Why can implementing something so simple be so painful? Building simple programs to help you reason about simple concepts - that should not be painful should it? The need to dutifully pursue a single line of investigation is painful only insofar as it prevents one from pursuing alternative lines of investigation that seem more attractive to the mind. What can offset this impediment to motivation? The prospect of understanding simple and perceptually mundane things with increased clarity should be sufficient motivation to pursue the simple but seemingly dry undertaking - building simple programs to reason about simple concepts.
A lot of seemingly boring things are interesting when you go deep into it. One useful rule is if you are stuck for motivation, take the topic and think - not why is it boring, but why is it interesting? Why do I want to do this task? What will it give me? Identify three things to motivate you and carry on.
Sunday 24 January 2010
Wednesday 20 January 2010
How Do you Record Macros in Microsoft Word 2007? (Developer Tab)
Instead of Alt-TM
To record a macro, you first need to "Enable the Developer Tab".
To do this:
1. Click File
2. Click Options
3. Customize Ribbon
4. Check the Developer tab under Customize the Ribbon
Sorted.
To record a macro, you first need to "Enable the Developer Tab".
To do this:
1. Click File
2. Click Options
3. Customize Ribbon
4. Check the Developer tab under Customize the Ribbon
Sorted.
To Automate or Not to Automate that is the Question
The problem with writing about technology is that anything you write becomes rapidly outdated. Not so the dilemma of automation. This dilemma is ever-present. It boils down to the following question - is it worth automating every small task? Small fiddly tasks tend to recur quite frequently e.g. a table formatting algorithm for moving data from Excel to Word. Is it worth automating? It depends on your time constraints. You are sacrificing short-term for long-term benefit. Automation requires intellectual effort. Intellectual effort that could arguably be used more productively understanding and executing the task at hand rather than automating it.
Tuesday 19 January 2010
Monday 18 January 2010
Mastering Microsoft Equation Editor 3.0
It Starts with "Insert Object"
In Word 2003 (and also in Word 2010) Alt-I-O will insert an "Object".
Click this and you get a List Box from which you should select Microsoft Equation 3.0 (hit M a few times and you'll get there).
The first tricky thing you need to get used to is underbar/overbar distinction versus fraction/radical template. If you want to write a partial derivative you need to use the fraction/radical template (LHS), underbar/overbar is RHS.
Greek characters and Miscellaneous Symbols
The symbols available from top row (RHS) give you Greek characters (UPPERCASE), Greek characters (LOWERCASE) and Miscellaneous symbols.
The "Modified Delta" Symbol
The "modified delta" symbol for partial derivatives is not a Greek symbol per se but is derived from the Greek lowercase delta with the curly head, and was introduced by Adrien-Marie Legendre (a top flight Parisian mathematician) and popularised by Prussian mathematician Jacobi (famous for elliptic functions, functions on the complex plane, discovered as the inverse of elliptic integrals).
So MS Eqtn Editor is quite correct in classifying this symbol under "Miscellaneous".
In Word 2003 (and also in Word 2010) Alt-I-O will insert an "Object".
Click this and you get a List Box from which you should select Microsoft Equation 3.0 (hit M a few times and you'll get there).
The first tricky thing you need to get used to is underbar/overbar distinction versus fraction/radical template. If you want to write a partial derivative you need to use the fraction/radical template (LHS), underbar/overbar is RHS.
Greek characters and Miscellaneous Symbols
The symbols available from top row (RHS) give you Greek characters (UPPERCASE), Greek characters (LOWERCASE) and Miscellaneous symbols.
The "Modified Delta" Symbol
The "modified delta" symbol for partial derivatives is not a Greek symbol per se but is derived from the Greek lowercase delta with the curly head, and was introduced by Adrien-Marie Legendre (a top flight Parisian mathematician) and popularised by Prussian mathematician Jacobi (famous for elliptic functions, functions on the complex plane, discovered as the inverse of elliptic integrals).
So MS Eqtn Editor is quite correct in classifying this symbol under "Miscellaneous".
Monday 11 January 2010
Windows in the Grand Duchy
Does Bill Gates ever take a moment to meditation about his customers in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg? The North is wooded country of great scenic beauty. The center and south is farmland and woods. The historic capital is Luxembourg city. Nazi Germany used Luxembourg as a transit territory to attack France (outflanking the Maginot line).
Organize Your Web Life Korean Web 2.0 Style
TEDxSeoul is an independently organized TED event in Korea, publicised on Korean Web 2.0 Blog web20asia.com. Among the fun things they have is lemonpen which is basically MS Word sticky notes for the web (report here). Another web notepad is OpenMaru's SpringNote. Other companies that go beyond mere social bookmarking or notepad-style clones are Diigo, Fleck, Stickis and Blue Organizer. Diigo has the benefit of being featured in cnet's GetSmart column. Another feather in the cap for the hacker "on-the-road". More organizing tool reviews can be found on readwriteweb.com's web page.
Sunday 10 January 2010
Wednesday 6 January 2010
Product Key Card Pricing and Office 2010
Customers will pay up to 30% less for the non-boxed version of MS Office - Computerworld magazine has run an article on how this pricing scheme will help to turn boxed software into an endangered species. This scheme is called Product Key Card Pricing and will involve you buying a plastic card with a code on it, which you use to "unlock" the software.
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