michaelcotterell.com

Printing Boolean Input Combinations in Scala

mepcotterell — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 19:43:52 +0000

Someone at school recently asked me to help him write some code in Scala to print out the Boolean input combinations that are possible with variables. I decided to start off with variables to keep things simple and verifiable. After a couple of minutes of hacking around, I came up with the following code:
The cool part is the shifting modulus check. I’m actually kind of proud of it. It enabled me to write the code using only two loops! Here is the result:
-a -b -c -d +a -b -c -d -a +b -c -d +a +b -c -d -a -b +c -d +a -b +c -d -a +b +c -d +a +b +c -d -a -b -c +d +a -b -c +d -a +b -c +d +a +b -c +d -a -b +c +d +a -b +c +d -a +b +c +d +a +b +c +d
Also, please note that this is probably, by no means, the most functional way to do this. It was merely an attempt at hacking together some code that just gets the job done. If I have time, I will write up some posts on functional ways to produce both combinations and permutations in Scala.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

mepcotterell — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:37:14 +0000

This is just a quick post to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

First Semester Completed

mepcotterell — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 15:57:46 +0000

My first semester of Graduate School is completed! Grades are back (4.0) and the stress level is diminishing. Now I’m enjoying some much-needed family time with at my Aunt and Uncle’s house in South Carolina.

Carrello Demo Day! (CSCI 6050 Term Project)

mepcotterell — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:23:08 +0000

Today my team for Dr. Kochut’s CSCI 6050 Software Engineering class will demo our term project, Carrello. As of svn revision 412, we estimate the following metrics on the lines of code:

Java: 5,625
Freemarker Templates & HTML: 1,079
CSS: 665
XML: 1,892

Here are some screenshots, for the curious:

The entire software development process (a modified version of the Waterfall model) was followed in the creation of this software system. The result is a system that I, as the Team Technical Editor, can say with confidence fulfills the functional and non-functional requirements presented to us at the beginning of the semester.

I would like to thank the entire Carrello development team: Mehdi Allahyari (Project Manager & Developer), Usman Nisar (Concept Modeler & Developer), and Haseeb Yousaf (Persistence Engineer & Developer). It has been an amazing semester! The experience we’ve gained and the teamwork we’ve demonstrated will definitely serve us well in the future.

Spring Research Assistantship Accepted!

mepcotterell — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 18:08:22 +0000

I got an offer for a 1/6th time Research Assistantship in the Spring, working with Dr. Miller in the Computer Science Department and Dr. Kissinger in the Institute of Bioinformatics. According to the letter, recipients are selected through a competitive process, and assistantships are awarded only to the University’s most qualified individuals to aid them in their pursuit of study or research. Anyway, I accepted the offer. So, I’ll be on both a Teaching Assistantship and Research Assistantship in the Spring!

Interesting Observation with Scala’s Numeric Trait when combined with Context Bounds.

mepcotterell — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 23:03:53 +0000

I saw something interesting this morning when I tried to create a container for a user-defined class that mixed in Scala’s Numeric trait. Consider a class called MyNum (see MyNum.scala) that mixes-in Numeric.

I wanted to create a container that could hold any type that mixed in the Numeric trait, including MyNum. My first intuition was to use a context bound on the type parameter. However, this seemed to only work for built-in Numeric types.

In order to fix the problem, I tried changing the context bound to a view bound. Viola, it worked!

In the following code, the commented out line will not compile. MyNumContainerB is able to hold both built-in and user-derived Numeric types.

error: ambiguous implicit values: both method stringCanBuildFrom in object Predef of type => scala.collection.generic.CanBuildFrom[String,Char,String] and method conforms in object Predef of type [A]=> <:<[A,A] match expected type val d = new MyNumContainerA(c)

I’m still trying to figure out why a context bound doesn’t work. Perhaps there is a lack of implicit evidence somewhere? Anyway, some more investigation is needed. If anyone knows why this happening then please let me know!

Software Engineering Class – Requirements Document Submitted

mepcotterell — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:47:38 +0000

In my Software Engineering class, we’re already working on the various phases of the development process for the term project. Today, my team and I submitted the initial version of our Requirements Document. It weighed in at around 75 pages, with over 20 use case descriptions and about a dozen user-interface mockups. Congratulations team!

Three more classes, and some suspense.

mepcotterell — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 00:11:30 +0000

Since my last post, I’ve encountered three more classes: Software Engineering, Simulation and Modeling, and Directed Study. Okay, so Directed Study is pretty much an extension of the research I was doing over the summer. The other two classes will definitely be interesting. I took the undergraduate level of Software Engineering about two years ago. For all intents and purposes, it’s the same class. The only exception is that Graduate Students have to answer an additional question on tests. I already know the core material. The only interesting challenge will be forming a group for the group project. With respect to Simulation and Modeling, this class will definitely benefit my contributions to the ScalaTion Research Group.

The only thing that’s suspenseful is the fact that the assignment for my Teaching Assistantship hasn’t been assigned yet. I’m hoping that the Graduate Coordinator has the assignments in the next couple of days because I’m having to delay scheduling some of my research meetings until I know my full schedule. I’m sure it will all work out in the end.

Graduate Teaching Assistantship

mepcotterell — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 12:33:52 +0000

Going to Grad School and getting paid for it at the same time sounds like a deal, right? Pretty much is. I do have to work 13 hours a week (on top of classes and research) helping grade papers or teaching a lab, but that seems manageable at the moment. I’ve even gone so far as to lighten my weekend loads by reducing the number of hours I manage at Jason’s Deli from 24 to 12. This should free up my Saturdays just in case I need more time to get things done.

Also, I have to take GRSC 7770: Graduate Teaching Assistant Seminar once a week. So far, the class seems like it will be pretty interesting. We’ll discuss various teaching topics and scenarios, and I’ll get to hear the opinions of my fellow peers. I’m sure the instructor will throw in UGA policy when applicable. Our first real assignment seems pretty easy: make a syllabus. It’s not like I haven’t seen lots of those before. Some of the more interesting assignments I noticed include: by the end of the semester, we will each have to present a 40-minute lecture on some topic in Computer Science; and, we will be working on an online teaching portfolio. Sounds good so far. I’ll keep you guys posted as I learn more.

Grad School Awaits

mepcotterell — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:07:56 +0000

As some of you may know, I’ve been accepted into the Computer Science Ph.D. program at the University of Georgia. Various orientations for the Graduate school begin next week, including: Department Orientation, Grad School Orientation, and Teaching Assistant Orientation. I plan on keeping you guys posted on any new developments.