Grid Computing

How to generate combinations in Python

I was asked to help implement a kind of reusable combination generator in Python given the maximum number and the group size. Combination is widely used in high performance computing especially for searching in state space. Note that it means solving problem by brute force technique. So I wrote several codes.

Building academic conference site using Drupal

I have just assigned to find a solution for building an academic conference site as quick as possible. I used to be authors and also reviewer assistant but I have never been an organizer. This is my first time in this area. Anyway, it seems there are many softwares available right now. Below are just a list I found in Google.

  1. BYU Paper Review System - This one is very old and maybe obsolete for so long. The most interesting thing I found is that it was written in C as external PHP module.
  2. MyReview - It has just released the latest feature-rich version last month.

I don't have much time to find more but it seems MyReview is one of the most popular player. Anyway, my favorite CMS is Drupal and most of our sites are Drupalized. It would be nice if we can build an academic conference site using Drupal. And I found Conference module for Drupal.

How to tune network parameters for high performance network

Linux is one of the best operating system. Its default settings are almost perfect especially network parameters. I said almost because they are not completely perfect for all situations. Actually, it works perfectly on many situations, e.g., desktop, workstation, and server. For such a normal server, Linux is sufficient for all of us. However, in high performance computing area, the default settings might be not enough at all. So we have to tune network parameters to obtain the top performance.

Computer System in 2,800 million baht

ตั้งชื่อซะหรู กะจะแปลเป็นไทยว่า "ระบบคอมพิวเตอร์งบ 2,800 ล้านบาท" พอดีได้อ่านข่าวเล็กๆ น้อยๆ เรื่อง Linux บน Mainframe เห็นแล้วต้องกลับมาคิดหลายวัน เหมือนมีอะไรค้างคาใจในหัว สุดท้ายก็คิดออกเมื่อกี๊เอง เรื่องของเรื่องก็คือระบบคอมพิวเตอร์ที่ว่ามันคืออะไร และด้วยราคานี้จะมีทางเลือกอะไรได้บ้าง เท่าที่อ่านดูงานนี้งบนี้ต้องใช้คำว่าระบบ เพราะรวมฮาร์ดแวร์ ซอฟต์แวร์ และเน็ตเวิร์คเข้าด้วยกันแบบ turn-key ซึ่งบริษัทที่จะรับทำงานแบบนี้ได้ต้องมีเงินถุงเงินถังแน่นอน กว่าจะได้เงินก็คงเป็นปี เรื่องจ่ายเงินเอาไว้ก่อน ตอนนี้ผมสนใจอยู่สองประเด็น

  1. ฮาร์ดแวร์ที่ดูเหมือนจะเป็น
  2. ฮาร์ดแวร์ที่เป็นไปได้

3D Visualizing Quantum Chemistry Molecule in Ubuntu Edgy

First of all, I'm not a chemistry scientist at all. It is not my field. This era, we are on the globalization and multi-disciplinary interaction. I am just a computer engineer and any fields might involve to computer. Actually, computer itself is absolutely useless as long as you don't have applications to run. Recent drugs are officially recovered using virtual screening technology based on computational science where as computer system is used as a key component to simulate the effect of each drug candidate instead of going to try it in real laboratory. This technique is a part of quantum chemistry. Not only simulation is used here but also visualization is another critical part. I can't remember how to explain the structure of a molecule but I'm sure it must be in 3D plane. Human may imagine how it is but it is impossible to communicate to others by just description. The only way to solve this problem is 3D visualization in computer. That's why I'm here. Moreover, my box is Ubuntu Edgy. I have to find my way to visualize input/output in 3D.

How to apply high performance computing in wedding ceremony

Do you know why a wedding is usually took so long preparation time? Generally, a wedding may take place after 4 months or more of the time you made final decision. Why? The answer is to make the wedding ceremony perfect by impressive presentation. If you can't imagine, I recommend you to check out an example at Ju & Na Wedding. I'm not sure but it seems wedding is not just church and hotel but web too. That is the starting point to introduce guests to the wedding. All details are updated often to make sure guests got the correct information. In the ceremony, the most impressive part is presentation. Actually, the 4 months before the wedding are just to make the perfect presentation just right for the couples.