Archive for November, 2006

Thursday, November 30th, 2006

Viewing Python function documentation with __doc__

Earlier this morning, I was looking for a way to look up Python function definitions inside of the interpreter.
My work buddy (that would be you, gfast) came to the rescue by pointing out the (very handy) __doc__ built-in attribute, which returns Docstring of the function it’s attached to.
Sweet!
It’s always annoyed me that […]

4 Comments » - Posted in Python by dkaz

Sunday, November 26th, 2006

Suffix arrays

While reading up on full-text search engine design, I ran into mentions of suffix arrays. Posting here to commit their definition to memory.
From Wikipedia - Suffix Array is an array giving the suffixes of a string in lexicographical order.
Consider the string “abracadabra”, of length 11. It has eleven suffixes: “abracadabra”, “bracadabra”, “racadabra”, and so on […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Programming, Algorithms by dkaz

Sunday, November 26th, 2006

Ant-decapitating Fly

More nature reading…

One of the most bizarre groups is the genus Apocephalus, whose species are commonly referred to as the ant-decapitating flies. Darting from above, an Apocephalus female lands on its ant victim, pierces it […]

No Comments » - Posted in Interesting, Nature by dkaz

Sunday, November 26th, 2006

Sting Index

I was watching a Florida-FSU game earlier today and one of the players came out of the game with an injury later dubbed a “stinger”.
I decided to Wikipedia the term, as I was curious whether a precise medical definition of a “stinger” existed. It did not, at least not on Wikiepdia, but I did run […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Interesting, Nature by dkaz

Wednesday, November 22nd, 2006

25 Funniest Analogies

Brilliant collection of “25 Funniest Analogies” collected by high-school teachers and published here just made my day.
15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan’s teeth.

UPDATE: The post is mirrored by duggmirror here - it seems the original link is down right now.

No Comments » - Posted in Funny, Writing by dkaz