Hackers Spawn Web Supercomputer on Way to Chess World Record
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Hi everyone,
This one looks a bit geeky: Hackers Spawn Web Supercomputer on Way to Chess World Record!
Three months ago, Ruan Pethiyagoda didn’t even call himself a computer programmer. But now he’s knee-deep in the Hack Reactor. Based in San Francisco, the Hack Reactor is one of many crash software development courses that seek to teach computer programming through several weeks of complete immersion in code, writes Klint Finley in the Wired.com.
Though little more than an experiment at this point, the project is yet another way the net is stretching the boundaries of “distributed computing,” where thousands — or even tens of thousands — of machines are pooled together to solve a common task. Popular web outfits like Google and Amazon operate in this way, and these web giants have spawned a whole new breed of distributed software that lets others benefit from the same tricks of the trade.
Read more »Hi everyone,
This one looks a bit geeky: Hackers Spawn Web Supercomputer on Way to Chess World Record!
Three months ago, Ruan Pethiyagoda didn’t even call himself a computer programmer. But now he’s knee-deep in the Hack Reactor. Based in San Francisco, the Hack Reactor is one of many crash software development courses that seek to teach computer programming through several weeks of complete immersion in code, writes Klint Finley in the Wired.com.
Pethiyagoda enrolled in the school this past March, and over the past several weeks, he and three other hackers-in-training have teamed with one of the giants of the tech industry — the Pivotal Initiative, the big data spin-off company from EMC and VMware — to approach a new world record for what’s called the N-Queens Problem, a classic math puzzle that plays out on a chess board.
But more importantly, in working to solve this problem, this four-person team — Cameron Boehmer, John S. Dvorak, and Tim Sze, as well as Pethiyagoda — has developed a new breed of software that lets you pool the processing power of potentially thousands of machines just by pointing them to a single website. They call this creation Smidge. It’s a kind of ad hoc supercomputer built with JavaScript, the standard programming language of the web.
But more importantly, in working to solve this problem, this four-person team — Cameron Boehmer, John S. Dvorak, and Tim Sze, as well as Pethiyagoda — has developed a new breed of software that lets you pool the processing power of potentially thousands of machines just by pointing them to a single website. They call this creation Smidge. It’s a kind of ad hoc supercomputer built with JavaScript, the standard programming language of the web.
Hack Reactor is a place where you learn by practice. When you show up, you’re tossed into a group of other students and you’re all given a common project meant to further your understanding of computer science and engineering. You work 11 hours a day, six days a week.
Though little more than an experiment at this point, the project is yet another way the net is stretching the boundaries of “distributed computing,” where thousands — or even tens of thousands — of machines are pooled together to solve a common task. Popular web outfits like Google and Amazon operate in this way, and these web giants have spawned a whole new breed of distributed software that lets others benefit from the same tricks of the trade.
Labels: cameron boehmer, chess and computers, eight queens puzzle, hack reactor, john j watkins, john s dvorak, max bezzel, n-queens, ruan pethiyagoda, schachzeitung, smidge, tim sze
posted by Chess Blog Admin @ 12:54 PM
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