Blog 8

Ryan Chen

5/3/17

Where do I go from Here?

My dream job in computer science would be to work in the video game industry or anything that has to do with computer programming. I think it’s an interesting field and I would enjoy doing it because I had a lot of fun playing with scratch. Or job that has to do with computers I would like to do because I think computers are interesting to me and I just like using computers on a daily rather than working anywhere else.

The topics I would like to learn more about would be how a computer works such as how to protect yourself from hackers. How do hackers hack the computer. The robot software we used today is the set of coded commands or instructions that tell a mechanical device and electronic system what to do (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_software) and learning how to tell a robot what to do is interesting to me. Protecting yourself from hackers would be interesting to learn about because it’s important to keep all your data and personal information secured. Also I’m curious to learn out hackers hack into computers because not everyone can do it and it sounds interesting. Robots are being computer programmed and it amaze me how it can sort of do the things almost a regular human can do so learning more about that field would be interesting.

The classes I would be looking forward to taking in the future is all the CIS classes required to take for me to get my degree. Classes such as computer architecture and data and program structures. All the classes in computer science sounds interesting to me and I am looking forward to taking them.

I felt like this class did a really good job on covering all the materials that needs to be covered in a intro to computer science class. It helps people get an idea of what computer science is. Not every subject covered in class is the same thing everyday like for example one day the lecture is going to be about robots and another day it’s going to be about some history of computer science. Everyone has their own preference on what they want to learn in class so if a subject is covered more deeply on a particular area some students might find it boring.

There were a lot of information covered in the textbook but the most interesting parts of the textbook was on pattern on the stones where it talks about encrypting letters that are used more often to save up memory space (P.100). It gave me a little more understanding and thinking more about the little things about a computer. Before that I wasn’t really thinking about how memory gets stored in a computer or what it takes to store memory back then because data was limited and expensive back then. Another part of the textbook that was interesting to me was in the 9 algorithms textbook where it talked about paint-mixing with numbers (p.48). It talked about math in computer science that was interesting to me because I didn’t know how math was applied in computer science so it gave me a little bit more of an idea.

There are a lot of areas I want to learn more about like how to program a robot or how to create my own video game one day from scratch. I think making my own video game would be on the top of my list because I grew up as a kid playing computer games not thinking about how the creator made it. But now looking back it’s got to sound kind of complicated because there looks to be a lot of coding and information to every computer game. Programming a robot would be cool to learn about because robots are taking over the industry.

Blog 6 - Computer science and math

Ryan Chen

4/17/17

Computer Science & Mathematics

There are many mathematical concept I’m interested in but the most interesting concept for me in computer science would have to be the algorithm because it’s the one I’m the most familiar with and we did an activity in class with it which I thought was fun. This mathematical concept relates to computer science by the way a computer thinks it takes a step by step process. For example if you were to ask a computer to sort out a deck of cards from ace to kings every time cards get moved around like moving kings to the right side the computer ask a question each time is the king greater than the card it is moving passed.

The algorithm I think that connects the most with math is the computer algebra and geometry section of algorithms that is listed on the list of algorithm section in wikipedia because they are math words that are directly related to algorithms. There are a lot of algorithms that makes sense but I feel the one that makes the most sense when apply to a computer is the closest pair of points problem under the geometry algorithms. It’s a problem of computational geometry given n points in metric space the computer finds the pair of points with the smallest distance in between them (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closest_pair_of_points_problem). For example if there are 2 points (2,6) and (5,6) and another 2 points at (3,8) and (4,8) the computer would point out the (3,8) and (4,8) are the points closer to each other. This algorithm I think makes the most sense to a computer because it makes the most sense to me, it didn’t took to long for me to understand it from reading it right away compare to the other algorithms.

The theoretical computer science I find most interest to me is the coding theory because of the name and the reason I’m taking this as a major is trying to learn how to code. It’s also interesting to me that it has a lot of scientific disciplines such as math, electrical engineering, and information theory. Coding theory is the study of the properties of codes and their fitness for a specific application stated on the wikipedia article on the dropbox. I also find that the machine learning topic on theoretical computer science is interesting because I would like to know how a machine learns not just what it learns. This topic deals with the construction and study of algorithm that can learn from data.

There are lots of things that related to closely to mathematics in the textbooks we read like from patterns on the stones where the MIT student talks about his roommate that was pairing his socks to match each one (P.77) because it dealt with algorithms. Also in the textbook we are currently reading right now the 9 algorithms that changed the future where it talks about paint mixing with numbers because it deals with multiplying and dividing numbers (P.48-51). There are also reading in the textbook that deals with math problems that can’t be solve like the traveling salesman problem in pattern on the stones.

