October 11, 2008 -- Octave

I've written plenty of Matlab code over the years, and I've gotten really tired of

• being bogged down by computational speed issues
• staying chained to a program for which I require a license (problematic without an internet connection, eh?)
• booting up a computational and graphical hog of a program just to do some simple tests

Naturally, there are many possible solutions to each of these problems. However, the necessary uphill battle to rectify these problems has prevented me from actually taking action. Basically, there hasn't been enough of an impetus for me to overcome my own work function.

Imagine my surprise when one day in my spare time I was able to boot up an up-to-date version of Octave, run a random Matlab program I had written, and have it run without any problems! For a while now I've been aware of the GNU Octave project and its goal to make a open-source version of Matlab. However, I had not realized the great degree of compatability that already exists with the latest version, especially with regard to graphics. Obviously there are still some minor compatibility issues, but most of those issues are minor enough that easy programming workarounds can be implemented without trouble. My goal now, whenever I am tempted to boot-up Matlab, is to start using Octave instead.

Octave doesn't solve the problem of computational speed, but two out of three without rewriting any code whatsoever isn't bad, now is it?

September 29, 2008 - Job hunting

My project of the past week or so is to wade through Terence Tao's relatively extensively list of links regarding career advice for all levels of mathematicians. It's not a comprehensive list, but there are some very nice observations. The problem is that I've actually started procrastinating by reading this blog rather than devoting my time to working hard.

In any case, finding a job is pretty stressful, as anyone who's gone through the process already knows.