MRCSD Blog

Automata Part 3: Follow Automata

Marcus Desai — Thu, 31 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This is the third post in my automata series, thankfully much shorter than the last one 😆 Here's parts one and two. You can find the companion code for this post here.

Audience Assumptions: Has read parts one and two of this series, or has knowledge of follow set like constructions …

Automata Part 2: Implementing Position Automata

Marcus Desai — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This is the second post in my automata series. You can find the companion code for this post here.

Upfront I want to say that this post will be long, with reason.

I'm going to be explicit about each part of the implementation, even if I run the risk of …

My Emoji Grammar

Marcus Desai — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0100

I thought I'd write something quick on my use of emoji with respect to English sentence structure. A nice, chill departure from writing the second post in my automata series 😅

I have one major uncontroversial way I use emoji, to transmit a feeling I have in the moment I express …

Automata Part 1: Understanding Position Automata

Marcus Desai — Wed, 16 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0100

This is the first post in a series on coding up algorithms for constructing automata from regexes.

A quick note before we begin: I will link to relevant wikipedia pages, but in my opinion these pages are often not very comprehensible, so please do ignore them if you want and …

Freedom Is in Being Who You Are

Marcus Desai — Mon, 07 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0100

I've been toying with a conceptualisation of free will for a while, it's not fully formed but I want to write about it and try to sketch it out and make it more concrete.

The idea is that the actions of a person are strictly, universally unique to them. Then …

Generic Parameters in Python 3.12

Marcus Desai — Sun, 06 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Just something quick about one of my favourite upcoming Python 3.12 features, generic type parameter syntax!

Generics have been part of Python for almost 8 years. They were added when type hints themselves were introduced by PEP 484 in Python 3.5. Geez, it feels like it's been way …

Hesitant Control is not Leadership

Marcus Desai — Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0100

Disappointed was my overriding feeling witnessing the Labour leadership's response to the 2023 Uxbridge by-election loss. Where we might expect to find a robust defense of Labour policies, we instead have an inward looking rush to assign blame, usually the stuff of general election defeats.

It is correct to say …