#cis115

[inneedofaheronow]

About Erin

My name is Erin and I am from Kansas City, KS. I grew up in the same house my whole, down the street from my best friend, Marcus who I knew since the summer before first grade. All through grade school and middle school, we were in the same class and he was very protective of me. We were always close and he even asked me to homecoming twice and asked me to be his valentine our sophomore year of high school. He definitely helped make my high school career. I graduated from Sumner Academy of the Arts and Science where I completed the International Baccalaureate program, played volleyball for a year and did choir for 3 years. I go to K-state and I chose to go to there because all my friends were going, I heard the Engineering program was really good and it was a good distance from home. My original plan was to go to UNL because they told me that they took IB credit and I thought it would be a distance from home.  The whole programing process of Computer Science really interests me and learning how to code sounded like an interesting topic. My aunt graduated from Mizzou in Chemical Engineering and my uncle went to school for Electrical Engineering, but my real decision to become an Engineering happened when I went to introduce a girl to Engineering day my junior year of high school. I only went because all my friends wanted to go so we could get out of class and hang out for a day, but leaving there I was determined to become an Engineer and work at Burns and McDonnell because my mentor that day worked there and when she was telling me about it I was so interested in it so my spring break that year I went and spent the day at Burns and McDonnell where I learned what an Industrial, Civil, Mechanical and Chemical Engineering does on a daily bases. After spending the day with all the Engineers and toured the company I was set on working there after college and going to k-state for Chemical Engineering. Once I got to K-state and learned more about Chemical Engineering, I decided that it wasn’t for me and that maybe Computer Engineering was for me. After a semester in Computer Engineering I realized that it didn’t interest me as much as Computer Science did.  I come from a close knit family. Growing up my cousins were like my siblings and we were very close going over our grandpa’s house every weekend and hanging out all the time since we went to school together and our moms were the closest out of all their siblings. My brother and I are the closest because we are only two years apart and we basically did everything together from taking pictures, going to school together, getting braces together, etc. my grandma always commits that we are attached at the hip and that everywhere you see Dominick you and vice versa. He always went to any kind of recognition, concert and volleyball game I had. In general my family taught me to be the woman I am today and anytime I instilled amazing values in me from a young age. After college I hope to work at Facebook but if that doesn’t fall through my other plan is work at Cerner. I hope to design my own website like Facebook after watching a video called “What Most Schools Don’t Teach” (Code.org).  it made me feel that something like is actually feasible for an ordinary college kid like me. This semester in CIS 115 I’m interested in reading the chapter “9 Algorithms That Changed the Future,” about the language that launched Google because I’m really fascinated with the idea of where Google started to where it is now because that is something I would like to do someday. In our other Novel, “Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet,” I interested in learning about where data sleeps because that’s something not many people think about, we never think to go in dept. in regards to data.

"What Most Schools Don't Teach." N.p., 26 Feb. 2013. Web. 29 Jan. 2017. MacCormick, John. Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2012. Print. Blum, Andrew. Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet. New York: Ecco, 2012. Print.

[randomman97]

Computing Science & Mathematics

Math is all around us. We find it in almost everything we do, from playing games, to driving across town. It can be used to find answers to specific problems or answer simple questions. It is so integral to our society that children are taught the basics as early as 1st grade. This is the beginning of what could be a great career and passion for those youngsters. They can use a love for math and sciences to become doctors, or engineers.

Taking the path to being an engineer can branch in many ways. I chose the computer science path and math is still as prevalent as ever. So much coding and problem solving done by us is based on math. AI, cryptography, VR, mobile security, they all rely on some sort of mathematics. Algorithms would be the main contributor to the math. Programmers can do amazing things with certain algorithms. In the case of cryptography, they can use algorithms to hide a message. In the case of AI, math can be used to predict a speech pattern, much like the predictive texts on your iPhone. It can detect what has been typed and predict what might be said next based on what you say most often and popular phrases.

