Comments for The User's blog http://the-user.org Just a generic nick for someone liking generic programming Sun, 20 May 2012 05:11:35 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Shedding tears, but not crying by Gaynelle Cristino http://the-user.org/post/shedding-tears-but-not-crying#comment-2521 Gaynelle Cristino Sun, 20 May 2012 05:11:35 +0000 http://the-user.org/?p=108#comment-2521 Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thank you, However I am going through troubles with your RSS. I don't understand the reason why I cannot subscribe to it. Is there anyone else having the same RSS issues? Anybody who knows the answer can you kindly respond? Thanx!! Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thank
you, However I am going through troubles with your RSS.
I don’t understand the reason why I cannot subscribe to it. Is there anyone else having the same RSS issues? Anybody who knows the answer can you kindly respond? Thanx!!

]]> Comment on Skype Reverse Engineered by Itaz Paperless http://the-user.org/post/skype-reverse-engineered#comment-1841 Itaz Paperless Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:02:28 +0000 http://the-user.org/?p=308#comment-1841 MS does know a thing or two about Skype which we dont. MS does know a thing or two about Skype which we dont.

]]> Comment on Back from NWERC 2011 by Renke Grunwald http://the-user.org/post/back-from-nwerc-2011#comment-1267 Renke Grunwald Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:06:26 +0000 http://the-user.org/?p=413#comment-1267 Our tam was olden bug, and yes, we didn't solve a single problem :D Well, I guess there no real difference between Java and C++, but I thinkg C lacks some useful data structures like hash maps, dynamic arrays and linked lists. Parsing the input data in Java is particularly easy with Scanner; probably a little bit easier than scanf and the like. I think that Java solutions have some kind of multiplier for timeouts. Our tam was olden bug, and yes, we didn’t solve a single problem :D
Well, I guess there no real difference between Java and C++, but I thinkg C lacks some useful data structures like hash maps, dynamic arrays and linked lists. Parsing the input data in Java is particularly easy with Scanner; probably a little bit easier than scanf and the like. I think that Java solutions have some kind of multiplier for timeouts.

]]> Comment on Switched to LuaLaTeX by g http://the-user.org/post/switched-to-lualatex#comment-1260 g Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:53:25 +0000 http://the-user.org/?p=407#comment-1260 See http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/mathfonts.html for a list of packages for using fonts that also support math. See http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/mathfonts.html for a list of packages for using fonts that also support math.

]]> Comment on Back from NWERC 2011 by The User http://the-user.org/post/back-from-nwerc-2011#comment-1254 The User Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:46:59 +0000 http://the-user.org/?p=413#comment-1254 Hi Renke, what was your team? Well, our solution for C was fast enough (it is running at Spoj), but not smart enough to be implemented within time, it is quite error prone to implemented balanced binary trees. Hmm, I have no experience with Java in such contests, do you prefer it? Is it much slower (well, when using a lot of objects that sounds realistic, when only using arrays it does not), do they have a Java multiplier for timeouts? (at Usaco they have) Hi Renke,

what was your team? Well, our solution for C was fast enough (it is running at Spoj), but not smart enough to be implemented within time, it is quite error prone to implemented balanced binary trees. Hmm, I have no experience with Java in such contests, do you prefer it? Is it much slower (well, when using a lot of objects that sounds realistic, when only using arrays it does not), do they have a Java multiplier for timeouts? (at Usaco they have)

]]> Comment on Back from NWERC 2011 by Renke Grunwald http://the-user.org/post/back-from-nwerc-2011#comment-1253 Renke Grunwald Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:31:15 +0000 http://the-user.org/?p=413#comment-1253 We actually submitted both problems C and E like 18 times and always got TIMELIMIT. Then again, O(n^2) probably isn't that good of a solution. We were quite frustrated and even submitted a solution in both Java and C. Well, it was fun anyways. We actually submitted both problems C and E like 18 times and always got TIMELIMIT. Then again, O(n^2) probably isn’t that good of a solution. We were quite frustrated and even submitted a solution in both Java and C. Well, it was fun anyways.

]]> Comment on Back from NWERC 2011 by The User http://the-user.org/post/back-from-nwerc-2011#comment-1251 The User Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:10:02 +0000 http://the-user.org/?p=413#comment-1251 @thorGT You are completely right that this are not realistic situations, in real life you always have time, and of course, in real life you want to write proper code and do not want to use weird naming, unsafe data structures etc. because you do not have much time. Such contests have indeed not much to do with real life programming (although you learn to make much less errors and get more familiar with the STL). However, I do not agree with this part of your comment: <blockquote cite="thorGT">And working under stress is counter-productive as well. You will neither solve the problem nor have fun, but then what else do we work for?</blockquote> Stress can be inspiring, you are forced to think a lot in different directions, to talk about any idea you get. Well, I was quite nervous before it started, but then it was simply a lot of fun to think about the problems and of course we solved some of them. I have even reimplemented some of the tasks because I considered them to be quite interesting. @thorGT
You are completely right that this are not realistic situations, in real life you always have time, and of course, in real life you want to write proper code and do not want to use weird naming, unsafe data structures etc. because you do not have much time. Such contests have indeed not much to do with real life programming (although you learn to make much less errors and get more familiar with the STL). However, I do not agree with this part of your comment:

And working under stress is counter-productive as well. You will neither solve the problem nor have fun, but then what else do we work for?

