MacResearch

One of the advantages of scripting languages like Python is the multitude of modules you can install and leverage in your research. One of the disadvantages of scripting languages like Python is the multitude of modules you can install and leverage in your research. Anyone who has worked with packages like Numpy and Scipy will know the dilemma: On the one hand, there is a lot of useful code in these packages; on the other, they can make getting started a pain in the neck, because installation is not always trivial, and often will depend upon other modules being pre-installed. This is the type of situation that projects like Fink and MacPorts have arisen to address in the space of UNIX tools.

So is there anything like Fink for scientific Python? It turns out there is: SAGE. The SAGE project slogan is ‘Creating a viable free open source alternative to Magma, Maple, Mathematica, and Matlab’, which will hopefully give you some idea of its lofty goals. In a nutshell, SAGE brings together a swath of different modules in one easy to install package.

I think Time Machine is fantastic, particularly when used with a Time Capsule. For this week, I just thought I would do a quick roundup of a few tricks and news I have collected on Time Machine.

Tip 1. There was this week an interesting software released, that allows access to Time Machine via the command-line. That's right. Instead of flying through space, you can just type some text and get some lines of text back, the good old way. The CLI version tms was developed by Robert Pointon who runs the FernLightning website. It was designed to accept VCS-like command (which means similar to what you would do with version control software such as Subversion). Learn all about it on the tms website.

Software bundles like MacHeist have become a regular feature of the Mac landscape of late. There are plenty of good deals to be had, and plenty of discussion about the ethics of such bundles. But leaving all that aside, what would be your ideal bundle for science?

Nick Greeves is a senior lecturer at Liverpool University, he is also Mac using chemist. He has created a web site dedicated to displaying interactive 3D animations of some of the most important organic chemistry reactions. This site is an invaluable undergraduate teaching resource.

One interesting question in scientific publishing right now is how to "cross the lines" between academic publication and informal web discussions like blogging.

For example, I came across a blog post from Jon Udell, discussing how difficult it can be to find web discussions about scientific articles.

I've written before on this issue of memory bandwidth bottlenecks for certain
type of scientific codes (i.e. memory "bound" codes) on current multi-core Macs.
The main point is that with processors getting faster and faster (higher clock rates
and inclusion of additional cores) at a much more rapid rate compared with

If you had five minutes with the leadership of Apple's Science division, what would you ask? What are the biggest open questions for Science on the Mac? And what should Apple do to get more/better scientific apps to the Mac?

My research group has a tradition of giving PhD students lavish gifts upon their departure. Recently, one of our flock was successfully promoted to the rank of Doctor of Philosophy, and we went through the usual brainstorming to decide upon an appropriate present. The student in question is an enthusiastic Python scripter, so one of the more creative types in the group came up with the idea of a Python themed T-Shirt, to go with the iPod that just about everyone seems to get.

Recently I needed to resize one of my Windows partitions in Parallels. Parallels comes with a tool for resizing the partition, but it doesn't merge the newly allocated space into the existing space. I found a couple of methods for performing the merge on the Parallels support forums and via Google. The one I ended up using was from UneasySilence and it was so painless to perform I thought I'd share it with others in case anyone is interested in doing the same thing.

Apple's newest iPod is much more than a mp3 player. For many — including Yours Truly — it is first and foremost an internet device, with the added bonus of being able to play your music, movies, and podcasts. I've had mine now a few months, and recently started to investigate an application of the device hitherto largely ignored: e-reading.