Not only do we use math in these broad ways but there is also a bunch of very intricate calculations that need to be made. Things such as probability, statistics, logic, basic algebra, and even-high performance computing are all done with math. Something that is very intriguing about these “theoretical computing sciences” branches is the machine learning branch. Machine learning can be considered a sub-field of computer science but it incorporates statistics and artificial intelligence. It is so interesting that you can effectively make a machine think and learn based on inputs in receives to change its outputs. Much like a kid learning how to put a puzzle together, they try to put pieces together until they find one that works and then tries over and over again until it finishes the puzzle. Since teaching a machine to learn requires numerous algorithms, or maybe even just one, the algorithm will work in about the same way. It is based on finite states, which means it will start with an input and cycle through each state until it gets down to its final state and completes its goal. There is also what is known as “supervised learning”. This is where a machine is given some inputs and there desired outputs; it then has to find a general rule on how to get those outputs from the inputs. It basically calculates one of those T-chart rules you had to do in like the 6th grade where you had to find an equation that would give you every answer when you plug in every example. Ex: (y=x+2)

This type of computer science follows along the path of what Alan Turing once conceived. He wrote that a computer does not learn in cognitive terms but rather, operational terms. Turing proposes the question, “Can machines think?” In his paper, Turing says that he believes that a machine can learn to imitate an adult human. In order for this to happen, algorithms need to be put in place so that the machine can know and understand three things. The first of which, is the initial state of mind, as in at the time of birth, and understand how they came into the world. The second, being their education, what they learned through extensive classes otherwise known as “book smarts”. Finally, it would need to know what was learned through exposure, otherwise known as “street smarts”. This is important to the field of study because it makes us question how we program. How we think about our algorithms and how we think about our AI systems that we want to help make our lives easier.

[nrcates-blog]

CIS 115: Blog 12 - Tech Company Profile

One technology company that interests me is Adobe Systems Incorporated. The primary reason they interest me over other companies is how diverse they are with their programs. From Flash to Creative Suite, Adobe covers the bases on many media development programs. While other companies like Google do a lot of cool things, I figured I’d aim smaller and do Adobe instead. Everyone else is going to choose Google anyway. Probably. 

Adobe isn’t particularly unique with the point of their products (ex. image editing software, video editing software, etc) since many other companies make similar programs, but Adobe specializes in pushing tech further with each release of whatever they decide to release. Photoshop is widely seen as the most professional image editing software, and video editing software like After Effects and Premiere are widely used as well, even with similar programs like Sony’s Vegas series in the market. Despite the similarities with many other products, Adobe’s programs are fun to play around with (especially Photoshop) to create content; especially when there’s a “Master Collection” that can be purchased that contains nearly every Adobe product. The collaboration with these various programs can make some pretty cool stuff. 

Because of the diversity of Adobe’s work (such as in the master collection), I think it’d be fun to work for Adobe to see how these products work. Learning how to make powerful programs that can modify different types of media would be awesome. I remember looking up videos when Photoshop CS6 was released, and developers would talk about all the new content they added. Hearing them talk about “algorithms” to make the new content work wasn’t enough; I wanted to learn how it actually functioned. I’m probably not going to see source code or whatever, but it’d still be cool. With all the different effects you can apply to digital media, there’s a lot to stare at to find out how these effects work.

Since their advent in 1982, Adobe has been progressing the world of digital media through their products. With various acquisitions and recognition from many business publications, Adobe continues to advance their products and remains a giant in technology businesses. This is why it was my tech company of choice for this blog assignment.

Sources: 

http://www.adobe.com/about-adobe/fast-facts.html

[nrcates-blog]

CIS 115: Blog 11 - Making Meaning: Tubes

I had two main reading assignments over this semester: Pattern on the Stone, and Tubes. While the first book brought the complex functions of a computer to simpler terms, Tubes focuses more on one aspect: networking. Specifically the history of the internet, its development, and how it works. It was written by Andrew Blum, who’s also (according to the back of the book) written about other forms of technology, and has had writings featured in many publications. Safe to say he knows how to convey information. 

The outline of the book is fairly straightforward: it describes a place, describes the hardware in the place that does internet things, describes people involved with the hardware that does the things, etc. It’s very detailed on the history of these various details (lots of details. Details details details, details.), which I like. It shows the practical applications of networking and the internet over the years and explains how all of it works. Seeing how the hardware evolves from decades ago to the present gives the reader a good sense of how everything pieces together in regards to the development of the internet.

My favorite bit of the book was near the end, when the author took a “tour” of a Google data center in The Dalles, Oregon. By “tour”, I mean he got to see the outside of the data center. He wasn’t allowed on the floor; in fact, many people aren’t (even politicians, which was mentioned in the book) allowed, as to prevent privacy breaches. I like how it showed a more rustic look at Google and its inner functions, since everyone looks at Google as a sleek and futuristic kind of business. The blatant obscuring and secrecy of the center just interested me, since Google is seen as more carefree with their projects and facilities. Evidently not in this case. 

