Matlab Tutorial

Bubble Sorting

Welcome back to Matlab Tutorial, last week I didn't post an article but I am back this week to give some more fun tips and commands. For this week, I was going to do kind of a fun program that is useful to help organize and manipulate data points. It is what some call a bubble sort. This is where all the values that you are given can be sorted from increasing values to decreasing values or vise verse. It is a simple nested for loop that can help you when you want to find the median of a data set or the mode of the set of values.

So to write this program, you must start with loading your data. If you hard code the data in your program that's fine too. Basically however you have data load it or store it as a variable. After setting a variable to it find the number of data points you will be using for the sort using some kind of length/size command. You now write a nested for loop to rearrange the values so that they are in ascending order or descending order. For my example I will put them in order from least value to greatest value. The loops with be written to tell Matlab to compare each value to the one next to it. If the latter value is less than the former, then the values switch. The first loop's index should be from 1 to the number of values you are given. The second for loop's index will go from one to one less than the number the first index is in. This is prevent the loops from going over already compared numbers that were already sorted. The final nested function in this loop is an if statement. This is where it compares the second index term of the data set to the term right after the latter. It sees if the second term is less than the first. If that's a true statement, then it switches the values. It does this through assigning the first value to a random variable name. (Which I give as SwitchX) Then the first value because the second value and the second becomes the extra, or first, value. Let's show this with code:

clc
X = [9 10 5 3 6 7 1 4 2 8]
Length = length(X);< X(B);
for A = 1 : Length
for B = 1 : Length - A
if X(B+1) < X(B)
SwitchX = X(B);
X(B) = X(B+1);
X(B+1) = SwitchX;
end
end
end
X

That's all I got now. Stay tune for the possible LAST entry next week! Don't miss the stunning conclusion of Matlab Tutorial!

Resources: While Loop Help with Cyclismo, HTML Tags at Web Source

Gears of War

The Quest to Survive Human Extinction

I hate being killed. That's right, I hate being shot into a million pieces. All Raam has to do is send his little kryll out and devour me into dust. For all you Gears of War fans out there, I come to you with hope of sympathy and advice. I love Gears, don't get me wrong. Killing an alien race that sat dormant underground and now you have to save the world from complete annihilation, how can you not get hooked? I have tried and tried again to defeat the final boss, Raam, on the medium setting. (I believe that is Hardcore) I had beaten him before on easy, but well let's face it, it's meant to be just that: easy. I didn't think it should be as hard as it is on medium, but I can't seem to win....

My first frustration came when my partner, Dom, would die off so quickly. I used him on easy mode as a distraction to keep Raam from attacking me with his shield of Kryll. But everytime we go into battle, he has the urge to run as fast as he can to just get mowed by Raam and his arsinal of attacks. So that leaves just me and Raam. That's never too easy. The second frustration was as to what guns I should take into battle with me. I first thought that the (sorry for my lack of gun terminology) chainsaw gun and shotgun would be best, but I never seemed to take off a lot of damage. I am aware of his Kryll shield and the fact that he is invincible to damage while his little friends circle him. But even when I get a clear shot I can't seem to take him down. Then I tried to use the sniper and shotgun, keeping with the long and short range weapon combo. But that didn't work either, the sniper rifle took too long to reload. I then tried the bow and bomb arrow with the chainsaw gun, finding that to be a popular solution online. But still no good. My third problem was the fact that he would rush me constantly, giving me no time to shoot him, I would have to run away and hide behind another barrier, avoiding death on all angles. My question is how to win. I have been patient but I still can't win. Who has the experience and wisdom to defeat such a unfair boss?

Who Needs Mailboxes

Email: Its Good and Bad

Emails have now been familiar in the technological society for quite some time now. Starting back in the 1980's companies used Email to send data and info to one another electronically for faster and more reliable transportation. It has spread quite quickly to everyone, with so many different Email providers now, many of which are on the Internet, such as Yahoo Gmail and AIM Mail. But how great is this new medium of stationery? I will go through some of my good and bad experiences of using Email and how it affects my life.

First with the bad. The obvious nuisance to Emails is spam. With all the spam blockers and filters out there, you think that the problem of unnecessary advertisements and badgering money hounds would be solved. Overall, yes, I can say the problem is generally gone. But sometimes, it blocks too much. I remember numerous occasions where I have had Emails from family and friends that get blocked because it met some criteria for spam, and that person or persons wonder why I wasn't getting any of their Emails. I never truly lost any of their Emails, but it was hard to go through all the crap I was giving as "spam" and find what I was suppose to get. Another problem is receiving too many chain letters, either in the form of support for God or the soldiers fighting wars, to the "If you don't send this to 100 people in three seconds your family is going to be murdered by little demon children!!!!" I like the effort but it really gets old fast. Another thing that puts Email at a disadvantage to the postal service is packaging items or gifts. No matter how advanced our computers get, they will never be able to send matter through the airwaves....Sorry.

