The card system hasn't been upgraded for awhile, one reason is that the company that manufactured the card scanners is no longer creating new technology (read: going out of business), and from what I understand it was difficult to recruit a new company to serve CWRU's needs (read: completely replacing the ID cardswipe system with new technology, if I heard correctly). It's all hearsay though; I haven't heard anything official about it.
I know lots of people that share lossless music formats - especially those that trade concerts. My suitemate last semester got a nice letter from the University for his efforts with Smashing Pumpkins bootlegs...the letter wasn't so much concerned with the legality of his trading as with the fact that he had used up one quarter of CWRU's outgoing bandwidth...
For a brief (past 3 years or so) history of Case Reserve's IT career, check out the Yahoo Internet Life Most Wired polls. The year before I came to CWRU, we were the "most wired" campus in America, due to our 155 MBPS ATM network. Since then, we've failed to make the polls entirely. Apparently, some of the numbers were faked by our VP of IT, though I honestly can't figure out which ones (I'm not being sarcastic, I don't know). The old ATM network was great and fast when it worked, but it could get flaky at times. And there were the hours where it conked out entirely...I'm also told there was some lag. I am confident that by the time I get back to CWRU from my co-op, next spring, they'll have all the bugs worked out and gigabit Ethernet will be working well. Additionally, there will supposedly also be a campus wireless network, though details on that are more difficult to come by. I know they've already done the library and the dorms, I believe, and I think the entire campus will be wireless by the fall. But I haven't heard much since I left school for the summer.
That's also what I was worried about. 1984 failed to be the case on the government side, but is it coming true from a corporation/media standpoint? Obviously Orwell's novel was a worst-case scenario, and as such our society today isn't nearly as alarming as his ficticious one, but how often do you still feel as if "big brother is watching"--not big brother government, but big brother advertising? The difference, of course, is that advertising bears no "ill" intent, really. They just want to persuade you to buy their product.
But when it gets faster, doesn't it begin to run hotter? Not saying that cooling isn't still relevant, but it may be harder to "overcool" than to "overclock", since cooling will raise the "speed" of the chip, which in turn will add heat, which will counteract the cooling you do.
Cooling will still help but it will perhaps not be at the scale we think.
Wait...I know that same guy, and he's here, at Case Western Reserve University...j/k. My prof in logic design (and I would imagine most profs) brought out this point to us, and added the statement that "this is going to be something you'll see in the future, provided they can learn to work with it." So here we are.
Which begs the question...should I be looking into doing research with asynchronous logic design or software-defined radio (see recent H2K2 slashdot article)? Decisions, decisions...
Re:combine clocked/-less sections on same chip?
on
Clockless Computing
·
· Score: 1
I was thinking about something like this myself. But what about when your dry cleaning isn't done on time? Do you wait another 4 days to check again, in the synchronous parent chip?...It's an interesting issue.
Small scale, and then larger
on
Clockless Computing
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
After reading the article, I have to wonder why asynchronous processors (or smaller logic devices, such as ALUs) haven't been considered before. The ideas have certainly been around for awhile--and in fact, asynchronous is intrinsically simpler than synchronous logic. The only conclusion on this I can reach is that while asynchronous designs may be "simpler" in theory, in that they don't include a clock pulse, they are much more difficult to work with in practice. Here's an example for those of you that have worked with logic design: try creating the logic for a simple vending machine that dispenses the product whenever a combination of coins (triggered by 3 switches, quarter, dime, and nickel) adds up to $0.50. Which would you prefer to use--synchronous or asynchronous logic? I know when I did this example I got myself stuck by using asynchronous logic, because while asynchronous logic meant less memory states (all states above $0.50 were treated the same), it also meant lots of added complexity, which I didn't need for the problem at hand.
I foresee lots of bugs, but if they can pull this off, more power to them.
To clear a few things up, just because a processor/motherboard is "clockless" does not mean it won't be able to tell time. They can still use the 60 Hz AC signal for ticks.
This is really cool. I was learning a little about asynchronous systems in my Logic Design and Computer Organization class last fall...they seemed pretty cool on a small scale, however they could get really difficult to work with when you're dealing with something as complex as a processor.
Once this bill passes the Senate, I'm waiting for the first news story of someone's online traces being turned over to the FBI by their ISP while hacking in a legal competition.
I just think that it'll be interesting to see just how involved the FBI gets in monitoring now that they have more authority and the ISPs have less in the way of obstacles to turning over network logs. I predict some of them will just save the hassle of arguing and turn over user information as soon as the FBI comes knocking.
