Microsoft should be appreciated for its efforts on improving on-screen readability. Microsoft's Cognitive psychologist, Kevin Larson's article "The Technology of Text" in IEEE Spectrum, May 2007 is awesome. It explains about Typography and how psychologists, type designers and software engineers are working together to improve it.
My father and I usually had a discussion -- how can arts help an electronics and computer engineer like me? His version is that, Philosophy is the mother of all sciences -- psychology, sociology, engineering etc, and we need arts, ethics, and aesthetics. By the way, Aesthetics is "the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature and expression of beauty, as in the fine arts". After reading this article, I have no doubt in his words. Whatever we do, we are doing it for the betterment of our lives. The effort to improve the aesthetics behind displaying on-screen text is a fine arts subject called Calligraphy, the art of beautiful writing.
One can think, how much difference will the new Vista fonts have on our perception? Take a look at this pdf file from an article in "The Montoya Herald" website. One can not stop appreciating the difference.
We don't need to install Windows Vista for these fonts. Microsoft’s free PowerPoint 2007 viewer includes the six new ClearType fonts developed for Vista. So, we can get them legally, without license issues and for no charge. Before adding them, download and install "ClearType Tuner" from Microsoft's website and see how it improves text clarity. This step is completely optional.
To install them on Linux, use "cabextract" software to extract the "PowerPointViewer.exe" file. I have not tried it, but a post on Matt Thomas' website showed that the commands are something like these:
$ cabextract PowerPointViewer.exe
$ cabextract ppviewer.cab
$ ls *TTF
Wow, text on my laptop screen looks elegant, similar to a laser print!
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
World of LaTeX
"LaTeX?? What the heck?" This is what many people say when they hear the word "LaTeX". If you are one among them, then go on and read this post.
Before telling about LaTeX, let me ask you some simple questions.
1. Did you ever use editors like Word, OpenOffice etc for producing your project reports, paper presentations, or journal articles? If so, after typing a few hundred pages, what happened when you inserted an image file in between your paragraphs? My experience in such situations is worst. My friends and I faced this problem when we prepared our undergraduate project reports. All our previous page settings were disturbed when we tried to insert or resize a picture. Once again, we set out to format the entire document.
2. Did you insert some serious Mathematical equations or formulae in your documents? It is a pain in your ass if you do that in normal editors like Word, despite its Equation Editor.
3. How about the quality of your content? I concentrated more on document layout and its appearance. This affected the quality of my content.
Now Build the current file in TeXnicCenter to produce a nice looking pdf file as shown below.
Thats it. Forget the WYSIWYG editors and enter the world of LaTeX.
Links:
1. Getting to Grips with LaTeX
2. LaTeX isn't for everyone but it could be for you
3. The beauty of LaTeX
4. The not so short introduction to LaTeX
5. Getting started with LaTeX
Hey i ran out of space. Google "latex tutorials" for more links.
Before telling about LaTeX, let me ask you some simple questions.
1. Did you ever use editors like Word, OpenOffice etc for producing your project reports, paper presentations, or journal articles? If so, after typing a few hundred pages, what happened when you inserted an image file in between your paragraphs? My experience in such situations is worst. My friends and I faced this problem when we prepared our undergraduate project reports. All our previous page settings were disturbed when we tried to insert or resize a picture. Once again, we set out to format the entire document.
2. Did you insert some serious Mathematical equations or formulae in your documents? It is a pain in your ass if you do that in normal editors like Word, despite its Equation Editor.
3. How about the quality of your content? I concentrated more on document layout and its appearance. This affected the quality of my content.
One of the solutions to these problems is LaTeX. Simply put, LaTeX is an open source typesetting system. It is especially useful for developing professional and well-structured documents. The main advantage of using LaTeX is that, it allows you to concentrate on your content and forget about the layout; because LaTeX takes care of the actual typesetting (font styles, alignment etc), structuring of your content and page formatting. Though it is a little bit difficult to learn, LaTeX produces high-quality technical and scientific documents easily. Once you learn how to use LaTeX, it makes your life easy.
