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Abacadaba.com – Who we are?
July 17th, 2009
Abacadaba.com is a web consulting company for Nik Bear Brown, a UCLA Computer Science PhD. Abacadaba.com does teaching, web development or data analysis/data mining jobs. Contact us at info@abacadaba.com if you have a web project that requires more machine learning, data mining, or text mining expertise that is typically found in web programmers.
Mr Brown’s UCLA Computer Science research focus is on knowledge aggregation for biomedicine. Knowledge aggregation involves Internet programming, machine learning, data mining, text mining, distributed algorithms, and Web search. His major field is Computational and Systems Biology and my minor fields are Artificial Intelligence and Statistics.
Nik Bear Brown – Partial CV (full CV availible upon request):
Education:
Ph.D. student in Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles.
Fall 2007 to current. PhD expected Fall 2009.
GPA 3.6
M.S. in Computer Science, University of California, Los Angeles. December 2005. GPA 3.6
B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of California, Santa CruzFellowships:
NSF IGERT Fellow – Integrative Bioinformatics Training Program 2000-2003
Data Mining Skills :
Extensive experience in the analysis of gene expression data and the text mining of public data sources, data analysis and data mining. Strong database development and web development skills. I’ve used Python quite extensively in my own text mining research as well as for text mining/web robot and database development.
Web Developments Skills :
I’ve taught “Programming for the Internet” for UCLA’s Department of Mathematics (PIC40A), CS 31 Introduction to Computer Science I and CS 32 Introduction to Computer Science II (first and second quarter C++) for UCLA’s Department of Computer Science. I have extensive knowledge of: Python, C++, Objective-C (iPhone), Php, Perl, LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP/Python), SQL, web development frameworks (Zend Framework, Ruby on Rails, Symfony, Django), Php templating engines (Smarty, PHPTemplate, XTemplate), JavaScript libraries (Dojo, Mootools, Prototype, MochiKit, script.aculo.us, Yahoo! User Interface Library – YUI, Google Maps), version control (Git, Subversion, CVS), CSS, XHTML, Javascript, Php, Ajax, JSON, XML, XML Schema Development, XSLT, DTD’s, DOM and Web Standards.
Relevant Course Work:
Computer Science
UCLA Computer Science 118 – Networking
UCLA Computer Science 130 – Software Engineering
UCLA Computer Science 161 – Artificial Intelligence
UCLA Computer Science 180 – Algorithms
UCLA Computer Science 181 – Complexity & Automata
UCLA Computer Science 240 – Data Bases
UCLA Computer Science 249 – Data Mining
UCLA Computer Science 263A – Statistical Language Processing
UCLA Computer Science 263B – Connectionist Language Processing
UCLA Computer Science 268 – Machine Perception
UCLA Computer Science 269 – Artificial Intelligence
UCLA Computer Science 286L – Biological Modeling
UCLA Computer Science M296A – Mathematical Modeling in Medicine
UCLA Computer Science M296B – Optimal Parameter EstimationMathematics & Statistics
UCLA Mathematics 131A – Real Analysis
UCLA Mathematics 151A&B – Applied Numerical Methods
UCLA Statistics 165 – Data Mining
UCLA Mathematics 170A – Probability Theory
UCLA Statistics 180 – Bayesian Statistics
UCLA Biomathematics 203 – Stochastic Models in Biology
UCLA Statistics 216 – High Dimensional Data Analysis
UCLA Biomathematics 220 – Kinetic Steady State Models
Statistics M254 – Statistical Methods in Computational Biology
UCLA Mathematics 270A – Mathematics of Scientific Computing
UCLA Biostatistics 278 – Analysis of DNA Microarray DataBiology & Chemistry
UCLA Chemistry 202 – Bioinformatics
UCLA Microbiology CM233 – Biotechnology
UCLA Microbiology CM234 – Ethics in Biomedical Research
UCLA Physiological Science 235 – Dynamical Systems Modeling
UCLA Human Genetics 236 – Advanced Human Genetics
UCLA Physiology 250C – Critical Topics in Physiology
UCLA Microbiology CM233 – Biotechnology
UCLA Chemistry M252– Advanced Methodology in Computational Biology
UCLA Pathology 255 – Mapping the Human Genome
UCLA Microbiology & Immunology M262A – Immunobiology of CancerComputer Skills:
Databases
Oracle (UCLA Extension Oracle 8 Database Administration Certification – Summer 2000)
Microsoft Access, SQL, ODBC, mySQL, PostgreSQL, UML, XMLComputer languages
HTML/XHTML/XML (7+ years experience)
Python (5+ years experience)
C++/C (5+ years experience)
Perl (5+ years experience)
Javascript (3+ years experience)
Php (3+ years experience)
Other langauges LSL (Linden Scripting Language), Ruby, Java, Lisp, ColdFusion, Shell Scripts, S-plus, R, MatLabSoftware Design
I understand and develop requirements and design documents. I understand object-oriented programming, design patterns and service-oriented architectures.
Development IDE
Eclipse, Emacs, Notepad++
Operating Systems
Windows 9x/NT/XP, Macintosh, UNIX, LinuxGraphics
Extensive experience with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. SVG programming. ImageMagik, Apache Batik.Other
I understand Ajax, XHTML, Javascript, DOM programming, Web Services, Service Oriented Architectures, MVC Architectures. -
CS31 Discussion 1H Notes (Week 10, June 5)
June 4th, 2009
CS31 Discussion 1H Notes (Week 10, June 5) are available.
