![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Nov. 21st, 2006
MATLAB rotted my brain
Nov. 21st, 2006 10:22 amI learned to program in the 80s on BASIC. Nothing very fancy, but I got my if-then-elses and do-whiles in a row.
In college, I met MATLAB. MATLAB (or, as I like to call it, Matlab) is "The Language of Technical Computing" to those who like it, and something more like "Computing fer Enjuneerz" to those who prefer "real" languages. Matlab has three stellar traits, IMO: it makes input/output to files fairly easy, it has many useful functions already written, and it's good for graphing data.
In late college and grad school, I learned C from the venerable Kernignan and Ritchie text. Matlab is very C-like, but many things that were trivial in Matlab require more effort in C. That's because C is lean and mean, whereas Matlab is bloated with overhead. The things that make Matlab easy also slow it down. I worked all in C for my MS work, even. C and I, eventually, were pals.
Then came the dissertation, which went back to Matlab. I haven't coded in C since 2001.
You would not believe the hoops one must set up to shove input through to verify that the user has, indeed, entered a number when asked for one. (OK, some of you would.) It's not that it's overly difficult, per se... just a PITA when compared to "isreal(input)" or "isscalar(input)" in Matlab. I'm lazy now. :/
In college, I met MATLAB. MATLAB (or, as I like to call it, Matlab) is "The Language of Technical Computing" to those who like it, and something more like "Computing fer Enjuneerz" to those who prefer "real" languages. Matlab has three stellar traits, IMO: it makes input/output to files fairly easy, it has many useful functions already written, and it's good for graphing data.
In late college and grad school, I learned C from the venerable Kernignan and Ritchie text. Matlab is very C-like, but many things that were trivial in Matlab require more effort in C. That's because C is lean and mean, whereas Matlab is bloated with overhead. The things that make Matlab easy also slow it down. I worked all in C for my MS work, even. C and I, eventually, were pals.
Then came the dissertation, which went back to Matlab. I haven't coded in C since 2001.
You would not believe the hoops one must set up to shove input through to verify that the user has, indeed, entered a number when asked for one. (OK, some of you would.) It's not that it's overly difficult, per se... just a PITA when compared to "isreal(input)" or "isscalar(input)" in Matlab. I'm lazy now. :/
More adventures in fixed fingering
Nov. 21st, 2006 02:31 pmI think I must be missing something important in how "fixed fingering" is defined. I mean, maybe not - I have a book, "Early Music for the Wire Harp" that is exactly glueing one finger per string. Then again, my current teacher doesn't think much of the book.
The trouble is, it is very, very clumsy to play repeated notes with the same finger. Many published harp music books show the technique, but... ever since I've been taught to strike with different fingers, I've found my accuracy and speed have gone way up. See how fast you can tap one finger, then see how fast you can twiddle two fingers. I can get way more beats per minute with two fingers.
I sat down with one of my cantigas last night and found it fit within eight notes... but immediately got hung up on the repeated notes problem. I can keep my hands and fingers in about the same location, but I still don't have predictable note-to-finger assignments. Looks like it's the long list of ornaments in the end... perhaps there will be patterns and commonalities that'll make it slightly less tedious.
The trouble is, it is very, very clumsy to play repeated notes with the same finger. Many published harp music books show the technique, but... ever since I've been taught to strike with different fingers, I've found my accuracy and speed have gone way up. See how fast you can tap one finger, then see how fast you can twiddle two fingers. I can get way more beats per minute with two fingers.
I sat down with one of my cantigas last night and found it fit within eight notes... but immediately got hung up on the repeated notes problem. I can keep my hands and fingers in about the same location, but I still don't have predictable note-to-finger assignments. Looks like it's the long list of ornaments in the end... perhaps there will be patterns and commonalities that'll make it slightly less tedious.