看到周邊不少朋友都在上facebook，忍不住也上去用用看。朋友東拉西扯，馬上就連上一些失連的舊識。高中同學，sun的老同事，只要連上一個，就馬上可以連到他的所有朋友，怪不得這個東西會紅！
目前是我是這樣區分的：
- 學校的網頁是我的官方網頁，放一些正經八百的自我履歷和學術資訊。
- Blogger的網誌，算是非官方的隨意心得分享，但是以學術分享，資料收集和思想討論為主。
- Facebook就拿來跟友人天南地北瞎扯攪和，放些iPhone到處拍的照片，當做隨身扎記來寫。
2010年4月28日 星期三
如何教大學生雲端運算(Cloud Computing)？
當初會到學校教書，一個主要的原因是為了滿足自己的求知慾。在學校，興趣一來，想學甚麼就學甚麼，還可以呼朋引伴，招集幾個學生，申請幾個計畫，還沒開始做出甚麼東西，就對外宣稱是專家 :-)
我從不懂雲端運算，花了幾個月，憑著過去軟硬體和大小電腦都有涉獵過的經驗，加上每周去孔祥重院士的班上學習，勉強到略知一二的程度，現在能夠一邊學，一邊和學生一起做研究，樂趣無窮。
趨勢科技捐給台大資工一個雲端運算學程，要我們開些雲端相關課程，給學程招收的大學部學生上課。負責規劃的教授點名要我開【平行與分散式程式設計】，教Parallel algorithms/MapReduce/MPI/OpenMP/CUDA，一聽就傻眼了，這些東西，要在一個學期教完，連一般研究生都會哇哇叫，何況是大學部學生，中間夾雜一部分的非本系生?
還好，我喜歡開新課。過去五年來，每年至少開一門新課，迄今也開過八門課，再多一門也無妨。九月要上這門課，早點開始準備就是了。 各方高手請幫幫忙，提供意見。
幾年教下來，對於大學部學生，一本好的教科書很重要。開始收集到時候可當作參考教科書，暑假就跟學生開個讀書會，把這些書的內容搞清楚，順便把教材編出來:
第一本書
Cloud Computing: Implementation, Management, and Security
Chapter 1 The Evolution of Cloud Computing
Chapter 2 Web Services Delivered from the Cloud
Chapter 3 Building Cloud Networks
Chapter 4 Virtualization Practicum
Chapter 5 Federation, Presence, Identity, and Privacy in the Cloud
Chapter 6 Security in the Cloud
Chapter 7 Common Standards in Cloud Computing
Chapter 8 End-User Access to Cloud Computing
Chapter 9 Mobile Internet Devices and the Cloud
CMU使用的教科書和參考書
15-319: Introduction to Cloud Computing
Carnegie Mellon Qatar - School of Computer Science, Spring 2010
http://www.qatar.cmu.edu/~msakr/15319-s10/
Textbook:
(未完，待續)
我從不懂雲端運算，花了幾個月，憑著過去軟硬體和大小電腦都有涉獵過的經驗，加上每周去孔祥重院士的班上學習，勉強到略知一二的程度，現在能夠一邊學，一邊和學生一起做研究，樂趣無窮。
趨勢科技捐給台大資工一個雲端運算學程，要我們開些雲端相關課程，給學程招收的大學部學生上課。負責規劃的教授點名要我開【平行與分散式程式設計】，教Parallel algorithms/MapReduce/MPI/OpenMP/CUDA，一聽就傻眼了，這些東西，要在一個學期教完，連一般研究生都會哇哇叫，何況是大學部學生，中間夾雜一部分的非本系生?
