I have only heard rumblings on the net regarding the new static analyzer built into Xcode 3.2 that ships with Snow Leopard. However, Apple has updated their Dev Center to include documentation on several new developer tools and features with the release of Snow Leopard today. The Xcode analyzer is simply put, a way for [...]
From Mikeash.com: I’m talking about a new addition to the language being created by Apple which adds anonymous functions to the language. The uses and implications of this weren’t immediately apparent to me, but my interest was piqued as I continued reading the article. Mike is quick to point out that anonymous functions would allow [...]
For the final installment in the Biologically Inspired Computation series, we’ll be taking a look at genetic algorithms. Theory From Wikipedia: A genetic algorithm (GA) is a search technique used in computing to find exact or approximate solutions to optimization and search problems. Genetic algorithms are categorized as global search heuristics. Genetic algorithms are a particular class of evolutionary algorithms (also known as evolutionary computation) that use techniques inspired by evolutionary biology such as inheritance, mutation, selection, and crossover (also [...]
For the third installment in the Biologically Inspired Computation series, we take a look at a more complex version of neural networking (as compared to our last installment where we investigated a Hopfield Network). Theory Essentially, we are running a network that we can train to recognize data, or solve a problem. We do this [...]
This is a series of 4 simulators, all written in Cocoa, experimenting with topics such as artificial intelligence with neural networks, cellular automaton, and genetic algorithms. The full source, along with project description and detailed implementation guidelines are included with each project. Activation/Inhibition Cellular Automaton This is a simulator written in Cocoa for running [...]
For the second installment of the Biologically Inspired Computation series, we’ll be taking a look at a simple neural network called a Hopfield Network. Theory From Wikipedia: A Hopfield net is a form of recurrent artificial neural network invented by John Hopfield. Hopfield nets serve as content-addressable memory systems with binary threshold units. They [...]
Recently, I have had several people come to me asking for advice about Mac programming. A few of these have experience in web standards and Flash/Flex/Air development, while others were in the Java/C++ crowd, and the last guy was just getting started with no experience at all. The fact that I have had so many [...]
This is the first installment in the Biologically Inspired Computation series, examining pattern formation with cellular automaton. Theory Imagine a single skin cell on a zebra. How does the cell know whether it should be white or black? Simply puts, the cell takes into account the value of the surrounding cells. If it’s surrounded by [...]
Through the years I’ve been fervently coding, I would have thought this would have came up during my travels. Just how amazing the comma can be. 1 2 3 for ( int i = 0, NSPoint p = [self updatingCell]; i < maxIterations && p.x > 0; i++, p = [self updatingCell] ) { // [...]
A little overshadowed in the developer community by WWDC and all the inevitable ramblings that take place after, the famous Sparkle framework for automatically updating applications has seen an impressive update. Still in beta, v1.5 introduces several new features including: Support for .pkg files Support for receiving demographic information from users Can update bundles, not [...]