Archives for posts with tag: Algorithms

STL: Some Underlying Algorithms, Data Structures, and More with Stephan T. Lavavej

May 4, 10 //
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With the recent release of Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4/Silverlight 4 (Managed 4), I figured it was time to learn a thing or two about some new native functionality, specifically in the STL (Standard Template Library) that ships with VS 2010.

Who better to dig into some STL internals than the great Stephan T. Lavavej? Stephan spends most of his time maintaining the STL (along with the core producers of the library, who last I heard work from a remote location in Hawaii…). Stephan is no stranger to those of us who spend time in the native programming world (and use C++, specifically, to compose), and you’ve already met Stephan a few times on C9.

As always, this conversation just happened. Stephan and I didn’t draft up some highly structured and scripted plan. Spontaneity is always our goal, and we met that goal here! So, if you are interested in STL internals and C++ in general, then this is for you.

Thank you, Stephan, for another great lesson.

Enjoy!

E2E: Erik Meijer and Leslie Lamport – Mathematical Reasoning and Distributed Systems

March 9, 10 //
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A distributed system is one in which the failure of a computer you didn’t even know existed can render your own computer unusable. -Leslie Lamport.


Leslie Lamport is a computer scientist and mathematician best known for his work with distributed systems. In fact, Dr. Lamport’s research contributions laid the foundations for the theory of distributed systems. He currently works in Microsoft Research where most of his time is spent developing formal semantics (with mathematical logic) for specifying and reasoning about algorithms.

Here, Dr. Erik Meijer, computer scientist and programming language/library designer, sits down with Dr. Lamport to discuss several aspects of Dr. Lamport’s body of work in computer science.

Dr. Lamport’s TLA, the Temporal Logic of Actions, is a logic for specifying and reasoning about concurrent and reactive systems. TLA+ is the latest incarnation of this formal specification toolset.

Deep Dive into U-Prove Cryptographic Protocols

March 2, 10 //
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In this third and last IdElement installment on the U-Prove CTP series, we once again feature Dr. Stefan Brands, who spends an hour describing the crypto behind U-Prove. Wrapping your head around all the mathematical details may require some effort, but if you are interested in this space it is totally worth it. By the end of the video, you will have a clear understanding of how U-Prove works and how it can truly reconcile security and privacy requirements.
If you want to go even deeper, Stefan’s book on the topic is freely available on line.

  • Get the CTP here
  • Get the C# edition
  • Get the Java edition

    • Running Large Graph Algorithms: Evaluation of Current State-Of-Arts and Lessons Learned

    February 17, 10 //
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    Running Large Graph Algorithms: Evaluation of Current State-Of-Arts and Lessons Learned
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    C9 Conversations: Yuri Gurevich On Logic, Imperative, Abstraction and Algorithms

    February 9, 10 //
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    Welcome to the latest installment of C9 Conversations. For this episode, we were very fortunate to get a chance to converse openly with one of the world’s preeminent mathematical logicians, the great Yuri Gurevich.

    Dr. Gurevich is Professor Emeritus of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Michigan. He is currently a principle research scientist in Wolfram Schulte’s RiSE team (Research in Software Engineering group at Microsoft Research).

    Originally, Dr. Gurevich started his career as an algebraist. Later he became a logician. Then he moved to computer science, where his main projects have been Abstract State Machines, Average Case Computational Complexity, and Finite Model Theory. Dr. Gurevich has been honored as a Dr. Honoris Causa of the University of Limburg, Belgium (1998), as a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (1996), as well as a Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1995).

    Dr. Gurevich’s fundamental work on the theory of Abstract State Machines (ASMs) is of paramount importance for theoretical and applied computer science. The significance of the theoretical concepts developed by Gurevich is confirmed by the substantial impact they have on mathematical modeling of discrete dynamic systems.

    *This is probably the only interview in C9’s history where a good case is made for imperative programming versus declarative and functional (this starts right off the bat at around 02:31).

    Read Yuri’s Annotated Articles

    Tune in. Meet Yuri Gurevich.