All files in the notes directory can be browsed by going directly to http://stuff.abacadaba.com/
The code for notes can be browsed by going directly to http://stuff.abacadaba.com/code -
CS31 C++ – string Player::takeComputerChosenTurn()
June 4th, 2009
The notion of “replacement implementation should do something intelligent” is pretty vague. However if you look at the test code there are these lines:
for (int k = 0; k < 1000 && a.robotCount() != 0; k++)
pp->takeComputerChosenTurn();
assert(a.robotCount() == 0);Translated to English these three lines say after 1000 turns takeComputerChosenTurn() should have destroyed all the robots. So one can’t possibly meet that if you don’t destroy robots. Further you must survive long enough to destroy all the robots.
If after the robots move, a robot occupies the same grid point as the player, the player dies. Since the robot moves randomly there is a 1 in 4 chance for the robot to kill you.
Therefore you better move if there is a possibility for the robot to kill you. Further if it is not possible to move away from multiple robots then moving to a spot with the least chance of killing you would be good.
Finally if you are need in immediate danger then shooting the nearest robot would be good because without shooting you won’t destroy all the robots.
for (int k = 0; k < 1000 && a.robotCount() != 0; k++)
pp->takeComputerChosenTurn();
assert(a.robotCount() == 0);// Your replacement implementation should do something intelligent
// and return a string that describes what happened. When you’ve
// decided what action to take, take it by calling move, shoot, or stand.
// This function must return one of the following four strings:
// “Moved.”
// “Shot and hit!”
// “Shot and missed!”
// “Stood.”// Here’s one possible strategy:
// If moving in some direction would put me in less immediate danger
// than standing, then move in that direction.
// else shoot in the direction of the nearest robot I can hit.// A more aggressive strategy is possible, where you hunt down robots.
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CS31 C++ – looping thru an array of pointers to robots
June 3rd, 2009
The professor has examples of looping thru an array of pointers to robots in his code. For example, in Arena::~Arena() he deletes all the robots.
for (int k = 0; k < m_nRobots; k++)
delete m_robots[k];Arena::~Arena()
{
for (int k = 0; k < m_nRobots; k++)
delete m_robots[k];
delete m_player;
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CS31 C++ – void Arena::display(string msg) const
June 3rd, 2009
Remember that char grid[MAXROWS][MAXCOLS] is populated with ‘.’
for (r = 0; r < rows(); r++)
for (c = 0; c < cols(); c++)
grid[r][c] = '.';... so if you place a robot at a particular column and row
you can check what is there ... if it is a . you know that this is the FIRST robot you are placing there ... if it is an 'R' than this is the second ... similar logic can be used for placing the player.// TODO: If one robot is at some grid point, set the char to 'R'.
// If it's 2 though 8, set it to '2' through '8'.
// For 9 or more, set it to '9'.void Arena::display(string msg) const
{
char grid[MAXROWS][MAXCOLS];// TODO: If one robot is at some grid point, set the char to ‘R’.
// If it’s 2 though 8, set it to ‘2′ through ‘8′.
// For 9 or more, set it to ‘9′.// Indicate player’s position
if (m_player != NULL)
{
// Set the char to ‘@’, unless there’s also a robot there,
// in which case set it to ‘*’ -
CS31 C++ – Project 7 Basic Tests
June 3rd, 2009
The prof posted “If your code passes these basic tests, you’ll probably do well on Project 7.”
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CS 31 C++ – void Robot::move()
June 2nd, 2009
Remember that void Arena::display(string msg) const draws the robots on the grid. The robot does not move itself.
Arena::display(string msg) asks the robot where it is and draws it there.void Robot::move()
{
// Attempt to move in a random direction; if we can’t move, don’t move
switch (rand() % 4)
{
case UP:
// TODO: Move the robot up one row if possible.
break;
case DOWN:
case LEFT:
case RIGHT:
// TODO: Implement the other movements.
break;
}
} -
CS 31 C++ – Practice Problems
June 2nd, 2009
Every chapter in the Savitch book has “self-test problems” and the answers to the self-test problems are in the back of the chapter.
Do at least a couple problems from each chapter and more for those chapters for which the material is unclear to you. If you have problems/questions with the Savitch self-test problems then ask.
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CS 31 C++ – Final Cheat Sheet Template
June 2nd, 2009
CS 31 C++ – Final Cheat Sheet Template
Note: This document is for ideas for YOU to create your own Final Cheat Sheet
This is The BEGINNING of a Final Cheat Sheet. YOU should edit it, add to it, subtract from it based on what you think you might need reminders of on the test.- CS 31 Final Cheat Sheet Template (Week 10, June 1)(.PDF)
- CS 31 Final Cheat Sheet Template (Week 10, June 1)(.doc.zip)
- CS 31 Final Cheat Sheet Template (Week 10, June 1)(.doc)
- CS 31 Final Cheat Sheet Template (Week 10, June 1)(.txt)
All files in the notes directory can be browsed by going directly to http://stuff.abacadaba.com/
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Debugging Project 7
June 1st, 2009
You can always create objects in your main to test things.Say you are working on int Arena::rows() const
int Arena::rows() const
{
// TODO: TRIVIAL: return the number of rows in the arena
return 1; // this is wrong — replace it
}
then your main could have something likeArena a(13,7);cout << a.rows() << endl;