Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Sun, 22 Jan 2006 17:15:21 -0500, val bykoski wrote: > The existing (formal) language, being helpful, was created > hundreds years ago and of course needs an update. How does this follow? Why does something need to be updated *just* because it was created hundreds of years ago? Isn't it more l

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Anton Vredegoor wrote: > Paul Rubin wrote(>>): [...] > All of the books writers seem to have not caught up with the idea of > hyperlinks and continue to dwell in neolithical paper dreams :-) > > If they only woke up and let someone like me write some Visual Python > code to illustrate the algori

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Paul Rubin wrote: > signal processing, for example. Perhaps it could be improved by being > more explicit about what the reader needs to know, and giving > references to other books where the prerequisites can be found. There are lots of good explanations, graphs, diagrams and such things in the

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Sat, 21 Jan 2006 21:01:53 +, Tom Anderson wrote: > As Dave Hansen pointed out, "Harry smiled vaguely back", means that the > direction Harry was smiling was vaguely back - might have been a bit to > the side or something. That's an extremely artificial interpretation of the sentence, eve

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Slow and to the pointless, but ... On Wed, 18 Jan 2006, Terry Hancock wrote: > On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 12:15:25 -0500 > "Tim Peters" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> More "Britishisms" are surviving in the Scholastic editions as the >> series goes on, but as the list for Half-Blood Prince shows the e

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

"Anton Vredegoor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > And so the cycle repeats itself. We teach our students the world is all > about money, and sure enough, the world is all about money. If we would > continue to keep the interesting things away from most of the people, > by hiding it behind mathematica

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > But the real question is why it is that American publishers believe > their readers are so lazy and ignorant that they require special > "translations" of British books. I don't know anyone who has said "I'm > glad that

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Paul Rubin wrote: > The first few pages are a review of probability theory but I think > they assume you've seen it before. The book's subject matter is more > mathematical by nature than what most programmers deal with from day > to day, and as such, the book is not for everyone. And so the cyc

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On 2006-01-21, Paul Rubin wrote: >> The next thing you know, there are going to be American >> translations of Jane Austen where a girl says to her sister >> "dude, he is such a hottie!" and she replies "oh my god, for >> sure!" > > I actually heard that the US film version of Pride and Prejudic

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Grant Edwards wrote: > On 2006-01-21, Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [...] >>But the real question is why it is that American publishers >>believe their readers are so lazy and ignorant that they >>require special "translations" of British books. I don't know >>anyone who has said "I'm

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Grant Edwards <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > The next thing you know, there are going to be American > translations of Jane Austin where a girl says to her sister > "dude, he is such a hottie!" and she replies "oh my god, for > sure!" I actually heard that the US film version of Pride and Prejudic

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Steven D'Aprano wrote: > On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:12:24 +0200, Juho Schultz wrote: > > >>Because the intended audience is probably reads formulas better than >>they read Python. The 1st sentence of the Introduction: "This book is >>aimed at senior undergraduates and graduate students in Engineerin

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On 2006-01-21, Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> One question here is: Are US English and UK English different languages >> or not? If they are, a translation is in place. If they are not, the >> text should have been left as is. I guess the answer is: >> -Well, sort of... > > That's

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:04:51 +0100, Mikael Olofsson wrote: > One question here is: Are US English and UK English different languages > or not? If they are, a translation is in place. If they are not, the > text should have been left as is. I guess the answer is: > -Well, sort of... That's the s

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

"Anton Vredegoor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Returning to the original book, why did they write a lot of it (at > least the first few pages until I gave up, after having trouble > understanding formulas about concepts I have no such trouble with when > framed in less jargonized from) in unintell

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:12:24 +0200, Juho Schultz wrote: > Because the intended audience is probably reads formulas better than > they read Python. The 1st sentence of the Introduction: "This book is > aimed at senior undergraduates and graduate students in Engineering, > Science, Mathematics and

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 03:20:04 -0800, Anton Vredegoor wrote: > The old trick of 'but there are some things > that cannot be expressed in any other way than by using formulas' > doesn't get one many optimization points in my world. Alas, your world is not as precise and accurate as the world of math

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Terry Hancock wrote: > On 19 Jan 2006 13:57:06 +0100 > Anton Vredegoor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Some time ago I tried to 'sell' Python to a mathematician. > > The crucial point was that it was not (in standard Python) > > possible to have a matrix A and a matrix B and then do for > > example