還好，我喜歡開新課。過去五年來，每年至少開一門新課，迄今也開過八門課，再多一門也無妨。九月要上這門課，早點開始準備就是了。 各方高手請幫幫忙，提供意見。
幾年教下來，對於大學部學生，一本好的教科書很重要。開始收集到時候可當作參考教科書，暑假就跟學生開個讀書會，把這些書的內容搞清楚，順便把教材編出來:
第一本書
Cloud Computing: Implementation, Management, and Security
By John W. Rittinghouse and James F. Ransome (2010)
Chapter 1 The Evolution of Cloud Computing
Chapter 2 Web Services Delivered from the Cloud
Chapter 3 Building Cloud Networks
Chapter 4 Virtualization Practicum
Chapter 5 Federation, Presence, Identity, and Privacy in the Cloud
Chapter 6 Security in the Cloud
Chapter 7 Common Standards in Cloud Computing
Chapter 8 End-User Access to Cloud Computing
Chapter 9 Mobile Internet Devices and the Cloud
如書名，作者著重在實務，把許多基礎的東西，不厭其煩講了一次，可以當成入門練基本功的教材 。
CMU使用的教科書和參考書
15-319: Introduction to Cloud Computing
Carnegie Mellon Qatar - School of Computer Science, Spring 2010
http://www.qatar.cmu.edu/~msakr/15319-s10/
Textbook:
- Tom White, Hadoop: The Definitive Guide, O'Reilly Media, 2009.
- Tanenbaum and van Steen, Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms, Pearson, 2007.
- Jean Dollimore, Tim Kindberg, George Coulouris, Distributed Systems: Concepts and Design, Fourth Edition, Addison Wesley, 2005.
- Randal E. Bryant and David R. O'Hallaron, Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective, Prentice Hall, 2003.
- Patterson and Hennessy, Computer Organization and Design: The Hardware/Software Interface, Fourth Edition, Morgan Kaufmann/Elsvier.
- Jason Venner, Pro Hadoop, Apress, 2009.
(未完，待續)
2010年4月26日 星期一
Notes on Cloud Computing, 2010-04-26
CloudAV: N-Version Antivirus in the Network Cloud
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/fjgroup/pubs/usenix08-cloudav.pdf
Antivirus software fails to detect many modern threats and its increasing complexity has resulted in vulnerabilities that are being exploited by malware. This paper advocates a new model for malware detection on end hosts based on providing antivirus as an in-cloud network service. This model enables identification of malicious and unwanted software by multiple, heterogeneous detection engines in parallel, a technique we term ‘N-version protection’. CloudAV includes a lightweight, cross-platform host agent and a network service with ten antivirus engines and two behavioral detection engines.
Yahoo! Reaches for the Stars with M45 Supercomputing Project
http://research.yahoo.com/node/1884
Named after a well-known open star cluster, M45 is a 4,000-processor supercomputer that’s one of the fifty most powerful systems in the world. The goal of the project: help academic researchers tackle some of the most complicated computing tasks known to humanity.
Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning About a Highly Connected World
By David Easley and Jon Kleinberg
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/networks-book/
Over the past decade there has been a growing public fascination with the complex "connectedness" of modern society. This connectedness is found in many incarnations: in the rapid growth of the Internet and the Web, in the ease with which global communication now takes place, and in the ability of news and information as well as epidemics and financial crises to spread around the world with surprising speed and intensity. These are phenomena that involve networks, incentives, and the aggregate behavior of groups of people; they are based on the links that connect us and the ways in which each of our decisions can have subtle consequences for the outcomes of everyone else.
Networks, Crowds, and Markets combines different scientific perspectives in its approach to understanding networks and behavior. Drawing on ideas from economics, sociology, computing and information science, and applied mathematics, it describes the emerging field of study that is growing at the interface of all these areas, addressing fundamental questions about how the social, economic, and technological worlds are connected.
The book will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2010. (For more information, please see Cambridge's page for the book.)
