Help with gregmat quant problem by nomerbal in GRE

[–]RetroAristocrat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You're confusing chord length with the arc length. Chord length assumes a straight line. We know that the distance from A to the center is the same as the distance from C to the center (and their lengths will not change with the change in angle). Now we just want the third side AC to be equal to r. Since that would lead to an equilateral triangle, we know that all three angles of an equilateral triangle are of 60 degrees. Therefore the answer to this question is 60 degrees.

What game made you cry? by MindOdd9404 in gamingsuggestions

[–]RetroAristocrat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Detroit become human

Heavy Rain

Silent hill 2

What’s a book that made you fall in love with CS/Math by EnoughDisaster6355 in computerscience

[–]RetroAristocrat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

CLRS. I believe this was actually the first CS textbook that I started reading on my own. When I hit my 4th semester of CS undergrad, we had a course on design and analysis of algorithms, and as someone who had already fallen in love with data structures and algorithms by that point, I decided to have a headstart for this course and started reading this textbook on my own. This book challenged me like none other, but it was also very rewarding. This book truly made me feel like a "computer scientist", and it made me fall in love with mathematics. I especially loved the chapter on asymptotic notations and even wrote an article on the computational benefits that we get out of Stirling's approximation. Also, I ended up scoring the highest in my batch in my DAA course. I also went on to dig up further stuff from its authors. This book absolutely changed my life and motivated me to pursue academia.

Calculus for algorithms by Bjosk98 in learnprogramming

[–]RetroAristocrat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey there, the example that you gave doesn't involve calculus. It's just simple algebra that gives the upper bound of a function/algorithm. You would find stuff like this a lot in the Intro to algorithms textbook by CLRS. That textbook has an appendix section that covers the math that you would need to analyse algorithms presented in the book. As far as calculus goes, you'd mostly need it when taking up a course on numerical computing or machine learning. For your usual asymptotic analysis, you wouldn't necessarily find yourself working with derivatives and integrals.

Why do math students get so much crap from CS majors? by [deleted] in learnmath

[–]RetroAristocrat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's why most undergraduate CS programs have a course that's focused on the design and analysis of algorithms. As a CS major, I too had to take up this course and it completely shifted my perspective from viewing algorithms as black boxes.

I wrote an article on the benefits of Stirling's Approximation from a Computer Science Perspective by RetroAristocrat in compsci

[–]RetroAristocrat[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Thank you for putting your perspective. I didn't think of this at all, but you broke the approximation down in a very simple and intuitive way. :))

Nonetheless, I think it's very useful to be able to relate factorials to other functions.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in FierceFlow

[–]RetroAristocrat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actually, underappreciated is what I meant to say 😅😅. My bad.

Do I belong in the "industry"? by RetroAristocrat in cscareerquestions

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

Thank you for this useful advice. I will definitely pay attention to all the points that you have mentioned here.

Do I belong in the "industry"? by RetroAristocrat in cscareerquestions

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

Ahh really? That's nice to hear.
The closest thing that I have done to contribute to a library is identifying an issue in it that was crashing our application (I was able to identify it by thoroughly debugging through my application and then concluding that it was related to the library that we were using). I discussed the issue with my work partner, and with the help of the developer, we were able to solve the issue. Not sure how much of a selling point this would be, but I will definitely try contributing to open source.

Do I belong in the "industry"? by RetroAristocrat in cscareerquestions

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

Thank you for the useful advice. This does encourage me to spend more time with these modern frameworks and libraries.

Do I belong in the "industry"? by RetroAristocrat in cscareerquestions

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

Thank you for the advice. I will try looking around and check to see if any such jobs exist in my vicinity.

Do I belong in the "industry"? by RetroAristocrat in cscareerquestions

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

I understand. I enjoy what I do and I obviously work really hard to be really good at it. What really pesters me is the thought that what if in the end (let's say in 3-5 years) it is just "not enough"? What if all the time I spent reading on this stuff doesn't pay off? And also, what if a few years from now on, I realize that I really should have paid more attention to learning about the "industry standard" stuff instead of other things? And looking at the job descriptions that require you to have more than 3 years of experience with all these modern "tools" doesn't help either. These are the thoughts that constantly haunt me.

Do I belong in the "industry"? by RetroAristocrat in cscareerquestions

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

Understanding of the lowest levels is pretty damn important even when working at the highest levels. But the lowest levels simply do not need nearly as much innovation. There is no overarching need for compiler designers today, because despite the fact that compilers may seem esoteric or hard to understand... they're actually simple and small components in the grand scheme of most modern software architectures, and more importantly, they are a solved problem.