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Bengt Richter wrote: > On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:12:24 +0200, Juho Schultz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>Last month I spent about an hour trying to explain why >>a*2.5e-8 = x >>raises a SyntaxError and why it should be written >>x = a*2.5e-8 >>The guy who wrote the 1st line has MSc in Physics from C

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 14:12:24 +0200, Juho Schultz <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Anton Vredegoor wrote: >> >> Returning to the original book, why did they write a lot of it (at >> least the first few pages until I gave up, after having trouble >> understanding formulas about concepts I have no such t

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On 2006-01-19, David H Wild <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, >Mikael Olofsson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> One question here is: Are US English and UK English different languages >> or not? > > A few years ago I was in a French bookshop in London. On the counter wa

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, Mikael Olofsson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > One question here is: Are US English and UK English different languages > or not? A few years ago I was in a French bookshop in London. On the counter was a leaflet advertising recent translations; some were "from the

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 18:31:35 -0800 [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Alex Martelli) wrote: > Terry Hancock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >... > > > Nothing at all. But I still prefer tales of people who > > > have hacked their DVD players to be multi-region :-) > > > > It isn't illegal in Canada anyway. And

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Terry Hancock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I don't remember where this is posted. The trick was in > overloading the <, >, or | to interact specially with > "operator" objects. http://aspn.activestate.com/ASPN/Cookbook/Python/Recipe/384122 -- Jorge Godoy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "Quidquid lat

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On 19 Jan 2006 13:57:06 +0100 Anton Vredegoor <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Some time ago I tried to 'sell' Python to a mathematician. > The crucial point was that it was not (in standard Python) > possible to have a matrix A and a matrix B and then do for > example: > > A = A * B > > and have a m

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Thu, 19 Jan 2006 15:04:51 +0100 in comp.lang.python, Mikael Olofsson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >Terry Hancock wrote: >"Tim Peters" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> UK:Harry smiled vaguely back >>> US:Harry smiled back vaguely > >Terry Hancock wrote: >> I know you are pointing out the

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Mikael Olofsson wrote: > One question here is: Are US English and UK English different languages > or not? If they are, a translation is in place. If they are not, the > text should have been left as is. I guess the answer is: > -Well, sort of... > And that is probably the reason why opinions di

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Hi Paul, Dr MacKay was my information studies lecturer and 4th year degree project mentor at university, about 5 years ago, and I think that this book is basically the course notes we used then! He is an excellent lecturer, and if the book is as good as the course, it should be very interesting,

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Mikael Olofsson wrote: > A related important question is: Does the US version communicate the > same thing (meaning aswell as feeling) to the American reader as the UK > version communicates to the British reader? That should always be the > objective for any translator. fwiw, the Swedish Dan Bro

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Terry Hancock wrote: "Tim Peters" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> UK:Harry smiled vaguely back >> US:Harry smiled back vaguely Terry Hancock wrote: > I know you are pointing out the triviality of this, since > both US and UK English allow either placement -- but is it > really preferred

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Juho Schultz wrote: > Last month I spent about an hour trying to explain why > a*2.5e-8 = x > raises a SyntaxError and why it should be written > x = a*2.5e-8 > The guy who wrote the 1st line has MSc in Physics from Cambridge (UK). > In mathematics, there is no difference between the two lines. S

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Tim Peters wrote: > [Paul Rubin] > >> I wouldn't have figured out that a "car park" was a parking lot. I > >> might have thought it was a park where you go to look at scenery from > >> inside your car. Sort of a cross between a normal park and a drive-in > >> movie. > > [Grant Edwards[ > > ;) >

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Anton Vredegoor wrote: > > Returning to the original book, why did they write a lot of it (at > least the first few pages until I gave up, after having trouble > understanding formulas about concepts I have no such trouble with when > framed in less jargonized from) in unintelligible mathemathical

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Paul Rubin wrote: > For an absolutely amazing translation feat, try Michael Kandel's > Polish-to-English translation of Stanislaw Lem's "The Cyberiad". Returning to the original book, why did they write a lot of it (at least the first few pages until I gave up, after having trouble understanding

