Gene Callahan
Gene's posts
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Little posting, because...
I am prepping to teach algorithms this fall at NYU, and it is a lot of work. But I can offer you this: As part of my prep work, I am implementing each of the algorithms I will cover, from Introduction to Algorithms (Cormen et al.) In Python. My goal here is...
I am prepping to teach algorithms this fall at NYU, and it is a lot of work. But I can offer you this: As part of my prep work, I am implementing each of the algorithms I will cover, from Introduction to Algorithms (Cormen et al.) In Python. My goal here is...
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Manent's thesis
As I am nearing the end of Manent's very interesting book, I want to try to summarize his thesis. (I am, of course, reviewing the book, and would need to do so soon anyway.) The topic which Manent wishes to explore is that of the relationship of French Musl...
As I am nearing the end of Manent's very interesting book, I want to try to summarize his thesis. (I am, of course, reviewing the book, and would need to do so soon anyway.) The topic which Manent wishes to explore is that of the relationship of French Musl...
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Avoiding Programmer's Block
Similar to avoiding writer's block , sometimes you just need to start coding. Now, this should not mean simply hacking with no goal in mind. But occasionally, the overall design of some module just doesn't become clear until you start coding parts of it, at...
Similar to avoiding writer's block , sometimes you just need to start coding. Now, this should not mean simply hacking with no goal in mind. But occasionally, the overall design of some module just doesn't become clear until you start coding parts of it, at...
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Free Trade Is Great
In general. But we do not live "in general." We live in particulars. And free trade may not be so great in a particular case. An example: If I had been the king of the United States in 1985, I would have been worried about the fate of Detroit. Yes, the U.S....
In general. But we do not live "in general." We live in particulars. And free trade may not be so great in a particular case. An example: If I had been the king of the United States in 1985, I would have been worried about the fate of Detroit. Yes, the U.S....
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My Presidential Endorsement
I know you've all been waiting! Given Trump's disappointing VP pick, I now support Jill Stein for president. I think a number of her positions are foolish, but I said peace would be my top priority, and I am sticking with that declaration. And Stein is now,...
I know you've all been waiting! Given Trump's disappointing VP pick, I now support Jill Stein for president. I think a number of her positions are foolish, but I said peace would be my top priority, and I am sticking with that declaration. And Stein is now,...
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More Manent
From an interview here : "The French are exhausted, but they are first of all perplexed, lost. Things were not supposed to happen this way. … We had supposedly entered into the final stage of democracy where human rights would reign, ever more rights ever m...
From an interview here : "The French are exhausted, but they are first of all perplexed, lost. Things were not supposed to happen this way. … We had supposedly entered into the final stage of democracy where human rights would reign, ever more rights ever m...
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Specifying a transition matrix
The Python library numpy allows its users to create a matrix from a string representation. So I can enter a transition matrix for a Markov chain like this: ".95 .05 0 0; 0 0 1 0; 0 0 .95 .05; 0 0 0 1" OK, that's not bad, but I would like to allow my users t...
The Python library numpy allows its users to create a matrix from a string representation. So I can enter a transition matrix for a Markov chain like this: ".95 .05 0 0; 0 0 1 0; 0 0 .95 .05; 0 0 0 1" OK, that's not bad, but I would like to allow my users t...
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Integrated Development Environments
Folks, UNIX is the ultimate IDE. That is what it was written for!
Folks, UNIX is the ultimate IDE. That is what it was written for!
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I'm liking Nassim Nicholas Taleb more and more
I've been following him on Twitter, and now I found this: What's a IYI? Intellectual Yet Idiot: semi-erudite bureaucrat who thinks he is an erudite; pathologizes others for doing things he doesn't understand not realizing it is his understanding that may be...
I've been following him on Twitter, and now I found this: What's a IYI? Intellectual Yet Idiot: semi-erudite bureaucrat who thinks he is an erudite; pathologizes others for doing things he doesn't understand not realizing it is his understanding that may be...
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What impertinence!
"Those who speak only the language of individual rights will never treat a social or political problem pertinently." -- Pierre Manent, Beyond Radical Secularism , p. 79
"Those who speak only the language of individual rights will never treat a social or political problem pertinently." -- Pierre Manent, Beyond Radical Secularism , p. 79
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