am visiting HKUST occasionally ... sitting lessons

Was visiting HKUST occasionally, and attended a random class. It is really tempted to sit more lessons for free ! I think one day I will keep attending university classes when I don't have full time job.

Here is the list of course pages:
http://www.cse.ust.hk/pg/courses

Here is the class schedule search application to check the class date time and room number:
http://tinyurl.com/425oygn



Some interesting ones ... (not all of them available this semester):

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COMP 5211     Advanced Artificial Intelligence     [3-0-0:3]
[Previous Course Code(s): COMP 521] This advanced AI course will cover advanced concepts and techniques in AI. The major topics will be: problem solving, knowledge and reasoning, planning, uncertain knowledge and reasoning, learning, and robotics.

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COMP 5531     Green Computing     [3-0-0:3]
[Co-List with ENEG 5450] This course will exam "Green Computing" from a system perspective, meanwhile, students will study issues related to energy saving form multiple disciplines such as mechanical engineering, industrial ecology, and economics. We will explore energy efficient system designs ranging from datacenters to embed devices, such as sensor networks and RFID devices. We will perform Life Cycle Analysis on some of these systems, evaluating the carbon footprint of manufacturing, use, and disposal of each design. Exclusion(s): ENEG 5450

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COMP 5711     Introduction to Advanced Algorithmic Techniques     [3-0-0:3]
[Previous Course Code(s): COMP 570] This is an introductory graduate course in algorithmic techniques. Topics include: advanced data structures; graph algorithms; amortization; approximation algorithms; on-line algorithms; randomized and probabilistic analysis. Background: COMP 3711, COMP 3721

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COMP 5712     Introduction to Combinatorial Optimization     [3-0-0:3]
[Previous Course Code(s): COMP 572] An introduction to the basic tools of combinatorial optimization, including network flow and the max-flow min-cut theorem, linear programming, matching, spanning trees and matroids, dynamic programming, algorithms and data structures, graph algorithms. Background: COMP 3711 or equivalent, linear algebra

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COMP 6211     Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence     [3-0-0:3]
[Previous Course Code(s): COMP 621] Advanced topics in artificial intelligence including neural networks, natural language processing, logic programming, image understanding, robotics and others. Background: An appropriate 500-level course.

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COMP 6511     Topics in Computer Systems Analysis     [3-0-0:3]
[Previous Course Code(s): COMP 651] Advanced topics in computer systems analysis; issues in the development and solution of system models; model parametrization, verification and validation; recent developments in techniques and tools for system evaluation.

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COMP 6611     Topics in Computer and Communication Networks     [3-0-0:3]
[Previous Course Code(s): COMP 660] Advanced topics in communication networks, including issues in high speed networking, ATM, multimedia communication, network interconnection, network management, and protocol verification and testing.

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COMP 6612     Topics in Computer Engineering     [3-0-0:3]
[Previous Course Code(s): COMP 680] Selected topics in computer engineering of current interest to the Department and not covered by existing courses.

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COMP 6613     Topics in Applications of Computer Science and Engineering     [3-0-0:3]
[Previous Course Code(s): COMP 685] Selected topics in applications of computer science not covered by existing course. Credits earned by taking this course can only be used to satisfy the breath requirement of the research area of Software and Applications.

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COMP 6711     Topics in Theoretical Computer Science     [3-0-0:3]
[Previous Course Code(s): COMP 670] Selected topics in theoretical computer science not covered by existing courses, including, but not limited to, computational complexities and computability, graph algorithms and combinatorial optimization.

XML and CSV format of Hong Kong Gov Public Holidays

a Ruby On Rails web app providing Hong Kong Public Holidays dates. XML and CSV formats are provided.

• http://hong-kong-public-holidays.heroku.com/
• Source Code @ Github
• Data Source from Gov HK

Solving (Workaround) ruby_core_source.rb:57 'initialize': not in gzip format (Zlib::GzipFile::Error)

saw this error when one of my colleagues could not bundle install nor gem install linecache19:

ruby_core_source.rb:57 'initialize': not in gzip format

We are all using the same Gemfile to do bundle install, and it only happens to his laptop. After trying everything we found in google / stackoverflow, it still not working. Most of the suggestion were about cleaning the cache files in the rvm directories.

After digging into the source code of ruby_core_source.rb, I found out that the code did a gunzip and then tar extract on a tar file. So, that's the problem of the package storing on the ftp server: (ruby_core_source.rb:50)

uri_path = "http://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.9/" + ruby_dir + ".tar.gz"

I am not sure why the .gz file on the server is not gzip-ed.

But then the workaround is obvious. Go to gem directory and modify the source. my ruby_core_source.rb is here: ~/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p180@not_gzip_format_error/gems/ruby_core_source.gem/lib/ruby_core_source.rb

More coding details here: https://gist.github.com/1183048

Note: this is a different issue from tar_input.rb 'initialize': not in gzip format (Zlib::GzipFile::Error)

Code Jam at boot.hk

Yeah ~ organizing our first code jam. We have total 13 ppl confirmed coming ! We have different expertises: Drupal, UX, RubyOnRails, Java, etc. Must be fun !!

Although the project is mainly PHP and Drupal, there are many areas non-PHP coders could help. Infrastructure, UI, online marketing, user experience, pair programming, etc.

To make Hong Kong a better place to develop technology products, Code Jam is really an important part. Knowledge and skills are exchanged. Stronger linkage between several coder communities is built. People will be more confident about investing money on local talents and the creative technology industry. I am sure we will have more and more Code Jam coming ~

More info about the Code Jam:

• open Source repository
• Project description by cloneofsnack

Aug 2011 Codeaholics on Mozart Oz and Haskell

http://codeaholics.hk

We had 2 sharing tonight focusing on programming languages: Haskell and Mozart Oz. There were a lots to take (little bit too much to me), but I found them inspiring.

Mozart Oz allows one to define a program with the paradigms you need, e.g. object-oriented, functional, or constraint logic programming. Another interesting feature is that the implementation could be transparent. You can send a message to a class, and the receiver may be not staying in the same memory as yours, e.g. perhaps it is another machine on the network. Really look forward to see some real life examples after Stewart's sharing.

William ended his Haskell tour by showing how to use Monad to build the JSON parser. The previous talks focus more on syntax and function definition of Haskell. I finally see the power of Haskell when William showed us the JSON parser. It was awesome, simple and highly readable. It was little bit brain-fucked when I tried to follow all the syntax, pattern matching and type classes thingy. However, it is really amazing when you see the neat final product. After seeing the JSON parser, everything makes sense to me now.

Thanks William spent so much time to prepare the Haskell tour, it has been 3 4 months since the Haskell Tour Part I. His presentation style is so attractive and entertaining, the content is well-prepared and inspiring, and Haskell is sexy.

map to Boot HK

1. Start from Wan Chai MTR station A3 exit
2. Go across the tram road (Johnston Road)
3. Get into the street full of hawker (Tai Yuen Street)
4. When you arrive Queen's Road East, locate the starbucks
5. Entrance of the building is opposite to starbucks

Busy coder week

Codeaholics HK Meetup

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=235908043109490

This time we have speakers talking about Haskell, Mozart OZ and Objective-C. Codeaholics is a programming language agnostic coder meetup. Open for public, free of charge, welcome everyone to attend.

Code Jam: Peer Patent

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=179909352075514

We talked about organizing a Code Jam for local coders 1000 times (literally 1000 times). finally we managed to do once. We are developing a system for Peer Patent.