Life... it's about exams

It takes a lot more than good intentions to be able to blog regularly. It takes having something worth blogging about. I guess that's why some blogs get people following them, and why others don't. Be that as it may, I blog because it clears my head a bit, and helps me to look at things with a bit of perspective. Also, its a great way to feel productive while actually procrastinating. Well, it looks like I am doing a kind of monthly "tell the world what I am doing" thing.

So, what is happening around the turn of the month? First off, that nightmare of every student's life, exams. I'm lucky this term, just three subjects to write off. Graph theory, well, I think I should have passed it. Learning proofs is not my forte, so I struggled a bit with the studying for that one. The next two will be more interesting. Expert Systems are intriguing, and doing the assignment gave me a much deeper understanding of how the systems actually work. Which means it was a good assignment. I expect that exam to be a breeze. The most interesting one though, is certain to be category theory. I could almost do a set of posts on topics in category theory, and call them my study notes, but I'm not sure that I would get through everything then, and I would likely leave the project unfinished. Which would be fine if it wasn't visible to the world.

Why is category theory the interesting exam? Simply put, because it isn't an exam. It's an oral presentation of three topics which were covered over the semester. The lecturer doesn't believe in written exams as a fair test of knowledge. This suits me just fine, it means that understanding will be tested, rather than having to memorise a bunch of proofs. Yes there will be definitions to remember, but every mathematician has to know a bunch of definitions. So, what I'm supposed to be doing now is revising my category theory (I will get there).

After exams? HOLIDAYS! Well, technically. There is still the major project, and I have scored an internship. Interning should be pretty intriguing, actually. I'll be working in a huge company for two weeks, and getting paid. Life could be worse. I don't actually know what to expect, but I'm facing it as a learning experience, hoping that afterwards I will have a better idea of whether I could handle working as a software developer. I know it would pay well, and that there are plenty of opportunities available, so it might be worth it. I'm also pretty sure though, that if I do go into industry it will only be for a few years. And then I will probably end up teaching. I think that is where my passion lies, and where God is pointing me. But I also think it would be silly to let a really good opportunity pass me by. Especially when people personally ask me to attend interview type events...

That takes us to the end of June, so I guess I'll write another post after the internship, highlighting what happened, and looking forward into July. So, now that I have rambled on about the future, I guess it is time to actually do some work.

Books, the past, the future

Well, its been a while since I last had enough on my mind that could actually be written out meaningfully. I suppose reading real books does this to me, it starts me thinking about the meanings and purpose behind the works. I have recently found two authors who's writing I have enjoyed more than I would have expected.

C. J. Sansom's historical works starring the lawyer Mathew Shardlake are interesting. They are well written, in the style of a fairly generic mystery story. What really makes them good is the historical content. Set in the 16th century, in the time of King Henry VIII, Sansom brings into discussion the politics of the time. Shardlake is shown to become disillusioned of the reform in the first novel "Dissolusion" but he has long disagreed with the papist faction. This leaves the reader with a hero who is open to both worlds in a sense, and so the story is not about religion, but simply politics.

The stories contain enough fiction to captivate a wider audience, but also enough fact that the captive audience cannot help but learn some of the less pleasant details about the history of England, and the time of Henry VIII in particular. The set of three books spans a period of four years, in which three wives are killed. For the first time ever, I know the names of the wives of Henry, assuming he only had six, which I think he did.

So thos books give you thoughts on the past. I have also been reading the novels of David Mitchell, who writes convoluted stories that intermingle, and there are characters who cross between books in a manner which either suggests the author struggles to create cameos, or is a clever way of saying, "all these novels are actually linked." I have read three of his novels, and all three have the same kind of convolution as the movie inception. Stories within stories, and no clear description of when waking or sleeping. But there are two things that strike me most strongly about these books. One Mitchell is a fan of the Japanese and Eastern culture. Two he makes some of the works of George Orwell look optomistic.

These novels are set well ahead of where we are today, but a large amount of what we see happening we know could very well come true. The wars that are suggested are not unrealistic, although they due portray a particularly cynical view of America and the American military forces. What Mitchell does which both darkens his works and gives hope to the reader is he gives his characters their humanity. They are realistic, and it is possible to imagine meeting one of them in life. Even those characters who play cameo roles have enough depth that one can relate to them ad to their feelings.

This look into the future is bleek, but the people inside it are shown to be just like us, even if they are more likely to be caught up by the crime bosses, or develop amazing scientific technologies. The fact that every hero is humane, and even the villians are possible to relate to leaves the reader feeling positive, where it would be easy to leave them feeling negative about what the future promises.

So there are my Ramblings on the books I've been reading. I hope you haven't been too bored.