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/fjgroup/pubs/usenix08-cloudav.pdf
Antivirus software fails to detect many modern threats and its increasing complexity has resulted in vulnerabilities that are being exploited by malware. This paper advocates a new model for malware detection on end hosts based on providing antivirus as an in-cloud network service. This model enables identification of malicious and unwanted software by multiple, heterogeneous detection engines in parallel, a technique we term ‘N-version protection’. CloudAV includes a lightweight, cross-platform host agent and a network service with ten antivirus engines and two behavioral detection engines.
Yahoo! Reaches for the Stars with M45 Supercomputing Project
http://research.yahoo.com/node/1884
Named after a well-known open star cluster, M45 is a 4,000-processor supercomputer that’s one of the fifty most powerful systems in the world. The goal of the project: help academic researchers tackle some of the most complicated computing tasks known to humanity.
Networks, Crowds, and Markets: Reasoning About a Highly Connected World
By David Easley and Jon Kleinberg
http://www.cs.cornell.edu/home/kleinber/networks-book/
Over the past decade there has been a growing public fascination with the complex "connectedness" of modern society. This connectedness is found in many incarnations: in the rapid growth of the Internet and the Web, in the ease with which global communication now takes place, and in the ability of news and information as well as epidemics and financial crises to spread around the world with surprising speed and intensity. These are phenomena that involve networks, incentives, and the aggregate behavior of groups of people; they are based on the links that connect us and the ways in which each of our decisions can have subtle consequences for the outcomes of everyone else.
Networks, Crowds, and Markets combines different scientific perspectives in its approach to understanding networks and behavior. Drawing on ideas from economics, sociology, computing and information science, and applied mathematics, it describes the emerging field of study that is growing at the interface of all these areas, addressing fundamental questions about how the social, economic, and technological worlds are connected.
The book will be published by Cambridge University Press in 2010. (For more information, please see Cambridge's page for the book.)
五蘊明明幻，諸緣處處癡
【五蘊明明幻，諸緣處處癡】是袁煥仙先生詩中的名句，讀書讀到，略有所思。
學佛之人，即使理論都了解透徹，知道世間無常虛幻，卻往往跳脫不出各式各樣緣的牽絆，輕則煩惱自苦，重則造業蹉跎。自以為是的半吊子，還不如甚麼都不知的老實人。佛道之中，行門最難! 俗云: 本欲度眾生，反被眾生度。自己都沒學好，度個甚麼人啊? 眾生自性自度，所以金剛經言: 一切眾生，皆非眾生。
利他助人應該量力而為，先累積足夠實力與程度，應人之所需而行，非為自我滿足而為，一旦為之，不必計較得失毀譽，聲名利害皆是一時，不增亦不減，無失亦無得。
學佛之人，即使理論都了解透徹，知道世間無常虛幻，卻往往跳脫不出各式各樣緣的牽絆，輕則煩惱自苦，重則造業蹉跎。自以為是的半吊子，還不如甚麼都不知的老實人。佛道之中，行門最難! 俗云: 本欲度眾生，反被眾生度。自己都沒學好，度個甚麼人啊? 眾生自性自度，所以金剛經言: 一切眾生，皆非眾生。
利他助人應該量力而為，先累積足夠實力與程度，應人之所需而行，非為自我滿足而為，一旦為之，不必計較得失毀譽，聲名利害皆是一時，不增亦不減，無失亦無得。
Parallel Tracking and Mapping (Univ ox Oxford) and 26-core Phone (China)
Parallel Tracking and Mapping is a software developed by Univ ox Oxford for 3D graphics & reality fuse on the fly -- See the video on the page below:
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/science_blog/100304.html
What is interesting is that this software will probably be running on a 26-core phone which is being designed and manufactured by China. (http://www.clonedinchina.com/2010/04/qderopateo-ouidoo-phone-with-window-phone-7-alike-ui-and-palm-pre-alike-design.html)
Also interesting is that they licensed the software from Oxford. I doubt if they did it on-purpose to attract attention from the media. Anyway, if you are a big-name university, you can sell your technology easily.
