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  3. The value of smiplicity in designs and engineering

The value of smiplicity in designs and engineering

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  • J Jim Crafton

    Damn, too slow reading the thread!

    ¡El diablo está en mis pantalones! ¡Mire, mire! SELECT * FROM User WHERE Clue > 0 0 rows returned Save an Orange - Use the VCF! Personal 3D projects Just Say No to Web 2 Point Blow

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    Lost User
    wrote on last edited by
    #67

    The funb isn't over yet, check out Hint #2. Adding a constraint.

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    • R Russell Jones

      What kind of POS browser are you using that you don't have a spell checker built in?

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      Lost User
      wrote on last edited by
      #68

      The kind that requires an advanced degree in engineering. Oops! It's the fatal scenario of 'The pilot don't know what the toggle switch is...' Fighter Jocks have no idea what the 'Official Switch does' Thanks for showing me my ID10T card! :laugh: Ever hear the one about the PHD who kept running into a tree on his way to his car in the parking lot. He made them move the tree. True story. :laugh:

      modified on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 12:07 PM

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      • L Lost User

        John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote:

        Why the f*ck are you calling me Musafa?

        Have you ever watched 'The Lion King'? I'm just trying to have some fun, your observations are really close to finding the solution.

        realJSOPR Online
        realJSOPR Online
        realJSOP
        wrote on last edited by
        #69

        Nope, never saw the show. What role did Musafa play?

        "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
        -----
        "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

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        • L Lost User

          I came up with a soltion to an age old problem:

          Q: How can you keep pigions from stealing all the seed?

          Requirements:
          a. The pegions can't feed at the feeder.
          b. The pegions can't feed from the ground below the feeder, where feed is placed and
          little birds knock the feed to the ground.
          c. The little birds can still feed with no problems.

          This would be a good interviewing question to test ones ability to solve design and engineering problems. I will post the solution in a few hours, or if someone comes up the same or equaly plausable solution. Hint: I came up with the solution because my Father started going nutz and throwing rocks at the pegions. ~TheArch :-D

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          Mustafa Ismail Mustafa
          wrote on last edited by
          #70

          This is a coder/engineer site for .NET's sake! 0) Buy a robot kit (0.1) Attach a lethal force taser to the robot. 1) Program visual system to recognize small birds and yourself as acceptable "input" to the feeder 2) Program the following laws into the robot: i. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. ii. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. iii. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. 3) Program said robot to target anything that is not listed in (1) with lethal force, ignoring rule 2.1 if the human is not you.

          If the post was helpful, please vote, eh! Current activities: Book: Devils by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Project: Hospital Automation, final stage Learning: Image analysis, LINQ Now and forever, defiant to the end. What is Multiple Sclerosis[^]?

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          • L Lost User

            I came up with a soltion to an age old problem:

            Q: How can you keep pigions from stealing all the seed?

            Requirements:
            a. The pegions can't feed at the feeder.
            b. The pegions can't feed from the ground below the feeder, where feed is placed and
            little birds knock the feed to the ground.
            c. The little birds can still feed with no problems.

            This would be a good interviewing question to test ones ability to solve design and engineering problems. I will post the solution in a few hours, or if someone comes up the same or equaly plausable solution. Hint: I came up with the solution because my Father started going nutz and throwing rocks at the pegions. ~TheArch :-D

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            Henry Minute
            wrote on last edited by
            #71

            Are these laden or unladen peg ions?

            Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

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            • D Dalek Dave

              Hmmm a little trouble with your time perception there. I am talking about going back 50,000 years. The Dinosaurs went extinct 65,000,000 years ago.

              ------------------------------------ "When Belly Full, Chin Hit Chest" Confucius 502BC

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              Lost User
              wrote on last edited by
              #72

              Dalek Dave wrote:

              Hmmm a little trouble with your time perception there. I am talking about going back 50,000 years. The Dinosaurs went extinct 65,000,000 years ago.

              Okay good point, but you said Genetic Engineer. If you tamper with birds, you are likely to end up with dinosaurs... Do some research on it...

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              • R Russell Jones

                Does this not involve some land it on an aircraft carrier guff?

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                Lost User
                wrote on last edited by
                #73

                Maybe the Navy did it as well, but this was done by Black Ops Combat Command Controllers in the USAF during Desert Storm.

