Richard Feynman Problem-Solving Algorithm
- Write down the problem
- Think very hard
- Write down the solution
High Performance Software Requirements
What do I need to have to develop high performance software?
- Fast, concurrent programming langugages
- Exotic, high performance data structures
- Efficient algorithms
- Modular Architecture
- Fast and reliable messaging framework
- Caching
Notes: John Cleese on Creativity
Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.
Creativity is not an ability you either have or do not have. It is unrelated to IQ.
Creative people in a child like mood, can play with ideas for their own sake, not for immediate practical purposes.
People operate/function in two modes:
- Open
- Closed
Design for all 5 senses
"Good design looks great, yes — but why shouldn't it also feel great, smell great and sound great?"
"Great sex is almost the perfect 5 senses experience [...]"
- Visual
- Auditory
- Tactile
- Olfactory
- Gustatory
Scientist vs Engineer – Tony Hoare
| long term | short-term |
| idealism | compromise |
| certainty | risk |
| perfection | adequacy |
| generality | specificity |
| separation | amalgamation |
| unification | diversity |
| originality | best practice |
| formality | intuition |
| correctness | dependability |
Are you HALTed?
Don't make important decisions (hiring, school, etc) when you are in any of the HALT states
- H – Hungry
- A – Angry
- L – Lonely
- T – Tired
Fallacies of Distributed Computing
- The network is reliable.
- Latency is zero.
- Bandwidth is infinite.
- The network is secure.
- Topology doesn't change.
- There is one administrator.
- Transport cost is zero.
- The network is homogeneous.
Five Principles to Improve Your Fluid Intelligence
- Seek Novelty
- Challenge Yourself
- Think Creatively
- Do Things The Hard Way
- Network
10 Simple Things You Can Do Today That Will Make You Happier, Backed By Science
- Exercise more - 7 minutes might be enough
- Sleep more - you'll be less sensitive to negative emotions
- Move closer to work - a short commute is worth more than a big house
- Spend time with friends and family - don't regret it on your deathbed
- Go outside - happiness is maximized at 13.9 C
- Help others - 100 hours a year is the magical number
- Practice smiling - it can alleviate pain
- Plan a trip - but don't take one
- Meditate - rewire your brain for happiness
- Practice gratitude
Linux/Unix Commands
- top htop iotop
- lsof
- free
- ps
- vmstat
- uptime
- w
- netstat
- tcpdump
- nmap
- cat /proc/(cpuinfo | meminfo | zoneinfo | mounts)
- iostat
- pidof
OS X DTrace Commands
- iosnoop
- execsnoop
- opensnoop
- iotop
- errinfo
Numbers Everyone Should Know
| L1 cache reference | 0.5 ns |
| Branch miss-predict | 5 ns |
| L2 cache reference | 7 ns |
| Mutex lock/unlock | 25 ns |
| Main memory reference | 100 ns |
| Compress 1K bytes with Zippy | 3,000 ns |
| Send 2K bytes over 1 Gbps network | 20,000 ns |
| Read 1 MB sequentially from memory | 250,000 ns |
| Round trip within same datacenter | 500,000 ns |
| Disk seek | 10,000,000 ns |
| Read 1 MB sequentially from disk | 20,000,000 ns |
| Send packet CA->Netherlands->CA | 150,000,000 ns |