of view. This point of view is what is being slowly destroyed with the use of such filtering algorithms the gatekeepers of all that we see on the internet. 

            I went on to test out how different this filter bubble is for each person, and as it turns out each person’s filter bubble is distinctly different from anyone else’s filter bubble. As I looked through my friend Amanda’s Amazon page and purchase history I noticed a few distinct things that were fundamentally different that mine. Her Amazon page had more thinks to look through than mine did. Her Amazon page also was geared towards more clothing items, like dresses and scarfs, and food items, like packs of assorted candies, twelve packs of instant cup of craft mac and cheese. Her Youtube page was geared more towards music than mine was. The ads on some of her videos were all clothing ads, aside from the generic ones everyone gets. This is because how she explained that she primarily uses her computer for school and shopping.

            My pages however were vastly different from hers outside of incognito mode in google chrome. When I tested out my Amazon page i found the exact opposite of what my friend Amanda had on her page. My Amazon page consisted of primarily searches for lego star wars the clone wars minifigures, as well as assorted technology gadgets like projection keyboards, mouse touch pads, and foldable screens. My Youtube page was also completely different from my friend Amanda’s page. Since i spend the vast majority of my Youtube time watching funny videos along side tech videos such as one that showed one of the first true holographic volumetric displays. My ads on Youtube were also geared towards upcoming video games like Shadow of War and Total War War Hammer Two. This is Because I primarily use my computer for video games and searching the endless pages of the internet as described in “Tubes” chapter 4 like being a beautiful monument and something to awe at and aspire to understand.

            I also went on to test out these site in google chrome’s incognito mode as well. The results were quite intriguing in comparison to both Amanda’s and mine computers. While viewing Amazon in incognito mode, all that was presented was just the generic items or the top selling items like game boys and other things like that. The ads on that site were also much different ion comparison to Amanda’s and mine, seeing as how they were all just generic ones and not tailored to any one person. Observing YouTube I found a similar outcome. All of the presented videos were just the top viewed ones or the most viewed ones of the past few days. And the ads were all just generic ads directed to the public as a whole and not to my specific tastes nearly as much as when i was logged into a non incognito mode page.

            This whole phenomenon is described perfectly in the Wired article  “Your Filter Bubble is Destroying Democracy” in which it goes on about how the “filter bubble” is stripping us of our free will to explore the internet as we see fit. Instead we should be able to explore the internet as we see fit. This bubble is simply not ethical and shouldn’t be allowed to exist for much longer.

[cs-student-things]

CS blog 3

            In my computer science class, we had to read the book “The Pattern on the Stone” by W. Daniel Hillis. Since I had taken Computer science for my last two years in high school, the book seemed a bit repetitive to me. Because of this, there wasn’t very much “new” material but the most interesting thing that i did learn about happened to be in chapter four which i will be covering later in this post. However if I were to pretend i had not taken any classes beforehand that dealt with some of the same things that were in the book, then I would say that it is pretty interesting and catches the reader’s attention pretty easily. To further review this book, i will also be reviewing the nine chapters individually.

            Chapter 1 covered the basics of some computer logic. This included “boolean logic”, “bits and logic blocks”, as well as simple computers like the “Fluid computer”, and the one made out of tinker toys. Over all this chapter was quite informative and eye catching. This was quite apparent towards the end when the focused switched from logic to the different types of unorthodox computers people have built like the Tinker Toy computer described on pages 16-18. 

            Chapter 2 got more into the logic behind things as well as getting into things called “Finite state machines”. This chapter came off as more technical and was almost hard to follow even with my background in programming. That might make it a bit difficult to follow if the reader doesn’t know what they’re reading. Or at the very least make you have to re-read it a few times.

            Chapter 3 got into the actual programming of computers and how it all fits together. This chapter was a nice change of pace in comparison to the previous chapter. It was a bit easier to follow and offered helpful examples of code outputs.

            Chapter 4 gets into deep though about computing as well as bits of quantum computing. Tying back to the introduction, the most interesting thing i learned was about was Alan Turing on pages 62-64. Previously i had only known about him though the movie “The Imitation Game”, but now i know that he dreamed about larger things like more universal computers or computers that could imitate and other type of computer/computer function. Aside from the bits about Turing this chapter was relatively strait forward and easy to comprehend as a whole.

            Chapter 5 went into Algorithms in depth and was quite intriguing as i have seen and coded many of them before. To someone not experienced enough in coding it may seem like a bit too much to process all at once or just outright confusing. However i found it intriguing enough and saw some algorithms i hadn’t seen before.

            Chapter 6 gets into memory systems as well as compression and secret codes.This chapter was easier to follow and contained the kind of stuff that most people think of when they think computer programmers, secrets and hacking. This kept me thoroughly intrigued and attentive throughout this chapter.

            Chapter 7 talks about parallel computation and is decently interesting. however it is very similar to chapter 8 which is primarily about learning algorithms so they seemed to run together in my opinion. Both were interesting to read though and i was particularly drawn to the parts that referenced A.I..

            Chapter 9 goes in depth on the human brain and how to emulate that with computers and electronics. It is pretty intense to be entirely honest. but its easy enough to follow and is pretty interesting.

