A Turing Machine is a theoretical model that can be adapted to simulate any computer algorithm. In celebration of the Alan Turing year, a couple of folks in Amsterdam created a LEGO Turing Machine that uses LEGO switches instead of infinite tape – their site mentions that “LEGO had a slight problem supplying infinite bricks.”
You can get the NXC source of their implementation on Github and their IDE in their svn repo. And watch the video above to learn about how their Turing machine works!
See a quarter of a second’s worth of hard drive action, slowed down to about 10 seconds.
If your young ones play console games online, you may want to monitor their interactions with other gamers – especially if they’re girls. Fat, Ugly or Slutty takes submissions of unsavory messages to gamers who happen to be female, and outs the misogynist h8rs, who are probably all boys under 13.
Trigger warning, though. A lot of these are appalling, but it’s necessary to know it’s out there.
JD (and not Jim Doran) asked:
Hi, I have a few questions that I hope can give me some insight into web and mobile development. Sorry if this has been asked before, but I just recently started following you.
1. Can you please tell me how you got started? Did you take an internship? Did you experiment on your own and slowly get better and better?
2. You sound pretty involved in different programming projects, but is there anything you do everyday to practice your programming skills? Or do you just do it so often that by now it’s second nature for you?
3. What do you do when you come across something that you don’t know? Do you look it up in a book or just google it?
Thank you for taking the time to read my question and I look forward to hearing your response.
For one, never apologize for asking questions. Unless the person you ask is (rightfully) offended by the question; then apologize afterwards. Continue reading
During the summer, the professional staff (including yours truly), move over to a ~*super special*~ summer schedule; we go in earlier and leave later Monday through Thursday and, in turn, get Friday off. One extra day to code/ride bikes/read/get a haircut.
TGITh. H8rs, step aside.
I have all these 98% written blog posts that end up in the trash because after getting all my thoughts out, I think “eh, no one cares.” That’s not me being all moody and sad, it’s just me being real. Do you really care how I feel about Tumblr censoring pro-anorexia posts? Is it for the common good that I write about what lip gloss I can’t live without or how I love to watch large groups of “social media gurus” banter about how they’re experts at Twitter?
I guess I’m just tired of words, but I’m never tired of talking about myself so here’s what I’m doing these days now that I’m no longer a university student… Continue reading
This is a great read, not only because of the explanation about computer science degrees and their role in computer programming (and vice-versa), but because of the great parallels he describes between computer science and music.
I think a big part of why Jimmy and I do so well together is because his musical endeavors complement my technical ones, and it helps us understand each other’s highs and lows when we’re working on projects; my Masters and his band’s live show, for example, were worked on during the same time, so we both understood why we were each stressed out or always busy. I think the past few months went by with little friction, although I’m sure he’s lying when he denies that I’ve been a heinous bitch since December haha.
I’m not saying that the perfect formula for a couple is programmer + musician. I’m just saying that it works for us, which is what I tell people whenever they say it’s interesting that I am with a musician (or he is with a big freaking nerd).
A tip of my martini glass to Gail for posting this on Google+, where all of us cool kids are.
My name is Jenn. pancake theorem is my blog and it's full of stuff about web development, academia, industry, being a woman, blah blah blarg.
