Oh Java

Well I have been doing a project in Java (obviously not my choice, I would rather be using C++). I have started to get annoyed with how verbose Java can be at times. For instance say you have two string, string1 and string2, and you wanted to see if they were the same; instead of just typing string1 == string2 like you would be able to in C++ you have to type string1.equals(string2). I should note that string1 == string2 is allowed in Java but it checks to see if the two objects point to the same location in memory, and in most cases this is not what you want to check. But check this out, apparently if you want to compare two characters using the == operator is perfectly fine, gosh Java just make up your mind already. Well that's enough Java bashing for a while, I suppose that I just prefer C++ because it is what I learned first and have been using for much longer. I will admit though that Java does have its upsides (this will be left for another post).

The other day I got around to wondering why I never needed to defragment. the drive with Linux. I have just had people tell me this and have read it online but never actually got around to seeing why. So I got on Google did a quick search and found my answer, and was quite pleased with the result. Here is a link to probably the easiest explanation to follow. After reading that article I saw on the page a link to something about how to "properly delete files", something I have always wondered about and now was just as good a time as any to read about it. I won't go into it too much here, but when you just hit the delete button it is similar to just deleting the pointer that tells you where the information is stored and not the information itself. If you want a better explanation and information on how to "delete" the information just follow this link (you will see why I put delete in quotation marks once you read the article/post).

Why Teachers Weep

This is not mine but I found it to be quite funny and true at the same time. I am glad that I am finally in classes where students are honestly interested in learning the material and not so much about knowing just what will be on the test.

Then Jesus took his disciples up on the mountain and gathered them around Him. And He taught them, saying: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, Blessed are the meek, Blessed are the merciful, Blessed are you who thirst for justice, Blessed are you who are persecuted, Blessed are the peacemakers...

And Simon Peter said, "Do we have to write this stuff down?"

And Phillip said, "Will this be on the test?"

And John said, "I'm sorry. Would you mind repeating that?"

And Andrew said, "John the Baptist's disciples don't have to learn this stuff!"

And Matthew said, "Huh?"

And Judas said, "What does this have to do with real life?"

Then, one of the Pharisees, an expert in the law said, "I don't see any of this in your syllabus. Do you have a lesson plan? Is there a summary? Where is the student guide? Will there be any follow-up assignments? How will this affect the bell curve?"

And Thomas, who had missed the sermon, came to Jesus privately and said, "Did we do anything important yesterday?"

And Jesus wept.

A Follow up on Amendment 2

Now this article from isn't about Florida but it is about the same topic so in my opinion it is just as good.

Here is a link to the article, please actually take the time to read it and the links that it sends you to.

Intermediate Value Theorem

Well I have stared looking over some analysis problems in preparation for the Putnam exam. Though I will admit I have not prepared as much this year as I have in the past, or would have like to.
Well here are some of the problems I have worked on, none of them are particularly difficult but they make you think for a few seconds.

Here are the solutions.

Integral Test

Here is my post on the integral test. The post is located at my WordPress blog.

Integral Test.

IMPORTANT NEWS

Well for unknown reasons (well not totally unknown) I can no longer use LaTex on this blog. I did look up ways to get this back but ran into a few problems. Most of the solutions only worked for Unix like systems, and I would like to be able to use LaTex on the blog even if I was on a Windows machine. Also most of these solutions would have required me to add another version of Tex to my linux system and I didn't really want to do that. There was however, one solution that would work with all systems (supposedly). All I had to do was edit the source code for a GreaseMonkey script, but after doing that I was still running into the same issues as before so I quickly gave up on that dead end.

I will still be using this blog but whenever I want to post anything mathematically related I shall post a link to my WordPress blog in the post. The reason I am using WordPress is becasuse it has LaTex built in and thus less work on my part.

Welcome Home Steve Spurrier

Well I finally went to a UF football game. I was pretty much forced into it by Veronica and Juliana. Really it wasn't a bad choice for a first game really, UF was playing USC (South Carolina, not Southern Cal), so I got to see Steve Spurrier.

We had pretty good seats for the game, right behind the band. I admit it was quite the experience, though not all that people have talked it up to being. The game itself was not really worth it since it was a blow out (56-6 UF) and really who want's to watch that?

The half time show...oh how I miss half time at FAMU games, and that is all I have to say about that.


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