Google Summer of Code!
My proposal has been accepted by the Python Software Foundation for Google Summer of Code 2009!
I will be working on the Python Master-Worker computing project (PyMW), a Python API that provides access to various distributed and parallel computing frameworks. In particular, I will be working on the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) integration. BOINC is best known as the underlying system that enabled SETI@Home and I’m really excited to peek under the hood!
My goal is to make it easier for PyMW users to create BOINC applications by simplifying the setup process as well as adding new support for some important BOINC features. This will require some changes to PyMW as well as some changes to the BOINC server. If you are interested in seeing all the details, a public copy of my proposal is posted at the GSoC website.
Tagged Tags: BOINC, GSoC, News, Parallel, PyMW, Python on April 23, 2009 at 12:33 am
Hackathon Video
I just stumbled across this video of our project for the Berkeley Hackation. My partner for the Hackathon, Yiding Jia, is presenting.
The long winter ahead
Well, my fall classes have started, and they are starting off pretty intensely so I probably won’t be posting the fractal finder code for a while. If you are interested, e-mail me or leave a comment, and I will make some time to clean it up and post it.
28 Years Later…
Despite lacking evidence (such as a birth record/certificate) I was born 28 years ago today… BOOYA! In your face death, I’m winning, I’m really winning!
Loot: the Python Essential Reference, Code Complete, design principles (another book), a rear-view mirror for my bicycle (so I can live to see 29), and a pillow made from the hair of newborn baby gods (to replace the skanky piece of cardboard I call a pillow now).
Tagged Tags: News on July 8, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Removed Captcha
Because it was annoying, if I start getting a bunch of junk comments I’ll bring it back. Until then, happy spamming!
Tagged Tags: News on May 30, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Berkeley!
I was accepted into the U.C. Berkeley College of Engineering! I am transferring into the Electrical Engineering / Computer Science program this fall.
Also, I have been playing with Django and Python, but school has been seriously getting in the way… as soon as finals are done I will post my findings.
Goodbye Netscape
Netscape Navigator has officially been put to pasture. AOL has this to say about it:
"AOL's focus on transitioning to an ad-supported web
business leaves little room for the size of investment
needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many of its
fans expect it to be. Given AOL's current business focus
and the success the Mozilla Foundation has had in
developing critically-acclaimed products, we feel it's the
right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers,
hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape
users to adopt Firefox."
I feel sad for the loss of Netscape, having been introduced to the Internet on NN3; although the true spirit lives on in Mozilla/FireFox. From my point of view, AOL’s takeover of Netscape was the final nail in the coffin. It was clear from the moment of takeover their only interest was to leverage the browser’s audience.
It might be a good time to grab old versions if you are interested. The final version will be 9.0.0.6, cue the fat lady.
Tagged Tags: News on February 23, 2008 at 11:04 am
ASCII Site, Afterthoughts
The ASCII style of the site is novel, although not very functional. Google is not correctly indexing the site – the googlebot does not understand that there are columns of text, and treats the menus as part of the paragraph. Furthermore, search results from VisualCore.com are showing up at the bottom of the list. Another and perhaps bigger problem, is that copying text off the site is painful. If it is multiple lines, you always get chunks of the menu mixed in with the code (or other content) you are trying to copy.
So I have been working on a new graphical style, hopefully the initial release will be by Sunday (tomorrow). The layout work is done, I just need to flesh out the page content. I am also adding the ability to post comments to everything, which will be nice.
After the initial release, I plan to employ a few of the various open source JavaScript libraries, to see how they perform and to get some experience with them. For now, I plan on using Prototype (of course), Scriptaculous, Moo.Fx, LightBox, and maybe ASP.NET AJAX – although, it is a little bulky, so I’m not sure about that yet.
The Wii and Johnny Chung Lee
A friend sent me this link recently to this guy who is doing amazing hacks with the Wii remote. He has an example of head tracking to create desktop VR that is pretty incredible.
You can check it out here.
