A Blog by Collin Stedman
<p>It’s always a pleasure to find interesting problems hiding in seemingly mundane places. Recently a colleague of mine posed the following twist on a basic algorithms question. It’s easy to see that the worst-case performance to check if a random \(n\)-length array is sorted is \(O(n)\). But what is the <em>average</em> performance? Is it still linear? Sublinear? Is it a function of the length at…
<p>Programmers are a lot like exotic car owners. We live for the cutting edge and the most efficient solutions. We’re not afraid of a little (or a lot) of DIY. Some of us are actually crazy enough to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrsN3r_gVJU">cool our rigs with liquid nitrogen in the name of clock-speed records</a>. I’m sure supercar enthusiasts would understand.</p> <p>Whereas auto…
<p>DISCLAIMER: I do not condone monitoring network traffic with intent to spy or otherwise cause harm to people. My interest in the techniques described below is academic. I write in the hope that I can improve Internet security, or at least increase public awareness of vulnerabilities. If you are attempting to replicate my work, please be careful to do it in a controlled setting, such as your own…