Math and Programming

I thought I could be smart and redirect to a google sites project, instead of changing the CNAME entries. I had to learn that a mod_rewrite to a different url always does a visible redirect to the substituted url, so no faking that it's not a google site.

First, what is an Opcode? It's a compiled form of a PHP script, similar to Java bytecode. Or, more precisely, from php.net "When parsing PHP files, Zend Engine 2 generates a series of operation codes, commonly known as "opcodes", representing the function of the code." <?php $a = "Hello "; $b = "World\n"; echo $a . $b; For a script like this, the opcodes look like that: number of ops: 5 compiled vars: !0 = $a, !1 = $b line # * op fetch ext return operands --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 0 > ASSIGN !0, 'Hello+' 3 1 ASSIGN !1, 'World%0A' 4 2 CONCAT ~2 !0, !1 3 ECHO ~2 5

Phil Grizzard's detailed description of his job application process. A Longtime Math Grad Student's Job Search Experience Totally worth reading if you're on the job market soon. Thanks for sharing!

GitX is a cool tool to visualize your git branches. It automatically assumes all files ending in .git files are git applications. When you browse files in Finder, anything ending in .git is now not a folder anymore, and clicking on it will launch GitX. Very annoying. I assumed I could just right click the file and set Open with to finder, but you can only change it to other applications, you can't tell your Mac that foo.git is a folder, not a git application. Instead, I edited the file /Applications/GitX.app/Contents/Info.plist (sudo!). Remove the following line inside CFBundleTypeExtensions <string>git</string> ... <key>CFBundleTypeExtensions</key>       <array>           <string>git</string>           <string></string>       </array> ... And then run /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -u -r -f /Applications/GitX.ap

Every time I get an email, Thunderbird shows a little pop-up on my screen, saying x new emails from xxx . Oftentimes, I have co-workers look at my screen, they don't need to know everytime I get an email that it's from Amazon, Zappos, Banana Republic, or Victoria's Secret. So, here's how you turn it off: Click Edit and select Preferences Click Advanced Select the General tab Click the Config Editor button Search for biff Set mail.biff.show_alert to false

I've recently read this small book, I devoured the 128 pages within two hours. Thought written in 1993, I think it is still highly accurate. Feibelman, a physicist,  describes several cases of unsuccessful scientific careers, despite hard work and intelligence. He points out the problems and gives advise how to avoid them. Every scientist should read his book early in grad school, refresh his memory when finishing grad school, and again when mentoring graduate students. A PhD is Not Enough on Amazon

I won't give you boring details of how you should format your CV, there's enough resources out there that give you much better advise than I ever could, instead I will tell you what you can and should do during graduate school, to generate the content for your CV and statements. Please keep in mind that I was specifically looking for post doctoral research positions in mathematical biology . If you want to land a teaching or tenure position, some rules might be different. Job Application Timeline Academic Jobs beginning fall 2011 (June – September) Deadlines for postdocs : as early as November 2010 Asked for letters: September 2010 CV, Research Statement, Preprint/publications/thesis Draft of Research Statement August/September 2010 CV: first version in 2008, career services, periodically updated Jobs are advertised on https://www.mathjobs.org/ http://notable.math.ucdavis.edu/wiki/Mathematics_Jobs_Wiki Discussed everything with my advisor, proof-read by a

When creating a table of content (TOC) , bibliography and index are not listed when created with \bibliography and \printindex. This is how you get them to appear in the TOC with the correct page numbers. \cleardoublepage \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Bibliography} \bibliographystyle{plain} \bibliography{../all} \cleardoublepage \phantomsection \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Index} \printindex

Usually, you can center tables with \center. But when the table is longer than the \textwidth, it will be align with the left side margin. You can temporarily adjust the textwidth. % allows for temporary adjustment of side margins \usepackage{chngpage} \begin{table}     \begin{adjustwidth}{-.5in}{-.5in}          \begin{center}         \begin{tabular}{|c|}             \hline And here comes a very long line. And here comes a very long line. And here comes a very long line.  \\             \hline         \end{tabular}         \caption{This Table is longer than the text width. And its caption is really long, too. This Table is longer than the text width. And its caption is really long, too. This Table is longer than the text width. And its caption is really long, too. This Table is longer than the text width. }         \label{myTable}         \end{center}     \end{adjustwidth} \end{table}