Author Archive
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
Glasgow Venue 29th July: The Saltire Centre
The Saltire Centre, one of the main buildings of Caledonian University, is the new venue for TechMeetup in Glasgow. It’s an awesome space that we’re really lucky to have.
Directions
This Google Maps Street View at the entrance to the Caledonian University campus should do the trick - from that entrance, walk straight ahead and continue up the ramp into the Saltire Centre, which is the glass building just to the right of the building with Caledonian logo on it. Inside, we’ll have signs posted taking you up one floor to the Meetup Space.
Friday, July 17th, 2009
July Tech Meetup Glasgow: The Beauty of Code
Following our TechMeetup Glasgow earlier in July with a ‘Beauty of UI’ theme, we switched around this time for a session on the Beauty of Code, with talks from Thomas Figg (aka Tef) on what it takes to build a computer language, and Craig Nicol on the applications of genetic algorithms.
Unfortunately Tef couldn’t make it over, but we had a great session all the same – as always pizza and beer were enjoyed by all, and this was our first session in our new home The Saltire Centre at Glasgow Caledonian University.
Craig Nicol on Genetic Algorithms
Craig provided a high-level introduction to what genetic algorithms are and how they can be used.
Genetic algorithms is a search technique used in computing to find exact or approximate solutions to optimization and search problems. As the name suggests, they’re inspired by the process of evolution in the natural world. The typical genetic algorithm consists of a genetic representation of the solution domain, and a fitness function for evaluating the solution domain.
Craig used example to clarify the topic and his presentation stimulated an interesting discussion of potential applications of the technology.