Why can't we do make something happen in NTU besides writing research papers? Yes, we can. I believe we can do something. The university needs to adjust and it is slow in doing that. Some individuals are much quicker than the university. Time will tell who are the winners.
http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/science_blog/100304.html
What is interesting is that this software will probably be running on a 26-core phone which is being designed and manufactured by China. (http://www.clonedinchina.com/2010/04/qderopateo-ouidoo-phone-with-window-phone-7-alike-ui-and-palm-pre-alike-design.html)
Also interesting is that they licensed the software from Oxford. I doubt if they did it on-purpose to attract attention from the media. Anyway, if you are a big-name university, you can sell your technology easily.
Why can't we do make something happen in NTU besides writing research papers? Yes, we can. I believe we can do something. The university needs to adjust and it is slow in doing that. Some individuals are much quicker than the university. Time will tell who are the winners.
MIC Gadget
I was surprised to run into a website called M.I.C Gadget (http://micgadget.com/)
China used to make cheap and low-quality products. I knew some of my friends would try to avoid buying any gadget made in China. Now, the world has changed. A website was created to review gadgets made in China? The country has become "rich" enough to offer something to the world with their coloarful cuture and econmy. How interesting...
China used to make cheap and low-quality products. I knew some of my friends would try to avoid buying any gadget made in China. Now, the world has changed. A website was created to review gadgets made in China? The country has become "rich" enough to offer something to the world with their coloarful cuture and econmy. How interesting...
The Cheapest Android Tablet You Can Get in China
Here we have a simple budget tablet device running with Android for you. It doesn’t looks like an iPad and cost a lot cheaper than you have thought. Just for $680 RMB (about $99), I’m sure you have no second thoughts for this.
http://micgadget.com/3210/the-cheapest-android-tablet-you-can-get-in-china/
http://micgadget.com/3210/the-cheapest-android-tablet-you-can-get-in-china/
Dell's MID/Network Tablet Roadmap
Sparta netbook tablet featuring an 11-inch 1024 x 768 TFT display, ARM processor, optional connectivity modules (3G, WiFi, Bluetooth) and a unique swivel mechanism -- the screen appears to be rotatable within its frame. Should be launched in early Autumn.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/25/dell-sparta-and-athens-netbooks-looking-glass-pro-and-streak-va/
http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/25/dell-sparta-and-athens-netbooks-looking-glass-pro-and-streak-va/
2010年4月22日 星期四
Ganglia Monitoring System
Ganglia is a scalable distributed monitoring system for high-performance computing systems such as clusters and Grids. It is based on a hierarchical design targeted at federations of clusters. It leverages widely used technologies such as XML for data representation, XDR for compact, portable data transport, and RRDtool for data storage and visualization. It uses carefully engineered data structures and algorithms to achieve very low per-node overheads and high concurrency. The implementation is robust, has been ported to an extensive set of operating systems and processor architectures, and is currently in use on thousands of clusters around the world. It has been used to link clusters across university campuses and around the world and can scale to handle clusters with 2000 nodes.
Ganglia is a BSD-licensed open-source project that grew out of the University of California, BerkeleyMillennium Project which was initially funded in large part by the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI) and National Science Foundation RI Award EIA-9802069. NPACI is funded by the National Science Foundation and strives to advance science by creating a ubiquitous, continuous, and pervasive national computational infrastructure: the Grid. Current support comes from Planet Lab: an open platform for developing, deploying, and accessing planetary-scale services.
http://ganglia.sourceforge.net/IBM developerWorks "Ganglia How-To" page:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/WikiPtype/ganglia
Capacity Planning for Cloud Computing
Adrian Cockcroft, a performance expert which I worked with in Sun Microsystems, had something to say about capacity planning for cloud computing. BTW, he no longer worked for Sun now -- he works for eBay (2004-2007) before joining Netflix.
http://www.slideshare.net/adrianco/capacity-planning-for-cloud-computing
http://www.slideshare.net/adrianco/capacity-planning-for-cloud-computing
Interestingly, when I checked his blog, all he talked about recently was iPad and his garage.
