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Tag: programming

  • Project Glass Engineer Teaches You How To Program Driverless Cars

    Project Glass Engineer Teaches You How To Program Driverless Cars

    Sebastian Thrun is a Google Fellow and VP, a Stanford Professor, and the co-founder fo Udacity.com. He’s also on the Project Glass team, which last week, unveiled the much talked about Google glasses. He was one of the names that signed the initial announcement post for Project Glass on Google+.

    It just so happens that he is also involved with Google’s driverless cars, and actually teaches a class about how to program them.

    “This class, taught by one of the foremost experts in AI, will teach you basic methods in Artificial Intelligence, including: probabilistic inference, computer vision, machine learning, and planning, all with a focus on robotics,” the description says. “Extensive programming examples and assignments will apply these methods in the context of building self-driving cars. You will get a chance to visit, via video, the leading research labs in the field, and meet the scientists and engineers who are building self-driving cars at Stanford and Google.”

    “The instructor will assume solid knowledge of programming, all programming will be in Python. Knowledge of probability and linear algebra will be helpful,” the syllabus says.

    It’s a seven-week course, which includes: basics of probability, gaussians and continuous probability, image processing and machine learning, planning and search, controls, putting it all together and a final exam. This is enough time, according to Thrun’s Udacity site, to learn the basics of all the primary systems involved in programming a robotic car.

    “First of all, this is a fascinating subject,” it says in a FAQ section. “The technologies involved are cutting edge, but the theories behind them are simpler than you might think. In addition to learning the math and science behind these technologies, you will also improve your coding probabilities as you solve the same problems that scientists at places like Google, Stanford, and MIT have been working on for years.”

    With Thrun on the Project Glass team, perhaps there will be a programming for glass class at some point. Hopefully, some tips will be shared at Google I/O at least.

    Oh, and by the way, the class is free.

    Other free classes ad udacity.com include: building a search engine, design of computer programs, web application engineering, programming languages, and applied cryptography.

  • Computer Science Training A Must For Teachers

    We reported last week that there’s a movement among adults to learn programming languages. It would seem that people from every profession was interesting in learning programming, because they’re not content in just knowing how to use computers.

    While it’s important for adults to learn a bit of programming, it’s even more important that we begin teaching our children these various languages.Their young minds are much more flexible to taking in the absurd amount of knowledge required with some programming languages. The problem, of course, comes in the forms of the teachers not knowing enough to effectively convey this knowledge to students.

    The Guardian reported on this very same situation Saturday with a call to arms for teachers to begin training in computer science. Teachers can’t pass this knowledge off to students if they don’t know it themselves to begin with.

    John Stout, a teacher at King George V Sixth Form College in Southport, Merseyside, said that most students who come to him with an ICT background only know how to use Microsoft Word. It’s an unfortunate situation that most schools’, including my own high school, computer programs consist of learning how to use the Microsoft suite of business tools like Word and Excel.

    It’s good news then that at least one school has begun changing its curriculum to have an increased focus on computer science. Amy Desmond-Williams, director of ICT studies at Sidney Stringer Academy, says that “there is only so much Powerpoint and Word can teach.” While she doesn’t discredit the value that learning business applications has for students, she feels that there needs to be more emphasis placed on programming skills for those students who want to go into those fields.

    All of this comes back to the major problem at hand – none of the computer science teachers in schools know to program. People in education agree that they need to step up the training of teachers first before they attempt to teach children programming.

    While this story is obviously from the UK, the same can be said of the U.S. as well. Considering that app development is now one of the fastest growing economies in the U.S., it only makes sense that we start teaching our children how to code.

    Programming is no longer a job that only “nerds” do or whatever applicable stereotype you want to use. No matter the field, programming is now a part of it. Having some basic knowledge of how computers work will make our future workers that much more desirable in the job market.

  • Google Code Jam 2012 Now Accepting Challengers

    Code Jams are kind of like the Olympics for developers and programmers. It’s a grueling days long competition to see who can solve the most challenging algorithms that the organizer of the event can throw at them. If that sounds like your kind of thing, Google wants to you to compete in their event.

    Google announced yesterday on their blog that Code Jam 2012 registration is now open. Google’s Code Jam has been going on since 2003 with this year’s contest looking to be the biggest.