There are many computer science pioneers that are important to both math and computer science. Some of them would have to be for example Charles Babbage because he is one of the first pioneers in computing. He designed a calculator that can compute numbers up to twenty decimal places. Alan Turing is also one of the person that is important to both math and computer science because it invented the turing machine. The turing machine deals with algorithms and computation which are mathematics.

blog 5 - TUBES

Ryan Chen

4/2/17

TUBES

The book tubes I thought was a good book for people who would love to know about the internet or the history of where it came from. From me the book was a little interesting and boring at the same time because it had a lot of information they give you have you can’t remember it all. I feel like I wasn’t engaged in the book was because it’s a book trying to educate you not like a storytelling book that doesn’t educate you with all the information. It’s not as bad as other education books where they just talk about educational things while this book gives a little story while he is traveling while giving educational facts about the internet.

The most interesting thing I learned was when the author went to ucla in chapter 2 and talked about MAE-East (P.60) because I didn’t know there were Metropolitan Area Exchange which happened to be the internet exchange point. I didn’t know much of how internet worked or there has to be exchange points around the country in order to have internet. The book didn’t really explain much about MAE so I googled it and I learned there are 3 major MAEs which are east, west, and central on techtarget.com. There are also two central MAEs for frame encapsulation service in Chicago and New York.

The parts I didn’t like about the book was the little detailed information that didn’t seem interesting to me like when he stated he was checking his phone while eating an apple. It was sentences that didn’t needed to be included in the book because it had nothing to do with the internet unless if it was something interesting happened while he was traveling like “I saw a big collision outside the parking lot”.

Before reading the book I knew nothing about the internet but after I read it I felt like I learned a few things about it like how the internet is a fiber with thin glass strands filled with pulses of light (P.158). The book talked about the history of the internet if where it is build and how it works. I didn’t have any questions before reading the book and any questions that comes in my head after I was done reading the book.

I would definitely recommend this book to a friend if they are interested about the internet because the book is an interesting story about a man who is trying to find out how internet works. It would be different from other books in my opinion because he talks about his trip that he took unlike some books might just give you the history and facts about internet so all the facts without a story might be more boring in a book.

What I think is significant about the book is that it gives a story about one person traveling to different places like ucla or Milwaukee finding stuff about the internet. The difference about this book and other books about the internet is the story won’t be the same because it’s based off of what one person did. I think this book was chosen for the class was because it’s about the internet and internet has to do with computer science and on top of the book it also says national bestseller so why wouldn’t you want a good selling book for a class. I’ve notice that for the last book chosen for the class POTS for every reading we did the next day of lecture the topic about the reading was covered in class but for this book the topic about the books reading wasn’t covered in class.

"What Is MAE? - Definition from WhatIs.com." SearchNetworking. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2017.

Filter bubble

Ryan Chen

3/13/17

Filter bubble

Filter bubble is a way for websites to customise your search or your experience when you’re surfing the web. The website uses algorithms to guess what information the user would like to see based on user's search history, locations, and passed clicks(Wikipedia). For example if you search on youtube Justin Bieber music a lot you will most likely see stuff like Justin Bieber albums or other Justin Bieber stuff because the website uses algorithms to guess what you want to see based on your search history. People with different interest will more likely to have different things come up when they shop on amazon or search videos on youtube. Filter bubble has been a good way to help people find the things they want to find based on the things they search and not look at the things they don’t search. This can be bad for people because you will never see what other people see from their perspective.

Netflix has used filter bubbles for a while now. Me and my cousin who’s like 11 years old share the same netflix account with me and sometimes the TV shows and movies he watches can effect my filter bubble. So he made his own profile on the netflix account a while ago which doesn’t interfere with my filter bubble anymore. I looked through my netflix profile and I can see the trending now and the popular on netflix videos are completely different between me and my cousin. I have more of sports movies and documentaries while he has more of cartoons like kids show on his profile. Netflix also has an obvious filter bubble where they pull up videos on your screen and says “because you watched …”. I think this is good because if you watched a movie and you didn’t like it you can ignore it or if you watched a movie you really like you can look through that.

I also did some search on amazon on my roommate's computer who is currently a business student. Amazon has the same item on the top of the banner which is an echo speaker starting at $180 for both me and my roommate's computer. When I scrolled down I see the stuff that says inspired by your trends list. I usually don’t use amazon to shop unless I need to buy a textbook so I see that in my amazon there’s math, chemistry, and engineering textbooks. For my roommates amazon I see stuff like business calculus textbooks, proteins, or other workout utilities because he searches those things a lot and I can see that because he workouts everyday.

