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Information about Randy Pausch:

- Randy Pausch was a well-known professor at Carnegie Mellon and co-founder of Carnegie Mellon's Entertainment Technology Center and creator of Alice. He was also a researcher who worked on many projects, such as Google, Walt Disney, and Adobe.

- Randy Pausch was known for his positive attitude and determination to impact people worldwide despite his terminal cancer.

Randy Pausch introduced many interesting points, my favorites being:

- Always keep a tidy workspace to get the most out of your time.

- "Failing to plan is planning to fail."

- Managing your time leads to success, not the other way around.

- Always have a plan, even if you're going to change it as you go.

- Covey's four quadrant to-do, which splits tasks into four categories: Important & Close due date, Unimportant & Close due date, Important & Not close due date, Unimportant & Not close due date.




Cloud Computing

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing involves providing a range of computer services, such as storage, networking, and software, using the internet, instead of relying on physical hardware to perform these tasks.

Is Cloud Computing a New Technology per se? In other words, what are the unique technology features of cloud computing, if any?

The concept of cloud computing was first used in the 1960s but developed further and became a term in the early 2000s. One of its most beneficial and unique features is broad network access, which is the accessibility of data from any location. This helps in reducing costs and increasing efficiency for businesses using cloud computing.

What are the three major cloud service models?

The three major cloud service models are:
1.Software as a Service (SaaS)
2.Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)
3.Platform as a Service (PaaS).

Name at least 3 real-world domains where the application of cloud computing was very enabling and effective.

Online Data Storage and Backup & Recovery, Education, and E-Commerce applications.

What is the economic/business model of cloud computing?

It is a pay-as-you-go model which benefits both service providers and businesses.

Resources used:

https://www.techtarget.com/searchcloudcomputing/feature/7-key-characteristics-of-cloud-computing
https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-cloud-computing-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-cloud/
https://www.simplilearn.com/applications-of-cloud-computing-article

Natural Language Processing

Three major applications:

- Speech Recognition
- Machine Translation
- Machine Text Reading

Three Arabic Words:

- Ya2kul -> Ya-2-kul (he eats)
- Muhandes -> Mu-han-des (engineer)
-Shaa7ena -> Shaa-7e-na (truck)

Three Sentences in Arabic:

- Ana 2ohebu 7osat Freshman Immigration Course le2ana al ustath fazee3. -> I love Freshman Immigration Course because the Professor is amazing.
- Al sama2u zarqa2 wa al 7asheesh khadra2, enna al 7atatu jameela al yawm. -> The sky is blue and the grass is green, life is good today.
- Al salamu 3alaikyum wa ra7matu allahi wa barakato, ana esmi Rawan. -> May peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings, my name is Rawan.

Interpretations of the Sentence "Time Flies like an Arrow":

There are at least 11 ways to interpret the sentence, some examples include:
- "Time" flies like an arrow, meaning take a measurment of time for flies just like you would measure time for an arrow.
- Time "flies" like an arrow, meaning the way an arrow flies is how time would fly as well.
- Time flies "like an arrow", meaning that you should take a measurement of time for flies quickly, as quick as an arrow moves.
- "Time flies" like an arrow, so the insect type (called "Time Flies") enjoy an arrow.
- "Time" "flies" like an arrow, meaning a magazine called "Times" flies in a similar way to an arrow.

The word that most likely follows "The Prime ____":

Numbers

Resources used:

https://www.javatpoint.com/nlp#:~:text=Now%2C%20modern%20NLP%20consists%20of,gain%20knowledge%20of%20the%20world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_flies_like_an_arrow;_fruit_flies_like_a_banana#:~:text=The%20sentence%20%22time%20flies
%20like,fast%20as%20an%20arrow%20travels%22.
https://allthingslinguistic.com/post/51834369484/structural-ambiguity-illustrations-from

Decision Problems

What is a decision problem?

A decision problem is a mathematical and logical problem that returns the output as either 'Yes' or 'No' depending on the inputs.

What does it mean for a decision problem to be decidable?

A decision problem is called decidable when we can always create an algorithm that computes it correctly.

What is the class P? What is the class NP?

-P (Polynomial Time) Problem: Class of decision problems that can have algorithms that solve them in 'polynomial time'. Meaning that the number of steps the algorithm will take can be given by a fixed polynomial function of n, where n corresponds to the input's length.
-NP (Nondeterministic Polynomial Time) Problem: Class of decision problems that can be verified on a nondeterministic machine in 'polynomial time', but can take exponential time to solve.

What is the intuitive meaning of the “P versus NP” question?