Good points, but by "hotmail throwaway" Hotmail I don't think would work (we know what you mean though)...hotmail limits the number of addressees to 50 I believe.
If your class is more research-oriented (check my other comment for a more language and programming skills-oriented project), you could go with a project like I did in my senior year. A simulation using basic planetary physics (Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation) of the motion of the planets. Once I constructed this simulation, I tested Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion against newer methods to see if good ol Kepler was right;). Of course he passed with flying colors. Check my web page (I'm in the process of adding this) or download the source I used. Or, for those who like to see the results, download this file for the final program (use "Kepler" for the password: extract and run univgrav.exe with the bgi files in the same directory).
Sorry if this was a little obscure: keep checking my web page, this article piqued my interest. I'll put up a page dedicated to my research in my senior year soon (by August 4).
One idea that might be interesting (for a week or so) is a compatibility test in groups. I base this on personal experience: it happened to be the most interesting thing my class did in my senior year. Have groups of three-four students each design their concept of an interpretation program for a popular "compatibility test." For those who haven't had it done to their school, the idea is many surveys (all the same of course) are given out en masse to all students. Whoever wants to, returns the surveys, with their name written and multiple-choice answers circled. The distributor of the test checks the answers (by the program) and returns the best matches (based on same answers) for each person who submitted a survey and paid the fee (oh yes, this can be profitable as well, you budding capitalists;) ). Some great ideas come up, e.g., ways to handle ties in compatibility (I like the way mine handled that best, see below for link to my C++ source), Top Ten lists, and even incompatibility tests.
All in all, a great exercise in array manipulation and pretty fun to play with too. Can be whatever you make of it. Go to my homepage at www.markpatrickmccartney.com or just download the source. Some of the concepts I used that might be fun to suggest, for those who hate scanning source (I'll admit it, my programming style is not what it should be...): - a random data generator, for testing purely random surveys - ties for compatibility, i.e., what do you do when everybody is 0% compatible with this poor person, or when there are ten matches at 45%, and you're usually displaying only five...;) - Top Ten Most Compatible lists: who are the Computer Class Sweeties (and/or dirty rotten cheaters) - Incompatibility can be fun!;> (but watch out for those 0% results...make sure the survey is big enough.)
I honestly can't say that, from my experience (not very considerable since I'm only 17 and not even in college yet), women haven't had it too rough. At least not in the college admissions process. It seems to me as if colleges (using Carnegie Mellon, #1 in CS) are actually going after those few female future computer scientists. I would have loved to have gone to Carnegie Mellon for CS, but I was waitlisted, and when I was accepted, they couldn't reevaluate my financial package (I still would've had to pay almost $20,000), so I had to choose Case Western Reserve University. Women at CMU SCS (School of Computer Science) are not so rare anymore. They've increased from under 10% of the incoming class in 1995 to almost 40% of the incoming class of 2000. By the way, the national standard is under 10% of women gain engineering-related degrees, including CS. The article which I got my statistics from says that CMU is "bucking the national trend". Now, high school seniors, the last time I checked, can choose their own school. So CMU is somehow attracting far more women than they used to, and more importantly, far more women than the rest of the schools in America. They do this by some good methods: by the Women@SCS Support Group, set up to nurture women through their four years in the SCS. Men don't have this advantage, but I can see that discrimination might discourage the women...I guess. This is OK. But by offering an exclusive scholarship to women (and another exclusive scholarship to minorities, though that's semi-offtopic), they persuade women in by lowering their exhorbitant $34,000 yearly cost to a reasonable rate...for women. White males are only considered for one third of the available merit scholarships. Contrast this with women, who are considered for more, or all, if they're of minority racial background. This I have a problem with. I'm reminded of a statement from a student at the Boston Latin School, one of the most competitive secondary schools in America, and somewhat diverse: "It should be merit only that gets us here, and merit only that lets us stay." That was bravely said by a female minority student. Obviously, it's still possible to be female and smart. Let's just realize that...and realize as well that I am against gender bias at a young age. This is the one place I'm not sure about. But if there are teachers out there telling the little girls, "Why don't you try sewing instead," when they pick up a keyboard, well they should be ready with a response, "My daddy told me that girls can do anything boys can do, and I think they can do it better." My point is, parents, if it wasn't common sense, tell your children that they can do anything, regardless of gender! And give them pride...so when somebody thinks they can't do it, and tries to tell them so, they know that they can, and they will "show them." That's how I was brought up. I'm afraid I can't lend an air of true authority to this story, as I'm just a white male. But I know if I was a girl, I wouldn't let anyone tell me what I could or couldn't do. Links: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Article Women@SCS