So much to say about LaTeX. Let us see this in action. Don't expect to learn LaTeX in one day. It needs a lot of patience to master the basics. Go through the links provided at the end of this post to learn more about LaTeX. By the way, don't panic by looking at the code. It is provided to show how easy it is to produce quality reports.
Installation: To install LaTeX under Windows, follow this procedure -- Download and install basic MikTeX. Install a LaTeX editor like TeXnicCenter. Copy and paste the code given below in an empty document inside TeXnicCenter. Save the file as "demo.tex", without quotes.
%--------------------------------------------
% Example of LaTeX
% File: demo.tex
% Author: Trisul Kanipakam
% Date: Tuesday, June 05, 2007.
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{palatino,url}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\author{Trisul Kanipakam}
\title{\LaTeX\ example}
\date{\today}
\maketitle
\section*{Hello World!}
This is a sample \LaTeX\ document. We can generate an article like this with a default font size of 11pt, using \textit{Palatino} font. Note that, i don't have to format section headings, justification, numbering of sections and pages etc. We can easily generate tables and center them,\\
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc}
\hline
Sno & Data \\
\hline
1 & 1000 \\
2 & 2000 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
Listings can be generated as shown below:
\begin{itemize}
\item \emph{$e=m*c^2$},\quad $\sqrt{4}=2$, \quad $\int_0^2 \zeta^{2}(x) \, dx$, \quad $\frac{dy}{dx} \rightarrow 0$, \quad $\alpha \neq 0$, \quad $F(x_{1}, x_{2}, \ldots , x_{n}),$ \quad $(u, \infty)$, \quad $\lim_{x \to \infty} f(x)$.
\item Matrices and Limits
\[
\lim_{x \to a} \frac{f(x) - f(a)}{x - a}, \quad
\begin{pmatrix}
a & b & c & d\\
x & y & z & w
\end{pmatrix}
\]
\end{itemize}
\begin{center}
\textit{Have a nice time learning \LaTeX\ !}
\end{center}
\end{document}
% End of document.
%-----------------------------------
If everything goes well, you should see something like this.
So much to say about LaTeX. Let us see this in action. Don't expect to learn LaTeX in one day. It needs a lot of patience to master the basics. Go through the links provided at the end of this post to learn more about LaTeX. By the way, don't panic by looking at the code. It is provided to show how easy it is to produce quality reports.
Installation: To install LaTeX under Windows, follow this procedure -- Download and install basic MikTeX. Install a LaTeX editor like TeXnicCenter. Copy and paste the code given below in an empty document inside TeXnicCenter. Save the file as "demo.tex", without quotes.
%--------------------------------------------
% Example of LaTeX
% File: demo.tex
% Author: Trisul Kanipakam
% Date: Tuesday, June 05, 2007.
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{palatino,url}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\author{Trisul Kanipakam}
\title{\LaTeX\ example}
\date{\today}
\maketitle
\section*{Hello World!}
This is a sample \LaTeX\ document. We can generate an article like this with a default font size of 11pt, using \textit{Palatino} font. Note that, i don't have to format section headings, justification, numbering of sections and pages etc. We can easily generate tables and center them,\\
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cc}
\hline
Sno & Data \\
\hline
1 & 1000 \\
2 & 2000 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
Listings can be generated as shown below:
\begin{itemize}
\item \emph{$e=m*c^2$},\quad $\sqrt{4}=2$, \quad $\int_0^2 \zeta^{2}(x) \, dx$, \quad $\frac{dy}{dx} \rightarrow 0$, \quad $\alpha \neq 0$, \quad $F(x_{1}, x_{2}, \ldots , x_{n}),$ \quad $(u, \infty)$, \quad $\lim_{x \to \infty} f(x)$.
\item Matrices and Limits
\[
\lim_{x \to a} \frac{f(x) - f(a)}{x - a}, \quad
\begin{pmatrix}
a & b & c & d\\
x & y & z & w
\end{pmatrix}
\]
\end{itemize}
\begin{center}
\textit{Have a nice time learning \LaTeX\ !}
\end{center}
\end{document}
% End of document.