    Makoto Soejima took home the first place prize last year. He had to get through various challenges and hardships such as building a house for kittens and helping Goro of Mortal Kombat fame through anger management. You may be wondering what any of these have to do with coding? Just check out the problem from the aforementioned Goro scenario and watch as your brain shuts down over what it just processed.

    Participants for the Code Jam will come from all over the world to prove their merit against the sure to be daunting challenges. Thankfully, participants can use whatever programming language they’re most familiar with to tackle the algorithms.

    The qualification rounds will take place on April 13, so you just have a little under a month to get ready. Those who pass this round will compete in three more online rounds over the next few months. The top 25 contestants will be flown to New York City on July 25 to compete in the final round that will net the winner $10,000.

    While I’m in no way confident in my ability to solve these problems, let alone basic algorithms, you can register to compete in the Code Jam now. If you’re a little rusty, the Google blog post provides competitors with the four final problems from last year.

  • GDC 2012: Ubisoft Creates Engine Room, Blog For Developers By Developers

    GDC is a great place for developers to share insights and ideas with each other for one week a year. Ubisoft wants to create the GDC experience year round with a new blog directed at developers.

    The new blog is called Engine Room and it was created “as a result of the employees’ desire to spread their knowledge and expertise beyond Ubisoft.” This isn’t like the PlayStation blog where developers talk to gamers about their new products and what not. This is squarely targeted at developers who want to learn from other developers the tools of the trade. That doesn’t mean that regular gamers shouldn’t read it, quite the contrary, as any gamer who is interested in the technical side of making games will find something here.

    Engine Room is really cool in that Ubisoft is making it an “open platform.” What this means is that anybody, even non-Ubisoft employees, can comment or even publish a post if they’re signed up and follow the blog’s guidelines. The hope is that anybody involved in the game industry – programmers, artists and developers – will use this new platform to share ideas and collaborate on new innovations. For any interested developers who wants to submit a blog post, you only need to send them to engineroom@ubisoft.com.

    I wholeheartedly recommend that developers take advantage of this to learn more about the art of making games from their peers. Game creation is a collaborative process that needs more ideas like this to keep it fresh. I commend Ubisoft on taking a proactive approach in helping to cultivate the developer community.

    Ubisoft threw together a quick video that has their employees talking about technology and what it means to them. It’s pretty neat, so check it out.

  • Computer Programs That Think Like Humans

    In the 1800s, “intelligence” meant that you were good at memorizing things. Today “intelligence” is measured through IQ tests where the average score for humans is 100. Researchers at the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have created a computer program that can score 150.

    IQ tests are based on two types of problems: progressive matrices, which test the ability to see patterns in pictures, and number sequences, which test the ability to see patterns in numbers. The most common math computer programs score below 100 on IQ tests with number sequences. For Claes Strannegård, researcher at the Department of Philosophy, Linguistics and Theory of Science, this was a reason to try to design “smarter” computer programs.

    “We’re trying to make programs that can discover the same types of patterns that humans can see,” he says.

    The research group believes that number sequence problems are only partly a matter of mathematics – psychology is important too. Strannegård demonstrates this point:

    “1, 2, …, what comes next? Most people would say 3, but it could also be a repeating sequence like 1, 2, 1 or a doubling sequence like 1, 2, 4. Neither of these alternatives is more mathematically correct than the others. What it comes down to is that most people have learned the 1-2-3 pattern.”

    The group is therefore using a psychological model of human patterns in their computer programs. They have integrated a mathematical model that models human-like problem solving. The program that solves progressive matrices scores IQ 100 and has the unique ability of being able to solve the problems without having access to any response alternatives. The group has improved the program that specializes in number sequences to the point where it is now able to ace the tests, implying an IQ of at least 150.

    “Our programs are beating the conventional math programs because we are combining mathematics and psychology. Our method can potentially be used to identify patterns in any data with a psychological component, such as financial data. But it is not as good at finding patterns in more science-type data, such as weather data, since then the human psyche is not involved,” says Strannegård.

    The research group has recently started collaborating with the Department of Psychology at Stockholm University, with a goal to develop new IQ tests with different levels of difficulty.

    “We have developed a pretty good understanding of how the tests work. Now we want to divide them into different levels of difficulty and design new types of tests, which we can then use to design computer programmes for people who want to practice their problem solving ability,” says Strannegård.

