Just a note,
John Maynard-Smith
did a lot of work with ESSs (evolutionary stable strategies) and the like. Axelrod's tournament was more experimental validation of M-S's work then new theory of its own (I'm discounting a lot of other history here). I'm pretty sure M-S is most responsible for the analysis of the "tit-for-tat" idea.
Admittedly, many of these are actually "classes" of algorithms. There are fairly canonical examples of each though. It is also very important to note that all learning can be phrased as a search process. Hence, all searching techiniques [best first, depth first, A*, etc.] have a very important role in all of learning... and in fact, in all of computer science. Herb Simon (love him or hate him) said that all AI is "heuristic search" (apologies if it was Newell that said this).
Since I work with them everyday, I have to support them.
Seriously though, they are very important (and for more things then just good game AI).
As others have noted, it is not going to be easy to get a Bachelor's degree in one calendar year (primarily because of the "other" classes but don't discount how hard some theory can be... jamming Theory of Computation, Algorithms, and, say, Discrete Math, in one after another will eat up a lot of time you had to work on projects for OS and Compilers).
However, take heart! Once you have your Bachelor's (which I would put a reasonable estimate at seven or eight semesters), it would be possible to also get your Master's degree in about a year. You could very likely find a program that would let you do a fast track masters/bachelors combination in four-ish years (going year round).
My experience has been that the masters is a hell of a lot easier then a bachelors (course, my undergrad and grad institutions are vastly different in their rigor).
Since this got shot down as a story post, I'll let you all know:
Wizardry 8 has finally gotten a release data: November 16. For those of us who have been waiting since c. 1993, this is great news. It is also great for those who long for the days of "Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord" (which came out in 1981, I think).
Anyway, for those looking for a classic feel with modern graphics and such, check this out.
Yeah, what the hell was your degree in? Basketweaving?
Come on, let's be serious. Is a broad range of knowledge what employers want? Not explicitly, but they do want people that can think critically and analytically.
More importantly, a liberal arts education has as its goal the development of GOOD CITIZENS. That is, citizens who will contribute to the dialoge and process that makes up a society and government.
Now, of course, you can know quite a bit about history and politics without ever taking a college class; you can also learn most of programming without taking a class (IMNSHO).
Hey dirtyhippie, take a fuckin' shower. How are we (how am __I__) exploiting these middle eastern fucks? You know who is exploiting them? Other middle easter fucks. Actually, the seconds fucks are the real fucks and the first fucks are just screwed common people (like those that get screwed here in the good 'ole USA).
For those who didn't follow. It is the dictatorial governments of these countries that exploit their OWN citizenry... the average (or the "powerful") American.
Well, it may be that I'm off base here but it seems to me that Nvidia is only hurting their bottom line by tieing their snazzy hardware to an imperialistic driver scheme.
Consider, who is most likely to what the highest horsepower graphics cards out there? Well, that would be those people who play lots of games, like lots of high-tech toys, and basically are "in the know" when it comes to computers. In some senses, that is US my fellow slashdotters.
Well, let's see here, it also happens to be the case that we are also the life, liberty, and the open source way kind of people. Hence by not playing straight with their drivers (and bowing to M$'s demands), they are estranging their main purchasing base.
Now, this does assume a high degree of overlap between those who want the card but won't buy the card because they are TRUE BELIEVERS, but I think it is a fair statement. Even if it isn't, we're smart enough to realize that even if I'm driving a Ferrari, it needs to have good fuel to make it run. That is, no matter what the card, if its software component is stuck in, oh say, reverse, then it is not worthwhile.
If only I could count the total number of times I've had INCREDIBLE problems installing some crappy piece of software (most notably, Windows 95/98) and finally worked out some really hacked up solution ONLY TO FIND that there was some piece of CRAP note attached to the smallest corner of the fartherest hidden directory called: README.if.you.can.find.me).
Now, of course, this myterious, hidden file, available only on electronic medium, had the PERFECT solution to my problem. But alas, it wasn't documented ON PAPER where it was living. So, I only stumbled upon by the good, smiling fates of the computer gods.