OK...this is not meant as a far-reaching and certainly not all-encompassing explanation. This is just my experience. I thought it was relevant (I've been waiting for an article like this on Slashdot for quite some time). I'm a recent high school grad. Valedictorian of my class. I have good experience with computers - I refuse to brag, that's not the intention of my post. I applied to Carnegie Mellon, which you all know is the best school in the country (OK, OK, tied with Stanford and MIT) for computer science. A "technology reseearch mecca" according to at least one newspaper. I was waitlisted, and my financial aid package was sent to me...let's just say I was bitterly disappointed. After a long period of real personal letdown (all I wanted was a chance...a chance to prove myself), CMU gave me a phone call. I had been accepted from their waiting list! Finally...the chance I'd been waiting for! Surely, my financial aid offer could be negotiated slightly and I could go to the school I had been dreaming about since I started high school! (I grew up in Pittsburgh, and I still live within an hour of campus...so I'd known about it for a long time, it was only when I decided on CS that I got really excited.) But when I called back...the answer was no. Since their decision to admit me from the waiting list was only made after May 1, 2000, the financial aid package could not be changed. I would be forced to either pay almost $20,000 for the first year (possibly more each year after), or abandon my dreams. After much soul-searching, I gave up. I went to another school who had offered me a full tuition scholarship, Case Western Reserve University (I applied to six schools including CMU: of those, four offered me as much or more...two being full scholarships). I love CWRU, but that's another story. In hindsight, I realize that two of their three major merit scholarships were not offered to a white male such as myself. It is their money...I understand that they can do with it what they want. But when you're going to give women a free ride strictly for being women (after all, they didn't allow competition from men!)...I just don't know. Finally, CMU was recently written up as "bucking the national trend"...women occupy less than ten percent of computer science majors nationwide. At Carnegie Mellon, they are NEARLY FORTY PERCENT of the incoming freshmen class (in the School of Computer Science). Wonder why? They can pay the exorbitant price with their exclusive scholarship. Forgive me. But CMU has been my lifelong dream...and to this day, I can't think of one thing I could have done else with my life to make myself a stronger student. Feel free to reply to this message. "I may be quite wrong." - Socrates
Slashdot Mirror
The card system hasn't been upgraded for awhile, one reason is that the company that manufactured the card scanners is no longer creating new technology (read: going out of business), and from what I understand it was difficult to recruit a new company to serve CWRU's needs (read: completely replacing the ID cardswipe system with new technology, if I heard correctly). It's all hearsay though; I haven't heard anything official about it.
I know lots of people that share lossless music formats - especially those that trade concerts. My suitemate last semester got a nice letter from the University for his efforts with Smashing Pumpkins bootlegs...the letter wasn't so much concerned with the legality of his trading as with the fact that he had used up one quarter of CWRU's outgoing bandwidth...
For a brief (past 3 years or so) history of Case Reserve's IT career, check out the Yahoo Internet Life Most Wired polls. The year before I came to CWRU, we were the "most wired" campus in America, due to our 155 MBPS ATM network. Since then, we've failed to make the polls entirely. Apparently, some of the numbers were faked by our VP of IT, though I honestly can't figure out which ones (I'm not being sarcastic, I don't know).
The old ATM network was great and fast when it worked, but it could get flaky at times. And there were the hours where it conked out entirely...I'm also told there was some lag. I am confident that by the time I get back to CWRU from my co-op, next spring, they'll have all the bugs worked out and gigabit Ethernet will be working well. Additionally, there will supposedly also be a campus wireless network, though details on that are more difficult to come by. I know they've already done the library and the dorms, I believe, and I think the entire campus will be wireless by the fall. But I haven't heard much since I left school for the summer.
I'm glad you chose to leave off steps 4 and 5, since they happily don't apply...
4. ???
5. Profit!!
That's also what I was worried about. 1984 failed to be the case on the government side, but is it coming true from a corporation/media standpoint? Obviously Orwell's novel was a worst-case scenario, and as such our society today isn't nearly as alarming as his ficticious one, but how often do you still feel as if "big brother is watching"--not big brother government, but big brother advertising? The difference, of course, is that advertising bears no "ill" intent, really. They just want to persuade you to buy their product.
But when it gets faster, doesn't it begin to run hotter? Not saying that cooling isn't still relevant, but it may be harder to "overcool" than to "overclock", since cooling will raise the "speed" of the chip, which in turn will add heat, which will counteract the cooling you do.