In general, this book taught me a lot about the history of the internet, and expanded on what I already learned in CIS 115. The sheer amount of detail given in the form of various narratives let the reader feel the development of the internet. I would definitely recommend this book to people who want to learn more about the history of the internet past ARPANET and other early networking experiments; this book covers a lot more bases than my class did. 

Sources: 

Tubes, by Andrew Blum

[nrcates-blog]

CIS 115: Blog 10 - Will AI Surpass Human Intelligence?

I have no idea. 

I personally believe it’s too early to answer the question above, although at the same time I believe it’s good to think about the consequences this early. The “AI” in question is “strong AI”, which is basically an artificial intelligence that can rebuild and refine itself to do whatever it needs to more efficiently. In theory this means that it can refine itself with deadly speed and accuracy and become something awesome. Whether it’s awesome in the sense that it will blow up the earth, or figure out how to make everything immortal and happy forever, is another question entirely. 

So this “strong AI” will most likely become much smarter than any human given time and resources, so I’ll use the development of that as a reference point for the singularity (I don’t think other forms of AI can really be classified as “smarter” than a human). I do think the development of strong AI can happen, I’m just entirely unsure of the process (as it doesn’t exist) of making one, as well as when we will be able to. The wikipedia article itself points out the uncertainty of many predictions as to when strong AI will be made, as well as numerous other factors. 

Some of these factors include the aftermath of a “singularity” (the crossroads where an AI can match or outperform a human). Again, completely unsure what will happen, whether stuff turns into Terminator or we all gain immortality. I think it’s a matter of what we use strong AI for. For example, if we’re stupid and we decide to implement strong AI as a weapon, we’re collectively screwed. If we use it to better ourselves as a species, however, I think there’s more leaning towards a nice AI and not Governator. You never know, though. 

As for the future, I just have to see what it brings to form a more concrete opinion on artificial intelligence. Whether we improve on modern AI technologies or make whole new ones, there’s more room for said improvement, and that sets the standard for the future. With cool stuff like Cortana for Windows 10 and other programs that do stuff for you, we’re going nowhere but up. There can be all the scientific and philosophical discussion in the world, but in the end, we’re only going to know what happens when we just do it. There’s your free advertising, Nike.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

[nrcates-blog]

CIS 115: Blog 9 - Privacy in an Open Digital World

We had a lecture about the Internet of Things last Thursday (I think), which was pretty neat. In the IoT, everything we use frequently is basically connected to do all kinds of cool stuff depending on what the thing is. Despite how cool it’d be, the question of privacy is a big factor to consider when thinking about the IoT. 

This assignment doesn’t ask about the IoT in general, but I thought it’d be a good example. Privacy in general is important, especially in regards to computers which are commonly used to transfer secret data and crucial emails from your grandmother. Making sure this data gets where it’s actually supposed to go without interference is very important as the digital world grows. If the data is transferred safely, then it’s just a matter of doing whatever needs to be done to the data (ex. crunch numbers, find out you need to start a war, put your grandma’s email in the trash bin, etc) and everyone is happy. There’s no catches or anything.

The catch, however, is that there needs to be a fine balance between privacy and security. It’s a mess, really, so I’ll use a fun example: the NSA. The NSA collected a whole lot of data from a whole lot of people to stop a whole lot of terrorists. While the “security” bit may be covered by the off chance they actually discover a terrorist plot developing in the country, the “privacy” bit is not. Collecting phone calls and other random stuff from everyone is far from keeping privacy in mind. But the other wise could be argued as well: that the NSA has actually kept people in the US safe (I guess? I don’t know the statistics). Finding that balance is a debate in itself. 

As for keeping my stuff safe, it’s pretty simple. Using a good password is a great idea that too many people don’t do (”password” is the most common password). I actually have a system for my passwords which I won’t explain because I’m not stupid, but it does follow the general idea of using a “passphrase” instead of one word. The possibility that your password will get cracked falls sharply as you add more characters; making your password a memorable phrase (with some extra characters thrown in between words or something) is a good idea. That being said, stop adding dumb password requirements, everyone everywhere. 

