James Tauber's Blog 2005/08/03
Using Simulated Annealing to Order Goal Prerequisites
Back in November, I wrote about programmed vocabulary learning as a travelling salesman problem.
I'm pleased to say I've finally cleaned up my Python code and made an initial version available at:
http://jtauber.com/2005/08/sa_prereq_ordering.py
UPDATE (2005-08-04): You probably don't want to use the above script. See Ordering Goals Rather Than Prerequisites for why, along with a much improved script.
by James Tauber : Created on Aug. 3, 2005 : Last modified Aug. 3, 2005 : Categories python : (permalink)
Upgraded ProTools
I've upgraded Gideon, my recording studio's PowerMac, to ProTools LE 6.9 from 6.4 via 6.7 (DigiDesign skips version numbers in their public releases).
I haven't upgraded Gideon to Tiger yet, although ProTools LE 6.9.2 does support 10.4.1.
At the same time as ordering ProTools LE 6.9, I ordered a bunch of plugins but I discovered when I tried to install them that some of them require an iLok USB dongle. I've never had to use a dongle before—they seem so...old fashioned :-) Anyway, iLok is on its way.
What I really am missing is a decent tool for composition. ProTools is very much a tracking and mixing tool—still weak for composing / arranging.
Most products that are stronger on composition, MIDI, etc are increasingly focused on audio processing. The overlap is completely wasted on me. When I look at something like Digital Performer or Logic Pro, they seem to be pushing a bunch of stuff I already have in ProTools.
I get the impression that professional composers and producers just live with the redundancy and use overlapping tools.
by James Tauber : Created on Aug. 3, 2005 : Last modified Aug. 3, 2005 : Categories record_producing_and_engineering : 1 comment (permalink)
Equivalence Classes
If an equivalence relation is defined on a set, then we can classify each element of that set using the relation, by putting all elements that are equivalent (according to the relation) in the same class and elements that are not equivalent (according to the relation) in different classes.
The properties of equivalence relations ensure that a given element will be in exactly one class. Therefore, an equivalence relation can be used to partition a set into disjoint subsets. These subsets are called equivalence classes.
For example, say our set is all the people in the world and our equivalence relation is "share the same birthday". Then this partitions the set into 366 equivalence classes. I would be in the equivalence class with all the other people born on 19th November.
UPDATE: next post
by James Tauber : Created on Aug. 3, 2005 : Last modified Aug. 3, 2005 : Categories poincare_project : (permalink)