"Does P equals NP?", meaning, "If the solution to a problem can be verified in polynomial time, can it be found in polynomial time?". If this were true, it could make many current computational processes much faster as NP problems are fairly common but take exponential time to solve. A famous example that puts the possibilities into perspective is "If you want to find the shortest path between two cities, it would take a long time to compute all possible routes, but if there was a shortcut, it could be found much faster."

If you resolve the P versus NP question, how much richer will you be?

The Clay Mathematics Institute of Cambridge will award $1 million to whoever proves or disproves the statement. However, you will probably be much richer as it is a huge discovery and will help you solve many other award-winning discoveries.

Resources used:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/decision-problem
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/decidable-and-undecidable-problems-in-theory-of-computation/
https://www.javatpoint.com/difference-between-p-class-problem-and-np-class-problem#:~
:text=P%20problems%20are%20a%20set,and%20verified%20in%20polynomial%20time.
https://news.mit.edu/2009/explainer-pnp#:~:text=So%20the%20question%20%E2%80%9CDoes%20P,complete%2C%20meaning%20that%20a%20polynomial
https://gizmodo.com/if-you-solve-this-math-problem-you-could-steal-all-the-1836047131

Programming Languages

Why did we move from punch cards to programming languages? What does that tell you about the purpose of programming languages?

Paper punch cards are much more fragile because you need tightly controlled heat and humidity conditions to store them for long periods of time. Moreover, if the papers were accidentally dropped, it would take a long time for them to be recollected and reorganized, which is really inefficient. By using programming languages, these problems are solved because they are digitized and stored on a magnetic tape which is much less likely to undergo damage and is faster for the computer to run.

Why do we need so many programming languages?

New programming languages are developed to suit new technological advancements. Some programming languages are designed to be more efficient while others are designed to be more user-friendly. The purpose of having this many programming languages is to solve different types of problems depending on what the user wants to develop.

What are some drawbacks of a programming language you use? How would you like it to be different?

I currently use python and its major drawback is its speed because it supports a lot of libraries. It would be nice if they could make it run more efficiently.

If you were going to create a new programming language, how would you start? What do you need to define?

I would begin by defining the syntax and dictionary of the language. I will then build a front-end compiler for the source code and build the back-end code generator.

Resources:

https://slate.com/technology/2021/06/caleb-scharf-ascent-of-information-punch-cards.html
https://teachyourkidscode.com/why-are-there-so-many-programiing-languages/#:~:text=What%20is%20this%3F-,One%20of%20the%20main%20
reasons%20why%20there%20are%20so%20many,to%20be%20more%20user-friendly.
https://pgrandinetti.github.io/compilers/page/how-to-build-a-new-programming-language/

Security

What did the attackers break into?

1. Attackers broke into Qatar National Bank
2. Attackers broke into the Qatar State News Agency website during Diplomatic Crises

How did the attackers break into it?

1. There is no information on how the breach happened.
2. Still unknown

Who was impacted?

1. People who had QNB credit cards had their information leaked, but luckily, two-factor authorization prevented any financial losses.
2. Qatar's diplomatic relationships with KSA, UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt were damaged and the countries cut off any links with Qatar.

How was it investigated?

1. They monitored any abnormal activities in their system and took quick action by contacting appropriate authorities.
2. They quickly claimed that their network was breached but the diplomatic relations were already hurt.

Resources:

https://www.cyberlands.io/topsecuritybreachesqatar
https://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/pl/security/news/cyber-attacks/turkish-hackers-responsible-for-qatar
-national-bank-breach#:~:text=Last%20week%2C%20reports%20of%20a,details%2C%20and%20dates%20of%20birth.

Artificial Intelligence

How do you define AI?

Artificial Intelligence is a way computers learn and replicate certain aspects of human intelligence.

Three different sub-fields of AI?

- Machine learning
- Natural language processing
- Computer vision

Why is AI booming now?

Due to more powerful softwares and graphics that are able to accomodate and make use of AI.

How was it investigated?

Health care, security, customer service. Robots can perform complex tasks with precision and accuracy.

Can you identify three major challenges for a wheeled autonomous robot performing a 24h surveillance task in a large facility?

Navigation, Enough power to run, and Computer Vision and Recognition

Resources:

https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/top-10-applications-of-robotics-in-2020/
https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2023/what-is-generative-ai-and-why-is-it-suddenly-everywhere-heres-how-tools-like-chatgpt-and-dall-e-work/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe
%20rise%20of%20generative%20AI,that%20help%20accelerate%20the%20training.