http://perfcap.blogspot.com/
http://perfcap.blogspot.com/
2010年4月21日 星期三
以人才為中心的未來
最近在閱讀『超現未來的十大趨勢』（James Canton），提到以人才為中心的未來，簡言之，強調人才罕有，企業無不積極尋求人才，以人才為核心的導向，是企業成功的要件。反之，儘管經理人才十分能幹，漠視員工，只重視數字和績效來討好投資者的策略取向，終究導致人才流失。未來，最好的人才可以獨力作業，不必待在特定的工作場所，人才爭奪戰決定國家和機構的未來。
試問，我們的國家機器有注重人才的培育嗎？大學是培養高級人才的場所嗎？機構有重視和善待人才嗎？學生族群有以成為人才自許而自動自發的學習嗎？懂得念書和吸收知識就算的上是人才嗎？如何成為真正與眾不同的人才呢？
台灣的大學不善待教授，已經是不爭的事實了。在各國爭取人才的年代，台灣還是老神在在，一昧要求數字，什麼世界大學排名，以期刊發表篇數評比教授成就，由政客乃至大學校長院長，已經把教授視為『政治績效』的生產工具。對此，我深深不以為然，我到學校來教書，就是要造就人才以及提昇研究層次，原來就沒想到有那麼多的阻力，感嘆之餘，只有勉強應付了。
沒關係，還有時間！是人才的終有一日有出頭天，以各種方式和管道充實自己還是最重要的，迎接人才時代的降臨吧！
試問，我們的國家機器有注重人才的培育嗎？大學是培養高級人才的場所嗎？機構有重視和善待人才嗎？學生族群有以成為人才自許而自動自發的學習嗎？懂得念書和吸收知識就算的上是人才嗎？如何成為真正與眾不同的人才呢？
台灣的大學不善待教授，已經是不爭的事實了。在各國爭取人才的年代，台灣還是老神在在，一昧要求數字，什麼世界大學排名，以期刊發表篇數評比教授成就，由政客乃至大學校長院長，已經把教授視為『政治績效』的生產工具。對此，我深深不以為然，我到學校來教書，就是要造就人才以及提昇研究層次，原來就沒想到有那麼多的阻力，感嘆之餘，只有勉強應付了。
沒關係，還有時間！是人才的終有一日有出頭天，以各種方式和管道充實自己還是最重要的，迎接人才時代的降臨吧！
2010年4月19日 星期一
資工所博士班入學申請
今年資工所博士班入學申請減少了，據說是天下雜誌報導台大社會系對博士班畢業學生出路問題的影響。對一般科系而言，博士班畢業學生出路在哪裡？簡單來說，就是去大學教書。當少子化成為某些大學存廢的問題時，要藉由念博士班來尋求鐵飯碗，早就是不合時宜的念頭。
對資工而言，問題大不相同。學生算計的不是畢業後的出路，而是要不要早點出去賺錢，多花費三五年求得博士頭銜划不划算？當然有些不食人間煙火，只問興趣的人也有，算是少數。
所以今年申請的 一般生人數減少，比錄取人數多一倍左右，我認為跟業界好轉比較有關係吧！
有趣的是，申請在職博士班的人數比錄取人數多將近四倍，而且不少是台清交碩士畢業的，我想是跟台灣業界的現況有關。將來，或許台灣不能僅靠廉價勞工和刻苦耐勞在高科技界競爭，要有兩把刷子，要有高級人才。
人無遠慮，必有近憂。
對資工而言，問題大不相同。學生算計的不是畢業後的出路，而是要不要早點出去賺錢，多花費三五年求得博士頭銜划不划算？當然有些不食人間煙火，只問興趣的人也有，算是少數。
所以今年申請的 一般生人數減少，比錄取人數多一倍左右，我認為跟業界好轉比較有關係吧！
有趣的是，申請在職博士班的人數比錄取人數多將近四倍，而且不少是台清交碩士畢業的，我想是跟台灣業界的現況有關。將來，或許台灣不能僅靠廉價勞工和刻苦耐勞在高科技界競爭，要有兩把刷子，要有高級人才。
人無遠慮，必有近憂。
2010年4月18日 星期日
Paper submitted to RTCSA 2010
Working with ChiaHeng on Saturday to submit a paper to RTCSA2010 at the last minute -- 14:59:50 Taipei Time (23:59:50 Europe Time).
