tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1467360784939337729.post6478976130389125429..comments2023-10-30T08:29:37.406-07:00Comments on Programming Digressions: Best Deep Learning Books (Popular)sftwr2020http://www.blogger.com/profile/14201606904750701863noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1467360784939337729.post-84334985079938439252019-05-13T00:24:08.923-07:002019-05-13T00:24:08.923-07:00Nice blog, I will keep visiting this blog very oft...Nice blog, I will keep visiting this blog very often. <a href="https://www.desktopcon.org/best-240hz-monitor/" rel="nofollow">Best Laptops For College Student:2019's Buying Guide</a>josphenehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06136380173422519251noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1467360784939337729.post-48868804769736690312018-08-18T17:35:14.811-07:002018-08-18T17:35:14.811-07:00Hello.This article was really interesting, especia...Hello.This article was really interesting, especially because I was searching for thoughts on this issue last <br />Thursday.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1467360784939337729.post-70050588843278008512017-10-17T05:53:45.041-07:002017-10-17T05:53:45.041-07:00- Thanks, Jeff, for the great feedback. Comments f...- Thanks, Jeff, for the great feedback. Comments from readers like you <strong>make my day, every day :-)</strong><br /><br />- Yes, definitely, that sounds good and I hope you'll enjoy reading the book(s). I'm happy that I was able to <strong>bring them to your attention...</strong><br /><br />- To that I'll add (for you as well as, of course, the thousands of visitors who come to the Programming Digressions blog every month), and much as I've mentioned <em>elsewhere</em> on this blog, from time to time, <strong>I don't make a <em>single</em> cent</strong> out of the links such as those that I provide in the blog (as and when I add references to where all those books are available online, or in bricks-and-mortar bookstores, for purchase, be it at The MIT Press, Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble, etc.) - <strong>I write purely from my passion for sharing with you all</strong> what I have learned—and <em>continue</em> to learn—about the ever-evolving paradigms in our software development industry, our technological universe, our culture, <strong>and everything else in between!!! </strong><br /><br />- <strong>When it comes to blogging,</strong> I'm squarely an explorer of ideas; I share with you what's on my mind at any given point in time; I relish doing so, <strong>and want to serve you well!!!</strong><br /><br />- Again, thanks for your comment!sftwr2020https://www.blogger.com/profile/14201606904750701863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1467360784939337729.post-22727690810049507192017-10-13T08:48:09.421-07:002017-10-13T08:48:09.421-07:00Base upon your thorough commentary, I will certain...Base upon your thorough commentary, I will certainly read one of these books, Akram. Thanks for the post!Jeff Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06991227484145958230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1467360784939337729.post-27577019417479195692017-10-13T02:30:03.042-07:002017-10-13T02:30:03.042-07:00- Some essays get tons of comments from readers; l...- Some essays get <strong><em>tons</em> of comments</strong> from readers; last time I checked, the <a href="http://programming-digressions.blogspot.com/2015/08/best-spark-and-hadoop-books-in-god-we.html" rel="nofollow">essay on the nuts and bolts of working with Big Data</a> had a whopping 72 comments!<br /><br />- Others essays make <strong>shrinking violets</strong> out of you all; evidently, this essay has garnered a grand total of <em>one</em> comment, and <em>that</em> too is a comment from your very own blogger ;)<br /><br />- What gives? Well, I dunno... I'm going to chalk this up as <strong>one of those abiding mysteries of the universe</strong> that one never truly gets to fathom :)<br /><br />- Trust me, though, that nobody's going to make a shrinking violet out of me, no Sir and Madam ;)<br /><br />- So here we go, tongue planted firmly in cheek... <br /><br />- With that, <strong>let's revisit a theme</strong> we had touched on, in this very essay. It had all started out innocently enough—plus I'm happy to report that the selfsame innocence remains intact, both of your blogger <em>and</em> of this essay—with a remark in the essay about how there come to occasionally haunt your blogger the admittedly macabre themes of "violently demurring purists" and of "getting drawn-and-quartered". Ah yes, <strong>remembrance of things past</strong>, ala Marcel Proust ;)<br /><br />- Speaking of remembering, um, remembrance of things past got me all excited—I think you are beginning to see the recurring theme on this blog where your blogger gets all excited about <strong>making connections between seemingly disparate themes and ideas</strong>, both technical and non-technical, and then sharing them with you. <em>This</em> time, I got excited about something from the pages of an often-overlooked gem by Dr. Robert Kegan, who is the Meehan Professor of Adult Learning and Professional Development at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education...