Towards Intelligent Systems
The triumph of generic databases The computerization of commonsense knowledge goes back at least to Ross Quillian s paper from the 1969 book Semantic Information Processing. Ross used methods that aren t that different from what I use today, but he was able to store just a few hundred concepts in his computer. The Cyc project, starting [...]
Ookaboo is a collection of images that are indexed by terms from the semantic web, or, the web of linked data. Ookaboo provides both a human interface and a semantic API. Ookaboo has two goals: (i) to dramatically improve the state of the art in image search for both humans and machines, and (ii) to [...]
Introduction Anonymous functions and closures are a language feature that, in many ways, allow programmers to reshape the syntax of a language. Although often associated with highly dynamic languages such as Lisp and TCL and moderately dynamic languages, such as Javascript, C# shows that closures retain their power in statically typed languages. In this article, [...]
Introduction In most written media, time progresses as you move down a page: mainstream computing languages are no different. Anonymous Closures are a language mechanism that, effectively, lets programmers create new control structures. Although people associate this power with exotic dynamic languages such as FORTH, Scheme and TCL, closures are becoming a feature of mainstream [...]
Introduction The Garmin eTrex series are popular handheld GPS units. The eTrex H is a inexpensive unit with excellent sensitivity and accuracy, and the eTrex Vista HCx is a favorite of OpenStreetMap contributors because it accepts a microSD card which can hold OSM maps. I intended to use my Vista HCx to contribute to OSM [...]
I haven t blogged much in the last month because I ve been busy. I ve got a day job, and I m a parent, and I ve also been working on a new site: Creative Commons Car Pictures. What you see on the surface of Car Pictures might be familiar, but what s under the surface is something you ve probably [...]
Introduction Languages such as LISP, ML, oCaml F# and Scala have supported first-class functions for a long time. Functional programming features are gradually diffusing into mainstream languages such as C#, Javascript and PHP. In particular, Lambda expressions, implicit typing, and delegate autoboxing have made C# 3.0 an much more expressive language than it s predecssors. In [...]
What s Freebase? Freebase is a open database of things that exist in the world: things like people, places, songs and television shows. As of the January 2009 dump, Freebase contained about 241 million facts, and it s growing all the time. You can browse it via the web and even edit it, much like Wikipedia. [...]
The Problem I ve got an IEnumerable T that contains a list of values: I want to know if all of the values in that field are distinct. The function should be easy to use a LINQ extension method and, for bonus points, simply expressed in LINQ itself One Solution First, define an extension method 01 public [...]
The Problem Many Silverlighters use XAML to design the visual appearance of their applications. A UserControl defined with XAML is a DependencyObject that has a complex lifecycle: there s typically a .xaml file, a .xaml.cs file, and a .xaml.g.cs file that is generated by visual studio. The .xaml.g.cs file is generated by Visual Studio, and ensures [...]