Paper is titled "Designing and Implementing a Portable, Efficient Inter-Core Communication Scheme for Embedded Multicore Platforms".
Wrote too much. Had to trim it from 13 pages to 10 pages -- what a painful process.
It was based on Wen-Long's MS thesis. I rewrote most of the paper except the chapter which describes the implementations. ChiaHeng helped prepare figures and experimental results. New data from PAC DUO were added.
Paper is titled "Designing and Implementing a Portable, Efficient Inter-Core Communication Scheme for Embedded Multicore Platforms".
Wrote too much. Had to trim it from 13 pages to 10 pages -- what a painful process.
It was based on Wen-Long's MS thesis. I rewrote most of the paper except the chapter which describes the implementations. ChiaHeng helped prepare figures and experimental results. New data from PAC DUO were added.
參訪矽統科技
Notes on my visit to SIS (http://www.sis.com.tw/) on Tuesday. Good discussions over afternoon meetings and dinner with CEO and Chairman.
- A chip design company has tried hard to find new directions in recent years.
- Designing consumer products: TV codecs, touch screen, touch pad, e-books
- Going for Android and Cloud Computing
- Would like to collaborate with universities
- Would like universities to train students in system software
Taiwan's industry is changing... both companies and students need a different thinking. How about teachers? It is probably harder for established professors to change their mindset.
- A chip design company has tried hard to find new directions in recent years.
- Designing consumer products: TV codecs, touch screen, touch pad, e-books
- Going for Android and Cloud Computing
- Would like to collaborate with universities
- Would like universities to train students in system software
Taiwan's industry is changing... both companies and students need a different thinking. How about teachers? It is probably harder for established professors to change their mindset.
Mobile Multitasking (iPhone vs Android)
Since Apple annouced iPhone 4.0 with support for multitasking, discussions about mobile multitasking are getting hot these days. Here I summarize the links to the discussions:
http://davidquintana.com/entry/mobile-multitasking
Comparing the models of "multithreading" between Android and iPhone 4.0
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/17/inside_iphone_os_4_0_multitasking_vs_mac_os_x_android.html
An article from an iPhone and Apple supporter. There is also an interesting discussion about unified development tools: Clang, LLVM and Xcode, at the end of this article.
http://davidquintana.com/entry/mobile-multitasking
Comparing the models of "multithreading" between Android and iPhone 4.0
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/17/inside_iphone_os_4_0_multitasking_vs_mac_os_x_android.html
An article from an iPhone and Apple supporter. There is also an interesting discussion about unified development tools: Clang, LLVM and Xcode, at the end of this article.
2010年4月15日 星期四
The State of the Internet Operating System
Tim O'Reilly 在2010-03-29寫了篇有趣的文章：
http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/03/state-of-internet-operating-system.html
由幾年前熱門的 Web2.0到現在，軟體與網路的人怎麼看世界，由這篇可以一瞥究竟。除了作者本人的觀點外，許多不錯的讀者回應，還有作者與讀者的討論，也很有教育性。
http://radar.oreilly.com/2010/03/state-of-internet-operating-system.html
由幾年前熱門的 Web2.0到現在，軟體與網路的人怎麼看世界，由這篇可以一瞥究竟。除了作者本人的觀點外，許多不錯的讀者回應，還有作者與讀者的討論，也很有教育性。
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