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SMC - The State Machine Compiler

9/29/2012

 
I learned about The State Machine Compiler (SMC) tool a few weeks back.  This tool is very useful for auto-generating complete state machine code (and it can generate state machine diagrams as well, using Graphviz).

To use SMC, you simply define your state machine using the SMC input language (which uses a yacc-like syntax), and compile it.  SMC can output the generated state machine pattern class code to a multitude of different languages (C, Java, C++, C#, Python, Perl, and so on - even Javascript!)  The generated code is very loosely coupled with your main application code, which makes it easy to integrate and maintain.  In addition, the output code generated by the tool belongs to you, and you can use/license it as you wish.

The SMC website (http://smc.sourceforge.net/) provides a wealth of information, including documentation, tutorials, FAQs, and so on.  If you are planning on creating a state machine in your code any time soon, it is worth checking out SMC.
SMC Example 2
(Example graph from the SMC website)

Cray T94 vs. NVIDIA GTX680

9/23/2012

 
Cray T94
There's a Cray T94 supercomputer currently up for sale on e-bay.  These machines were pretty amazing - e.g., from the picture of the power requirements plate it looks like this particular T94 requires almost 70kW of power to operate - no wonder Cray offered a liquid-cooled model...!

Comparing the relative compute and power capabilities of the T94 with some state-of-the art technology today, it's interesting to see how far things have advanced.

According to the Cray T90 series announcement document from 1995, the T94 appears to have been one of their "entry-level" offerings at the time (a budget supercomputer!):

U.S. list pricing ranges from $2.5 million to $35 million for the
new CRAY T90 series of parallel vector supercomputer
systems, available in three chassis models:

-  The CRAY T94 model: 1-4 CPUs (1.8-7.2 billion calculations
   per second); 512-1024 million bytes (megabytes) of memory;
   air- or liquid-cooled. U.S. list pricing starts at $2.5 million
   for a one-processor system with 512 megabytes of memory.

-  The CRAY T916 model: 8-16 CPUs (15-30 billion calculations
   per second); 1024-4096 megabytes of memory; liquid-cooled.
   U.S. list pricing starts at $9.5 million for an 8-processor
   system with 1024 megabytes of memory.

-  The CRAY T932 model: 16-32 CPUs (30-60 billion
   calculations per second); 4096-8192 megabytes of memory;
   liquid-cooled. U.S. list pricing starts at $22 million for a 16-
   processor system with 4096 megabytes of memory and goes
   to $30 million for a 32-processor system with 4096
   megabytes of memory, or $35 million for a 32-processor
   system fully configured with 8192 megabytes of memory.

If you take a dual-CPU T94 configuration in mid-1995 (for example), that probably would have set you back almost $5M, and you would have ended up with a whopping 3.6 GFLOPS of computing capability, while using a massive amount of electricity in the process (e.g., about 70kW).

Now compare this to an NVIDIA GTX680 graphic card that you can buy today - for around $500, you can get a card that provides you with over 3000 GFLOPS of computing capability, while drawing just 195W of current.  That's quite a contrast!

There are some other interesting tidbits - from the T94 flyer, it did support an optional SSD (1-4GB), and memory bus-bandwidth-wise, the T94's bandwidth was 100GB/s, whereas today the GTX680's is just shy of 200GB/s.

So the question now is - what will this area look like 20 years hence...?

"Minimalism in an Age of Tremendous Hardware"

9/22/2012

 
Interesting lessons from FORTH.  The author's conclusion is spot-on.

Vimeo Creator Services announced

9/21/2012

 
Vimeo Smiley
Vimeo has always been a fantastic service - their support of the creative community is great, and the quality of some of the videos people create and host there is simply incredible.

They've just announced a set of simple-to-use services and tools to help content creators, including a "tip jar" and "pay-to-view" (coming in 2013).  This is great, and I'm certain this will help generate even better and better videos by all the incredibly creative people that there are out there.

Read more about this at their new Creator Services page (and you can find more background in their Staff Blog.)

PCs no longer consume the majority of DRAM chips?

9/17/2012

 
Interesting...  According to an article at Reuters, new data released by the research firm iSuppli showed that personal computers used just 49% of all DRAM chips manufactured in Q2 of 2012 (leaving of course 51% of all memory parts consumed by other devices, such as phones, tablets, and so on).

This is pretty significant news - this is apparently the first time this has happened since the 1980s.  And it certainly seems that trends like this are only going to continue...
DRAM

New interactive computer science program from Khan Academy

9/16/2012

 
This is neat - Khan Academy has a new interactive computer science program.  Step-by-step presentation, with true interaction!  This is definitely worth checking out if you or someone you know is interested in the area and wants to start learning about it.  (You can learn more about the background of this cool new program by checking out ejohn.org and jamie-wong.com.)

All-digital Wi-Fi chip

9/13/2012

 
Picture
Intel has created an all-digital RF Wi-Fi transceiver - i.e., no analog.  It's built using their 32nm technology, supporting a 40 MHz bandwidth.  Apparently the quality is comparable to current decent Wi-Fi parts.

Read more at VentureBeat.

The Hyundai Hyper-Matrix Wall

9/12/2012

 
Why does this remind me of Portal 2? :-)  In any case, the scale of this is very impressive!

2012 Yeosu EXPO HYUNDAI MOTOR GROUP - Hyper-Matrix from yangsookyun on Vimeo.

(Be sure not to miss the "making of" video.)

"Pong" traffic light control

9/11/2012

 
This is a great idea -- it makes you almost want to wait for the crosswalk to be red!  Think of all the cool games that could be used with a system like this...

TI calculator that receives sensor data

9/9/2012

 
Picture
Graphing calculators have come a LONG way.  The TI-Nspire CX CAS has a 3.2-inch full-color screen, and can translate equations into rotating 3-D graphs, with animations.

One of the truly amazing things is that lab cradle for the device enables it to receive and analyze a range of lab-sensor data—from CO2 levels and UV intensity to human heart and respiration rates.

I so wish I had tools like this when I was a kid...I got to grow up with a Casio Pocket Mini :-)

More at education.ti.com and TI-Nspire Lab Cradle. 
Picture
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