Newsletter Volume 27 Issue 11, Nov 2015
From The Editor
“Ramanujan worked primarily on a slate. Paper was expensive, and so writing out all of his proofs on paper would have been prohibitive for Ramanujan.” 75 years after his death, an Indian mathematical genius is still influencing many modern branches of both mathematics and physics. A new film about his life may help to address Australia’s perennial shortage of STEM skills, at least in the Maths area. See below, How Cab 1729 May Spark an Interest in Maths.
“Imagine if you could ask Google a complicated question and it immediately responded with your answer — not just a list of links to manually open. That’s what we did with Watson.” Not content with just sparking interest, a November 12, 2015 Science Daily article, based on materials provided by Georgia Institute of Technology, describes research aimed at sparking creativity. See below, Researchers train Watson AI to ‘chat,’ spark more creativity in humans.
We are looking at improving the resources available to Members by contributing free tools and adding information about open source tools. All Members are encouraged to contribute. In the meantime, here are some examples of tools which are already available on the internet. See below, Free and Open Source Tools.
“It seems like a simple premise — two people on one project can do the job faster and easier and generate a better product” So why is there still a resistance to pair programming? A November 24, 2015 Science Daily article, based on materials provided by Texas Tech University, looks at pair programming from the programmer’s standpoint. See extract below, Computer programming: Are two heads really better than one?
Current Issue
Articles in the current Issue cover:
How Cab 1729 May Spark an Interest in Maths
“The ‘lost notebook’ is a further collection of papers Ramanujan was working on at the time of his death and which then went missing till 1976.”
Researchers train Watson AI to ‘chat,’ spark more creativity in humans
“Researchers are provided a quickly digestible visual map of the concepts relevant to the query and the degree to which they are relevant”.
Free and Open Source Tools
“There is also a useful list which covers a wide range of open source software – not just IT related. See Datamation’s Open Source Software List: 2015 Ultimate List, which includes Dancing, eBook Reader, Music Education, Poetry and Screenplay Writing tools.”
Computer programming: Are two heads really better than one?
“Pair programming, however, isn’t always the best solution. ”
Events
“The World’s most successful Awards Program”
Consensus (www.consensus.com.au) runs a series of Awards Programs that identify the most innovative technology designed and developed in Australia (and some in New Zealand ). Over 400 evaluations of innovation have been conducted by the 130 Judges since the Awards were started in 2000. Recent independent analysis of the Winners of the Awards shows that 9 out of 10 (90%) of the Winners of Consensus Awards have gone on to perform exceptionally well internationally. The same research showed that across the board, the companies have enjoyed over 1200% increase in sales or value since they have won Awards.
Based upon these achievements, Consensus can truly claim to be the World’s Most Successful Awards Program. A Consensus Showcase in early March 2016 will profile over 100 CEOs of previous winners. The value of the companies that will be present is in excess of $8 Billion. Assistant Minister for Innovation Wyatt Roy has been invited to present the Consensus Awards at the same event, consisting of the Consensus Software Awards, Consensus GreenTech Awards, Consensus Innovation Awards, Consensus Student Innovation Awards, Consensus IT Professional Awards, Consensus IT Writers Awards and the BigInsights BigData Innovation Awards. For more information please email contact@consensus.com.au
Quotes
Quote of the Day
“For a long time it puzzled me how something so expensive, so leading edge, could be so useless. And then it occurred to me that a computer is a stupid machine with the ability to do incredibly smart things, while computer programmers are smart people with the ability to do incredibly stupid things. They are, in short, a perfect match.” – Bill Bryson
Quote from Yesteryear
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said ‘faster horses.’” – Henry Ford
Ted Smillie
QESP Chairman