Now for the happy good things! One thing I love about Email is you don't have to remember anything about anyone you know again! You simply put down ANY information about the person in question (AIM screen name, phone numbers, addresses, schedule for school, likes/dislikes, when they sleep and wake....just kidding, etc)when you first put them into your Email's convenient address book and away you go! Another thing I like is getting funny chain letters. I get jokes from long chains of Emails from friends and family and they are quick and easy to look at and send. Having the Email system helps to at least send pictures. Those are either cute or hilarious to get sent to you, like the baby pictures or some picture of a redneck bike made of shoes. The process itself is definitely better than having to buy stamps and lick the back of some envelope.

Overall, the Email system has helped keep people informed and connected with each other longer and faster, and the system will continue to improve as technology advantages. I mean they already have Email accessible on phones now....think of where they'll be in 20 years!

Matlab VIII

If You Were to Read This Article...

Hello everyone, how are we all doing this evening? If you answer good, then I would have to output a "I'm glad" statement. Else if you were to answer bad, then I would probably output a "That's really too bad" statement. My else would just be "Try again". Yes yes, I did just write that opening with poor, incomprehensible English. But I was speaking in terms of Matlab language. This week on Matlab Tutorial, I was going to focus on talking about If, Elseif, and Else commands while working on Matlab programs.

The basic function of an If, Elseif, or Else statement chain of commands is to give the program some options of what exactly it will be computing. Based on what is inputted and what certain variable values are, the if statements help filter and sort these values based on parameters that you set within the code so that the program runs through different choices of computations. Basically if you want the program to do a certain calculation when an arbitrary variable has a certain value, then you write an if statement there along with what the program does when it meets those needs specified.

For example: Lets say you have the user input (back from Matlab II) a value for the variable X. You then have a line of code squaring the value of X. Now you want to have two separate chain of commands depending on what the new value Y (X^2) is. Write the "if" command on the first line followed by a condition. For this example, the condition will be when Y = 4. You must use double equal signs when writing conditional arguments. So now if Y does indeed fit the statement it will do whatever follows that code. So this example will then have Y be divided by 2 to equal the variable Z. Now that is one option. If you finish the if statement with an "end", then you have a simply if statement. But you usually want an if statement to have outputs for every possibility. So you can either write the "else" syntax after your first computation followed by a line telling it to simply make Y = Z, or I will take it one step further and add the "elseif" statement in this example program. After the if statement and the equation for Z, a line of code should start with an "elseif", telling Matlab, "if Y didn't equal 4, see if it equals this". Let's just say if Y = 5. If this is true then our next line with ask the program to multiply Y by 2 to get Z. If Y doesn't equal either, then Y will just equal Z. End your if statements with the end command and output Z. Whew, that was a little rough. Lets see this example in the correct syntax:

X = input('Value for X= ')
Y = X^2
if Y == 4
Z = Y/2
elseif Y == 5
Z = Y * 2
else
Z = Y
end
Z

As you can see, the syntax and the process of the if statement is simpler to that of a loop. the only difference is that an if statement won't loop around multiple times. It will only go through the statements once. Unless of course it is nested in a for loop! Not only does it go through once, but understand that it goes through in sequential order. So make sure that the more important arguments and decisions you want the program to make be the first if statements in your chain of commands. Slowly but surely we are putting all the pieces together.....Good luck and stay tune for more exciting adventures of BATMAN AND -...oops, I mean MATLAB TUTORIAL!

Ok, I'm done.....

Resources: While Loop Help with Cyclismo, HTML Tags at Web Source

Guitar Hero III

Bringing Back the Old and Mixing in the New

So I know someone has already posted about Guitar Hero III, but I am not here to ask who wants to go head-to-head with Slash or anything. I am not here to give you a review of the game. I am simply here to discuss, if you will, the publicity that the artists get from having there music on such a popular game. Not only does it let old school rockers reminisce on some old school tunes, but it broadens their horizons to the new and up coming bands. All three of the Guitar Hero installments have new songs from the garage bands and indy bands alike, trying to get a name for themselves. Having their song come after Bark at the Moon or More Than a Feeling really makes them look good. I know when I played Guitar Hero I and saw Freezepop for the first time, I was like, "WTF, who are they?" After you hear them, you can't help but love them. My friends actually went and saw them in concert just after Guitar Hero came out. Now who saws that Guitar Hero doesn't sell? It helps all bands just like Freezepop gain popularity and some name recognition goes a long way.

