Technology

Programming

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Since getting into PANDAS and Python more generally, I’ve been thinking about getting more books about computer programming and learning more languages. Having learned most of the common data structures, functions, classes and other methods like overloading in several different languages, learning new ones really isn’t that much of a challenge.

I want to learn the “R” language next as I think that is an important one for data processing and visualization. I know 538 Politics uses “R” extensively for its models along with PANDAS and Plotty. I also want to learn more about Plotty, D3 charts and other ways to visualize data. If I don’t move the blog charts to D3, I certainly want to at least use the latest version of Chartjs with Zoom. I don’t see any books in the library on this but I bet there are many good videos and tutorials online.

Sometime this winter I want to also get the book I saw at the library on Java. I‘ve never had much of an interest in coding in Java but I think it would be a good language to learn, even though most Java apps with its virtual machine always seem slow and clunky. But I think learning it would make me a better developer.

I’d also like to learn more about GUI programming. I know a bit about the Qt API by writing code using PyQt with QGIS plugins. But I’ve never done a lot of GUI coding because I don’t have a lot of use for it. Yet, I think it’s a good skill to have as it really educates you on threads, slots and signals. Maybe Android programming too.

I have written my share of Applescript, Hypercard, PERL, PHP, C, C++, Javascript and Python over the years but there is a lot I don’t know. I’ve studied an dabbled a bit in Assembler, COBOL and FORTRAN. But I’m not a professional developer but I want to become more knowledgeable about coding, better understanding the core concepts. I’d also like to learn more about documenting, Github and better code practices.

I like camping where I don’t have cell service ⛺

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I like camping where I don’t have cell service ⛺

I find it increasingly desirable to get away where I don’t have any cell reception. As much as I try to minimize my social media use and even stay off the email when I’m home and have reception there is always such a pull to play on my phone.

No reception and I can read, sit back and think.

Samsung Reveals its New DDR5-7200 512GB RAM Modules | Digital Trends

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Samsung Reveals its New DDR5-7200 512GB RAM Modules | Digital Trends

Samsung is among the brands that will release DDR5 RAM this year — and it seems the manufacturer has an industry- first in the works. During Hot Chips 33, an annual semiconductor disclosure event, Samsung revealed the development of its first DDR5 512GB RAM module. This new memory module is said to offer an up to 40% increase in performance over DDR4, combined with double the capacity and a lower voltage.

The announcement of the new massive memory stick was accompanied by more in-depth information about its architecture. DDR5-7200 is going to be a 512GB module made out of eight-stacked DDR5 dies. The dies are said to be connected with the use of through-silicon via (TSV) technology. The upgrade to eight dies is significant. It shows a marked improvement over DDR4 memory, which was always limited to four dies even in the best RAM available.

And I thought my laptop was the shit when it came with 12 gigabytes of memory -- I still don't rarely use all of it except when using the largest tasks with QGIS or maybe PANDAS but even that is rare.

An Economist’s Advice On Digital Dependency

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An Economist’s Advice On Digital Dependency

8/9/21 by NPR

Web player: https://podcastaddict.com/episode/126881348

Episode: https://play.podtrac.com/npr-510325/edge1.pod.npr.org/anon.npr-mp3/npr/indicator/2021/08/20210809_indicator_210808_digital_addiction_ready_to_publish.mp3

American adults on average spent more than four hours on their phones in 2020. Can we reduce our phone usage if we want to? Some recent research says yes.

She exposed how Facebook enabled global political manipulation. Now she’s telling her story. | MIT Technology Review

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She exposed how Facebook enabled global political manipulation. Now she’s telling her story. | MIT Technology Review

The world first learned of Sophie Zhang in September 2020, when BuzzFeed News obtained and published highlights from an abridged version of her nearly 8,000-word exit memo from Facebook.

Before she was fired, Zhang was officially employed as a low-level data scientist at the company. But she had become consumed by a task she deemed more important: finding and taking down fake accounts and likes that were being used to sway elections globally.

Her memo revealed that she’d identified dozens of countries, including India, Mexico, Afghanistan, and South Korea, where this type of abuse was enabling politicians to mislead the public and gain power. It also revealed how little the company had done to mitigate the problem, despite Zhang’s repeated efforts to bring it to the attention of leadership.

Jupyter Notebook 🐼

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Jupyter Notebook 🐼

After installing and learning more about the Jupyter Notebook and doing data processing with Python, I think that is the way forward for much of the data analysis I do. Spreadsheets and pivot tables are fine but memorizing a few commands means that I can write code that can be automated and reused unlike things that I do drag and drop in the spreadsheet.

Jupyter is neat because it allows you to edit and execute a few lines of python in your browser, get the results than independently execute additional lines of code. Then display the results as formatted tables, graphs or graphics right in the browser. The more I learn about it, the neater it is.

The more I use Python every day, the better I will get at it and eventually I’ll be able to whip together new analysis without much struggle. So much of Python is optimized towards minimal typing, so it really is the quickest way to process data. And when I’m using Python daily rather than a spreadsheet I’m learning the language and getting better at it.

Some of the ways I think I could use Jupyter:

  • Processing the dataset I use from time to time to create graphs of the 7 day rolling average of COVID-19 positivity cases
  • Processing data for graphs from the Energy Information Office or any other agency where i can get a CSV or Excel file to manipulate
  • Using machine learning looking at weather data over the past 10 or 20 years to make Farmers Almanac style forecasts for fun – here’s your Thanksgiving Weekend forecast in July.
  • Process election results programmatically without all those hairy excel formulas, turn into maps and graphs
  • Basically any other project that I can imagine that I would normally do with a spreadsheet but probably could do faster and more repeatly with Python