theoh

19 ms·

121.
by theoh 7y ago
There's a lot of speculation in this article. I don't know what documentation exists of Notre Dame's roof structure, and from the way these (foreign) experts are talking, they don't know either. A point cloud scan is a p
122.
by theoh 8y ago
Maybe now it is, but before STL etc. were thought of, C++ was intended by its creator to bring better support for OOP to C. See http://www.stroustrup.com/bs_faq.html#why
123.
by theoh 8y ago
The last figure on this page http://www.vias.org/calculus/07_trigonometric_functions_01_0... really has that character (in 2D). I wish trigonometry in secondary school had been taught more like this (geometrically) bec
124.
by theoh 8y ago
I don't know which paper they mean, but here's a relevant paragraph from one of the papers available from Blackmore's page: "In this paper, we unify the convex optimization approaches of [1], [2], [17] and extend them to
125.
by theoh 8y ago
The control parameter space for the rocket is non-convex because, for one thing, it can't be throttled down close to zero thrust. You can think of the parameter space as having a hole in it. An optimal control algorithm might want to m
126.
by theoh 8y ago
Lars Blackmore, who works for SpaceX, has a page about the techniques that are used here: http://www.larsblackmore.com/losslessconvexification.htm See also: https://www.aa.washington.edu/facultyfinder/b
127.
by theoh 8y ago
One of the few redeeming features of the HN conventions of civility and seriousness is that we don't have Reddit's problems and we don't need to talk about Reddit. But what could possibly qualify you to say that "Andrew
128.
by theoh 8y ago
The problem with this is the idea that this kind of software would ideally be written or specified with "if" statements. I'm not sure about the argument that AOA values of more that 25° constitute an error, but a more plausib
129.
by theoh 8y ago
The interpretation of "superimposed" is important here. It doesn't mean that the imaginary image and the real image are merged like titles composited onto a TV screen.
130.
by theoh 8y ago
Yes, that's the source, sorry. Math, CS, physics and engineering tend to attract people with visual/spatial aptitude. This may be because sighted people first encounter the subject matter of those disciplines through their visual
131.
by theoh 8y ago
I'd say it's a feedback process, not an iterative one. "Psychologists now recognize three basic types of visual thinkers. To determine what kind of visual thinker you are try imagining a triangle. Do whatever it takes to imag
132.
by theoh 8y ago
I'm pretty sure that two sentences you quote don't form a meaningful pair, so I wouldn't expect the second sentence to explain the first. The sentence "Whitman was unequivocally declaring his own independence from poetic
133.
by theoh 8y ago
Well, they clearly don't have the right connotations for you, but those words have a lot of academic CS credibility and mystique. You must have heard "lazy" before, but eager is a term of art as well: https://en.wi
134.
by theoh 8y ago
The larger discussion that this connects to is about the relationship between form and content. Generally, people you might describe as sophisticated critics tend to dismiss the idea that form can be a neutral container for content. Form an
135.
by theoh 8y ago
"State university of X" typically doesn't have a great academic reputation in comparison with Harvard. That's a very significant reason not to go there if you can get accepted at a top school.
136.
by theoh 8y ago
There's another aspect to the cost of materials, which is the investment required to make the type itself. A lot of capital was locked up in a printer's store of lead type.
137.
by theoh 8y ago
Yes, I don't think we are communicating well here. The wikipedia page for idempotence ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idempotence ) is very good, however. I was trying to respond specifically to didibus's obvio
138.
by theoh 8y ago
I read and replied to didibus's comment pretty carefully. You are just muddying the waters.
139.
by theoh 8y ago
What you call "deduplication" is usually called memoization. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoization It only works for pure functions (functions which have no side effects). It is unaffected by concurrency
140.
by theoh 8y ago
The example of approximating 123 x 456 with 100 x 500 tends to undermine your point a little. It's too simplistic and the answer isn't even within 10%. 120 x 500 gives a much better approximation, and just needs you to know 12 x 5
141.
by theoh 8y ago
"Get Satisfaction" partly fits this description. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Get_Satisfaction
142.
by theoh 8y ago
There's an answer here: https://philosophy.stackexchange.com/questions/23231/is-ther...
143.
by theoh 8y ago
It's slightly complicated, but the smaller caps of "small caps" are the lower case. As Wikipedia says, setting text in small caps is "technically not a case-transformation". In those days it would not be surprisin
144.
by theoh 8y ago
That was an unobjectionable comment, so I guess the downvotes are a stimulus to try to get me to write more. The Wikipedia page for the TI-99 mentions the "small capitals" but does not link to the page I linked to. So some peopl
145.
by theoh 8y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_caps
146.
by theoh 8y ago
I don't think the omission is because discussing Bostrom or Yudkowsky's ideas would genuinely be depressing. It's because the writer is a snob, or at least doesn't rate them as intellectuals. I kind of agree with him.
147.
by theoh 8y ago
Could have been a lot more about Bostrom's ideas in this article, given the title. But my hunch is that the kind of philosophy enthusiast who writes for the New Yorker doesn't want to dwell on Bostrom's ideas (or those Less W
148.
by theoh 8y ago
What you have described is a semigroup. Sometimes an application might naturally involve semigroups and sure, they share the benefits of associativity with monoids. Semigroups generalise monoids, which are one step further up on the ladder
149.
by theoh 8y ago
The code I linked to was written in one session (probably) and it really isn't comparable to GCC in complexity. It's an interpreter, but one where the author has made no attempt to make the process of interpretation legible. He&#x
150.
by theoh 8y ago
I'm so tempted to just respond with "wanker", though I know HN norms don't allow that. Either the code is for human consumption (in which case, fulfil that goal) or you're writing demoscene assembler which displays

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