Scientific Computing: Matlab

"MATLAB (matrix laboratory) is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrixmanipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages, including C,C++, Java, and Fortran."
History
Cleve Moler, the chairman of the computer science department at the University of New Mexico, started developing MATLAB in the late 1970s. He designed for his students to learn fortran which is a programming language.


People can do all the calculation on Mathlab. Its a very helpful applications for students

Scientific Computing :Computational science

"Computational science (also scientific computing or scientific computation) is concerned with constructing mathematical models and quantitative analysis techniques and using computers to analyze and solve scientific problems.[1] In practical use, it is typically the application of computer simulation and other forms of computation from numerical analysis andtheoretical computer science to problems in various scientific disciplines."


Applications of computational science

Numerical simulations

     There are 2 types:
        Reconstruct and understand known events (e.g., earthquake, tsunamis and other natural disasters).
        Predict future or unobserved situations (e.g., weather, sub-atomic particle behavior).

Model fitting and data analysis

Computational optimization

Computer Graphics

"Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and the representation of image data by a computer specifically with help from specialized graphic hardware and software.The interaction and understanding of computers and interpretation of data has been made easier because of computer graphics. Computer graphic development has had a significant impact on many types of media and have revolutionized animation, movies and the video game industry."(Wikipedia).

Since almost everything in a computer is not text or sound, the term computer graphics has been used a lot in the computer field especially in computer science. There are several different things in computer graphic:

1) the representation and implementation of image date
2) the technology to create or use of the images
3) the sub-field in computer science which studies for digital image

the term computer graphic was published in 1960 by William Fetter who is a computer designer. Also in 1961, a student in MIT created the first video game based on this idea.

Today, computer graphic major is very popular and important because most of applications in computers are based on graphic.
There are many image types:
a) two-dimentional
b) pixel art
c) vector graphics
d) three-demensional
e) computer animation

History of Computer

Programming languages are very important in the computer field, especial for computer programming. There are many computer languages exits today. For some people who don't understand computer languages. Its a tool or simply a way for a programmer communicates with computers. Java, C, C#, C++, Python, Ruby... these are the most common languages that every programmers must know about it.

There are also different kinds of languages:

Machine Languages: Machine languages are the lowest level programming language and it's only can understand by the machine. it's set of binary codes and is run by computer.

Assembly language: Its also considered low level language but people can understand them.

High-Level Languages: this is the most common languages. its allows programmers to write programs that are readable.

Data Structures

Data Structure is the place to store data and information in memory of a computer. There are many common data structure already defined for programmers to use such as list, array, arraylist, tree, graph...Depending on the usages of data, the programmers choose what data structure can fit the best for their program. To help other people who is outside of computer science major, data structure is like a house or a building so you can live or put your stuffs in. You can have many rooms or kitchens you want and can be different from other's houses. But the same idea is you can live or store you stuff in your house. Moreover, your house also has the address to help other people identify where you live, so that they can reach you easily. In computer, data structure is stored in memory, we can find the data which are stored in the structure, we only need to look at the id of the structure.

this is an example of data structure

Also, depending on the types of program, the choice of data structure is very important. For example, some data structures can do a lot faster in sorting and slower in inserting or deleting data. Moreover, you can define your own data structure in your own way. But it takes a bit of time because you have to do all the functions to get access to your data structures. 

hackers are not totally bad

When people hear the word hacker, they often think about the bad thing such as steal money from a bank, steal information from some companies or government… However, that is not true at all, there are 3 types of hackers.
_ BlackHat: this is really bad hacker. They break into a secure network or system to destroy data and make the network unusable. People who are authorized to those network can't have accesses. This type of hackers always join in a group and live in popular countries.
_ WhiteHat: they are considered "good hacker." "A white hat hacker breaks security for non-malicious reasons, perhaps to test their own security system or while working for a security company which makes security software. The term "white hat" in Internet slang refers to an ethical hacker." For example, iPhone unlocked is also considered hacking but its good for the phone users to use different providers.
_ GreyHat: this is the combination of BlackHat and WhiteHat. "A grey hat hacker may surf the internet and hack into a computer system for the sole purpose of notifying the administrator that their system has a security defect." For example, In June 2010, a group of computer experts known as Goatse Security exposed a flaw in at&t security which allowed the e-mail addresses of ipads users to be revealed.
Therefore, the term hacker can understand many different way. they are not totally bad for internet users, they can contribution something which is also good and benefit people

Open Source is the free market

“Generally, open source refers to a computer program in which the source code is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design. Open source code is typically created as a collaborative effort in which programmers improve upon the code and share the changes within the community.” It means that we can get a program or an application from some sources for free. However, because of the free market, there are lacks of concern on the customer services. Users can’t complain anything about the products if there are some problems. Nowadays, there are many open sources such as PHP, JAVA, Python, Mozilla Firefox, Android…These open sources are growing rapidly and become very popular.

