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π Max/MSP: A visual programming language for music and multimedia
Max, also known as Max/MSP/Jitter, is a visual programming language for music and multimedia developed and maintained by San Francisco-based software company Cycling '74. Over its more than thirty-year history, it has been used by composers, performers, software designers, researchers, and artists to create recordings, performances, and installations.
The Max program is modular, with most routines existing as shared libraries. An application programming interface (API) allows third-party development of new routines (named external objects). Thus, Max has a large user base of programmers unaffiliated with Cycling '74 who enhance the software with commercial and non-commercial extensions to the program. Because of this extensible design, which simultaneously represents both the program's structure and its graphical user interface (GUI), Max has been described as the lingua franca for developing interactive music performance software.
Discussed on
- "Max/MSP: A visual programming language for music and multimedia" | 2020-02-17 | 128 Upvotes 65 Comments
π Finite Element Method
The finite element method (FEM) is the most widely used method for solving problems of engineering and mathematical models. Typical problem areas of interest include the traditional fields of structural analysis, heat transfer, fluid flow, mass transport, and electromagnetic potential. The FEM is a particular numerical method for solving partial differential equations in two or three space variables (i.e., some boundary value problems). To solve a problem, the FEM subdivides a large system into smaller, simpler parts that are called finite elements. This is achieved by a particular space discretisation in the space dimensions, which is implemented by the construction of a mesh of the object: the numerical domain for the solution, which has a finite number of points. The finite element method formulation of a boundary value problem finally results in a system of algebraic equations. The method approximates the unknown function over the domain. The simple equations that model these finite elements are then assembled into a larger system of equations that models the entire problem. The FEM then uses variational methods from the calculus of variations to approximate a solution by minimizing an associated error function.
Studying or analyzing a phenomenon with FEM is often referred to as finite element analysis (FEA).
Discussed on
- "Finite Element Method" | 2020-02-17 | 75 Upvotes 44 Comments
π The curious case of Croatian wikipedia
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- "The curious case of Croatian wikipedia" | 2019-12-08 | 127 Upvotes 31 Comments
π One Instruction Set Computer
A one-instruction set computer (OISC), sometimes called an ultimate reduced instruction set computer (URISC), is an abstract machine that uses only one instructionΒ β obviating the need for a machine language opcode. With a judicious choice for the single instruction and given infinite resources, an OISC is capable of being a universal computer in the same manner as traditional computers that have multiple instructions. OISCs have been recommended as aids in teaching computer architecture and have been used as computational models in structural computing research.
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- "One Instruction Set Computer" | 2019-12-07 | 54 Upvotes 26 Comments
- "One instruction set computer" | 2015-04-16 | 63 Upvotes 25 Comments
- "One Instruction Set Computer" | 2015-04-07 | 12 Upvotes 1 Comments
- "One instruction set computer" | 2011-09-28 | 69 Upvotes 18 Comments
π Replay System (Pentium 4)
The replay system is a little-known subsystem within the Intel Pentium 4 processor. Its primary function is to catch operations that have been mistakenly sent for execution by the processor's scheduler. Operations caught by the replay system are then re-executed in a loop until the conditions necessary for their proper execution have been fulfilled.
Discussed on
- "Replay System (Pentium 4)" | 2019-12-05 | 14 Upvotes 2 Comments
π Wikipedia Has Cancer
Alternative Title: Just because you have some money, that doesn't mean that you have to spend it.
In biology, the hallmarks of an aggressive cancer include limitless multiplication of ordinarily beneficial cells, even when the body signals that further multiplication is no longer needed. The Wikipedia page on the wheat and chessboard problem explains that nothing can keep growing forever. In biology, the unwanted growth usually terminates with the death of the host. Ever-increasing spending can often lead to the same undesirable result in organizations.
Discussed on
- "Wikipedia Has Cancer" | 2024-04-20 | 110 Upvotes 52 Comments
- "Wikipedia Has Cancer" | 2022-10-31 | 42 Upvotes 15 Comments
- "Wikipedia has Cancer (Wikipedia costs growth over time)" | 2021-03-17 | 41 Upvotes 6 Comments
- "Wikipedia Has Cancer (2017)" | 2019-12-04 | 528 Upvotes 310 Comments
- "Wikimedia Foundation's runaway spending growth" | 2017-10-08 | 150 Upvotes 121 Comments
- "Wikimedia Foundation spending" | 2017-05-07 | 1054 Upvotes 406 Comments
π Wallace Tree
A Wallace tree is an efficient hardware implementation of a digital circuit that multiplies two integers. It was devised by the Australian computer scientist Chris Wallace in 1964.
The Wallace tree has three steps:
- Multiply (that is β AND) each bit of one of the arguments, by each bit of the other, yielding results. Depending on position of the multiplied bits, the wires carry different weights, for example wire of bit carrying result of is 128 (see explanation of weights below).
- Reduce the number of partial products to two by layers of full and half adders.
- Group the wires in two numbers, and add them with a conventional adder.
The second step works as follows. As long as there are three or more wires with the same weight add a following layer:-
- Take any three wires with the same weights and input them into a full adder. The result will be an output wire of the same weight and an output wire with a higher weight for each three input wires.
- If there are two wires of the same weight left, input them into a half adder.
- If there is just one wire left, connect it to the next layer.
The benefit of the Wallace tree is that there are only reduction layers, and each layer has propagation delay. As making the partial products is and the final addition is , the multiplication is only , not much slower than addition (however, much more expensive in the gate count). Naively adding partial products with regular adders would require time. From a complexity theoretic perspective, the Wallace tree algorithm puts multiplication in the class NC1.
These computations only consider gate delays and don't deal with wire delays, which can also be very substantial.
The Wallace tree can be also represented by a tree of 3/2 or 4/2 adders.
It is sometimes combined with Booth encoding.
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- "Wallace Tree" | 2020-02-18 | 61 Upvotes 12 Comments
π List of Fictional Microsoft Companies
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- "List of Fictional Microsoft Companies" | 2019-12-03 | 188 Upvotes 51 Comments
π Long S
The long s (ΕΏ) is an archaic form of the lower case letter s. It replaced the single s, or the first s in a double s (e.g. "ΕΏinfulneΕΏs" for "sinfulness" and "ΕΏucceΕΏs" for "success"). The long s is the basis of the first half of the grapheme or the German alphabet ligature letter Γ, which is known as the Eszett. The modern letterform is known as the short, terminal, or round s.
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- "The Long S" | 2022-09-04 | 127 Upvotes 81 Comments
- "Long S" | 2019-12-03 | 98 Upvotes 38 Comments
- "Long S" | 2011-10-07 | 81 Upvotes 26 Comments
π Agner Krarup Erlang
Agner Krarup Erlang (1 January 1878 β 3 February 1929) was a Danish mathematician, statistician and engineer, who invented the fields of traffic engineering and queueing theory.
By the time of his relatively early death at the age of 51, Erlang had created the field of telephone networks analysis. His early work in scrutinizing the use of local, exchange and trunk telephone line usage in a small community to understand the theoretical requirements of an efficient network led to the creation of the Erlang formula, which became a foundational element of modern telecommunication network studies.
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- "Agner Krarup Erlang" | 2019-12-03 | 69 Upvotes 8 Comments