Who can't forget some of the best classics that they brought into the 3 Guitar Hero games. Some of my favorites are Frankenstein by Edgar Winter Group, Carry On My Wayward Son by Kansas, Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, School's Out by Alice Cooper, and Cities on Flame and Rock and Roll by Blue Oyster Cult.

Overall, I love the games. I'm not that great on them just yet, still have to play on a Medium and Hard difficulty, but it is fun and exciting and the music is the best picked. Rock on!

Resources: Wikipedia

Virtual Boy

Old School going New School?

I love sucking my brain into a small red screen! Who remembers the Virtual Boy? If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you are very lost right now. There was once an old video game system made by Nintendo called the Virtual Boy, which was a funny looking red box that you would view a small screen that was located in what looked like binoculars. Basically it was an old school system that had a 3-D format that took 2-D images and game play and layered, like in Mario Tennis having both sides of the court shown with the ball coming from the background to the foreground in 2-D. Some of the best games that used this 3-D imaging for the Virtual Boy was Wario Adventures, Mario Tennis, and Red Alert (By far the greatest game ever!)

As I thought back with nostalgia, I thought of how the system really mimicked the old Sci Fi's thought of the futuristic virtual reality game systems, where you have goofy looking gloves and a head set on to move around in a game, as if you are really there. With the technological advances of today and the gaming industry always expanding exponentially, I could see this unrealistic prediction of a head set and gloves or controller to happen in the near future for children of all ages. With similar looks at arcade games such as the classic turret game, where you have to defend your turret against airborn and seaborn attacks of foot soldiers and military jets. This makes you have to circle in a 360 playing field to attack and play. Using this concept with the new motion-sensored and 3 axis sensored controllers of the Wii, the Virtula Reality gaming system could really come true. Then kids could walk around in the first person and really be in the game, acting out every action for their character. The system could be viewed just like the old Virtual Boy, sticking your head in that pair of viewing goggles and becoming one with the games you play. Who knows what the future holds for the gaming world. As long as I have my Virtual Boy, I can wait for the next newest thing.

Mainstream Cellular Phones

So who remembers what a "telephone" is? Not just that wireless thing hanging from your kitchen wall. I'm talking old school turn dial phones. Well, I would understand for the kids of today to have little or no recollection of such a futile tool. It was the thing of the past. Who needs those when everyone is carrying around a cell phone. It is personal, light, and useful for more than just calls anymore. So how much has the telephone evolved since the old turn dials? Let us look at just a few of the advancements that phones have had over the years.

One the greatest differences that can be made about cell phones and telephones is the literal fact that telephones run via telephone wiring and now fiber-optics along cable lines. Cell phones are run via satellites sending signals from one phone to the other. The use of satellites over cable and phone lines is the fact that it travels faster and without any cords of wires. It can get reception from just about anywhere and can be used at any time. As far as fiber optics has come for sending information, it doesn't beat the waves used in cell phones.

Another large difference in the old home phone and the cell phones is the portability. Before, when you had to talk gossip with your best friend on the phone, you would have to take the phone cord, pull it all the way to the bathroom and lock yourself in to keep from others to listen. With cell phones, you can take it outside, upstairs, in the car, in a tree, etc. Also, even when they created portable phones in the 80's, they were large and clunky. Now they are sleek enough to fit in a wallet.

The cell phones have come up with other numerous ways to just simply communicate. Not only can you just talk into the phone, but you can have speaker phone, walkie-talkie mode (where everything is voice activated), text messages, AIM connections, etc. If you thought saying words was hard, there are now other ways of "speaking".

With the advancement of memory, cell phones have features never dreamed of by older phones: Cameras, music, games, AIM, Internet, and other fun little bells and whistles. The phones started putting in the little things like the planner with calendar, the calculator, the stop watch, etc into its entourage. Then they slowly added innovations like music downloads, an Internet connection, and music that takes their importance and shoots it through the roof. Now there is no need for any other electronic, it is all on your paper thin 1 by 2 inch phone. You don't need anything else.

One last thing I can mention that makes cell phones so great is the fact that they are cheap! I mean whne I can see a hobo on the greyhound buses using a cell phone, then you know that it is accessable to anyone and everyone. In which it should....except not to hobos....

