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I don't think of it as a hybrid syntax since it is just Python. For all the interfaces that work via pseudo-tty, there is a standard way that the Python objects work with the underlying R objects. RPy provides a much more native Python interface to R. There are some standard Python to R function name mappings (adopted by RPy) to avoid syntax clashes with Python. You can also always do r.eval('R CODE') and it'd be just like typing into an R interpreter.

Sage already has arbitrary precision floating point arithmetic provided by MPFR as well as interval arithmetic. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "symbolic editor", but Sage uses maxima behind the scenes for its symbolic integration and differentiation. Sage also include sympy so you could use that if you prefer. Sage can do ODEs as well. I think maxima has some support for PDEs as well -- I'm not sure; those aren't really the areas of math that I'm interested in. More of Sage's functionality can be found by glancing over http://www.msri.org/about/computing/docs/sage/ref/ref.html .

--Mike

Do you know what an intractable problem is? I think it's common for people who haven't studied the theoretical underpinnings of computation to make the claim that any problem can be cracked by coming up with a better algorithm. It's simply not true. Of course Go is a finite problem, but you can get some idea about how likely it is that a better algorithm exist by looking at the general problem of certain parts of the game. For example Go Endgames Are PSPACE-Hard. You can also see how well computers solve tsumego (life and death status problems), which are key to becoming a strong player... Anyway, it takes a lot more time to come up with a better algorithm than to wait for computers to be faster, so if Moore's law is not going to help you it can take lifetimes before a better algorithm is discovered (if one even exists).

There quite a lot of videos available at MSRI but they are more on the lines of workshops and not university course material.

Thank you. I may not watch T.V. but you have just given me about two hundred hours viewing, by the looks of things. You might like these.

What! You mean I'll have to keep watching this crap!

http://www.vega.org.uk/series/lectures/feynman/ind ex.html

http://www.msri.org/publications/video/

Can people add some more? I've heard theres some really good science programs out on the net and I want to see them all.

A great historical read for anyone who can read a comic book is the Cartoon History of the Universe Series by Larry Gonick. If you were into that sort of thing when he was doing it, you might also remember his work as a cartoonist for Discover magazine.

Try this.

There are only a few so far, and quality control (grammar & spelling) is somewhat low, but I was in contact with one of the creators today and they are getting ready to produce more, of better quality. Of course these are only a starting point, they do not go into detail about the "hard science" behind the stuff they build.
Another thought, along the same lines, would be Larry Gonick's cartoons as seen in Discover magazine. Again, mostly a good starting point for discussion or deeper research.

\begin{blah}
check out this MSRI Publication for an interesting discussion on {\em Games of no Chance}. These are games where $2$ players alternatively play and each has complete information. Also the game is bound to terminate with the winner being the last person to move. Chess also falls under this category, as do many other interesting combinatorial and topological games like Go, Ko, Checkers etc. While some like Checkers have been tamed, others like Chess or Go refuse to give up.
\end{blah}

Go karma, go

My (insert close relative here) does minimal surfaces and hangs out with some of these guys. They look far too neatly dressed in the pictures. Anyway, for a good time, you might want to take a look at some of the galleries of images that these crazy minimal surfaces guys do. I remember about ten years ago, one of my (insert close relative)'s colleagues sold a few images to the Grateful Dead for their concerts.

http://www.msri.org/publications/sgp/jim/images/
http://www.gang.umass.edu/
There is another site out at Minnesota but I'm too lazy to look for it today.

Back in 1988, I bought Chess Master 2000 for the Amiga as a present to my father.

I played it quite a lot of times, and became very impressed. So, I made a bet with my father for $10.000 (no less), that by New Years Eve 2000, a computer program would beat the current human world champion of chess, using tournament rules.

I haven't reminded him of the bet (yet)... After all, I make lots more money than he does, don't want to impoverish the dear old guy :-)

Conclusion: The age of human chess is near its end. It will fall before the might of brute force calculation, just as Nine Men's Morris did in 1996 (spoiler: the game is a draw). Maybe we feeble humans should learn to concentrate on the things we do well. Such as anything having to do with emotions and pleasure.

Anthony E Sale is Hon FBCS ex Museums Director, Bletchley Park (the person who saved the historic Bletchley Park buildings from demolition and was the single greatest force behind making it into the fascinating cryptography museum it is today)

Here is the blurb:

" Allied cryptographers in Bletchley Park had an enormous impact on WW II. Tony Sale will first describe how the German Enigma cipher was broken, first by the Poles, and then by the code breakers in Bletchley Park using the remarkable contributions of Alan Turing. He will then discuss the breaking of the German Lorenz code with the Colossus, the world's first large electronic computer.

He will also relate some of the many anecdotes about life in Bletchley Park, which had 250 people in 1939 but exploded to 12,000 people by the end of the war.

Tony Sale has had careers in electronics, intelligence (with MI5), and (since 1963) in computers. He started the Bletchley Park Museums and the Colossus rebuild in 1993, and was Museums Director until 1999. He has lectured and written widely on the history of cryptography and computers, appeared on television, and served as a consultant for ``Breaking the Code'' and the soon-to-be-released film version of Robert Harris's book ``Enigma.''"

Tony will also be giving a talk on "Tackling 10^20 size search spaces with pencils, wheels, wires tubes: Code breaking in WW II " at MSRI in Berkeley on the 20th. (this will be a technical talk for mathematicians and cryptographers)

I think he will also be doing some speaking at Stanford..but I don't know when or where..

Anthony E Sale is Hon FBCS ex Museums Director, Bletchley Park (the person who saved the historic Bletchley Park buildings from demolition and was the single greatest force behind making it into the fascinating cryptography museum it is today)

Here is the blurb:

" Allied cryptographers in Bletchley Park had an enormous impact on WW II. Tony Sale will first describe how the German Enigma cipher was broken, first by the Poles, and then by the code breakers in Bletchley Park using the remarkable contributions of Alan Turing. He will then discuss the breaking of the German Lorenz code with the Colossus, the world's first large electronic computer.

He will also relate some of the many anecdotes about life in Bletchley Park, which had 250 people in 1939 but exploded to 12,000 people by the end of the war.

Tony Sale has had careers in electronics, intelligence (with MI5), and (since 1963) in computers. He started the Bletchley Park Museums and the Colossus rebuild in 1993, and was Museums Director until 1999. He has lectured and written widely on the history of cryptography and computers, appeared on television, and served as a consultant for ``Breaking the Code'' and the soon-to-be-released film version of Robert Harris's book ``Enigma.''"

Tony will also be giving a talk on "Tackling 10^20 size search spaces with pencils, wheels, wires tubes: Code breaking in WW II " at MSRI in Berkeley on the 20th. (this will be a technical talk for mathematicians and cryptographers)

I think he will also be doing some speaking at Stanford..but I don't know when or where..