Slashdot Mirror

Codons are sets of three letters. Every creature has its own unique codon table - every three letters (GATC) make up one codon, so there are 64 possibilities.

Almost. Every species has its own take on tRNA codong, but there is a lot of similarity up to the Kingdom level

But the fun thing is that many codons actually code for the same amino acid, but take different times to complete the process. Either because some molecular rotation is taking place or just because it's a time delay to allow folding to complete elsewhere. Then sometimes the sequence is used in reverse order (creating a back-to-front version of whatever is made) and sometimes even the sequence of letters is read with an offset of one or two letters, so essentially one group of letters can code for six different chains of amino acids.

Uh, no...not molecular rotation or time delay....this is actually more of a planned overlap. Pretty neat how nature planned this one. And as for mRNA being converted to a protein using tRNA (tranlation), it is strict one-way encoding (5' to 3' IIRC). dsDNA (but not ssDNA) (transscription) may be read in either direction, but mRNA not so (is is very much like ssDNA)

Codons are sets of three letters. Every creature has its own unique codon table - every three letters (GATC) make up one codon, so there are 64 possibilities.

Almost. Every species has its own take on tRNA codong, but there is a lot of similarity up to the Kingdom level

But the fun thing is that many codons actually code for the same amino acid, but take different times to complete the process. Either because some molecular rotation is taking place or just because it's a time delay to allow folding to complete elsewhere. Then sometimes the sequence is used in reverse order (creating a back-to-front version of whatever is made) and sometimes even the sequence of letters is read with an offset of one or two letters, so essentially one group of letters can code for six different chains of amino acids.

Uh, no...not molecular rotation or time delay....this is actually more of a planned overlap. Pretty neat how nature planned this one. And as for mRNA being converted to a protein using tRNA (tranlation), it is strict one-way encoding (5' to 3' IIRC). dsDNA (but not ssDNA) (transscription) may be read in either direction, but mRNA not so (is is very much like ssDNA)

"Introduction to Computing Systems: From Bits and Gates to C and Beyond"

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072467509/

This is where every programmer should start.

Definitely 3 of the books I'd recommend. As per another poster, if you don't have a solid base book like Sedra and Smith, look for it. Millman and Halkias is dated, but still relevant IMHO. The new edition is probably what you want, but I've not yet seen it.

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0070634556/information_center_view0/

Don't overlook noise. I started with Howard Johnson's "Black Magic" book, but there are definitely better books out there. For exampele,

http://www.amazon.com/High-Speed-Circuit-Integrity-Microwave-Library/dp/1580531318/ref=pd_sim_b_4

Also known as females:

Why does X-inactivation result in chimeras, individuals with genetically distinct areas of their bodies? In female mammals one X chromosome in every cell is inactivated. The inactivation occurs early in development when the embryo consists of only a few cells. The inactivation is random - one X chromosome may be turned off in one cell and the other X chromosome inactivated in a neighboring cell. Once a chromosome is turned off it remains turned off in all descendent cells. With respect to their X chromosomes, female mammals are chimeras. A chimera is an organism composed of different genotypes. Some areas of their bodies have one X chromosome turned off and other areas have the other X chromosome inactivated. An example of X-linked chimeras that can be seen visually are female cats that are heterozygous at the orange coat color locus. Orange is a locus on the X chromosome. Females with one allele for orange color and one for non-orange (tortoise shell and calico cats) have blotches of orange and other colors all over their bodies. Each blotch of color is composed of cells descended from a single cell in the embryo at the time of X-inactivation.

Since when are ad hominem arguments "Insightful"?

Inviduals may or may not be concerned with possible legalities, but companies are and the potential for a lawsuit is enough to be a deal killer. That is what drives the BSA tactics, no?

I actually didn't know that, but I checked my copy of Principles of Digital Audio, and sure enough it's in the Q subcode data.

Interesting... it kind of begs the question: why haven't the record companies tried to enforce recognition of the digital copy bit rather than bastardizing the red book standard with multi-session discs? Is it a case of "the cat is out of the bag"?

Actually, how do you define obscene has been answered pretty thoroughly.

The Miller Test is the contemporary test for what is and is not considered obscene; it may not be a good test, but it is the law of the land.

The problem is that dirty words and naked ladies aren't considered obscene, generally, only indecent. Indecent speech is protected; obscene speech is not. Whether or not you like it, this is how the Supreme Court has interpreted the 1st Amendment; since they are a court, there's no question of Congress making a law, only the court interpreting the law as given.

The general idea is compromise; this is why it is, in fact, legal to play indecent material over the airwaves between 10 PM and 6 AM (at least on FM... I'm not sure about TV, to tell the truth). The idea being that while indecent material may have redeeming value, by limiting it to hours when children are unlikely to be watching/listening, both interests are served.

Of course, plumbers need math too.

When I saw the link, I was sure you were linking to the following joke...

One professor of mathematics noticed that his kitchen sink at his home broke down. He called a plumber. The plumber came on the next day, sealed a few screws and everything was working as before. The professor was delighted. However, when the plumber gave him the bill a minute later, he was shocked. "This is one third of my monthly salary!" he yelled. Well, he paid and then the plumber said to him: "I understand your position as a professor. Why don't you come to our company and apply for a plumber position? You will earn three times as much as a professor. But remember, when you apply tell them that you completed only the seventh grade. They don't like educated people."

