Filed under: Logical Thinking

An SQL puzzle

Check out this little snippet of SQL: [sourcecode language="sql"] SELECT PRAMvtID, PRAMvtRALoadDteTme, PRAMvtRAStatus, PRAMvtRAType, PRAMvtRAApprvlStatus, PRAMvtCompany, PRAMvtDeliveryNetwrk, PRAMvtMeasurePoint, PRAMvtSalesMonth, PRAMvtTicketNo INTO #complete_tkts FROM PAPRAMovement d WHERE PRAMvtID IN (SELECT PRAMvtID FROM PAPRAMovement dd WHERE dd.PRAMvtCompany = d.PRAMvtCompany AND dd.PRAMvtDeliveryNetwrk = d.PRAMvtDeliveryNetwrk AND dd.PRAMvtMeasurePoint = d.PRAMvtMeasurePoint AND dd.PRAMvtSalesMonth = d.PRAMvtSalesMonth AND dd.PRAMvtTicketNo = d.PRAMvtTicketNo AND dd.PRAMvtRAStatus = 'C' ) [/sourcecode]

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Coding (vs) Logic 1

Yes sir!! it is a battle of clans! Today all thoughts all ideas are going to come down here. And i am holding nothing back. It is a great war this. In the world of software development there are those believe that it is the Coding that matters more than the logic! startling claims indeed. And maybe that is the reason why they have been loosing as well. Logic undeniably is ultra important when it comes to developing software. Those who somehow claim that coding skills can outshine logical abilities, obviously have issues with their logic. But then i sat down thinking all these years and more so in the past few months, thinking if there was/is any logic in what they said. Can coding truly be as important as the logic, where it is built upon that very logic?

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Musings over originality...

"Originality does not mean thinking something that was never thought before; it means putting old ideas together in new ways." The word Originality has a wealth of meaning behind it. It refers to something which is original i.e. new, different or unusual. Something that has never been seen or heard off before. At the same time it also refers to something that is a result of independent thinking. Thus originality of thought or work is two fold. It can be a completely new idea, theory, machine, system, etc. It can also be a new inference or interpretation of the existing idea or theory. It can be the combination of 2 or more systems/machines to give a new system which helps us solve problems related to the previous systems or those which are completely different. Thus, originality is both: the thinking of new ideas as well as putting together existing ideas to get something different.

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The Curious Case of Artificial Intelligence

Did you know that the first Matrix was designed to be a perfect human world? Where no one suffered, where everyone would be happy. It was a disaster. No one would accept the program, entire crops were lost. Some belived that we lacked the programming language to describe your perfect world...But I belive, that as a species, human beings define their reality though misery and suffering. - Agent Smith, The Matrix
This is probably the best way to define the human case. Infact, it is the best way to define the case of any sentient species. It is not our advances that define us, but our failures and imperfections. Today, my friend and i were having a very animated discussion on Artificial Intelligence at office. He spoke of AI agents and fuzzy logic and i was going on and on about the powers and shortcomings of the Artificial Neural Networks. All that talk led us to how technology and science has advanced to some very brilliant leads in this vast and illusive field, which encompasses Computational Theory, Biology, The study of the Brain, Psychology and Mathematics. However, very soon we started talking about what is yet to be done and we soon came to a common conclusion: there is no point in understanding and studying artificial intelligence, if the final aim of the subject is to emulate human/animal thinking. Why? Simply because of the fact that human thinking is about how we make mistakes and recover from them, not how brilliant we are at coming up with the best algorithms and solutions. You ought to study Natural Stupidity instead of Artificial Intelligence to really get a grasp of how human beings think.

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The Single most Important thing for a Coder

I was having this discussion with a friend of mine today as to what the most important thing for a coder is. Is it good coding ability or good coding standards? Is it about writing basic code which everyone can read or is it about writing brilliant code which no one can fathom, leave alone understand? Is it about knowing one technology/API/framework to a point from where you can rebuild its competitor technology/API/framework, or is it better to have a decent working knowledge of most known technologies around you? I keep having this talk with a lot of my friends and fellow coders. There are many attributes to this ever debated and talked of topic. However, there is this one standard denominator which puts all those talks and debates in unison.

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