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Roger Upole wrote: > "Alex Martelli" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> ... >> >>>I mean, when you read "He sat on the chair" do you need >>>to look up the dictionary to discover that chairs can >>>have arm rests or not, t

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

"Alex Martelli" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ... >> I mean, when you read "He sat on the chair" do you need >> to look up the dictionary to discover that chairs can >> have arm rests or not, they can be made of wood or

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Steven D'Aprano <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: ... > I mean, when you read "He sat on the chair" do you need > to look up the dictionary to discover that chairs can > have arm rests or not, they can be made of wood or > steel or uphostered springs, be on legs or coasters, > fixed or movable? If

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Terry Hancock wrote: > I find that bizarre. There is no mythological > basis for a "Sourceror's Stone", but the "Philosopher's > Stone", was of course the mythical Alchemists' goal of a > catalyst for converting lead into gold (it had other > properties, IIRC). As an American, I was somewhat myst

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Roger Upole wrote: I wouldn't have figured out that a "car park" was a parking lot. I might have thought it was a park where you go to look at scenery from inside your car. Sort of a cross between a normal park and a drive-in movie >>> >>> >>>Just as another isolated data point,

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

"Steven D'Aprano" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Roger Upole wrote: > >>>I wouldn't have figured out that a "car park" was a parking lot. I >>>might have thought it was a park where you go to look at scenery from >>>inside your car. Sort of a cross between a normal

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Roger Upole wrote: >>I wouldn't have figured out that a "car park" was a parking lot. I >>might have thought it was a park where you go to look at scenery from >>inside your car. Sort of a cross between a normal park and a drive-in >>movie > > > Just as another isolated data point, the first t

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Terry Hancock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: ... > > Nothing at all. But I still prefer tales of people who > > have hacked their DVD players to be multi-region :-) > > It isn't illegal in Canada anyway. And yes, it would be > possible for me to pay a very high price to get a > region-free player

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 12:15:25 -0500 "Tim Peters" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > You should enjoy: > >http://www.hp-lexicon.org/about/books/differences.html > > and especially the links near the bottom to > try-to-be-exhaustive listings of all differences between > the Bloomsbury (UK) and Scholas

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

"Paul Rubin" wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Terry Hancock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> > > Very interesting. And rather sad that editors think the >> > > average Amermican reader too dim-witted to figure out >> > > (in context, even) that a "car park" is a

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 07:55:50 + Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Alex Martelli wrote: > > Terry Hancock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >... > > > >>due to the Evil Conspiracy of region-coding, I couldn't > >>watch the British DVD even if I were to import it (Well, > >>yeah I could,

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On 2006-01-18, Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> Getting overly sensitive, I guess: Once your country goes >> and violates international conventions and UN sanctions, >> invades foreign countries who haven't attacked it, and >> starts taking political prisoners, spies on >> its own citiz

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Terry Hancock wrote: > On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 07:58:10 + > Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>Terry Hancock wrote: >> >>>On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 13:28:15 + >>>Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> They know that the average American could work it out. They also know that t

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Wed, 18 Jan 2006 07:58:10 + Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Terry Hancock wrote: > > On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 13:28:15 + > > Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>They know that the average American could work it out. > >>They also know that the average American doesn't like

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Tim Peters wrote:> > Probably not, if Paul's American. For example, here in the states we > have Python Parks, where you go to look at scenery from inside your > python. As an American residing in Canada, I'll say that Python Parks are only fun if they spring for hydro -- otherwise it's kind of

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Alex Martelli wrote: > Terry Hancock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >... > >>due to the Evil Conspiracy of region-coding, I couldn't >>watch the British DVD even if I were to import it (Well, >>yeah I could, but it would be painful, and probably illegal, > > > I have a region-free DVD player her

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Rocco Moretti <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Alex Martelli wrote: > > Terry Hancock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >... > >>due to the Evil Conspiracy of region-coding, I couldn't > >>watch the British DVD even if I were to import it (Well, > >>yeah I could, but it would be painful, and probably i

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

[Paul Rubin] >> I wouldn't have figured out that a "car park" was a parking lot. I >> might have thought it was a park where you go to look at scenery from >> inside your car. Sort of a cross between a normal park and a drive-in >> movie. [Grant Edwards[ > ;) > > That's a joke, right? Probably