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                • M Mustafa Ismail Mustafa

                  This is a coder/engineer site for .NET's sake! 0) Buy a robot kit (0.1) Attach a lethal force taser to the robot. 1) Program visual system to recognize small birds and yourself as acceptable "input" to the feeder 2) Program the following laws into the robot: i. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. ii. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. iii. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. 3) Program said robot to target anything that is not listed in (1) with lethal force, ignoring rule 2.1 if the human is not you.

                  If the post was helpful, please vote, eh! Current activities: Book: Devils by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Project: Hospital Automation, final stage Learning: Image analysis, LINQ Now and forever, defiant to the end. What is Multiple Sclerosis[^]?

                  L Offline
                  L Offline
                  Lost User
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #74

                  Yeah, but what happens when a terrorist steals the robot and makes an assassin out of it?!?!?

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                  • L Lost User

                    I came up with a soltion to an age old problem:

                    Q: How can you keep pigions from stealing all the seed?

                    Requirements:
                    a. The pegions can't feed at the feeder.
                    b. The pegions can't feed from the ground below the feeder, where feed is placed and
                    little birds knock the feed to the ground.
                    c. The little birds can still feed with no problems.

                    This would be a good interviewing question to test ones ability to solve design and engineering problems. I will post the solution in a few hours, or if someone comes up the same or equaly plausable solution. Hint: I came up with the solution because my Father started going nutz and throwing rocks at the pegions. ~TheArch :-D

                    L Offline
                    L Offline
                    Lost User
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #75

                    At this point if the candidate listened to the hints and obeyed the constraints they might come up with the solution to the problem: Knowing that rocks are part of the solution, the candidate describes a solution of placing river stones (about 3 to 51/2 inches) at the bottom of the feeder to replace the same solution of the observation of size and such which is also solved by using a box with wire mesh. Now that the candidate has the solution, lets see how well they can refactor a solution. After placing the rocks at the bottom with a 3 to 4 inch gap between stones, the observation is made that of the 30 pigeons which came every day to the feeder and ate all the seed in 10 min. Only 2 pigeons are able to climb the rocks and feed with the smaller birds. He identifies this species of pigeon as 'Rock Pigeon'. Ask the candidate to refactor the solution so city pigeons (which don't climb on rocks) and rock pigeons can't feed.

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                    • M Mustafa Ismail Mustafa

                      This is a coder/engineer site for .NET's sake! 0) Buy a robot kit (0.1) Attach a lethal force taser to the robot. 1) Program visual system to recognize small birds and yourself as acceptable "input" to the feeder 2) Program the following laws into the robot: i. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. ii. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. iii. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. 3) Program said robot to target anything that is not listed in (1) with lethal force, ignoring rule 2.1 if the human is not you.

                      If the post was helpful, please vote, eh! Current activities: Book: Devils by Fyodor Dostoyevsky Project: Hospital Automation, final stage Learning: Image analysis, LINQ Now and forever, defiant to the end. What is Multiple Sclerosis[^]?

                      B Offline
                      B Offline
                      B rad A
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #76

                      Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:

                      i. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. ii. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. iii. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

                      these laws were in place one time, i recall from a certain movie, and the robots ended up turning against the humans, they would do a good job of getting rid of the birds though ;P

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                      • M Michael Schubert

                        Nagy Vilmos wrote:

                        eons

                        Do you mean aeons?

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                        Gary Wheeler
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #77

                        Don't start fluxing[^] on us there, buddy boy.

                        Software Zen: delete this;

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                        • N Nagy Vilmos

                          TheArchitectmc∞ wrote:

                          dianasuars to evolve into man eating super freaks.

                          Then you feed the pigeons to the dinosuars. The stupid lizards are killed by the poisoned birds. Tow birds with one stone you might say!


                          Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.

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                          Gary Wheeler
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #78

                          Why do you need to 'tow birds'? Did they break down on the highway?

                          Software Zen: delete this;

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                          • realJSOPR realJSOP

                            Nope, never saw the show. What role did Musafa play?

                            "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                            -----
                            "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

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                            G Offline
                            Gary Wheeler
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #79

                            I'll assume you're not being facetious, or that you don't have kids in the late teens (they would have been the right age for The Lion King). Mufasa[^]

                            Software Zen: delete this;

                            realJSOPR 1 Reply Last reply
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                            • L Lost User

                              Okay since The Outlaw Programmer a.k.a John, has arrived at the fist set of observations to reach the conclusion I am going to impose a constraint. In the intervew you could do the same to see how your candidate works with in constraints. The candidate was given a computer. After searching the internet they found the following: 1. Special bird feeder which has eighter spring loaded perch, or just small enough to only allow the smaller birds to feed from the feeder. 2. The candidate found an obscure article about how to keep pegions away from feeders. Solution make a box with wire mesh under the feeder. Okay now to impose the constraint that will hopfully guide your candidate to the correct observation. Constraint: The owner of the feeder lives in a community that has deed restrictions goverend by a home owners association. All landscaping must be natual, no building, no wire mesh. This constrains solution #2.

