Quotes
and wisdom from Mac
and wisdom from Mac
Start by asking a question
What would an acceptable answer to this question look like?
Begin by studying the simplest relevant case
Trust and verify. What could go wrong? The easiest person for you to fool is for you to fool yourself.
Extend to more general cases.
Notation, notation, notation - use a mnemonic notation that helps a reader remember what the variables mean.
ALWAYS check the dimensions. Do not add inches to pounds
The grandmother sanity test (Do the formulas make logical sense if you describe them in words to your grandmother?)
Integration by parts (divide and conquer) is a powerful weapon
Big-to-small analysis (forest-trees-branches-bark analysis)
If you can prove that A implies B, check if B implies A
If you can’t decide between A or B, then the answer is usually C
Systems analysis: a. identify the nodes, b. connect the nodes, c. study the system of connected notes
Build your bus: a. get the right people in your life; b. remove the wrong people from your bus, but don’t throw them under the bus
When it seems like magic, you need more information. Remember that sometimes there are miracles
Shot for the moon, but have milestones along the way
Luck is fleeting (be prepared)
Sharpen your saw
Permit yourself to have fun
If it looks interesting to you, then it IS interesting
We remember Babe Ruth for holding the homerun record for over 40 years. You can’t hit the ball over the fence if you don't swing the bat. We tend to forget that he also held the record for the most strikeouts for 30 years. Go for it, or you will miss opportunities
Start with the simplest problem where you know the answer and write a code to solve it first.
Plan to rewrite computer codes at least three times: the first to throw away, the second to restructure, the final one to keep
Notation, notation, notation - use a mnemonic notation where variable names are meaningful. Use a consistent computer style for naming variables and stick with it (e.g., MATLAB style manual).
Document, document, document, everything.
Use unit testing whenever possible. Verify that the package routines do what you think they do by solving problems with known solutions.
Sharpen your saw. Learn new capabilities of your programming environment.
An architect makes plans before breaking ground. The best houses are built on a solid foundation—don’t build the walls until after you have a foundation, and don’t lay the foundation until after you have the house plans.
CEOs don’t do work. The software should be structured like a large corporation with layers of middle management, with a hierarchy for its complexity.
Communicate your results through stories in lectures and papers
Use a journalism style of writing; technical papers are not who-done-it novels. Use the abstract and first few paragraphs to summarize the paper.
Tell the big story before getting into the details. Use the forest, trees, branches, and bark analogy to outline the story.
Your papers and lectures are not mystery stories; they are more like newspaper articles. Set the hook by telling the audience the results first.
The paper or talk starts by telling the reader what you have done, then going through the details and telling them what you did.
Every Figure and Table caption has two parts. 1) Say what is being presented and 2) Describe what you want the reader to notice.
Presentation slides - The header states the main result in one or two lines, but the body gives the details, and the footer leads into the next slide
Have the computer read the final version to you
Use grammar tools like Grammarly
Use a consistent notation that indicates the dimensions of the variables (e.g., lower case Latin letters, such as t for time, lower case Greek letters for rates, upper case Latin letters for sets or numbers, and i,j,k for indices.
Identify an exciting problem
First, work on the problem without a deep literature search. (The idea is that if you read all the literature, then you will be stuck in the same place as the others who have worked on the problem. - and many of them are probably brilliant people.)
When you have gone as far as possible, dive deeply into the literature. With luck, you would have taken a different path and could get new ideas from what others have done. Often, you will have rediscovered what others already knew. If so, think of it as a good learning experience.
Publish as soon as you have finished step 3. If you discover something new, then others are likely right behind you.
Follow your passion every day
Integrity and compassion trumps knowledge
If you’re stuck in a hole, stop digging
We don’t just need people; we need the right people in our lives.