The Beginner LaTeX Files pt.1

If you missed the intro post for this series, I’m fairly new to using LaTeX and I’m in the process of my first big project that uses it extensively.  I’m posting about the learning curve into LaTeX in the hopes that it will show both myself and others how useful and accessible professional typesetting for scientific documents can be.

 

In the last few days there was one stumbling block, one ongoing problem.  The great thing about stumbling blocks is that their solution tend to knock out several problems at once.  Today the realization showed me how different environments help organize one’s document. 

 

Mathematica 6 Out Soon (we hope)

I just noticed today that the Mathematica site has changed. No, I don’t just surf the web until something looks different. You can notice the slight change from the always useful MathWorld part of their site. They have posted new information about the long awaited Mathematica 6.

There is no information about the release date, but I was able to get all the way to the payment screen of their online store before I realized they were selling the older Mathematica 5.2 with a free upgrade to Mathematica 6. To me, this points to an eminent release. Well, I hope it points to that.

Far more importantly, their site contains loads of information about what the new version can do. It looks quite impressive. They have made some considerable upgrades to their 3D plotting, and it looks great. Lighting, transparency and all the things you would expect to get out of a half decent graphics card are all there. Look for yourself here.

UPDATE:
Mathematica 6 is out, you just can’t download it yet when you buy it their online store. It does make a person ask just how out the program is.

Seed Video on Simulation and Science

Seed Magazine just posted a great video explaining the benefits of scientific computation. While this is an enormous task for an web stream video, they do a fantastic job in the time they have. If nothing else, it’s just fun to watch the flashing colors move on the screen. See it here.

Where have you gone Grace Hopper?

Computer Science isn’t the only field in need of women.

Today’s The New York Times has a great piece in the science section (why not education?) about the drop in women graduating with degrees in Computer Science. The decline isn’t slight either. It’s enough to make a person wonder what is happening to the legacy of Grace Hopper.

LAPACK rules: Why you should use vector code

For those who don’t know, LAPACK is amazing. It gives scientists, engineers and mathematicians the ability to easily take advantage of the vector hardware present in modern computers.

AppleTV for Science

You knew it had to happen soon. Among the sea of AppleTV hack, one group has got an AppleTV to do scientific computation that could be put on a large scale grid. They have also done some benchmarks that put the AppleTV roughly on par with a G4. For $300, thats not so bad. The trials also note the low energy use and (obviously) low volume of the device. You can get the full story and more on their blog.
This is awesome and all, but I’m not sure it beats of the PS3. The PS3 costs about twice as much, but packs a much heavier computational punch. The big advantage of the AppleTV is that, when running OS X, it can be easily placed on a XGrid. Come to think of it, that is fairly cool.

Spherical Harmonic is Beta

The Spherical Harmonic plotter has gone from alpha to beta status. What does this mean? There are no longer problems with image cracking for odd values of l (or j if you are into angular momentum). Odd l harmonics also have all the lobes they should. Yes, this is a Mac-only, Cocoa-based application. Sorry.
enjoy

TextMate Review

Slashdot.com just put up a review of a new manuel on TextMate. The review sums up the book well, but also give a small peek at what is becoming a quite popular text editor. Being slashdot, the comments devolve into a variety of topics. Fortunately, some of these include good comparisons to BBEdit and XCode. This may actually be interesting and helpful for a person new to Mac programming or one who is looking for a new way to do things.