I did a search on youtube and they have recommended channels, watch it again, and recommended videos for us. I have recommended channels for music channels because I use youtube for music and the watch it again videos I have is how to solve this equation because use youtube to help on my homework if I’m stuck. My roommates youtube filter bubble was cartoon shows like family guy and workout videos because those are the things he watches. As I looked through it I can see I wouldn’t be interested in looking at the things my roommate has on his filter bubble and I rather look at my filter bubble. I personally like filter bubbles now because it doesn’t really bring up the things you aren’t interested and tries to bring up the things you would be interested in looking at.

On pattern on the stones the chapter computers that learn and adapt is kind of like filter bubbles. Computers can learn from their mistakes and correct their own errors (P.121). Filter bubbles correct themselves on what to put on the website depending on your interest from search history. It also takes memory to save your search history so the website knows what you searched in the past. On chapter 6 about memory of how computers can compress something to save memory space. For example if there was a letter that gets overused you would compress it to save data on your computer(p.93).

"Filter Bubble." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 07 Mar. 2017. Web. 13 Mar. 2017.

Daniel Hellis “Pattern on the stones”

POTS

Ryan Chen

2/22/17

POTS

The book pattern on the stones I think was an interesting book. You learn a lot of stuff you didn’t know much about computers. There are a lot of difficult words and information they throw at you in the book which when you read it sometimes it doesn’t make sense. You would have to google some words to know the definition before you can understand what they’re talking about. It was easy to understand when they tell us how they program a computer to make the best move possible every move you make so it’s like the computer is programmed to win. When they talk about Invert, And, and or blocks that was when it got confusing. The algorithm chapter was kind of confusing but when the professor explained it in class I had a better understanding.

The most interesting thing I learned from the book is probably some of the problems you think a computer can solve can’t actually solve it. Like the traveling salesman problem trying to find the shortest route possible. It was also interesting when the book talked about how a computer uses 1s and 0s to created other numbers or letters. I liked how the books gives a story of an example at the beginning of every chapter like pairing up socks in (Chapter 5) because those were the things I understand in the book the most. It was also interesting when the book talked about storing memory and how they try to compress the most common word or letter to take up less memory in (P.93-94).

The parts I don’t like about the book is in almost every reading we do there’s always information we read that’s confusing or words that we know nothing about like the hierarchy. There’s a lot of information as you read the book and you really have to slow down and process the information or look up words and try to understand it throughout the reading. It’s not a book where you can read the entire book then write a lot about because it’s a lot of information to how a computer works and you might have to go back through the book to jog some memory.

There were many things I looked up on google because I didn’t understand the concepts. One for example I googled what pseudorandom is when they used it on (P.71) when they were explaining quantum computing. According to (Google) pseudorandom is (of a number, a sequence of numbers, or any digital data) satisfying one or more statistical tests for randomness but produced by a definite mathematical procedure. So basically it’s a number that appears to be random but it’s not. The numbers are generated by a sequence so they appear statistically.

The book gave me a good understanding about computers. I didn’t really have any questions going into this book except just reading it to see what it’s about. It explain about how data gets stored and how expensive it was back then for memory on a computer when today we might use a bunch of memory on our phone and not think about any of this since iphone changed it’s lowest gigs to 32gb.

For me since this is the first book about computers I’ve read I would recommend it to a friend. But it takes a while for you to process the bunch of information they give you as you read the book and there might be multiple things you need to look up in order for you to understand the reading.

This book is significant because it’s the basics and the history of how computers work and they break everything down. I think the book was chosen in this class was because the lectures in class had to do with the book. Every chapter I read before class the next day I go to lecture the teacher basically explains what we read. I didn’t understand the reading much sometimes then the next day I see the professor go through it in class it kind of made sense because I read about it before class. It’s good this book was chosen as the textbook so you’re not clueless during lectures as the professor is going through slides.

Algorithm

Ryan Chen

2/13/17

Bitap Algorithm

There are lots of algorithms out there but the algorithm I’ve decide to choose is Bitap Algorithm because it talked about strings at the beginning and it looks interesting. This algorithm is also known as shift-or, shift-and or Baeza-Yates-Gonnet. The algorithm was written by  Udi Manber, Sun Wu, and Burra Gopal. It was first invented by Balint Domolki in 1964 and extended by R. K. Shyamasundar in 1977 then Manber and Wu reinvented in the context of fuzzy string searching in 1991. In 1996 Baeza-Yates and Navarro improve the algorithm.

The way this algorithm work is they are string searchings that tells you weather if the text has a substring that is approximately equal to the pattern. There are two types of searching called fuzzy or exact searching. Exacting string searching uses zeros and ones. If a bit indicates a zero that means there is a match. If it indicates a one that means there are no matches. The algorithm can be written with the intuitive semantics for 0 and 1, but we must introduce another instruction into the inner loop to set R=1. In this implementation, left-shifting a value shifts in zeros on the right, which is precisely the behavior we need.