Cooling will still help but it will perhaps not be at the scale we think.
Wait...I know that same guy, and he's here, at Case Western Reserve University...j/k. My prof in logic design (and I would imagine most profs) brought out this point to us, and added the statement that "this is going to be something you'll see in the future, provided they can learn to work with it." So here we are.
Which begs the question...should I be looking into doing research with asynchronous logic design or software-defined radio (see recent H2K2 slashdot article)? Decisions, decisions...
I was thinking about something like this myself. But what about when your dry cleaning isn't done on time? Do you wait another 4 days to check again, in the synchronous parent chip? ...It's an interesting issue.
After reading the article, I have to wonder why asynchronous processors (or smaller logic devices, such as ALUs) haven't been considered before. The ideas have certainly been around for awhile--and in fact, asynchronous is intrinsically simpler than synchronous logic. The only conclusion on this I can reach is that while asynchronous designs may be "simpler" in theory, in that they don't include a clock pulse, they are much more difficult to work with in practice. Here's an example for those of you that have worked with logic design: try creating the logic for a simple vending machine that dispenses the product whenever a combination of coins (triggered by 3 switches, quarter, dime, and nickel) adds up to $0.50. Which would you prefer to use--synchronous or asynchronous logic? I know when I did this example I got myself stuck by using asynchronous logic, because while asynchronous logic meant less memory states (all states above $0.50 were treated the same), it also meant lots of added complexity, which I didn't need for the problem at hand.
I foresee lots of bugs, but if they can pull this off, more power to them.
To clear a few things up, just because a processor/motherboard is "clockless" does not mean it won't be able to tell time. They can still use the 60 Hz AC signal for ticks.
This is really cool. I was learning a little about asynchronous systems in my Logic Design and Computer Organization class last fall...they seemed pretty cool on a small scale, however they could get really difficult to work with when you're dealing with something as complex as a processor.
Once this bill passes the Senate, I'm waiting for the first news story of someone's online traces being turned over to the FBI by their ISP while hacking in a legal competition.
I just think that it'll be interesting to see just how involved the FBI gets in monitoring now that they have more authority and the ISPs have less in the way of obstacles to turning over network logs. I predict some of them will just save the hassle of arguing and turn over user information as soon as the FBI comes knocking.
Good points, but by "hotmail throwaway" Hotmail I don't think would work (we know what you mean though) ...hotmail limits the number of addressees to 50 I believe.
If your class is more research-oriented (check my other comment for a more language and programming skills-oriented project), you could go with a project like I did in my senior year. A simulation using basic planetary physics (Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation) of the motion of the planets. Once I constructed this simulation, I tested Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion against newer methods to see if good ol Kepler was right ;). Of course he passed with flying colors. Check my web page (I'm in the process of adding this) or download the source I used. Or, for those who like to see the results, download this file for the final program (use "Kepler" for the password: extract and run univgrav.exe with the bgi files in the same directory).
Sorry if this was a little obscure: keep checking my web page, this article piqued my interest. I'll put up a page dedicated to my research in my senior year soon (by August 4).
One idea that might be interesting (for a week or so) is a compatibility test in groups. I base this on personal experience: it happened to be the most interesting thing my class did in my senior year. Have groups of three-four students each design their concept of an interpretation program for a popular "compatibility test." For those who haven't had it done to their school, the idea is many surveys (all the same of course) are given out en masse to all students. Whoever wants to, returns the surveys, with their name written and multiple-choice answers circled. The distributor of the test checks the answers (by the program) and returns the best matches (based on same answers) for each person who submitted a survey and paid the fee (oh yes, this can be profitable as well, you budding capitalists ;) ). Some great ideas come up, e.g., ways to handle ties in compatibility (I like the way mine handled that best, see below for link to my C++ source), Top Ten lists, and even incompatibility tests.
;) ;> (but watch out for those 0% results...make sure the survey is big enough.)
All in all, a great exercise in array manipulation and pretty fun to play with too. Can be whatever you make of it.
Go to my homepage at www.markpatrickmccartney.com or just download the source.
Some of the concepts I used that might be fun to suggest, for those who hate scanning source (I'll admit it, my programming style is not what it should be...):
- a random data generator, for testing purely random surveys
- ties for compatibility, i.e., what do you do when everybody is 0% compatible with this poor person, or when there are ten matches at 45%, and you're usually displaying only five...
- Top Ten Most Compatible lists: who are the Computer Class Sweeties (and/or dirty rotten cheaters)
- Incompatibility can be fun!