I will not deny that access to electronic publications (most notably the almost infinite amount of information available on the Web) is the MOST useful resource. Unfortunately, some of us get caught with our pants and/or skirts down and don't have access. I will ALWAYS be more pleased by companies that include full, useful documentation with their products in a form I can keep ON MY BOOKSHELF where I only have to worry about things like floods, earthquakes, and fires destroying it (not some stupid poorly written program whose source I don't trust!).
Slashdot Mirror
Regards,
Mark
Just a note, John Maynard-Smith did a lot of work with ESSs (evolutionary stable strategies) and the like. Axelrod's tournament was more experimental validation of M-S's work then new theory of its own (I'm discounting a lot of other history here). I'm pretty sure M-S is most responsible for the analysis of the "tit-for-tat" idea.
- Genetic algorithms.
- Neural networks.
- Rule learning / Inductive logic programming algorithms.
- Reinforcement learning.
- Bayesian learning systems.
Admittedly, many of these are actually "classes" of algorithms. There are fairly canonical examples of each though. It is also very important to note that all learning can be phrased as a search process. Hence, all searching techiniques [best first, depth first, A*, etc.] have a very important role in all of learningSince I work with them everyday, I have to support them.
Seriously though, they are very important (and for more things then just good game AI).
Regards,
Mark
If you're doing a long term processing job, it makes sense to store results incrementally. No big black magic here.
However, take heart! Once you have your Bachelor's (which I would put a reasonable estimate at seven or eight semesters), it would be possible to also get your Master's degree in about a year. You could very likely find a program that would let you do a fast track masters/bachelors combination in four-ish years (going year round).
My experience has been that the masters is a hell of a lot easier then a bachelors (course, my undergrad and grad institutions are vastly different in their rigor).
Regards,
Mark
You forgot a nice one:
Dildows.
Regards.
Since this got shot down as a story post, I'll let you all know:
Wizardry 8 has finally gotten a release data: November 16. For those of us who have been waiting since c. 1993, this is great news. It is also great for those who long for the days of "Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord" (which came out in 1981, I think).
Anyway, for those looking for a classic feel with modern graphics and such, check this out.
Yeah, what the hell was your degree in? Basketweaving?
Come on, let's be serious. Is a broad range of knowledge what employers want? Not explicitly, but they do want people that can think critically and analytically.
More importantly, a liberal arts education has as its goal the development of GOOD CITIZENS. That is, citizens who will contribute to the dialoge and process that makes up a society and government.
Now, of course, you can know quite a bit about history and politics without ever taking a college class; you can also learn most of programming without taking a class (IMNSHO).
Regards,
Mark
Hey dirtyhippie, take a fuckin' shower. How are we (how am __I__) exploiting these middle eastern fucks? You know who is exploiting them? Other middle easter fucks. Actually, the seconds fucks are the real fucks and the first fucks are just screwed common people (like those that get screwed here in the good 'ole USA).
... the average (or the "powerful") American.
For those who didn't follow. It is the dictatorial governments of these countries that exploit their OWN citizenry
Consider, who is most likely to what the highest horsepower graphics cards out there? Well, that would be those people who play lots of games, like lots of high-tech toys, and basically are "in the know" when it comes to computers. In some senses, that is US my fellow slashdotters.
Well, let's see here, it also happens to be the case that we are also the life, liberty, and the open source way kind of people. Hence by not playing straight with their drivers (and bowing to M$'s demands), they are estranging their main purchasing base.
Now, this does assume a high degree of overlap between those who want the card but won't buy the card because they are TRUE BELIEVERS, but I think it is a fair statement. Even if it isn't, we're smart enough to realize that even if I'm driving a Ferrari, it needs to have good fuel to make it run. That is, no matter what the card, if its software component is stuck in, oh say, reverse, then it is not worthwhile.
Regards.
Now, of course, this myterious, hidden file, available only on electronic medium, had the PERFECT solution to my problem. But alas, it wasn't documented ON PAPER where it was living. So, I only stumbled upon by the good, smiling fates of the computer gods.
I will not deny that access to electronic publications (most notably the almost infinite amount of information available on the Web) is the MOST useful resource. Unfortunately, some of us get caught with our pants and/or skirts down and don't have access. I will ALWAYS be more pleased by companies that include full, useful documentation with their products in a form I can keep ON MY BOOKSHELF where I only have to worry about things like floods, earthquakes, and fires destroying it (not some stupid poorly written program whose source I don't trust!).
Regards.