Fuzzy searching is a little different than exact searching. To use fuzzy string searching for the bitap algorithm, you need to extend the bit array R into a second dimension. Rather than of having one array R that changes over the length of the text, we now have k distinct arrays R1k. Array Ri holds a representation of the prefixes of pattern that match any suffix of the current string with i or fewer errors.An error may be an insertion, deletion, or substitution using this context.

I think what makes these algorithms special and unique is that it's a string matching and there are two different ways to do this algorithm by exact searching or fuzzy searching. I personally like exact searching because it made more sense to me when I read it. It uses ones and zeros and we talked about that kind of stuff in class so it makes more sense.

I found that Jaro-Winkler distance that was created by Winkler in 1990 is similar to the Bitap Algorithm because it measures a similarity between two strings. But, it is only best suited for short strings such as someone's name. It uses ones and zeros just like exact string matching one indicating an exact match and zero indicating no similarity.

There are some algorithms that can be done manually for example like sorting out a deck of cards. For the Bitap algorithm I didn’t see any sources saying you can do it manually but I assume you will be able to sort out words similarity to have it match but it will take a very long time. The reading in the textbook relate to this algorithm in (Chapter 5) where it talks about matching socks, traveling salesman problem, and the possibilities of a certain move. The textbook reading did give me a better understanding of how algorithms work by giving examples like the shortest time possible to match your socks(P.77-78) because before the reading I had no idea what algorithms were. I also learned computers can’t solve every problem using algorithms like the traveling salesman problem(P.87-89).

Bitap Algorithm helps you match a text that is approximately equal(Wikipedia). You can use it in a real world situation for example if you want to find how many students in a school has the same name or a most common name you would use Bitap algorithm. Another example you can use this algorithm in a real world is to find out what is the letter that is being used the most to name a word so you can encode it to save data.

"Bitap Algorithm." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2017.

Personal Bio

Ryan Chen

Professor Russell Feldhausen

CIS 115

1/22/17

Personal Biography

I was born in New York City in 1997 and I’ve lived there until I was twelve. Then my mom got a job working for my uncle in Kansas so me and my parents moved to Lenexa, Kansas. I started 7th grade and attended westridge middle school. I noticed people in Kansas are a lot nicer and more friendlier than most people in New York.

During my senior year of highschool I had no clue what school I wanted to go to and what major I wanted to study. I attended JCCC for a year then decided to go to K-State. My two options for me at the time when I decided to transfer out of JCCC was either KU or K-State because it was instate tuition and I wouldn’t want to go out of state and pay double the cost. The reason why I attended K-State was because of the atmosphere and it wasn’t as close to home as KU was.

At first I was a civil engineering major because I was kind of into legos and building structures. After my first semester at K-State I felt kind of lost of what I wanted to study again because I didn’t felt civil engineering was that interesting anymore. One day I was browsing the web and I came across a video on youtube with a title “Is computer programming hard”. I didn’t know much of what a computer science major does until that video. I thought it was cool so at the beginning of this first semester I decided to switch my major to computer science. One big thing in the video that made me switch my major is when they said there will be 1.4million jobs available for computer science and only 400,000 grads qualify for those jobs.

My favorite hobbies are to play basketball, go to any entertainment places, and go travel. I also like to hang out with my friends and family. My family are all chinese and from China except for some of my cousins that were born here. We cook chinese food every night and use chopsticks for every meal. My family members are all cool and they live all over the places. I have family members in America, China, and Canada. I’m the only child so all my cousins are like brothers and sisters to me. My mom does a lot of traveling and shopping while my dad is the exact opposite. He’s more of a person that comes home from work and just watches TV while my mom likes to do a lot of things.

My first job I had was working for my uncle when I was 16 installing cabinets to homes are are still being built. It was during the summer time and they didn’t have the AC installed in the homes so it was usually a pretty sweating and tiring job for me. During the school year I wouldn’t work. The summer before I went to JCCC I worked at sprouts farmers market as a cashier checking out items and bagging groceries and I would work there when school started too and stop working there after the first semester of college because I wanted to make my grades better.

After I graduate I hope to become a software developer out of the state. Or get a masters degree at a different college. Other than that I’m not so sure what state I want to work or where I want to work.

As I was skimming through the contents of the textbooks I feel like Programming in The Pattern Of Stones textbook looks interesting because the whole reason I’m in computer science is trying to learn how to program. Also in the book 9 algorithms that changed the future tittled “what is computable?” seems interesting because it’s a question and I didn’t know some things are not computable.

I’m usually on twitter and snapchat a lot so if I want to find news on technology and computers I go to the moments tab on twitter where there’s all the news. For snapchat I go on the discover tab and it has lots of news channels like CNN. Sometimes I can go on google and type in news on technology and computers and the latest news comes up.