|
Talking to Carlo around a QA question, and I got to thinking: we have had good computing ideas which we later realise were really stupid and tried to forget. So: here are two of mine for your delectation. Please, forgive me - I was rather young when I came up with these two 
1) Compressing data by searching the output of a random number generator to find the where the actual data is generated. You could then send the seed value and offset as the compressed data, and regenerate the file from that.
2) Generating software by evolution: introduce random mutations in the binary file, and select the "best" working programs for round two. The idea being that you hammer together any old code which "sort of works" and the "breed" it to become perfect.
So: You come up with any examples in your career? 
|
|
|
|
|
My current project is descending fast into "Kill The Designer" territory.
speramus in juniperus
|
|
|
|
|
Um. Didn't you design it?
Kamikaze Koding again, are we?
[edit]Gah! "did" for "didn't" - IdiotGriff[/edit]
|
|
|
|
|
It would be rude of me to take all the credit.
But it is mine and mine alone.
speramus in juniperus
|
|
|
|
|
At 14 I send MIT the idea, that any binary number (2^n) can be presented as a b&w image. So running a loop from 0 to 2^n for a large n will give us meaningful images. We can see even pictures never taken...
For instance the number 7,349,940,589,383,007,744, presented on a 8x8 matrix gives the ä letter as was in the C64.
I'm still looking for the computer power to run such loop on really big numbers...
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is (V).
|
|
|
|
|
Build a 10x super zip tool by repeatedly zipping the output 10 times. This happened when I did not have an understanding of how compression works and thought of it as similar to physically compressing a bunch of cotton 
|
|
|
|
|
I programmed an endless loop in one of my synchronization Service.
If a value couldn't be inserted the Programm added +1 to the index.
Well done exception handling!
The error was not the index it was something else.... -> endless loop
if(this.signature != "")
{
MessageBox.Show("This is my signature: " + Environment.NewLine + signature);
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("404-Signature not found");
}
|
|
|
|
|
OriginalGriff wrote: Generating software by evolution: introduce random mutations in the binary file, and select the "best" working programs for round two. The idea being that you hammer together any old code which "sort of works" and the "breed" it to become perfect.
I tried that in a couple ways on a C64 -
First, just replacing opcodes with randomly generated ones.
Second, poking random values at various random ports, especially the video and sound chips. Lots of fun, that one!
Marc
|
|
|
|
|
|
One I wish I'd pursued...
We used to record data a bit at a time on audio tape, with lousy density. I mentioned to the PhD I worked for at the University that I thought that I might improve data density by forming a different note for each byte value to be recorded, and he told me that it was physically impossible to save more data on the tape. Him being a Dr. of Physics and me a 1st EE student, I didn't argue it, and forgot the idea. 
Will Rogers never met me.
|
|
|
|
|
Sounds like "Windows" development to me!
Dave.
|
|
|
|
|
Putting a tiny amount of memory into a VHS tape to allow recorders to place indexes so you could(very) fast forward to different places on long tapes.
My dad (BHCS) asked me once to write him a machine code program on the Commodore PET to output to the sound chip simple byte values, as quickly as possible. His idea being that if it was fast enough we could digitise sound.
I didn't even try as I was convinced it just would not be fast enough.
About a year later I ran 'Citadel' on the BBC micro (same processor) and was amazed when it said the word 'Citadel' as it started up!
MVVM # - I did it My Way
___________________________________________
Man, you're a god. - walterhevedeich 26/05/2011
.\\axxx
(That's an 'M')
|
|
|
|
|
By far the silliest, and craziest, idea I ever came up with was that I was who my parents taught me to be, what my school-years had socialized me to be, what my culture, sub-culture, and nation of birth, had acculturated me to be, and what the Primate Operating System 0.000001 beta, now in use for 100K+ years, had prepared me to perceive, and mis-interpret, as a unique individual "self" with a history that had a continuity in linear time.
bill
"What Turing gave us for the first time (and without Turing you just couldn't do any of this) is he gave us a way of thinking about and taking seriously and thinking in a disciplined way about phenomena that have, as I like to say, trillions of moving parts.
Until the late 20th century, nobody knew how to take seriously a machine with a trillion moving parts. It's just mind-boggling." Daniel C. Dennett
|
|
|
|
|
|
Complicated little buggers though?
There are quite a few "older" designs for two stroke engines that never really caught on: Stepped piston two stroke[^]
|
|
|
|
|
No, not complicated at all really. They have no valve train, and are more thermally efficient. They have a blower to help scavenge, but most diesels have a turbo anyway. They are simpler than todays engines.
The steped piston isnt different from the crank case scavenged tqo stoke which is simpler and widely used today.
|
|
|
|
|
It's very different! It uses a 4 stroke-like lubrication system (which means the lubricant isn't total loss with the emission problems that gives "normal" 2 strokes) and the ratio of the two piston's swept volumes can be adjusted to increase or decrease the "supercharger" effect.
|
|
|
|
|
Interesting.
I would have thought the following were a problem in cars/trucks:
Rapid heating and cooling: It's going to alter (weaken?) the engine block. Might temper it in such a way it improves, not thsat much of an engineer.
Steam: These things must puff out steam like billy-o. Or they would need condensers.
Water: Obviously, if you have a condenser you can recycle, but I'd assume this would end up with warm water being injected. I think this would reduce the power gain, naturally it would reduce cooling. :/
Seems like sensible arrangement though, especially as the cost of fuel rises. Must be more complex & expensive to manufacture.
|
|
|
|
|
Check out the 6 stroke engine, there are some vids on line, they are incredible. So sinple, so efficient.
Of course you need a water tank as well as a fuel tank. The gasses are natural, but yes, they will steam a bit.
The main thing is it gets rid of the radiator, hopses, water pump etc etc etc. A smaller, tidier engine even with the addition of the water pump and additional injectors.
It will happen. You wait.
|
|
|
|
|
When I was child we used to have a Trabant[^], which had a two-stroke engine...
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is (V).
|
|
|
|
|
When I was a fully grown adult, capable of making a rational decision I bought a Trabi. Why? Because they rock! For getting around town they where ideal and they really annoyed the green lobby; which was nice.
speramus in juniperus
|
|
|
|
|
|
The common between these two, that both made of pressed paper painted with colored varnish...
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is (V).
|
|
|
|
|
Nope. Yugos are ex Fiats, 127s and 128s to be precise.
|
|
|
|
|
Yes. But remade of paper.
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is (V).
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