%-----------------------------------
If everything goes well, you should see something like this.
Now Build the current file in TeXnicCenter to produce a nice looking pdf file as shown below.
Thats it. Forget the WYSIWYG editors and enter the world of LaTeX.Links:
1. Getting to Grips with LaTeX
2. LaTeX isn't for everyone but it could be for you
3. The beauty of LaTeX
4. The not so short introduction to LaTeX
5. Getting started with LaTeX
Hey i ran out of space. Google "latex tutorials" for more links.
Monday, June 4, 2007
How much do u care?
Did you ever think, how much do you care for some important persons in your life, like your mom, or dad, or sis or bro? And most importantly your friends and life partner? Being a house wife, my mom was always there when i was alone, and whenever i needed some one most to share my happiness or sorrow. That is not the case with my dad. But, he is best at his part in making me realize my life. My sis is my second best friend after my mom. She is my cutest, dear, ever loving friend, there to share everything with me, and listen whatever nonsense I blabber.
Some of my friends at college are so close to me that they see through my image. I mean to say, they know my moods, my thoughts, my goals in life, my potential etc, even better than me.
And most importantly, when you meet your soul mate, they may replace all of the above persons! When we settle in some job and get married, we don't have time to do all these, except remembering those beautiful memories. Or do we?
This may be the case with most of you. But, i did not experience this yet! So, how to face this? We know how much we care for them. We can't express it in words!! Right? But, can our deeds express them? Help me out here, please if you know.
Some of my friends at college are so close to me that they see through my image. I mean to say, they know my moods, my thoughts, my goals in life, my potential etc, even better than me.
And most importantly, when you meet your soul mate, they may replace all of the above persons! When we settle in some job and get married, we don't have time to do all these, except remembering those beautiful memories. Or do we?
This may be the case with most of you. But, i did not experience this yet! So, how to face this? We know how much we care for them. We can't express it in words!! Right? But, can our deeds express them? Help me out here, please if you know.
Happy life ...
Imagine yourselves in a world where there is no industrial revolution, or any medical breakthroughs or even technological achievements yet. Can you live in such a world? If I am given a chance to go back in time and live, I will accept it. But with some minor changes. I wish to live in a world where there are no kings, no wars, but only good-hearted people. Thats being ideal, right? But, I love it. I should have a land to cultivate, and of course cattle. Then, I can live happily in a beautiful farm house, with my family. I shall keep myself busy learning all I can about every art like music, dance, painting, pottery, etc etc. What else do I need, to spend my life peacefully with my family?
Saturday, June 2, 2007
We got Independence!
The idea of being a citizen of an independent India makes me proud. India is a socialist, secular, democratic and a lot other words go into its description. BUT, is it true? Did we really get "Independence"?
Let us ask ourselves. Britishers left India in the "safe" hands of Congress. Is it a correct step? What is congress? Does Congress represent entire Indian population? Is it the voice of "rich" Indians or "true" Indians? The Indian freedom fighters who are not in agreement with congress's ideas are allowed to be killed by Britishers. But, almost all the congress "real" followers are simply put in jail. Thus, they are made the so called "cream" of our society. What about the rest of the India? Some people in Congress tried to develop India, but they are like " frogs in a jar" holding onto each other's legs (No offense please). They worked to develop themselves, not the country. Whatever they did, it is for their own ends. Be it a social welfare program or a literacy program or some program to develop the "backward" people. Only a few handful politicians worked for the benefit of people.
The consequence -- Rich became more richer and poor became more poorer. Due to poverty, illiteracy, superstitions, and many other factors, people did not have the chance to foresee their fate. Now, every Indian has a minimum of 10,000 Rs. on his/her head. Where is our money going? All the politicians have unaccounted properties, private power stations, companies etc etc. How did they earn them? Definitely not out of their 25,000/- monthly income. Then how is it possible? Its our money. People are becoming too busy to ponder over this, because they are preoccupied with movies and cricket.
