Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips Most tasks provide us with something and information. Often the information is more important than the something. Often the information is something we already know. If that is the case, skip the task. Testing is a task that provides information. Well let’s back up: a good test provides information we can use. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Stop worrying about the next technology. Do something simple that has all the functions you need. The database. Sigh. Gosh, what is next? What is the next database technology that will solve all my problems? Requirements: Enter information. Find entered information. Read entered information. Change entered information. Solution: The ASCII text file. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips Each generation laments how no one recognizes how special they are. Well, sort of. Times change, ya’ know? I just saw another one of these things online. It was a black and white photo of kids on their bicycles in the street. We were the last generation to ride bikes in the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips We need more explainers. These are persons who answer the question, “Whatcha’ doin’?” Whatcha’ doin’? Hows’it work? How ya’ doin’? These are simple questions. These are the basic questions we ask others all the time. Often, we repeat the question six or seven times in different forms and still don’t receive an […]

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by Dwayne Phillips There is nothing wrong with mimicry. Let’s stop kidding ourselves; much of today’s machine learning is simple mimicry. mimicry: noun, the action or art of imitating someone or something, typically in order to entertain or ridicule. Let’s be candid here. Much of Machine Learning (ML)—a currently popular branch of Artificial Intelligence (AI)—is […]

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by Dwayne Phillips “Everyone” wants flexibility in their job (work from home when I want). How many of us want “meaning” in our job? “I can do this job from anywhere at almost anytime of day or night.” That statement is immediately followed by the question, “So why do you want me here from 9 […]

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by Dwayne Phillips When assuming that another person already knows something, ask, “And why would they know that?” It happened again the other day at work, someone interrupted a presentation, pointed to something mentioned but not shown, and asked, “But what is that thing? What does it do?” The presenter, unable to hide the aghast […]

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by Dwayne Phillips The number crunchers now rule the world. How did that happen? Many years ago I was a number cruncher. I did then what people still call “digital signal processing.” We took analog signals, magically made them numbers in computers via gadgets called analog-to-digital converters or A/D converters, and happily applied digital approximations […]

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by Dwayne Phillips If someone asks a question in English, please answer in English. Please avoid some other private language. In recent conversations, I asked, “Your research, how far ahead in time are you working? Your work may become reality in 1, 5, 10 years?” The answer was, “TRL 4.” (see this for a translation) […]

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