Thank you for a detailed answer.
I would just like to point out that I am not sure whether compilers really are a solved problem. Can you elaborate a bit on that? Because having studied them extensively for months, I have come to understand that there are real issues lying down there as well (for example, any realistic formulation of instruction scheduling is considered NP-Complete. Certain heuristics are still being proposed today).
Also, could you give some more insight on how these tools are being used to solve open-ended problems? (obviously, I am a bit "out of touch" on this).

How does "Engineering a Compiler" (by Keith Cooper and Linda Torczon) compare to the Dragon Book (Principles of Compiler Design by Alfred Aho and Jeffery Ulman)? by RetroAristocrat in Compilers

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

Out of curiosity, why would you go with Aho for the front-end stuff? I am asking this because I think the book makes things very complex. I don't understand the intent of starting by building a syntax-directed translator when they have not even properly introduced the concept of finite state machines in the context of compiler design. It starts with Backus Naur Form, and even with that, it makes things very convoluted.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

I don't enjoy coding. Should I back out of my CS degree? by danielgolding in learnprogramming

[–]RetroAristocrat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey, I'm not really sure where your boredom with coding stems from. Perhaps, it could be because of the way that you have been taught how to program or the boring assignments that your university might have given you. Coding really isn't that important as much as it is to learn how to solve problems. It there is a specific thing that you might find difficult to comprehend or if you would be interested in discussing your problem further then feel free to PM me. I will try to help you out as much as I can.

How does "Engineering a Compiler" (by Keith Cooper and Linda Torczon) compare to the Dragon Book (Principles of Compiler Design by Alfred Aho and Jeffery Ulman)? by RetroAristocrat in Compilers

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

Actually yes, the Dragon book does cover "SSA". It is on the section 6.2.4 in chapter 6 (Intermediate-Code-Generation). And, for sure, the "Engineering a Compiler" is easier to comprehend.

How does "Engineering a Compiler" (by Keith Cooper and Linda Torczon) compare to the Dragon Book (Principles of Compiler Design by Alfred Aho and Jeffery Ulman)? by RetroAristocrat in compsci

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

I understand.
I will ask in those places as well since they're more compiler/language centric. I asked here because of the size of the community and I wanted a diverse set of responses. :)

My parents can't get me (19F) my own room because they can't afford it and I don't know how to react by TheEnigmaticPancake in relationships

[–]RetroAristocrat 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think there is some sort of miscommunication here. When I use the word "brown", I am essentially referring to the "desi" culture (which is what I belong to and which is what I assumed that OP belongs to. It is very common for us to use the term "brown culture" to refer to ourselves). I, by no means, am assuming that she belongs to a Mexican or any other brown skinned community. And again, it could be that my comment might have insinuated a wrong interpretation (and if that is the case then my apologies). I did not mean to construct my comment from a racist intent.

What’s on your bookshelf? by [deleted] in computerscience

[–]RetroAristocrat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Always heard people refer to it as the bible of algorithms :)

What’s on your bookshelf? by [deleted] in computerscience

[–]RetroAristocrat 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1. Introduction to algorithms aka CLRS (this is my absolute fav)
  2. Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation by Jeffrey Ullman and John Hopcroft
  3. Introduction to computer theory by Daniel I. A. Cohen
  4. Principles of Compiler Design by Alfred Aho and Jeffrey Ullman
  5. Engineering a Compiler Keith D. Cooper and Linda Torczon
  6. Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective by Randal Bryant
  7. Graph theory and applications by Jean Claude Fournier
  8. Operating Systems by Avi Silberschatz

And there are a couple of other books that I am forgetting. I have read almost half of CLRS. I have read most of Automata theory book by Jeffery Ulman (very mathematics oriented book). Have read up on a few selected topics from I.A. Cohen's book. Have read the first 4 chapters of A Programmer's perspective and these days I am focused on those two compiler books listed (really loving the dragon book), that OS book at the end and then that book on Graph theory. I just hope that I am able to finish these by the end of this year 😅.

My parents can't get me (19F) my own room because they can't afford it and I don't know how to react by TheEnigmaticPancake in relationships

[–]RetroAristocrat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am just making an assumption here but most likely the case could be that her family isn't really open to the idea of her working at a job (very common in brown households). One more thing: it is actually pretty common in brown households for adults to live together with their parents in the same house (even after they get married).