Resources: RazorTurn Dial Phone

Look Inversion

Up is Down and Down is Up??

So for all you FPS (First Person Shooters) fans out there, I pose the question of if you prefer using the look inversion or keeping the classic default settings for your character when you run around.

First of all, for anyone who isn't into video games or isn't a fan of the shoot 'em up type of games such as Halo or James Bond, I should maybe explain the look inversion option and its great importance to the gaming world. Basically the default controls for a first person shooter is having one control stick to control your moment forward and backward and side stepping from left to right (or what some would call "strafing"). The other control stick is defaulted to move the cross-hair up and down and looking to your left and right. The latter control stick is where this "look inversion" comes into play. You see, the default for looking up is pushing up on the control stick, and down on the stick is down for the cross-hair or characters head looking down, however you want to look at it. BUT, there are a few people out there that prefer to have look inversion on, which makes the controls switch, making up on the stick make you look down and down on the stick make you look up. Crazy right? Well lets compare both.

Looking up for up and down for down makes sense logically. If you think of the screen you want the shooter to look above the screen or the radical to move higher, so you move the stick up. Same goes for down. So why would you want it the other way around? Many feel that the look inversion came from games that resembled flight simulators or pilot games. For all who don't know, the cockpit of a plane has a control stick. To lift the plane off the ground, the pilot has to pull back on the stick. To land, they must push forward on the stick. This is how any flying game is defaulted. Somehow this tactic of up being down and down being up migrated its way to shooting games too. So using look inversion can be thought as tilting forward or up on the control stick to look down and leaning back or down on the stick to look up.

So which is it? I personally for whatever reason have been accustomed to the look inversion, which inevitably pisses off all the default players. It is definitely a pain to switch controllers or use someone else's profile and find that they use the other type of look inversion than you. It really messes with you. You usually can't play as well. The ironic thing is that if I accidently start to play with inversion off and switch back after one game, I start off the game thinking the default setting is still on and am uncomfortable with it for awhile.

Well I hope you can make sense of all that and understand what possibly goes through other inversion-ist heads when playing the game. My point should be understandable so cut us look-inversion minorities some slack!

Resources: Game Trailers

Photos Gone Digital and Portable

So I was just sitting on my futon today, watching some TV when a unique commercial came on that I had never seen before. It was advertising this little device called Wallet Pix. I found the product kind of silly and pointless, but then I thought to what are English teacher asked us in this blog, “How does technology make life easier?...” His question really didn’t directly spark my idea for this blog and its connection to this Wallet Pix, but just from recalling what I know and looking around on the internet, I have found a lot of these little photo albums that are purely digital. The evolution of the photo in terms of technology has really taken many forms.

I find that more and more products are adding picture storage as a feature. First it was the phone, which is one of the most used products used in today’s world, added the quick pic to their bells and whistles, storing and taking pictures to save and send at will. Now they are in I-pods, computers obviously, gaming systems, and many other random items, including these weird Wallet Pix, where the photos are solely the use of the merchandise.

Now grant it, they still have newer and better digital cameras coming out, but I find it more convenient to go buy something else that has a camera on it because the new cameras are expensive, but I am bias because I am not a photographer or even take pictures for sport. But then again most professional photographers still use film as oppose to digital memory and editing software, referencing my uncle who happens to take professional photos for weddings and other such occasions.

Anyways, to stay on track, there is a clear argument that photos are being stored as digital memory everywhere. It is certainly helpful and easier to whip out a small handheld photo album then going up to the attic to get grandma’s 20 lbs album with photos of her wedding and her children’s baby pictures. The help of digital photo editors help create better quality pictures and a place to properly sort and store pictures. That’s all I have to say about this, sorry for the improper writing and lack of a point, just thought you would want to hear about the Wallet Pix!

References: Google search on wallet pix

Matlab Tutorial IV

More Fun with Graphs

So if you read the last issue of Matlab Tutorial, Matlab Tutorial III , then you remember the skill of making graphs. We covered the basic two variable plot, titles, labels for the axes, and even the hold on and hold off graphs. Well in this issue we will cover how to distinguish each graph with different visual designs and options.

If you do any kind of customizing for your graphs, at least if you plan on changing the line design, color, and symbol used to represent a line or points, then you must input any of the syntax within the plot command. The two inputs that can be added to the end of your plot command is a letter for a certain color and a symbol for the point marker type.

