Weasel Words in Computer Science
This week I had the opportunity to sit in on an M.Sc Thesis Defense at Guelph. In most of my courses so far at Guelph the profs have stressed that we should avoid weasel words at all costs in our Thesis and our defense.
The definition of a “weasel word” varies depending on the source but generally they are words which are misleading, make baseless claims or are exaggerations to make ideas sound better. Or like a weasel sucks the insides out of an egg, the weasel word sucks the value out of the document it appears in.
Categories: Computer Science, Miscellaneous, Research by Jason Ernst
Tags: Computer, Science, Weasel, Words
Java Discrete Event Driven Simulation
Recently in my Networks course at Guelph they had us create an event-driven discrete simulation to model both a wireless network and a switch. For the project I got a hexagonal geometry for the wireless network which was to be arranged similar to a Manhattan Street Network with each node having at most six neighbours. Other groups got triangular and square geometries for this portion. For the switch I got an 8×8 Banyan switch. Other groups got the crossbar switch or backplane switches.
Categories: Computer Science, Simulation, Wireless Networks by Jason Ernst
Tags: Discrete, Event, Java, Simulation
Computer Science: A Science?
Computer Science is a broad term used to describe many areas in the field of computing. Wikipedia defines Computer Science as the “study of the theoretical foundations of information computing and their implementation and application in computer systems.” In recent years, defining this field as a science has come under criticism from others in “pure” sciences like physics and chemistry. Even some members of the computer science community itself are skeptical about whether computer science should really be considered a science.
Categories: Computer Science, Miscellaneous by Jason Ernst
Tags: Computer, Debate, Science
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