blue room

So this is day two of SMACS 2008. Two words: interesting and nosebleed.
The first speaker talked about (mostly) complexities of algorithms over
parallel networks in different topologies. It started with Turing
machines and other computation models. I learned about the possible
connection of Apple’s logo (a bitten apple) and Alan Turing, the
"father" of computer science. It was rumored that Turing died by
dipping an apple in cyanide before bitting it. Snow White wannabe? (I
heard he’s gay.) LOL

So the topic was like data structures and
algorithm analysis meets data communications and networking. This is,
of course, another new thing learned (I hope) because I’ve only dealt
with analysis of algorithms in a sequential setting (using only one
processor). Parallel algorithm uses multiple processors. I have always
thought that more processors are always better for any type of problem.
Apparently, cost (eg communication cost) also grows with the number and
sometimes it grows higher that the speed up in processing the algorithm.

One
thing that I found really interesting is the application of operations
research in parallel computing. So this is like Statistics meets
Computer Science. And I thought, why not? Parallel processing involves
a lot of scheduling and queueing of processes, etc., which are what we
basically studied in operations research in Stat (only our examples
there are more on industrial applications).

Like the first day,
lunch was great. I ate a lot! I needed it to energize my brain. During
lunch break we were provided with some entertainment (on the LCD
projector) via some nerdy math/comp.sci. jokes that are only understood
by math/cs majors. Those were really funny, indeed, but definitely not
so easy to share.

The afternoon session topic was on Formal
Languages, which was something I looked forward to because I’m teaching
Automata Theory and Formal Languages for the first time this sem. This
would give me more confidence in teaching the subject.

The talk
was a good refresher of what I have encountered during my grad course,
especially about the Pumping Lemma for Regular Languages that is used
to prove irregularity of languages. I wonder how I’m gonna deliver this
topic to my students though. It took me quite a while to actually
understand it during my MCS. And oh, there is also a Pumping Lemma for
Linear Languages (where w = uvxyz). Samot kalibog!

The
most nosebleeding part for me was the Recursively Enumerable Languages,
which are languages accepted by Turing Machines. I’ve never actually
liked this part bcoz I don’t like the notations. The Turing machine is
the model of the modern computer (yet it still looks primitive to me).
This is actually the part that made me retake Theory of Computation
during my comprehensive exam (I didn’t answer the questions on Turing
machines.). And after the talk, sad to say, I still do not like it.

The
most interesting stuff I learned is the application of Formal Languages
to molecular biology. Whoa! Apparently, the alphabets in DNA/RNA
(a,t,c,g,u) can be treated just like alphabets in Formal Languages. A
DNA structure can be modeled using regular expressions and context-free
grammars. Amazing! However, I was not able to get how it’s actually
applied coz my head was breaking and my sinusitis was killing me.

It was, indeed, a long learned-a-lot day.

Last Monday was the first day of the 4th Symposium on the Mathematical
Aspects of Computer Science (SMACS) 2008, of which I was very fortunate
to be given a chance to participate in the workshop. This 4-day affair
was sponsored by the Computing Society of the Philippines.

How
was the first day? One word: NOSEBLEED! There were two speakers: the
first was a professor from Ateneo de Manila, who talked about some
topics in Discrete Mathematics, particularly Group Theory with its
applications in Cryptology, and Coding Theory, which includes hamming
metrics and parity generator matrices (as far as I can remember). It
was interesting. For me, that was venturing deeper into the subject I
teach the most b’coz my discrete math classes don’t reach that part.
The topic needs a lot of set and graph theory as prerequisites. This
makes me wonder if my students are really gonna understand it if I ever
decide to teach it to them. Well, students usually expect to be
spoon-fed even in college. I guess this is better taught in graduate
level.

The second speaker was a foreigner from University of
Luxembourg, who talked about Argumentation and Nonmonotonic Reasoning.
Ok, THIS was totally more nosebleeding. It was interesting,
nonetheless, especially because it is applied in AI programming (my
favorite area in CS). It’s sort of a deeper study in logic. Since
nonmonotonic reasoning is something new to me, I wasn’t really able to
get the whole thing yet. The first parts made sense coz I can relate to
the rules of inference and first-order logic. But the rest was like
"how did we come to this?". From then on I could only understand
fragments. This is also partly because my brain was already having a
stack overflow error. Oh well, maybe on my next encounter of this stuff
I’d understand it better (should our paths ever meet again).

By
the end of the day I was literally beat! I was so weary that going home
was to difficult. But I made home in good shape anyways, I just wasn’t
able to visit a friend I was supposed to visit coz I was too tired.

I
have to say that I learned a lot and that the food was great. I had a
good time and I looked forward to another nosebleeding session.