  • Google Announces DartBox 2D

    Google announced the release of DartBox 2D, a Dart port for Box2D, the 2D physics engine for games.

    Dart, for the uninitiated, is a web programming language Google developed, and revealed last year at the GOTO conference. “At Google we’ve written our share of web apps, and we’ve tried in many ways to make improvements to that development process, short of introducing a new language,” Google says on the official Dart site. “Now we think it’s time to take that leap. We designed Dart to be easy to write development tools for, well-suited to modern app development, and capable of high-performance implementations.”

    DartBox2D is actually the result of Google’s “20% time” culture.

    “Box2D has been ported to other languages, including JavaScript, but this release opens the door to Dart becoming a language for games on the web, which, as we all know, is what the web is really for (that and pictures of cats, of course). The work was started by two interns at Google, Greg Bigelow and Ahmed Hussein, continued by Joel Webber, and finished up by Dominic Hamon,” says Hamon, part of Google’s “Make the Web Faster” team.

    “DartBox2D is a straight port from the Java version and isn’t yet using all of the great features the Dart developers have built into Dart, but moving forward it will become a template for how to write great Dart code,” he adds. “The ease with which this port was developed speaks to the great job the Dart team have done with the language.”

    So far they’ve created the following demos:

    BallCage
    Bench2D
    BlobTest
    CircleStress
    DominoTest
    DominoTower

    A Google Group has been created for discussion of Dartbox2D.

  • What Sites Are Made Of

    An interesting infographic has come out looking at what websites are made up of. More specifically, the most popular markup languages, servers and hosting on the web.

    Broadband Choices put out the following infographic.

    Sources for the data are listed at the bottom of the graphic.

    via

  • George Hotz, Facebook’s New Hacker

    George Hotz, Facebook’s New Hacker

    George Hotz, famed iPhone hacker and target of Sony’s lawsuit machine, has apparently gotten a new job working for Facebook.

    The news first started as rumor reported on by TechUnwrapped but eventually was confirmed by Facebook to multiple sources. Facebook hasn’t yet specified what Hotz will be doing for the company, only stated that he is now on the payroll.

    The 21-year-old is also known as Geohot and gained fame back in 2007 when he unlocked the iPhone, allowing it to run on any network. He eventually traded the hacked gadget for a Nissan 350Z.

    More recently, he just ended a long battle with Sony over his hacking of the PS3. After successfully jailbreaking the console, he disseminated his methods online. Sony threw a fit and eventually won a restraining order against Hotz. He was barred from further distribution of his techniques on the web and was also forced to surrender his computers to Sony. This made some people a little bit angry.

    Anonymous launched OpSony party becuase of how Sony treated “fellow hacker GeoHot.” They released a statement accusing Sony of “abusing the judicial system in an attempt to censor information.”

    A few months after the restraining order, Hotz and Sony quietly settled the matter and released a joint statement that failed to go into much detail. Hotz then said he was “happy to have the litigation” behind him.

    Here’s some of the Twitter response, and boy is there a lot –

    @AzHP
    Sean Lee    I really don’t understand all the Geohot hate. What did he do wrong? I’m sure he’s laughing his way to the bank at any rate. 15 minutes ago via web · powered by @socialditto

    @lindsayrenwick
    Lindsay Renwick    Facebook hired George Hotz – trying to keep the pirates at bay? http://ow.ly/5rYyX 5 hours ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

    @abeckwith
    abeckwith    Wow, talk about keeping your enemies close! Facebook hires infamous hacker: http://lat.ms/jFzt1B via @mediabistro 1 hour ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    @BrianPShea
    Brian Shea    GeoHot, the guy that kickstarted the Playstation 3 hacking frenzy, was recently hired by Facebook. Let that be a lesson to you all. 17 minutes ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto

    I guess the big question is why? For Facebook, were they simply impressed by his talents and grabbed him to fill their team with the best people around? As many have suggested, is it a keeps your enemies closer type of thing? Maybe they hired the hacker to help tighten up their own security?

    One speculation is that he may have been brought on to aid in developing Project Spartan, an HTML platform that would take on Apple’s App Store. Others say that its possible that Hotz will be working on the new Facebook app for the iPad.

    Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Facebook has chosen to embrace the hacking culture. Years ago they hired Chris Putnam, another hacker that created a way to face Facebook resemble MySpace. After tracking it to him, they offered him a job. Hey, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, right?