So it happened. The professor got a plumber job and his life significantly improved. He just had to seal a screw or two occasionally, and his salary went up significantly. One day, the board of the plumbing company decided that every plumber has to go to evening classes to complete the eighth grade. So, our professor had to go there too. It just happened that the first class was math. The evening teacher, to check student's knowledge, asked for a formula for the area of the circle. The person who was asked was the professor. He jumped to the board, and then he realized that he forgot the formula. He started to reason it and soon filled the board with integrals, differentials and other advanced formulas to conclude the result that he had forgotten. As a result he got "negative pi times r squared." He didn't like the negative, so he started all over again. He got the negative sign again. No matter how many times he tried, he always got a negative. He was frustrated. He looked a bit scared at the class and saw all the plumbers whisper: "Switch the limits of the integral!!"

Of course, plumbers need math too. In fact, the more I do computer science, the more it reminds me of plumbing- setting the pipes up so the right stream gets to the right place at the right time in the right amounts. I have a lot of respect for plumbers because they can't just fix their code if they have a bug, they have to get it right the first time and put it immediately into production.

First year Electrical Engineering students at the University of Texas at Austin take an Introduction to Computing class that starts with the transistor and uses a book written by Yale Patt, a prof at UT that often teaches the class. The class then teaches how transistors can be combined to make memory circuits, how you store data when represented by bits (2's complement, floating point, ASCII text). You then learn to write basic programs for a simplified computer in actual binary machine code and actually run the code on a simulator developed by students in the advanced computer architecture class. By the time you get to programming in assembly you think it's a relatively high level language and are glad to have it.

The successor to this class picks up where this one leaves off and teaches C from assembly up with an emphasis on what actually happens when you compile, allocate memory, and other things that a lot of students overlook. C++ is introduced in a later class, as well as algorithms, etc.

I personally think that I am a much better programmer for having learned in this manner. I took a senior level class in the UT Computer Science Department (which teaches assembly much later in the game) and found that far too many students, including some that were about to graduate, still didn't understand the fundamental differences between handling text data and binary, non-text data in higher level languages. Most still seem to think code executes in a white fluffy cloud and wonder why on earth 119 + 133 = -4 in their program and think '133' == 133.

Learning about how a computer actually does what it does is referred to "computer organization" and any University that offers a computer degree without a course or two in organization is (IMHO) severely lacking.

$5.00/month/machine?

Wally: "I'm gonna write me a new minivan!"

There are "for Dummies" books that cover many of the topics you've listed. I was never fond of them, but you may want to take a look at them.

The biggest problem when you're undertaking a self-study endeavour is that most books that are available are either
- Very specialized topics (What does pi mean?)
- Refresher-course books (Lots of problems, few explanations)

The specialized topics books - commonly reviewed in magazines such as Scientific American - are fun to read, but I'm not sure if they serve the purpose of what you're seeking.

How much of algebra do you know? If you can look through the table of contents of a textbook for Algebra I and II and are confident in all the topics, then I'd move on to geometry/trigonometry before calculus.

Also, keep in mind that conceptual physics texts are divided between algebra-based and calculus-based reasoning. Take whichever you're more comfortable with.

Some 'refresher-course' books that will come in handy with the conceptual books that others may suggest:
Schaum's Outlines
Research & Education Association's Problem Solvers series
CliffsNotes and SparkNotes

I am no Microsoft fan, but even when if you were to write the software "right", you have to remember that,to quote Pressman, software deteriorate. Therefore even a perfect piece of software will need to be patched at some point in the future because the environment around the software will change (new OS, new hardware, unforeseen complication (can you say Y2K ;-)). Can anybody quote one OS that never needs patching ?

Once you have accepted that you will have to patch, then you do it on a regular basis, on your test box first, then you move the "patch bundle" to the prod boxes. The only problem with this method that has come up recently is the time-sensitivity of security patches, if you want to stay safe you can't really afford the slow cycle of waiting for the patch bundle to come out, let it mature, apply in dev, apply in prod. I have no answer to this one, I'd love to hear other's opinion on it.

There are strategies to reduce patches, like the one that is rarelly mentioned and that I like a lot is de Raadt's idea of code audit , once you found a bug, you know that you have made the same error somewhere else and should go through your code to find it and fix it.

• Designing SVG Web Graphics (amazon.com)
• Teach Yourself Svg in 24 Hours (site, amazon.com)
• SVG Essentials (amazon.com)
• SVG Unleashed (amazon.com)
• Svg Programming (amazon.com)
• SVG For Designers

Some online demos from SVG Unleashed

May I recomend Dover Publications?
They republish paperback versions of classics (Newton, Einstein, Fermi, etc...), as well as titles such as Problem Solving Through Recreational Mathematics , and 100 Great Problems of Elementary Mathematics. The beauty of Dover is their price. Many books are under $10.

Also recommended for self study are the Schaum's Outlines series from McGraw-Hill.

"Copyright 2002 , by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved"

Following the available link to their main page... and a bit further, we arrive here . I seriously doubt there are any of us who haven't come accross a McGraw-Hill textbook at some point in time during our "career".

I'm certainly not saying this isn't a good article... it is... one of the best I've read on the topic so far, but it is also interesting to note we are watching major industries trading body blows with the press as their gloves. Rest assured, if the industries didn't have anything to loose from such legislation, we sure wouldn't be reading articles like this.

Here's some back-up:
A book about the Leo: The Incredible Story of the World's First Business Computer
and a bunch of stuff from the National Archive for the History of Computing here
I thought the original article was fishy :)

"What are we going to do tonight, Bill?"