Scientific Computing: Conquering Space

     Scientific computing allows the use of mathematics in order to analyze and test scenarios in order to gain knowledge or information on a subject. This is usually used concurrently with scientific testing in labs or experiments. The scientific computing will give a general guideline of what we think will happen and how to set everything up, and we can then test it ourselves and see if the data agrees.

A Stanford Torus Concept from nss.org

     This is often used in things related to space technology. We lack the funds to be able to field test everything we wish to blindly with no fear of consequences, so usually testing will be done on computers beforehand. Additionally, the fluctuation of variables, such as speed and direction, must be constantly analyzed by computers in space so that satellites, space shuttles, and probes have faster access to relatively accurate data. For example, a proposed design for a space habitat called a Stanford torus would take extremely large amounts of computation in order to create an experimental replica in real life. For those who don't know, a Stanford torus is a space habitat that has a ring that people could live in. This ring rotates to provide artificial gravity via centrifugal force, and a network of mirrors in the center of the ring would reflect sunlight to the ring. This would be impossible to create with our current resources, but a computer is able to create a virtual, experimental version of the torus through computation. As you can see, Computers were a huge advancement in technology and help us in advancing in a multitude of other areas, such as the field of Science.

Computer Graphics: What is it?

     Put simply, computer graphics is the representation of an image using graphics hardware and software on computers. Anything that is not text or sound from a computer screen is generally considered to be computer graphics. The image is stored as data, and when a user wishes to view it, the computer converts it to an understandable form using its own graphics capabilities. There are many styles of computer graphics, and they can be animated as well.

Image from ExtremeTech.com

      As depicted above, computer graphics can involve smooth images or pixel art. Movies that you view on a computer is stored as data that the computer deciphers into a series of images that you can understand. A picture on a computer is stored as a chunk of data and when you open it the computer draws it for you using the data as a guideline. 3D figures are also part of computer graphics and may use animation as well. All of these use similar techniques of storing the image information in a file and using graphics hardware and software to draw the image using the data stored when a user wishes to access it. Images can then be manipulated and changed using programs like Adobe Photoshop if the user wishes to do so. Computer graphics is constantly getting better and eventually, we will probably have images and movies that parallel real life, made entirely using computer graphics imaging.

Image from the Game: Forza 5

Communications and Security: The Importance of Using Secure Passwords

    Did you know that the top three most commonly used passwords are password, 123456, and 12345678? These are all extremely easy for a person to guess, and they are even easier for a program to crack. Imagine someone getting access to your bank account because of a weak password or someone being able to access your email and impersonate you. Even with the fail-safe mechanisms present today, there is no guarantee that you will be able to protect your data before it is compromised. Today's blog will talk about password security and how to make sure your personal data is well-protected.

From Spectrum.ieee.org

     There is a misconception that a password that is harder to remember is harder for a program to crack. For example, the password D0g............... is more difficult for most programs to crack than the password PrXyc.N(n4k77#L!eVdAfp9, even though the former is much easier to remember. This is because there are more characters in the dog password, creating a larger amount of possibilities that it could be. It also contains at least one upper case letter, one lower case letter, one digit, and one symbol. Likewise, the password Tr0ub4dor&3 is generally considered to be weaker than the easily remembered password correcthorsebatterystaple, as a result of the larger amount of entropy generated by having more letters. However, I recommend having at least one upper case letter, lower case letter, digit, and symbol in your passwords.

Image taken from xkcd

     Knowing to make longer passwords instead of more complicated ones is an easy way to create more secure passwords. This doesn't mean that your password is foolproof though. It might be compromised eventually, possibly through the website's password database being hacked or some other circumstances, and thus you want to have different passwords for each of your accounts. You can use similar passwords for each with something related to the website url behind it. For example, an easily remembered password could be Dog...............15blogspot for this site. This way, if one of your passwords is revealed, your other accounts should be relatively safe. Go change your passwords now and then come back to read my other posts!