Presentations

This page is home to some of the presentations I've done over the years. Most have been for school while others have been for LaRC or Sun Microsystems (I was a student rep. for them for a *very* brief period of time.) If you have any questions/comments, feel free to email me.

LaRC

An Introduction to LaTeX

This presentation introduces the LaTeX document formatting system. It covers what TeX & LaTeX are, a brief history of them, and the advantages they offer over WYSIWYG alternatives such as MS Office and OpenOffice. It also covers how to write, compile, and view LaTeX documents and briefly introduces some of the formatting commands and environments available in LaTeX. The presentation then provides a great set of references for where to go for more information.

An Introduction to Neural Networks and SANE

The term "Neural Networks" tends to bring fear and awe into the minds of many young computer science students. This presentation de-mystifies Neural Networks by introducing the logic behind them, how they work, and what they are used for. Also discussed is a genetic algorithm known as SANE, Symbiotic Adaptive Neuro-Evolution, that Kevin Upchurch and I used for our Senior Design Project.

Mathematics

In early 2004, Neal Hogan and myself created an informal study group at UC for studying various fields of mathematics that, collectively, are colled the ``foundations of mathematics''. To see at complete list of the papers we have put together, visit the following page:

Set Theory: The Zermelo-Fraenkel Axioms

This presentation was for a seminar I took on contemporary set theory. I had to present chapter 2 of Keith Devlin's The Joy of Sets to the class which covers the language of set theory (simply first-order logic plus the '∈' symbol), the cumulative hierarchy of sets (the V hierarchy), an introduction to class theory, and finally the Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms themselves (minus the Axiom of Choice).

Set Theory: The Axiom of Constructibility

This presentation continues from my previous presentation on set theory and introduces chapter 5 of Keith Devlin's The Joy of Sets. It covers constructibility, the constructible hierarchy, and how to use the axiom of constructibility to prove that IF Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory is consistent THEN so is Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory plus the axiom of choice.

Lambda Calculus: Annotated Notes for Church's Original Text

This presentation is really just a set of annotated notes that I put together while reading through Alonzo Church's original text The Calculi of Lambda Conversion, where the system of Lambda Calculus was first formally introduced. These make a great resource for anyone just starting to study lambda calculus.

Java & Related Technologies

The following presentation material for Java & Related Technologies was provided by Sun Microsystems as part of their SunSTAR (Sun Student Technology Associate Representative) program, which I was formerly a member of. All of the presentation notes, however, are my own.

Java

This provides a high-level perspective on what Java is, how it can be used, and what the future holds for Java developers. Great for those who have never used Java before.

Java & XML

This covers XML as well as the various API's available to manipulate and parse an XML document from Java. XML is extremely simple stuff and this presentation does a good job of covering the basics.

JXTA

This covers, at a very high-level, what JXTA is. It discusses the benefits of Peer-to-Peer and distributed computing as well as many of the problems with today's Client-Server/Internet paradigm. If you write distributed apps (or want to), and would like to know how JXTA technology can help, this presentation provides some useful info.

J2ME

This presentation covers J2ME, the Macro-Edition of the Java 2 language. The basics of programming J2ME in an embedded world are discussed, along with the various tools available for developers working with embedded apps (such as emulators).