Open Source Advantage:
         No cost or a lower cost for licensing "open source" solutions
         Anyone can fix bugs as they are found, and users do not have to wait for the next release.
         Open source is not dependent on the company or author that originally created it. Even if the company fails, the code continues to exist and be developed by its users.
         The companies using open-source software do not have to think about complex licenses

Open Source Disadvantage:

         Open-source software is not being straightforward to use. Open source operating systems like Linux cannot be learned in a day.

         Many of the latest hardware are incompatible to the open-source platform.



The decision of adopting open-source software should not be taken just on the basis of the low-cost involved. It requires a details analysis and understanding of the requirement before choosing a program or application to use.

Agile: the method for development software

In February 2001, 17 software developers met at Snowbird Utah to discuss about the development methods. They came up with a lots of methods such as adaptive, predictive, formal,… After all, They chose Agile method which combines from all of the methods above as the final result.

“Agile software development is a group of software development methods based on iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams.” It means there are many specific agile development methods involved in such as promote development, teamwork, collaboration and process adaptability around the life cycle of the projects. Agile breaks the projects into small increments and develop each of the increments at the same time. The projects will finish by the time each of the increments finish.

Moreover, Agile development method is focused on different aspects of the software development of the life cycle. Some focus on practice, programming, design, while others focus on managing the software and development of the project.

 

Agile methods have been extremely used for development of software. However, this method can be applied to the development of non-software products, such as computers, transportation, hotel, motor vehicles, medical devices, food, restaurant, and clothing.

LinkedIn is a great tool to advertise you

           

            LinkedIn is a social networking website for people in professional occupations. It is founded in December 2002 and launched on May 5, 2003. The main purpose of this website is to help people network professionally and stay updated. All the services on this website are free so it’s a great tool to use.

           LinkedIn can let you find other companies, business associates, clients, organizations and colleagues whom you already know. You can connect with these associates through this website and then they will become part of your network. Once you connected with these people, you later can get accesses to their list of connections which also give you an opportunity to connect other people.

           Also, Linked in provides other features such as setup, join in groups,  search for jobs available which other people advertise the open positions and you can apply for it right on their network. It’s also a great tool for job seeking.

           Moreover, LinkedIn can help you network with others and professional organization in your industry. This helps you stay updated with industry trends and you can share information with others who do things similar to you. Once you in a network, you can create or join a specific group to discuss about ideas and share industry or your products news. Therefore, this is a great tool to build and advertise your products in a professional way.

           I heard about LinkedIn from a friend of mine long time ago, but I haven’t gotten a chance to use it because all of my friends are using Facebook and I’m also a new to this industry world. Since the impressive introduction to LinkedIn from my professor in cs100w, I know that I have to have a LinkedIn account for my future careers.

QR codes, the most efficient way to talk about yourself

QR code (quick response code) was first designed for industrial uses in japan. It has become popular due to the fact that its fast readability and greater storage capacity compared to the standard UPC barcodes. Because of these facts, many applications such as product tracking, time tracking, item identification, website identification and more used the QR codes (Wikipedia). There are more reasons why QR codes have become so popular. QR codes nowadays in 2013 really easy to use and to generate. We can just use a smart phone with a scanner application and we can get the information behind the QR code. For example, we can go to a particular website just by doing a simple scan on that QR code and it will lead us to that website. We don’t have to type the entire website URL out. Moreover, we can also generate a QR code for the website we want by using some website which can generate the QE codes such as http://www.qrstuff.com/. It’s really easy to use and free. For example, the QR code above is my QR code for my blog. If I want to tell my friends about my blog, I don’t have to give them the entire URL but instead just give them this QR code and they can get to my blog easily. 

Two sides of Social Networking and Security or lack of when promote your brand

          Nowadays, social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus have been used widely all over the world. Every user can see others’ photos, status, relationship and updates easily just by one click. Because these social media websites are so popular, not only a regular person uses them but also a corporate, company and/or business. Especially, businesses like to get their products out to the world as quick and effective as possible. Social networking websites allow them to be able to reach out to their customers by not having to put into too much work. For example, if a certain grand-opening restaurant wants to advertise for its menu, then it would first need to have its own website. However, a website isn’t as effective as a fan page on Facebook. Most people will like to visit the restaurant’s fan page than its website.

           When a business has its own account on any social networking website, it can get people’s attention quickly through uploaded pictures and videos, status updates, and replies to comments. However, there is a bad side to this because the security on these websites aren’t as good as the one on their own website. Hackers may find a much more difficult time to hack a company or corporate’s own website than the fan page. Inconsiderate comments can be posted and seen by everybody on the Facebook’s fan page but not on the website. Overall, there are always two sides to social networking. Though it may bring you benefits in advertising and marketing, it can hurt you back by not having enough security.

Welcome to my first Blog

Hello world!
My name is Tho. I'm a computer science student. This is my second year in San Jose State University. I choose computer science as my major because nowadays computers present everywhere. People using it to calculate, to store information, to play game, to listen to music... Therefore, computers are very important to everyone. Moreover, since I was a child, I always want to know how the computer works and how programmers can create such a beautiful games that I used to play. Have a good day everyone and see you next time