HlaMin

Tag: Computing

  • Hack

    Hack

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Aug 2025

    U Hla Min

    In the early days of Computing, a Hack is defined to be a “useful and/or beautiful piece of code.”

    Hacker

    • Some students, who worked at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Computing Laboratories, preferred working on code rather than attending courses.
    • They feel proud of their Hacks and are addressed as Hackers.
    • Over time, Unethical Hackers emerged.
    • Ethical Hackers also rose to defend against the Unethical Hackers.
    • Most people do no know or care about the difference between Ethical and Unethical Hackers.

    Ethical Hackers

    • They try to break the security of computer systems and applications.
    • They propose solutions to defend the possible attacks of Unethical Hackers.
    • They are known as White Hats.

    Unethical Hackers

    • They inflict damage to hardware, software and data systems.
    • They may steal and sell sensitive information.
    • One study says that it is safer and lucrative to be a Criminal Hacker (also referred to as Cracker) than selling drugs (which can lead to imprisonment and death in some countries).
    • The underground business for malware (viruses, Trojan horses, …) is valued at multi-billion dollars.


  • Numbers

    Numbers

    by Hla Min

    Updated : Aug 2025

    U Hla Min

    Value of a number

    Value of a number in positional notation depends upon the Base or Radix.

    In the Decimal system (Base Ten), 1001 has a value of a thousand and one.

    In the Binary system (Base Two), 1001 has a value of 9.

    Folklore

    • “One Thousand and One Nights” (also known as Arabian Nights) is from the Arabic Folklore.
    • Scheherazade told 1001 stories to defer her death.

    Numerical Palindrome

    • A palindrome reads the same forward and backward.
    • 101, 1001 and 123454321 are numerical Palindromes.

    Ramanujan and the Beauty of numbers

    Ramanujan was highly interested in Mathematics and ignored other subjects in College.

    Ended up as an employee in a post office.
    Bold enough to send his handwritten notes to Professor Hardy (Cambridge University), who sponsored him.

    Ramanujan later fell gravely ill.
    Professor Hardy went to see him in a hospital. He supposedly told Ramanujan that he rode a taxi cab with 1729 on its license.

    Ramanujan replied, “That is an interesting number. It is the smallest number that can be represented as the sum of two cubes in two ways.”

    1729 = 729 + 1000 = 9*9*9 + 10*10*10

    1729 = 1 + 1728 = 1*1*1 + 12*12*12

    Ramanujan’s works are still being studied and refined by Mathematicians.