Stress can be inspiring, you are forced to think a lot in different directions, to talk about any idea you get. Well, I was quite nervous before it started, but then it was simply a lot of fun to think about the problems and of course we solved some of them. I have even reimplemented some of the tasks because I considered them to be quite interesting.

]]> Comment on Back from NWERC 2011 by thorGT http://the-user.org/post/back-from-nwerc-2011#comment-1250 thorGT Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:44:31 +0000 http://the-user.org/?p=413#comment-1250 Hello! Nice to hear from a fellow CS student. What you're taking about must have been an interesting experience. However, personally I strongly dislike such kind of events, and this is why. In the real life, in a software company, or in an open source project, you will *always* have enough time to deliver the code that at least compiles, runs, and solves the problem correctly, even if the code is not perfectly correct per se. Now in these events, you are given a few hours only. This is pure nonsense, situations like this when you're forced to find a solution to an engineering problem extremely quickly only happen if you're in a war, and your country requires new weapons from you, here and now, like it was in Russia in the years 1941-1943. Anything else? You have your time. And working under stress is counter-productive as well. You will neither solve the problem nor have fun, but then what else do we work for? Hello!

Nice to hear from a fellow CS student. What you’re taking about must have been an interesting experience. However, personally I strongly dislike such kind of events, and this is why. In the real life, in a software company, or in an open source project, you will *always* have enough time to deliver the code that at least compiles, runs, and solves the problem correctly, even if the code is not perfectly correct per se. Now in these events, you are given a few hours only. This is pure nonsense, situations like this when you’re forced to find a solution to an engineering problem extremely quickly only happen if you’re in a war, and your country requires new weapons from you, here and now, like it was in Russia in the years 1941-1943. Anything else? You have your time. And working under stress is counter-productive as well. You will neither solve the problem nor have fun, but then what else do we work for?

]]> Comment on Switched to LuaLaTeX by Andreas http://the-user.org/post/switched-to-lualatex#comment-1249 Andreas Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:22:17 +0000 http://the-user.org/?p=407#comment-1249 I just use the package "mathpazo" to get the beautiful Palatino font for regular text, with a matching math font. I don't want to see the standard LaTeX font anymore, it's too gangly and similar to Times. But a lot of university-related stuff is set in it. I just use the package “mathpazo” to get the beautiful Palatino font for regular text, with a matching math font.
I don’t want to see the standard LaTeX font anymore, it’s too gangly and similar to Times. But a lot of university-related stuff is set in it.

]]> Comment on Das Schand-Urteil by The User http://the-user.org/post/das-schand-urteil#comment-1214 The User Tue, 04 Oct 2011 16:25:37 +0000 http://the-user.org/?p=344#comment-1214 Dass es keine absolute Moral gibt ist mir bewusst. Aber ist ja wohl nicht so, dass hier eine Moral auf die andere stoßen würde. Mein moralisches Urteil ist die Verwerflichkeit der Tat der Polizisten. Von einem Beobachter aus, können verschiedene geltende Rechte gegeneinander stehen, aber doch nicht verschiedene moralische Urteile, zumindest zu einem Zeitpunkt, sollte ein Mensch wohl einen moralischen Standpunkt vertreten, mag es auch eine Enthaltung sein. <blockquote cite="sascha">Die Polizeibeamten lernten Gäfgen als irrational und widersprüchlich agierenden Menschen…</blockquote> Inwiefern bitte? Der Kerl hat das geplant, um seine Unkosten zu finanzieren. Dass es keine absolute Moral gibt ist mir bewusst. Aber ist ja wohl nicht so, dass hier eine Moral auf die andere stoßen würde. Mein moralisches Urteil ist die Verwerflichkeit der Tat der Polizisten. Von einem Beobachter aus, können verschiedene geltende Rechte gegeneinander stehen, aber doch nicht verschiedene moralische Urteile, zumindest zu einem Zeitpunkt, sollte ein Mensch wohl einen moralischen Standpunkt vertreten, mag es auch eine Enthaltung sein.

Die Polizeibeamten lernten Gäfgen als irrational und widersprüchlich agierenden Menschen…

Inwiefern bitte? Der Kerl hat das geplant, um seine Unkosten zu finanzieren.

]]>