Top all-time · #8087
Lucky's Notes
Personal blog · luckytoilet.wordpress.commathprogrammingai
Lucky's Notes is a personal blog at luckytoilet.wordpress.com about math, programming and ai. Since 2010, 9 different Hacker News readers have linked it 31 times, most often “Are programming competitions a good use of time?”. The last post was in 2023, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (2) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Posts on maths and programming: a comparison of Maxima with Mathematica, and a short tutorial on genetic algorithms built around a Tetris AI player.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 2 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Notes on math, coding, and other stuff
Most-linked posts?
- Are programming competitions a good use of time?2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2016-12-24
- Coding a Tetris AI using a Genetic Algorithm2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-05-28
- How a simple trick decreased my elevator waiting time by 33%2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-07-05
What Hacker News says?
Somewhat unrelated but I would like to also mention Maxima ( http://maxima.sourceforge.net/ ), which used to be maintained by the late Dr. Schelter and is still updated. Here is a link to an old comparison between it and Mathematica: https://luckytoilet.wordpress.com/2014/08/11/beginners-compa... .
Comment linking /2014/08/11/beginners-comparison-of-computer-algebra-systems-mathematica-maxima-maple/
on “Mathics – A free, light-weight alternative to Mathematica”Submitted How to Write your own Minesweeper AI as a story · 82 points
HN discussionI wrote a Minesweeper solver a while ago, it uses backtracking search with decent results: https://luckytoilet.wordpress.com/2012/12/23/2125/ Now I wonder how does the performance of this SAT solver compare to backtracking? Which one deals better with situations where guessing is required?
Comment linking /2012/12/23/2125/
on “Cracking Minesweeper with Z3 SMT Solver”Submitted Coding a Tetris AI using a Genetic Algorithm as a story · 48 points
HN discussionI implemented a lot of these tactics, and my AI achieved about 50% success rate on expert mode. https://luckytoilet.wordpress.com/2012/12/23/2125/
Comment linking /2012/12/23/2125/
on “Minesweeper: Advanced Tactics (2005)”Submitted Deep Learning for NLP: SpaCy vs. PyTorch vs. AllenNLP as a story · 6 points
HN discussionSome time ago I wrote an English -> Gregg Shorthand converter: https://luckytoilet.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/an-introduction... It's not very good, but I'd like to see if anyone can make a better one. It's a shame that shorthand is lost to time and mostly replaced by technology like audio recorders.
Comment linking /2010/07/09/an-introduction-to-gregg-shorthand-and-an-attempted-english-to-shorthand-converter/
on “A lesson in the lost technology of shorthand (2014)”Submitted Lessons learned after 6 months of building a language learning startup as a story · 5 points
HN discussionI did some work on a minesweeper solver [1], I'm surprised my work is not mentioned. The best version of their algorithm wins on expert 32.9% of the time, whereas my AI achieves about 50% win rate. My AI uses the connected components decomposition that they did, but also some endgame tactics that significantly improved win rate (that they didn't consider). [1]: https://luckytoilet.wordpress.com/2012/12/23/2125/
Comment linking /2012/12/23/2125/
on “Algorithmic Approaches to Playing Minesweeper (2015)”Submitted Learning R as a Computer Scientist as a story · 5 points
HN discussionGood and short intro to genetic algorithms by coding a tetris ai player http://luckytoilet.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/coding-a-tetris-...
Comment linking /2011/05/27/coding-a-tetris-ai-using-a-genetic-algorithm/
on “Using Genetic Algorithms to Break Things”Submitted How a simple trick decreased my elevator waiting time by 33% as a story · 4 points
HN discussionI recently worked on a project that attempted to find harmonizing chord progressions for pop songs, given a melody. Since pop music has such predictable structure, I think AI generation is well within possibility. https://luckytoilet.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/ai-project-harm...
Comment linking /2017/04/25/ai-project-harmonizing-pop-melodies-using-hidden-markov-models/
on “Can AI Write Pop Songs?”Submitted Are programming competitions a good use of time? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI wrote an article that explains this result with pictures. You might find it helpful for understanding it: https://luckytoilet.wordpress.com/2016/07/28/a-brief-introdu...
Comment linking /2016/07/28/a-brief-introduction-to-dna-computing/
on “Using DNA to Solve NP-Complete Problems (1995) [pdf]”Submitted What are the real world applications of automaton theory? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted XGBoost learns the Canadian Flag as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Splitting utility costs between roommates is NP-Complete as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Show HN: Harmonizing Pop Melodies Using Hidden Markov Models as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Show HN: Play back text message conversations in real time as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted A Brief Introduction to DNA Computing as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Notes on Mercator's Projection as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted How to deploy your deep learning side project on a budget as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Ethics of (not) Tipping at Restaurants as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How to read research papers for fun and profit as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Publishing negative results in ML is like proving dragons don't exist as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted What’s the difference between Mathematics and Statistics? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How a simple trick decreased my elevator waiting time by 33% as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Are programming competitions a good use of time? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How to succeed in your first tech internship as a story · 1 points
HN discussion