Different colors that can be selected, at least from the source I found not limited to, are yellow (y), magenta (m), cyan (c), red (r), green (g), blue (b), white (w), and black (k). This syntax comes before the point marker type syntax. Adding color makes it much easier to tell the difference between multiple graphs, especially when they are on the same plot graph.

The different point marker types vary in design and type. Some can be used for a set of points, and some can be used for continuous functions. A few to pick from are point (.), circle (o), X-mark (x), plus (+), solid (-), star (*), dotted (:), dashed-dot (-.), and just dashed (--). Not only does this further individualize each graph you make, but it looks cool too, especially the stars!

So using the above symbols for graph syntax you, write them in the plot function inside their own set of single quotes after the second variable followed by a comma: plot (X, Y, 'r:') This example would give you a plot of red dotted lines.

Well that's all I have to contribute to the Matlab Tutorial, everyone have fun at making their graphs. Stay tune for the next issue and program on!

Resources : CTM: Plotting in Matlab

Technological Concerns of Today

Technology is growing at an exponential rate, and everyone is benefiting from its expansion. But technology is a double edged sword. Here are a few concerns that many businesses have about the growth of technology in the corporate world.

One main problem that companies are worried about is the security of their information. As technology allows for more data and personal information to be stored on large wireless databases and held in large mainframes, the information is in threat of being stolen from unwanted hackers or internal traitors. Some of the solution are intrusion protection and awareness, firewalls, wireless security systems and strategies, password management, and data encryption.

Another issue that is surrounding new technologies is training and technological competency. Technology is growing a such a fast rate, even the skills you learned 5 to 10 years ago can become outdated. Even if you are up to speed on new methods used to solve problems, you will need to continue to be trained for what is to come out next.

Businesses are also concerned with the issue of disaster planning. If a company were to undergo any kind of theft, virus corruption, accidents, natural disasters, or destruction, they would want to be able to keep their business running. This is why a continual plan is made to keep the company running even when it is down.

Similar to security, privacy is a main concern for big business. More and more credit card, social security, addresses, and cell and home phone numbers are being stored electronically. A company must insure their employees that their information is not being viewed without their permission and is not being accessed by unwanted users.

Authentication Technologies fall into the same concern category as the latter point made. Corporations want to make sure that only their employees are using their systems and databases, and that someone isn't stealing employee' identities. New technologies to prevent such a problem are biometrics, bar codes, magnetic strips, digital certificates and authorization.

Another concern is trying to convert all paper documents into digital files and data. It is easier to store, edit, copy, move, and work with files if they are kept on electronics.

Spyware has been advancing just as fast as the spyware detectors. But the fight to make a faster and more efficient spyware detector and remover is always a challenge but important goal for companies.

All in all, technology is a never ending battle for corporations to make the next best electronic system while trying to stay ahead of the viruses and hackers' technology as to not be overran and corrupted.

* This article was posted before it was completed, sorry for the confusion*



Sources: MSB Systems Inc

College Foreign Language : Computer Programming

I thought I was done with all my foreign language learning after I tested out of German. Hooray!

But oh was I wrong..........

I came into college actually having to learn, not just one, but multiple computer programming languages. Did I like this? Well no, considering I can barely get passed Google's© homepage without running into a brick "firewall" or a error telling me, "Error: You are retarded Restart the computer and try again". Everyone of my classes have had multiple homepages and email accounts and homework pages, etc, etc. I can't keep track.

I miss the days back at home when the only things I would have to go into was
facebook and solitaire and listen to iTunes. I am slowly getting used to it, but I am so naive to all of these networks and directories bigger than my own personal computer's hard drive. My father is good on the computers, being a experienced computer programmer and computer engineer. But I don't have him being 500 miles away from him. So now everytime I mess up something on the computer, I go into panic mode.

So what is the point to all my rambling you ask? Well as you can see, technology, and for this lovely blog specifically, computers, are very complex and more than just piles of metal pieced together to look like a shiny box. There is more to it then what you see. And with the use of the Internet now, people, ordinary Joe Smiths off the street, can access and create virtually anything they want, if they know what they are doing. This Joe here does not know, so he is not quite up to that level of god-like powers....Yet! Eventually I will get there. There are so many opportunities available with what seems like a simple device. They are user-friendly, helpful, efficient, and fun once you get the hang of it. So I recommend taking some courses of computer programming in high school or college, because it will help you in the real corporate world and even in the comfort of your own home. And if you don't think you able to do it, remember what your German teacher told you: "Ihr Gehirn ist kaputt!!!"