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On 2006-01-18, Paul Rubin <> wrote: > Terry Hancock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> > > Very interesting. And rather sad that editors think the >> > > average Amermican reader too dim-witted to figure out >> > > (in context, even) that a "car park" is a "parking lot" >> > > and a "dustbin" is a "tr

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Terry Hancock wrote: > On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 13:28:15 + > Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>Grant Edwards wrote: >> >>>Very interesting. And rather sad that editors think the >>>average Amermican reader too dim-witted to figure out >>>(in context, even) that a "car park" is a "parking

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Alex Martelli wrote: > Terry Hancock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >... > >>due to the Evil Conspiracy of region-coding, I couldn't >>watch the British DVD even if I were to import it (Well, >>yeah I could, but it would be painful, and probably illegal, > > > I have a region-free DVD player her

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Terry Hancock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: ... > due to the Evil Conspiracy of region-coding, I couldn't > watch the British DVD even if I were to import it (Well, > yeah I could, but it would be painful, and probably illegal, I have a region-free DVD player here in CA -- considering that I broug

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Terry Hancock <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > Very interesting. And rather sad that editors think the > > > average Amermican reader too dim-witted to figure out > > > (in context, even) that a "car park" is a "parking lot" > > > and a "dustbin" is a "trash can." > > > ... > The real reason is t

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 13:28:15 + Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Grant Edwards wrote: > > Very interesting. And rather sad that editors think the > > average Amermican reader too dim-witted to figure out > > (in context, even) that a "car park" is a "parking lot" > > and a "dustbin" is

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Steve Holden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]: > Grant Edwards wrote: >> On 2006-01-16, Tim Peters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >> >http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itila/Potter.html >>> >>>[Grant Edwards] >>> That made me smile on a Monday morning (not an i

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Grant Edwards wrote: > On 2006-01-16, Tim Peters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itila/Potter.html >> >>[Grant Edwards] >> >>>That made me smile on a Monday morning (not an insignificant >>>accomplishment). I noticed in the one footnote that the H.P.

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On Mon, 16 Jan 2006 15:31:58 - Grant Edwards <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > That made me smile on a Monday morning (not an > insignificant accomplishment). I noticed in the one > footnote that the H.P. book had been "translated into > American". I've always wondered about that. I noticed > sev

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Tim Peters wrote: > Non-English translations have real challenges, and because this series > is more popular than the Python Reference Manual these days, there's a > lot of fascinating info to be found. For example, I think the > Japanese translator deserves a Major Award for their heroic attempt

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

"Paul Rubin" wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Grant Edwards <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> That made me smile on a Monday morning (not an insignificant >> accomplishment). I noticed in the one footnote that the H.P. >> book had been "translated into American".

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On 2006-01-16, Tim Peters <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itila/Potter.html > > [Grant Edwards] >> That made me smile on a Monday morning (not an insignificant >> accomplishment). I noticed in the one footnote that the H.P. >> book had been "translated int

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

"Tim Peters" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > For example, I think the > Japanese translator deserves a Major Award for their heroic attempt to > translate Ron's "Uranus" pun: > >http://www.cjvlang.com/Hpotter/wordplay/uranus.html Gad, I'm surprised that was in the original. For an absolutely

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

[Paul Rubin] ... >> David J.C. MacKay >> Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms >> >> Full text online: >> http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itila/ ... >> The printed version is somewhat expensive, but according to the >> following analysis it's a better barg

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Grant Edwards <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > That made me smile on a Monday morning (not an insignificant > accomplishment). I noticed in the one footnote that the H.P. > book had been "translated into American". I've always wondered > about that. I noticed several spots in the H.P. books where >

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

Grant Edwards wrote: [snip] > > That made me smile on a Monday morning (not an insignificant > accomplishment). I noticed in the one footnote that the H.P. > book had been "translated into American". I've always wondered > about that. I noticed several spots in the H.P. books where > the dialog

Re: OT: excellent book on information theory

On 2006-01-16, Paul Rubin <> wrote: > I came across this while looking up some data compression info today. > > David J.C. MacKay > Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms > > Full text online: > http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itila/ > > It's a really excel

OT: excellent book on information theory

I came across this while looking up some data compression info today. David J.C. MacKay Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms Full text online: http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itila/ It's a really excellent book, on the level of SICP but about informati