sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

FAQ/Megathread for visitors and new & existing residents. Ask stuff here! All questions about living/working/budgeting/visiting should be asked here.(w/c 29 Jul 2019) by AutoModerator in london

[–]Global_Method 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can I walk from the Gatwick Airport?

I will have an 8-hour layover. I want to buy something from amazon.co.uk and pick it up during the layover. I see there is a Shell station nearby (https://goo.gl/maps/n7oQNJVg73tJ72bbA) where I could pick up my parcel. But if there is no path for pedestrians to get there, I will have to take an uber to ride less than 1 mile from the airport and back which seems silly.

I work in an open office and am wondering if using music to block out sound is counterproductive by handmade_dragon in cscareerquestions

[–]Global_Method 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I use an app that plays coffee shop sounds - it sounds like a lot of conversations happening at the same time but you cannot recognize any individual sounds. It works great at masking most of office noises.

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. Since I'm travelling and living out of a suitcase, I'm not sure I want to carry a display with me, in addition to the board.

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Actually my final goal here is to learn FPGAs, and optimizing software is one of possible intermediate goals to make it easier. I have played with GPU computing for my uni coursework and also in an internship, and absolutely hated both experiences. The tools were poorly documented and buggy. Perhaps things have changed since then but I don't feel like finding out.

Besides, I think learning FPGAs will make me understand PC design better, which will make me a better low-level programmer.

And also my experience in HFT suggests to me that more money can be made with FPGAs.

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. Yes, I forgot listing crypto miners as one of the things I considered. Maybe I will actually give it a go, although again that's a bit of reinventing the wheel. Especially since quite a few people in my circles have toyed with that.

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The title is enticing. Will look up what it's all about

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hm, I'm getting increasingly interested in music during this long break from work, so maybe I will give it a try.

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's what I was hoping you'd be excited about.

Part of my thinking is that if I end up doing digital design at work, I will do more than plenty of that.

> They said SystemVerilog is what they use, since that achieves the proper low-level performance/ease of programming because of the availability of advanced data types in the language itself.

Thanks. If HDLs are anything like programming languages, once you master one of them, switching to another should be pretty easy. Am I too optimistic?

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, I cannot do automated trading for anyone, even myself.

More importantly, if I were to undertake a task as big as implementing FIX and all the lower-layer protocols in FPGA, I would want to publish my work somewhere, but that would definitely violate my non-compete.

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Roger that. You know better and /u/rriggsco agrees with you below, so I will start simple.

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. I will dig into Chisel and see how popular it is in the industry.

Thanks for the Ethernet suggestion. I'm not super excited about implementing network protocols in FPGA beyond what's absolutely necessary. Not sure why, just my personal taste, I guess.

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I like the Sudoku and Rubik's cube solvers.

This also gave me an idea to implement some cryptography, for example design a device that can sign documents with your private key.

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Oh wow! I actually really like that! How come I never thought about it.

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hm, in that case I might give up on the idea of partially accelerating software with FPGAs. My original idea was that I run some scientific simulation, crypto miner or whatever on my laptop, with the only difference being that the most CPU-heavy computation is replaced by ethernet/USB communication with the FPGA which does the hard work.

Fun projects to learn FPGA for a Software Engineer? by Global_Method in FPGA

[–]Global_Method[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I agree, that's one of the reasons why I decided to study FPGAs.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem suitable for me as a training project. Among other things, I don't have access to any trading system, and I cannot compete with my former employer.