I honestly can't say that, from my experience (not very considerable since I'm only 17 and not even in college yet), women haven't had it too rough. At least not in the college admissions process. It seems to me as if colleges (using Carnegie Mellon, #1 in CS) are actually going after those few female future computer scientists. I would have loved to have gone to Carnegie Mellon for CS, but I was waitlisted, and when I was accepted, they couldn't reevaluate my financial package (I still would've had to pay almost $20,000), so I had to choose Case Western Reserve University. Women at CMU SCS (School of Computer Science) are not so rare anymore. They've increased from under 10% of the incoming class in 1995 to almost 40% of the incoming class of 2000. By the way, the national standard is under 10% of women gain engineering-related degrees, including CS. The article which I got my statistics from says that CMU is "bucking the national trend". Now, high school seniors, the last time I checked, can choose their own school. So CMU is somehow attracting far more women than they used to, and more importantly, far more women than the rest of the schools in America. They do this by some good methods: by the Women@SCS Support Group, set up to nurture women through their four years in the SCS. Men don't have this advantage, but I can see that discrimination might discourage the women...I guess. This is OK. But by offering an exclusive scholarship to women (and another exclusive scholarship to minorities, though that's semi-offtopic), they persuade women in by lowering their exhorbitant $34,000 yearly cost to a reasonable rate...for women. White males are only considered for one third of the available merit scholarships. Contrast this with women, who are considered for more, or all, if they're of minority racial background. This I have a problem with.
I'm reminded of a statement from a student at the Boston Latin School, one of the most competitive secondary schools in America, and somewhat diverse: "It should be merit only that gets us here, and merit only that lets us stay." That was bravely said by a female minority student. Obviously, it's still possible to be female and smart. Let's just realize that...and realize as well that I am against gender bias at a young age. This is the one place I'm not sure about. But if there are teachers out there telling the little girls, "Why don't you try sewing instead," when they pick up a keyboard, well they should be ready with a response, "My daddy told me that girls can do anything boys can do, and I think they can do it better." My point is, parents, if it wasn't common sense, tell your children that they can do anything, regardless of gender! And give them pride...so when somebody thinks they can't do it, and tries to tell them so, they know that they can, and they will "show them." That's how I was brought up. I'm afraid I can't lend an air of true authority to this story, as I'm just a white male. But I know if I was a girl, I wouldn't let anyone tell me what I could or couldn't do.
Links:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Article
Women@SCS
OK...this is not meant as a far-reaching and certainly not all-encompassing explanation. This is just my experience. I thought it was relevant (I've been waiting for an article like this on Slashdot for quite some time). I'm a recent high school grad. Valedictorian of my class. I have good experience with computers - I refuse to brag, that's not the intention of my post. I applied to Carnegie Mellon, which you all know is the best school in the country (OK, OK, tied with Stanford and MIT) for computer science. A "technology reseearch mecca" according to at least one newspaper. I was waitlisted, and my financial aid package was sent to me...let's just say I was bitterly disappointed. After a long period of real personal letdown (all I wanted was a chance...a chance to prove myself), CMU gave me a phone call. I had been accepted from their waiting list! Finally...the chance I'd been waiting for! Surely, my financial aid offer could be negotiated slightly and I could go to the school I had been dreaming about since I started high school! (I grew up in Pittsburgh, and I still live within an hour of campus...so I'd known about it for a long time, it was only when I decided on CS that I got really excited.) But when I called back...the answer was no. Since their decision to admit me from the waiting list was only made after May 1, 2000, the financial aid package could not be changed. I would be forced to either pay almost $20,000 for the first year (possibly more each year after), or abandon my dreams. After much soul-searching, I gave up. I went to another school who had offered me a full tuition scholarship, Case Western Reserve University (I applied to six schools including CMU: of those, four offered me as much or more...two being full scholarships). I love CWRU, but that's another story. In hindsight, I realize that two of their three major merit scholarships were not offered to a white male such as myself. It is their money...I understand that they can do with it what they want. But when you're going to give women a free ride strictly for being women (after all, they didn't allow competition from men!)...I just don't know. Finally, CMU was recently written up as "bucking the national trend"...women occupy less than ten percent of computer science majors nationwide. At Carnegie Mellon, they are NEARLY FORTY PERCENT of the incoming freshmen class (in the School of Computer Science). Wonder why? They can pay the exorbitant price with their exclusive scholarship. Forgive me. But CMU has been my lifelong dream...and to this day, I can't think of one thing I could have done else with my life to make myself a stronger student. Feel free to reply to this message. "I may be quite wrong." - Socrates