            Overall this was a pretty good book. I didn’t really dislike any major part of this book or was left with any major questions. I would recommend this to someone wanting to learn because it makes a great first impression.

[cs-student-things]

CIS 115 Blog 2

           I chose the algorithm “Selection sort”. Now, I couldn’t find any specific year or date when it was published, but I would assume that it was published sometime after “Bubble sort” which came out in the mid-1950′s.                                      The algorithm sets up two lists, the sorted list which is empty at first and the unsorted list which contains the entire unsorted input. The algorithm then starts by finding the smallest, or largest depending on how its set up, element and removing it from the unsorted list, shrinking the unsorted list by one and adding the removed element to the end of the sorted list. This process is then repeats over and over again until all of the elements have been sorted and the unsorted list is empty.                                                                                                          Initially, there isn’t really anything special about this algorithm. However, if you look at how it operates, specifically its big O notation, then you’ll see it’s uniqueness. At its worst, Selection sort’s big O notation is n^2, but at its best it is also n^2. This means that not matter the list it will perform the same number of checks in its worst case as it does in its best which is not a common thing among algorithms.                                                                                                               Just about any other successful algorithm will produce a similar end result but in terms of speed there are many other algorithms that are much faster such as “Merge sort” which has an average performance of O(n log n) and a typical run of O(n). “Selection sort” easily outperforms the “Bubble sort” and “Gnome sort” algorithms. “Selection sort” easily outperforms the “Bubble sort” and “Gnome sort” algorithms. However, it is eventually outperformed by the “Insertion sort algorithm” after a certain number of iterations.                                       While using a computer is significantly easier in terms of completion, it is completely possible to do in real life with something like a deck of cards or a set of numbered sticks. This can also be seen in POTS Ch 5. pg 77-78 with the sock sorting example.                                                                                                                   This relates to what we’ve already read throughout chapter 5 actually. From the example with the socks, to page 80 where the algorithm “Selection sort” is specifically used to sort a deck of cards on an office desk and explains that since “Selection sort” has to look through all of the remaining elements to find the next lowest one to then place in the sorted section or list. From the example with the socks, to page 80 where the algorithm “Selection sort” is specifically used to sort a deck of cards on an office desk and explains that since “Selection sort” has to look through all of the remaining elements to find the next lowest one to then place in the sorted section or list.                                     “Selection sort” can be found just about everywhere in the outside world. One such place it can be found is when learning to count and / or sort things as little kids. Another place it can be found in real life is use in in-line comparisons of smaller lists of data. “Selection sort” is not very viable for use in larger lists though, as it takes longer and longer to search for the next lowest element in the unsorted list.

[cs-student-things]

CS Blog-1: Personal Biography

Hello! My name is Jack Carder and I am from Tomball Texas, well not originally. Originally i am from Olathe Kansas but moved to Texas at a very young age with my parents. My younger brother Caden was also born in Texas but we’ve since moved back and forth between Texas and Kansas a few times but it wasn’t that bad since my family is awesome and has good taste in snacks.                                    I chose K-State for a variety of reasons. Those being that I don’t like K.U., around ninety percent of my family lives less than four hours from campus, said campus is gorgeous, I missed having all the seasons since Texas is just hot all the time, it’s also a great engineering school, and I also got a decent scholarship to come here so i thought ‘eh why not’. Speaking of engineering and more specifically Computer Science, there are lots of things that interest me in this field. Things like A.I., game design, cyber defense and things similar like genetic algorithms.                                                                                                                     My hobbies include video games, building armies out of LEGO’s, and space stuff and Star Wars. Sadly its too much to do all at once with out at least some form of planning ahead a day or so in advance.                                                           The only job I’ve had was where I would work the behind the curtain stuff for concerts and meetings in my high school auditorium. The weirdest thing that happened while doing one of those was that after one of them some mom came up to the booth window and started cursing me out over something that we couldn’t control or even remotely fix. Another weird experience was where me and a friend decided it would be fun to eat out lunches in the yellow crossed out median thing on the road. While we were doing that we got flipped of by so many people that I couldn’t count them all.                                                              After i graduate, I’m not entirely sure what I want to do. Hopefully get a job am i right? But other than that I’m not entirely sure. I was thinking maybe go into A.I. research, cyber defense, or game development for a few reasons and some of them are selfish. I like game design and programming because hey, who wouldn’t want to say something like “You know that awesome game you like? Well I helped to make a piece of it!” ? I know that that sounds weird but it was funnier in my head, moving on to cyber defense. Cyber Defense interests me because one: the government offers a job and a scholarship for going into that field, and two: who wouldn’t want to be able to know how to hack into machines or actually be able to? Just about everyone has thought of hacking an been like whoa thats cool. Now don’t get me wrong, having A.I. could be a huge good thing or a huge bad thing. That’s why I want to help make the good one, and also to try to upload my consciousness into one so i can live forever.                           Now for the books, the one that looks the most interesting to me is in POTS Chapter 8: Computers that learn and adapt because that is something that genuinely interests me and gets my heart beating faster and things like that. The sites i rely on are primarily YouTube whatever news channel happens to be on at the time. Generally things just appear to me and its pretty awesome when i discover things like the first holograms and stuff like that. Its just so cool i just can’t help but nerding out!