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                              Gary Wheeler
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #80

                              TheArchitectmc∞ wrote:

                              The owner of the feeder lives in a community that has deed restrictions goverend by a home owners association. All landscaping must be natual, no building, no wire mesh.

                              Solution: Move. Who wants to live where assholes like that try to tell you how to live?

                              Software Zen: delete this;

                              1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • L Lost User

                                I came up with a soltion to an age old problem:

                                Q: How can you keep pigions from stealing all the seed?

                                Requirements:
                                a. The pegions can't feed at the feeder.
                                b. The pegions can't feed from the ground below the feeder, where feed is placed and
                                little birds knock the feed to the ground.
                                c. The little birds can still feed with no problems.

                                This would be a good interviewing question to test ones ability to solve design and engineering problems. I will post the solution in a few hours, or if someone comes up the same or equaly plausable solution. Hint: I came up with the solution because my Father started going nutz and throwing rocks at the pegions. ~TheArch :-D

                                L Offline
                                L Offline
                                leppie
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #81

                                TWO WORDS SPELL CHECK!

                                xacc.ide
                                IronScheme - 1.0 beta 3 - out now!
                                ((lambda (x) `((lambda (x) ,x) ',x)) '`((lambda (x) ,x) ',x))

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                                • B B rad A

                                  Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:

                                  i. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. ii. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. iii. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

                                  these laws were in place one time, i recall from a certain movie, and the robots ended up turning against the humans, they would do a good job of getting rid of the birds though ;P

                                  G Offline
                                  G Offline
                                  Gary Wheeler
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #82

                                  That execrable piece of garbage (the 'movie' you mention) had absolutely nothing to do with the Three Laws[^], since the morons who wrote the screenplay dumped them at their first opportunity. Talk about playing with the net down.

                                  Software Zen: delete this;

                                  L 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • L leppie

                                    TWO WORDS SPELL CHECK!

                                    xacc.ide
                                    IronScheme - 1.0 beta 3 - out now!
                                    ((lambda (x) `((lambda (x) ,x) ',x)) '`((lambda (x) ,x) ',x))

                                    L Offline
                                    L Offline
                                    Lost User
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #83

                                    One Word: Dyslexia!

                                    J P 2 Replies Last reply
                                    0
                                    • G Gary Wheeler

                                      I'll assume you're not being facetious, or that you don't have kids in the late teens (they would have been the right age for The Lion King). Mufasa[^]

                                      Software Zen: delete this;

                                      realJSOPR Online
                                      realJSOPR Online
                                      realJSOP
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #84

                                      I don't have any kids, and I don't generally watch Disney cartoons.

                                      "Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
                                      -----
                                      "...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

                                      1 Reply Last reply
                                      0
                                      • G Gary Wheeler

                                        That execrable piece of garbage (the 'movie' you mention) had absolutely nothing to do with the Three Laws[^], since the morons who wrote the screenplay dumped them at their first opportunity. Talk about playing with the net down.

                                        Software Zen: delete this;

                                        L Offline
                                        L Offline
                                        Lost User
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #85

                                        This is kind of off topic, but I agree. I only read some of the robot series by Asimov. I did read the full foundation series, that was really cool. I was quite upset when he died, his was my hero at the time. :((

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                                        • L Lost User

                                          This is kind of off topic, but I agree. I only read some of the robot series by Asimov. I did read the full foundation series, that was really cool. I was quite upset when he died, his was my hero at the time. :((

                                          G Offline
                                          G Offline
                                          Gary Wheeler
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #86

                                          The unbreakable rule in all of The Good Doctor's robot stories and novels was that the Three Laws could not be broken. Ever. They could only appear to be broken; in fact, that was a central feature of his stories. The puzzle was how to explain the robot's behavior. The wuckfits who wrote the screenplay for the movie simply wrote the Three Laws out of the way when they became inconvenient.

                                          Software Zen: delete this;

                                          I 1 Reply Last reply
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