In general, it remains to be seen how privacy in the digital world will progress (or not), what with everyone’s attention and knowledge on the subject swinging around randomly. Hopefully though, as the world flies further into a digital future, privacy and security will find a nice balance and innocent people won’t have their private stuff leaked. Private stuff as in like, business information or bank information. Not something else. Probably. 

[nrcates-blog]

CIS 115: Blog 8 - How Has the Internet Influenced You?

I can’t exactly remember when I first got access to the internet, but I think I got it when I was 10 or 11 years old. Since then, whoosh, lots of different stuff happened from then to now. 

Back then when I first got access to the internet, I went crazy with all the stuff I could do. Eventually I landed on video games and making stick figure animations to put on Youtube and did that for a while. I would play RuneScape a lot, as well as a few games from the “Orange Box”, which was Valve’s popular collection of plenty of their games smashed into one package deal. At that point I had to make a Steam account, which at first I thought was a hassle, but later Steam just got bigger and bigger. It was just more convenient to have all my favorite games in one place. The access I had to video games from then to now definitely influenced my taste in them, as well as making friends who had similar likes. Now I’m studying Computer Science at college so I can more fully understand how things like video games work. 

After I cooled down a bit and the internet was commonplace for me as a kid, I discovered some more cool things that influenced me. One cool thing was the dreaded computer virus, and I can recall a few of the times I’ve gotten them. Scary, sure, but luckily my dad was good with computers so he took care of stuff like that. Yet another reason I’m studying CS here is to learn how viruses work, and delve into cybersecurity. 

Another cool thing was the access to information I had. This became much more helpful in high school and college, with resources popping up like KhanAcademy, Codecademy, Wolfram Alpha, Wikipedia, etc. If I have access to all this, I can learn literally anything I want to. I mean, I could learn everything outside of college if I tried hard enough. Knowing that I have the power to do that at any time is nice, it’s just the matter of finding motivation. 

Also friends. I have friends all over the world who share my interests and stuff, as well as local friends who I can easily contact through Skype, Facebook, whatever. A combination of all of the above makes the internet a huge contributing factor of who I am today. Whether it’s playing video games with friends, talking to friends while doing homework/researching, or any other activity, having the ability to these things over the span of 8 years has definitely influenced me.

[nrcates-blog]

CIS 115: Blog 7 - Topic Research Presentation

I typed out this entire thing and then Chrome crashed and the post didn’t save. Therefore excuse me if it sounds rushed. I was in team 4 so I am going to be writing my thoughts on team 5′s presentation over cybersecurity.  

I've been a fan of cybersecurity for a while; I used to read up all kinds of junk about different fields and concepts in cybersecurity. Rainbow tables, password hashes and cracking passwords, SQL injection, malware, list goes on. I also like reading books about more in-depth functions of computers. I've read about a third of Windows Internals, which is a nice book by Mark Russinovich. It talks a lot about the internals of Windows. Anyways, I feel like all of this information is necessary to explain so it gives insight into what I thought of the presentation, whether I thought it was too basic or whatever.

Despite the above I did learn a few new things. For one, I learned more about the different jobs in the field. I'm mostly a hobbyist so I didn't look up too much about the different careers and stuff. It's cool to know there's such a thing as a virus technician, since viruses are cool. If KSU somehow is infected with something don't blame me, by the way. In addition to the career information, I learned a few more facts I didn't know before which was nice.

On to how well they covered the material, I think they did great. It's very difficult to smash such a huge topic into 12 minutes and cover everything in time. I'm the goofy guy who talked about Doom too much during my presentation and left the last member 30 seconds to cover his section of the speech, so I think being able to condense information and not talk about every single thing you have on your slides is a milestone. They simply brushed over everything they needed to to give the students a general outline of what cybersecurity is all about.

I know time was a huge factor in all the speeches, but I couldn't help but be disappointed when one of the TAs asked team 5 what their favorite virus was when they were researching. I wasn't disappointed because he asked, I was disappointed in the answer: "keyloggers". In addition to everything they covered, I wish they could provide some examples of different topics in cybersecurity. Whether it's viruses or different tools the cybersecurist (?) has in their belt. "Keyloggers" could have been CIH, Maldal, or numerous other viruses that were bad and cool at the same time. Again though, time was a big factor so I understand the lack of detail. I just hope someone gives a presentation on the history of computer viruses sometime. That'd be cool.

In general they did good.

Sources:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963901.aspx