Hey, have you checked out SageMaths' development recently - man, everything is moving so so fast!
Check out this list of courses which are using SageMaths for their courses this Fall. It supports Jupyter and Numba as well now, with a much tighter integration. Well well, aren't we falling behind - makes me happy though.
And then there is all the more reason for being happy Nemo has shown up in the block and it's all in Julia - I am absolutely in Love with her)
Hey, I have been flirting with the idea about really writing about things I don't know and I have definitely been inspired by Sacha Chua's brilliant advice.
You guys already know that I am big on Stargazing ( a rare breed I know;P ) but, honestly, I don't why is it that looking up always get things in perspective. It's one of the most baffling things to me that People no longer really look up!
I mean, there is an infinite space, beautiful beautiful artwork out there and we are kept too busy staring at our tiny little screens that we completely overlook it!!
But anyway, I think the best way to learn and direct all of my efforts in using and really understanding Programming and Mathematics should be towards the Stars and Languages. There is just something really really mysterious about these two that, I truly believe, sets Us apart.
Big Questions, no?
Sure, these are a good complement to each other when you come to think of it. The Stars represent our search for that something More - on the outside and the other one, Languages, really represents the great search for More - on the inside.
Perhaps, the best way to really learn Physics and Master the knowledge is to use it actively - there's a book brewing in my mind based on the very fundamentals but perhaps with a little more imagination added to it. It would only be in terms of Stars.
'Cos when we come to think of it, this is a damn good context to learn each and every nook and corner of the our Knowledge of Physics, no? From General Theory of Relativity to Quantum Mechanics - it's all in the cosmos, isn't it! So, perhaps a few years down the road, this is what you can expect from Sagematics.
And believe me, there is a lot more out there ( and in here) than we can possibly imagine! Waiting for it's own Columbus and it's own Einstein.
Finally, I sat for the last of my exams today and I guess it won't be long before the time for End-sems draws near. Anyhow, it's a Great Great relief to sail through these storms;P
For most of my work, I haven't made any progress apart from roughly estimating that at the current rate I won't be able to complete any of the projects that I have mentioned in my To Do list!
But, no worries! I believe that it's more about a rhythm and, of course, a certain amount of Discipline that one needs to follow to achieve anything - so it shall all be completed. Breath Easy, Breath Easy;P
I think, it's just these exams which put all my resolve and drive into a Big Snooze. Trust me, end of exams is like a breath of life for me.
Oh, I have been exploring new methods for brainstorming problems and I used it for the first time in my current project and then again in another project which seems worthwhile my time - the second time around I used it to attain a good conceptual understanding of the concept.
Obviously, I used Pencil Colors to do it all and as much as I love technology - I just love Paper more. It just makes it all the more fun to be able to use my hands and to even smell the paper. I love playing around on Paper.
Btw, you need to explore Mind Mapping as a tool for learning and improving your understanding of any subject matter. It-Helps-A-Lot plus it makes the entire process a lot more fun than just using linear lists all over the place.
I'll definitely be using them a lot more for my projects and studies in future.
I keep hearing this thing over and over again. From people - online and offline!
But, I find it somewhat confounding that the with all this data coming up from the various web-sites we have ceased to be unique individuals and have rather become "Data" which behaves in a similar fashion, something that is to be analyzed and understood, Normalized so that all the anomalies are ignored or made to fit in the overall analysis.
My feelings, as of yet, are mixed regarding this trend. But one thing is sure that, Visualization is something I truly enjoy.
Perhaps, they should start teaching Programming purely on the basis of visualizations - wouldn't that make programming and computers more approachable.
As I dive deeper into the world of the Internet, with a general map of the terrain, I find that JavaScript is quite important plus the fact that there are so many dedicated libraries for it and JavaScript being somewhat of a shapeshifter when it comes to adapting to changes makes me certain that this is another language that I need to be at home with.
