Sorting algorithms are a common exercise for new programmers, and for good reason: they introduce many programming fundamentals at once, including loops and conditionals, arrays and lists, comparisons, algorithmic complexity, and the tradeoff between correctness and performance. As a fun Christmas project, [Scripsi] set out to implement twelve different sorting algorithms over twelve days, using […]
NTP is one of the most interesting and important, but all too forgotten, protocols that makes the internet tick. Accurate clock synchronization is required for everything ranging from cryptography to business and science. NTP is closely tied around a handful of atomic clocks, some in orbit on GPS satellites, and some in laboratories. So the […]
UNIX version 4 is quite special on account of being the first UNIX to be written in C instead of PDP-11 ASM, but it was also considered to have been lost to the ravages of time. Joyfully, we can report that the more than fifty year old magnetic tape that was recently discovered in a […]
Every system administrator worth their salt knows that the right way to coax changes to network infrastructure onto a production network is to first validate it on a Staging network: a replica of the Production (Prod) network. Meanwhile all the developers who are working on upcoming changes are safely kept in their own padded safety […]
In an excellent example of one of the most overused XKCD images, the libxml2 library has for a little while lost its only maintainer, with [Nick Wellnhofer] making good on his plan to step down by the end of the year. Modern-day infrastructure, as visualized by XKCD. (Credit: Randall Munroe) While this might not sound […]
There are few things more American than driving a car really fast in a straight line. Occasionally, the cars will make a few left turns, but otherwise, this is the pinnacle of American motorsport. And there’s no longer, straighter line than that from New York to Los Angeles, a time trial of sorts called the […]
Over on ScienceDaily we learn that an international team of scientists have turned a common semiconductor germanium into a superconductor. Researchers have been able to make the semiconductor germanium superconductive for the first time by incorporating gallium into its crystal lattice through the process of molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE). MBE is the same process which is […]
Admit it or not, you probably have a teddy bear somewhere in your past that you were — or maybe are — fond of. Not to disparage your bear, but we think Bradfield might have had a bigger adventure than yours has. Bradfield was launched in November on a high-altitude balloon by Year 7 and […]
Back in March, a small aircraft in the UK lost engine power while coming in for a landing and crashed. The aircraft was a total loss, but thankfully, the pilot suffered only minor injuries. According to the recently released report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch, we now know a failed 3D printed part is […]
It sometimes seems as though we are in a constant tussle over privacy between governments and the governed, with each year bringing fresh attempts to extend surveillance, and consequent battles. For Brits the big news at the moment comes in a new digital ID scheme, something that will be required for anyone wishing to work […]