Cleanup
Today is the Labor day and I did exactly what I was supposed to: tried to rearrange equipment in the lab so that the good computers get in front of the older ones. The results are presented on this page.
I am also thinking which courses I will take this semester. There are quite a few of interest. First, Network Security course will teach us basics of cryptography and authentication protocols. The textbook is Shneier’s classics which I never got a chance to read because there is something else to read whenever I have time. Taking this course will allow me to allocate time for this book, finally. Previous experience with cryptography was purely theoretical. I have read an introductory book published at MCCME when I was an undergrad.
Another course of interest is Advanced Computer Vision. It has nothing to do with securtiy, compilers, operating systems, that is things that I am primarily interested in. However, I am very serious in my intention to take the course for the following reasons. First, I am interested in computer graphics, specifically in image-based rendering. Also, the machine learning techniques are applicable to network security. A survey of papers from security conferences indicated that each good paper had a mathematical component to it. I am also registered for a number of seminars. In particular, I will have to present the results of the research that I have been doing this summer on the lab seminar. I devoted time to finding bugs in Codesurfer. Is this what I am supposed to deliver? Probably not. Therefore, I will have to improve our slice optimization tool before I will have enough results for an hour-long presentation.