On my Ubuntu Desktop I have done two major changes regarding my ToolKit
> Using ZSH instead of the default BASH - Zsh has the reputation of being the Programmer's shell plus I am just so affected by all the enthusiasm it builds up. Look up oh-my-zsh on GitHub and it's main web-page Oh My Zsh. I rarely use the shell, apart from changing permissions of the directories and just renaming stuff - stuff which can easily be done using Python. But, if there's any shell that makes by feel exited and joyful, it's Zsh. I'll much rather invests my time doing what "feels" right. Always listen to your instincts - Mine have Always led me right.
> I have explored GitHub's Atom and I like what I see, especially the kind of momentum and excitement it has managed to generate. My instincts tell me it's gonna be Huge, just like Julia. The shift to this Text Editor ( for all Web-related work) was triggered by the fact that I wasn't really able to get the JavaScript NodeJS platform working on my Machine. So, I explored a bit and found that Atom is itself built specifically for the Web-developers, plus it's entire birth cycle has proceeded with such a blazingly fast speed that I know it's gonna be irresistible in future.
What about Emacs, you ask?
I think that, there is much Code-Reading involved in my future so I might as well be comfortable with a couple of Text Editors. The three Text Editors that make all the sense in the Coding world to me are
> Emacs
> Atom
> Notepad++
These are arranged with decreasing level of complexity. As far as Emacs is concerned, well if Notepad++ is a handy knife, Atom being a good Swiss Knife - Emacs is the Cook;P
And there is this wonderful relationship between the Web-Technologies ( JavaScript driven ) that quite resembles the relationship between Elisp and Emacs - Quite a Harmony;P I love the fact that I can type in multiple languages within Emacs ( say Japanese or French ) and even play the game of Go in Emacs. Emacs and I - the world is a better place for me.
Imagine if Beethoven [ Or Bach or Mozart ad infinitum ] had access to programming and the sheer potential of today's Computers. It's my unfaltering belief that they would have amazed us still and would have pushed the boundaries of how we think computers can be used and what is still possible with them.
Actually, I am quite interested in learning Sheet music as I am improvising things on a smaller Keyboard so I thought in addition to learning good finger movements, why not learn the Sheet Music as well!
I believe that the best way to learn something is to Do-It-Myself;P
So, I looked up the internet for sheet music and wondered that perhaps that there's a Python library for dealing with music. Luckily, I came across The Mingus Library over at GitHub and as I have worked up to GitHub and it no longer seems to be the exotic beast that it used to be, I was quite happy to search for more of such libraries and I did find a bunch of them.
I have listed them towards the end of this post. But on searching more I found a couple more interesting libraries or say projects which are dedicated to Music. Two of the most notable one's are
Hey, have a look at this TED talk from the maker of chucK langauge. This is what I find creating value and this is one of the most original ways to Program with a vision.
An interesting thing that happened via Mingus is that I followed through to Lilypond which was mentioned in the Mingus Documentation.
But there is a slight Hiccup, I wasn't able to get Mingus working with Anaconda. Though Lilypond is working just fine. Actually, you can think of Lilypond as LaTex to Music. It produces beautiful printed music.
As I was just curious about Music abilities of Python and I ended up with a quite a few libraries which address this need ranging from getting the meta-data related to the songs ( artist, length et cetera ) to in-depth analysis of the Audio files.
Of course, I am yet to sort out carefully through these files but I believe it's a good way to keep things in mind to blog about them. Anyway, as I discover more new stuff and sift out things with are useful for me - I shall keep you posted.
I haven't been able to write much this past week as I am quite pre-occupied with the University Project I am working on. There have been a few hiccups but I have persevered through them;P
By the way, are you keeping up with Julia - you really should. I think, I am definitely gonna write a package for Julia based on my learning experience with these libraries. Of course, I don't expect to work miracles but I know that it's gonna be a great learning experience. That itself makes it all worth for me.;P
