17 May 2011

Pypy on Project Euler

Today, I ran some tests with pypy and my few Project Euler solutions:

Solution	Python 2.6.6	PyPy 1.5	Factor
7	9.57s	1.92s	4.98
7_b	0.52s	0.14s	3.71
9	0.51s	0.10s	5.1
14	6.70s	6.97s	0.96
25	1.25s	0.68s	1.83

I guess the main message to take home is (see especially 7 and 7_b): a good algorithm is way more important then the interpreter, but if you can choose (e.g. you don't need numpy), then why not use PyPy and gain some speed?

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10 May 2011

Latex sucks

Maybe I should not write blog posts when I'm angry about something... but anyway:

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Today was another wasted day, mostly caused by Latex. To sum it up: Although there is no real alternative to Latex, and I will therefore continue to use it in the future: IT SUCKS!

Consider the following problem:
I want no pagenumbers on all pages from the first, until after the list-of-tables.
If Latex would be sensibly designed, somthing like the following would work:

\pagestyle{empty}
\maketitle
\tableofcontents 
\listoffigures 
\listoftables
\pagestyle{headings}

But it doesn't! Some pages still have pagenumbers! This is what is necessary to remove ALL pagenumbers.

\usepackage{scrpage2}
[...]
\clearpage
\pagestyle{empty}
\renewcommand*{\chapterpagestyle}{empty}
\maketitle
\tableofcontents 
\listoffigures 
\listoftables
\addtocontents{toc}{\protect\thispagestyle{empty}}
\addtocontents{lof}{\protect\thispagestyle{empty}}
\addtocontents{lot}{\protect\thispagestyle{empty}}
\clearpage
\pagestyle{headings}
\renewcommand*{\chapterpagestyle}{plain} 

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And then run latex several times ...
That is too much voodoo!

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11 Feb. 2011

Nokia and Microsoft

Nokia and Microsoft: "There are other mobile ecosystems. We will disrupt them."

Time to say goodby to Nokia phones and "hello!" to android (and hope for Ubuntu on smartphones...)

UPDATE: well, that is a good start: Ubuntu for phones... Let's hope that some mobile manufacturor picks it up!

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