<br /><br />- ...that superb book by Dr. Kegan is entitled <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Over-Our-Heads-Mental-Demands/dp/0674445872/ref=mt_hardcover?_encoding=UTF8&me=" rel="nofollow"><em>In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life</em></a> (Harvard University Press).<br /><br />- In a nod to the whole business of "getting drawn-and-quartered", Dr. Kegan shared the following hilarious anecdote in <em>In Over Our Heads</em>, <strong>and which is what I wished to share with you today</strong>, if only to confirm that I'm in good company when I had worried about hopefully-ill-founded worries from the quarters of "demurring-purists-turned-pugilists" lol ;)<br /><br />- So in an introductory section of <em>In Over Our Heads</em>, Dr. Kegan shares <strong>the anecdote</strong> of how<br />'In my thirties I wrote <em>The Evolving Self</em>, proposing a view of human being as meaning-making and exploring inner experience and outer contours of our transformations in consciousness throughout the lifespan... Some years ago, when I proudly told my father that it was being translated into German and Korean, he said, "<strong>That's great! Now when is it going to be translated into <em>English</em>?</strong>". And in truth, these fortnightly letters from readers occasionally have a similar theme:<br /><br />Dear Dr. Kegan, We had to read your book in our psychology class. I can't believe the publishers let the thing out in this condition. No one in our class understands what you are saying. Not even our teacher, and he assigned it! Who are you trying to impress with all those big words? <strong>I got so mad reading your book</strong> I wanted to come to Boston and break your teeth.'<br /><br />Sincerely,<br><br />[writer's name]<br /><br />I appreciated the "sincerely"...<br /><br />And <em>that</em> brings us to the <strong>end of the anecdote</strong>... I don't know about you, but <em>I</em> sure got a kick out of that; I trust that you enjoyed it, too, including any and all demurring purists who gleefully read "Programming Digressions" :) :)sftwr2020https://www.blogger.com/profile/14201606904750701863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1467360784939337729.post-66134153623641728062017-10-01T12:32:03.269-07:002017-10-01T12:32:03.269-07:00- As the one-and-only contributor to this blog'...- As the one-and-only contributor to this blog's content, format, and presentation, I—as a matter of principle—do <em>not</em> edit my essays after posting them; I will, on occasion, revisit and clean up grammatical mistakes, or perhaps update stale links, but that's about it!<br /><br />- That was just <b>a friendly reminder...</b><br /><br />- I'm here now, following up, to actually <b>add a general comment</b> to my <em>own</em> essay. That sounds a bit recursive, doesn't it? Fancy that :)<br /><br />- Anyhow, here's the idea: Having posted this essay a bit earlier (You're all familiar with the routine of how I write most all my essays over the weekends, or else early mornings, say 4:00 AM to 6:00 AM) <b>the thought crossed my mind</b> that perhaps some recruiters might find this blog and think, heaven forbid, that the essays on the blog are perhaps a glorified pitch of my resume! Sheesh!<br /><br />- Nothing could be farther from the truth. Yep, exactly! <b>So in a typical essay,</b> I'll routinely clarify up-front my stance on a particular topic, my opinion (personal opinion, which is mine, and mine alone), what my strengths—along with my weaknesses—are, what my background is that gives me credentials to talk about any given topic, and so on and so forth. <br /><br />- And goodness gracious, on realizing that, <b>I immediately hasten to add here the unambiguous thought</b> that I already <em>have</em> the best job in the world. <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/akram-ahmad-724348a/" rel="nofollow">I work alongside some of the smartest people on the planet.</a> More importantly, <em>much</em> more importantly, I work for a genuinely caring company—a company that cares deeply for its customers and cares equally passionately for its employees—and there's no lip service going on anywhere. I've been in the industry for a bit over two decades, and know genuineness full well when I see it!<br /><br />- I'll add that, all employees here, my coworkers—all the way up to the <em>highest</em> levels of management—sit together at the proverbial table, as it were, like friends. <b>We cheer one another to achieve the very best, every single day,</b> and in the process we seek to usher our industry into higher and higher echelons of excellence and performance. Equally importantly, of course, we doggedly focus on ensuring that our customers benefit from our endless pipeline of innovations, both in the business and technical spheres.<br /><br />- Enough said!<br /><br />- Now you all enjoy this latest essay. Let's keep the dialog going, so <b>please don't be shy with your comments ;)</b>sftwr2020https://www.blogger.com/profile/14201606904750701863noreply@blogger.com