The problem is, we have too many castes, too many religions in India. Had it been one caste, one religion, one community, we would have more development. People of one caste are too busy trying to crush people from other castes. People of a caste try to help people from their own caste. A complete stranger (even though he is a criminal) of your caste will be treated as if he is your own family. If all Indians treat others as their own caste, will India develop?
Now, let us discuss the most interesting factors -- education, research and youth. Why are students going to USA, London and Australia? Is our education so bad? Money is an obvious factor! Are our professors damn waste fellows? My father is a professor. He is a D.Phil candidate and a brilliant chap. I was brought up in a university area. I know how professors in a typical university will be. They are not that bad, but their orientation and method of teaching should change. They teach for the money, not out of their passion towards research. Anyway, why should they bother about research, when students themselves don't want to do research. Now a days, students want to settle down quickly in some software job. When will this change? Research and ties between Universities and Industries can stop brain drain.
All these are not only my thoughts, but of every citizen. What do you think?
Let us ask ourselves. Britishers left India in the "safe" hands of Congress. Is it a correct step? What is congress? Does Congress represent entire Indian population? Is it the voice of "rich" Indians or "true" Indians? The Indian freedom fighters who are not in agreement with congress's ideas are allowed to be killed by Britishers. But, almost all the congress "real" followers are simply put in jail. Thus, they are made the so called "cream" of our society. What about the rest of the India? Some people in Congress tried to develop India, but they are like " frogs in a jar" holding onto each other's legs (No offense please). They worked to develop themselves, not the country. Whatever they did, it is for their own ends. Be it a social welfare program or a literacy program or some program to develop the "backward" people. Only a few handful politicians worked for the benefit of people.
The consequence -- Rich became more richer and poor became more poorer. Due to poverty, illiteracy, superstitions, and many other factors, people did not have the chance to foresee their fate. Now, every Indian has a minimum of 10,000 Rs. on his/her head. Where is our money going? All the politicians have unaccounted properties, private power stations, companies etc etc. How did they earn them? Definitely not out of their 25,000/- monthly income. Then how is it possible? Its our money. People are becoming too busy to ponder over this, because they are preoccupied with movies and cricket.
The problem is, we have too many castes, too many religions in India. Had it been one caste, one religion, one community, we would have more development. People of one caste are too busy trying to crush people from other castes. People of a caste try to help people from their own caste. A complete stranger (even though he is a criminal) of your caste will be treated as if he is your own family. If all Indians treat others as their own caste, will India develop?
Now, let us discuss the most interesting factors -- education, research and youth. Why are students going to USA, London and Australia? Is our education so bad? Money is an obvious factor! Are our professors damn waste fellows? My father is a professor. He is a D.Phil candidate and a brilliant chap. I was brought up in a university area. I know how professors in a typical university will be. They are not that bad, but their orientation and method of teaching should change. They teach for the money, not out of their passion towards research. Anyway, why should they bother about research, when students themselves don't want to do research. Now a days, students want to settle down quickly in some software job. When will this change? Research and ties between Universities and Industries can stop brain drain.
All these are not only my thoughts, but of every citizen. What do you think?
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Thomas Kailath -- Winner of The 2007 IEEE Medal of Honor
Today, I read about Thomas Kailath in IEEE spectrum, May 2007. He is the first indian-born to get a doctorate from "The farm" aka Stanford. The most important thing I liked about him is -- he did research in different fields like Information theory, antenna propagation, Controls, VLSI, semiconductor manufacturing and now biotechnology. He seems to me like Leonardo Da Vinci. He took a decade to master each field, leave his mark in that field, and move on to other field. Great scientists in olden days also worked in a similar manner. This is quite normal because no field or subject grasped their attention to that extent making them stick to it. I would love to be like them. What about you?
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Open Source Alternatives to commercial software
Open Source Alternative - Find Open Source Alternatives to commercial software: Another best site to find open source software alternatives to well-known commercial software.
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