Life at TUDelft
It is hard to believe that six months passed since I was stepping, worried, out of the terminal in the Schiphol airport, in Amsterdam. Meanwhile I went home once but this is another story. What am I doing at the Technical University of Delft? Well… It’s simple: “I’m busy”. I work, now, on 4 projects, all software related. Mostly sure you are not interested in what I do with distributed algorithms or domain specific languages. So, I’ll present the most interesting project. The QR.
The QR is a Quad Rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicle developed by another department from the University. We are struggling to do doing the software that will make it fly. The software is made of two parts: one part running on a PC and another running inside the QR. The device is not yet advanced. Currently it has the minimum necessary in order to stabilize in air (gyroscopes, accelerometers and engines). In future, cameras, wireless interfaces and other gadgets will become available.
Today was an important day because we had the first engine test. The first try was not successful but after a bug was fixed we managed to throttle a little the engines (see the movie below). The device cannot fly yet because the stabilization routines are not implemented and no human will be able to control it for more than a few seconds without digital assistance. You may wonder how can one control it: through a joystick that is connected to a PC.
Part of my plan: Books (Update 1)
In December I was writing about my plan of reading 16 books. Today I offer a status of the plan and my impression about two books.
From that list I read “The Inmates are Running the Asylum” and “The Design of Everyday Things”. Actually from the last one I read just 3/4 because the the book is too theoretical (psychology) and, even though I like psychology, it was a little too boring much – don’t get me wrong, the author offers valuable information about the things used every day and how simple is/should be the design, but the mix of practical and theoretical has a wrong ratio.
However, the former book is absolutely fascinating. Alan Cooper shows that whatever has a computer is actually a computer (or at least has that complexity). He also shows that programmers tend to increase the complexity of the software in order to make the development easier or, just because they can and see this a challenge. One of the main ideas of the book is that programmer cannot design simple software; they always design software that is supposed to be used by people with a lot of technical knowledge, who enjoy complicated things. Cooper’s suggestion is that developers should create software that is as simple as possible to operate, for the end user and, usually, the design must be made by a designer (a person who is able to understand how an experienced person will act).
Currently, my attention is on “Surely You’re Joking, Mr Feynman”. The book has a nice introduction about the first years of Richard Feynman’s life, but things may change as I progress with the lecture. I postpone any conclusion until I read the last page of the book.
Happy New Year
See you in the next year…
Part of my plan: Books
I decided to read books (real books!) and many of them. For those (geeks) that don’t know what books are I will remind that books were used before the computers age, by people (!), to store and transmit high quantities of information. :-)
Today books are used to add extra height to different objects ranging from computers and laps to … babies. Books can be also found on shelves. If you find yourself between many shelves with many books it means you are in a library or a book store.
OK, funny enough. I tried to gather, from different sources, the high rated titles (tech and non-tech geeky books). The reading process will take me a few months (years maybe) but it worth.
It is obvious that one cannot enjoy all the books people recommend. Many times I found horrible a book rated by many with five stars. I am sure that from the list of books I want to read at least 10% will be abandoned after the first few pages. Some books just don’t have that… sparkle… that makes you want to continue the lecture.
Each book will get one of the following ratings:
- “Must read” (these books will get on the Books page)
- “Good book”
- “Mediocre”
- “Bad book”
Currently I am reading the first book in the list and seems to be a good one. Here goes “The List” in random order.
Did you read one of these books? Help me prioritize the list by telling your opinion about that book.
Ads on blog
Dear visitor,
This blog is non profit and will remain so. The reason why you may see some Google Ads (if you didn’t block them) is that I want to cover the hosting expenses (~$100/year).
So from now on the following fair policy applies:
- revenue of up to $100/year goes for hosting
- revenue >$100/year goes for charity, prizes (please give suggestions)
There are four ad places on this domain:
- One the main page after the first post
- At the end of every single post
- On the Books page
- On the SkypeGadget page
Hope that this ads fit well in the design of the site and do not disturb your visit.
Best regards
Panorama 1
Some panorama pictures made by me.
Delft, The Netherlands:
- left: TUDelft EWI (Elektrotechniek, Wiskunde en Informatica) building
- right: sport fields from Sport Centrum
Park in Rotterdam:
First week(s) in Delft
There’s been a while since my last post (except the previous one, today). This happened because I was busy moving to The Netherlands. I had to relocate because I have enrolled in a master programme at the Technical University of Delft (TUDelft). Will study computer science (software engineering) in the next two years.
A few things about Delft.
Bikes
Everybody has a bike here (see the picture on left). No matter if is sunny or rainy people go on bike. There are a lot bike tracks and everywhere you find a bike parking place. Something that I haven’t seen in Romania are old people on bike; here you can see old men/ladies of 70 years on bike (and going fast!). It was a shock when an old man got in front of me. As I told, everybody has a bike here, so I also got one (picture on the right).
Compared to Romania, bikes are extremely expensive: >300 euros for a new one and 100-300 for a second hand one. I am sure you know the story about bikes that get stolen in Holland – hope that my bike will not be part of this story.
I Won, Again
Since I found Community Credit (the community that “gives stupid prizes to smart people”), I submitted points for my activity (writing, presentations, organization etc.).
Maybe some remember that in April I won a set of ties from CC (reminder). There is a delay in sending the prizes – I talked to David Silverlight about this – but eventually the ties will be send. The delay is even larger because I will move to the Netherlands in the second half of August and my address will change, so I will receive both prizes there.
Yes, it is correct what I wrote above: “both prizes”. I just won the Grand Prize of July 2009!
I won a Mimo Mini USB Monitor. Since I first saw it, I knew that I want it :) It is a cool geeky gadget that allows you to extend your display on a 7” monitor that connects to USB. The cool thing is that you can attach more of this devices to a single computer (I think up to 6). It is not an indispensable device but it is small and portable so you can take it everywhere with you.
I hope the prizes will arrive soon so I can start the promised contest with the ties.
GeekMeet Brasov 5 Presentation
I spoke about rule based systems at GeekMeet Brasov 5. My presentation, in Romanian, can be downloaded from the link below:
Download the presentationThe video recording of my speech can be see below:
GeekMeet Brasov 5
This is the last GeekMeet from Brasov I am organizing.
There will be four presentation and I will also be a speaker. The four presentations are:
- Nadia Comanici will speak about genetic algorithms.
- Dorin Lazar will speak about build automation.
- After a break, Claudiu Gamulescu will speak about QuickWeb.
- In the end I (Victor Hurdugaci) will speak about rule based systems.
The event will take place on July 25 at Okian Library.
For more details and registration visit this link.