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Dick Lipton's blog has a huge collection of really amazing kiddie pool tastes and pointers within awesome nuggets of theoretical computer science, one of his po

Dick Lipton's blog has a huge collection of really amazing kiddie pool tastes and pointers within awesome nuggets of theoretical computer science, one of his posts that I want to walk through carefully when i have the time is the one on the quantum method, for proving various nifty algorithmic complexity results etc. http://rjlipton.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/erds-and-the-quantum-method/ http://rjlipton.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/erds-and-the-quantu... sexy stuff

amichail 18y ago
It is indeed amazing. But why put so much effort into a blog? Makes you wonder whether this blog is intended primarily to attract more PhD students to the field.
- Rod 18y ago
  Prof. Lipton is, after all, a professor. From his blog, it seems that he truly likes teaching and exposing ideas. An excerpt from his blog: "I have worked in the area of theory of computation since 1973. I find the whole area exciting and want to share some of that excitement with you." Many times, interesting ideas which can be explained to a non-expert are scattered in countless papers and books, and it's hard for someone new in the field to put all the pieces together by himself. Thus, a blog seems a great idea: * it's much faster and more informal than peer-reviewed publications. * it allows one to communicate ideas to a broader audience. * it allows one to have almost immediate feedback from the readers. * it's open to everyone who happens to be interested!
- carterschonwald 18y ago
  I think it can be more accurately thought of as a way to make it easier for students to start learning new topics that aren't nearly textbook ready
- ced 18y ago
  It makes a lot more sense to publish scientific results on the web than on paper. Hyperlinks, more graphs, more data, less costs, more feedback. Scientists still publish in journals because of inertia and an antiquated incentive structure (grant money is proportional to the number of published papers, esp. in high-profile journals). I hope we'll eventually make the transition, and possibly, so does the author of that blog.

amichail 18y ago

It is indeed amazing. But why put so much effort into a blog? Makes you wonder whether this blog is intended primarily to attract more PhD students to the field.

Rod 18y ago
Prof. Lipton is, after all, a professor. From his blog, it seems that he truly likes teaching and exposing ideas. An excerpt from his blog: "I have worked in the area of theory of computation since 1973. I find the whole area exciting and want to share some of that excitement with you." Many times, interesting ideas which can be explained to a non-expert are scattered in countless papers and books, and it's hard for someone new in the field to put all the pieces together by himself. Thus, a blog seems a great idea: * it's much faster and more informal than peer-reviewed publications. * it allows one to communicate ideas to a broader audience. * it allows one to have almost immediate feedback from the readers. * it's open to everyone who happens to be interested!
carterschonwald 18y ago
I think it can be more accurately thought of as a way to make it easier for students to start learning new topics that aren't nearly textbook ready
ced 18y ago
It makes a lot more sense to publish scientific results on the web than on paper. Hyperlinks, more graphs, more data, less costs, more feedback. Scientists still publish in journals because of inertia and an antiquated incentive structure (grant money is proportional to the number of published papers, esp. in high-profile journals). I hope we'll eventually make the transition, and possibly, so does the author of that blog.