A programming tool or software development tool is a computer program that is used to develop another computer program, usually by helping the developer manage computer files. For example, a programmer may use a tool called a source code editor to edit source code files, and then a compiler to convert the source code into machine code files. They may also use build tools that automatically package executable program and data files into shareable packages or install kits. A set of tools that are run one after another, with each tool feeding its output to the next one, is called a toolchain. An integrated development environment (IDE) integrates the function of several tools into a single program. Usually, an IDE provides a source code editor as well as other built-in or plug-in tools that help with compiling, debugging, and testing. Whether a program is considered a development tool can be subjective. Some programs, such as the GNU compiler collection, are used exclusively for software development while others, such as Notepad, are not meant specifically for development but are nevertheless often used for programming. == Categories == Notable categories of development tools: Assembler – Converts assembly language into machine code Bug tracking system – Software application that records software bugs Build automation – Building software via an unattended fashion Code review software – Activity where one or more people check a program's code Compiler – Software that translates code from one programming language to another Compiler-compiler – Program that generates parsers or compilers, a.k.a. parser generator Debugger – Software for debugging a computer program Decompiler – Program translating executable to source code Disassembler – Computer program to translate machine language into assembly language Documentation generator – Automation technology for creating software documentation Graphical user interface builder – Software development tool Linker – Program that combines intermediate build files into an executable file Loader – Loads executable files into memory and prepares them for execution by the CPU. Memory debugger – Software memory problem finder Minifier – Removal of unnecessary characters in code without changing its functionality Pretty-printer – Formatting to make code or markup easier to readPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Performance profiler – Measuring the time or resources used by a section of a computer program Static code analyzer – Analysis of computer programs without executing themPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Source code editor – Text editor specializing in software codePages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Source code generation – Type of computer programmingPages displaying short descriptions of redirect targets Version control system – Stores and tracks versions of files
Projection-slice theorem
In mathematics, the projection-slice theorem, central slice theorem or Fourier slice theorem in two dimensions states that the results of the following two calculations are equal: Take a two-dimensional function f(r), project (e.g. using the Radon transform) it onto a (one-dimensional) line, and do a Fourier transform of that projection. Take that same function, but do a two-dimensional Fourier transform first, and then slice the function through its origin, parallel to the projection line. In operator terms, if F1 and F2 are the 1- and 2-dimensional Fourier transform operators mentioned above, P1 is the projection operator (which projects a 2-D function onto a 1-D line), S1 is a slice operator (which extracts a 1-D central slice from a function), then F 1 P 1 = S 1 F 2 . {\displaystyle F_{1}P_{1}=S_{1}F_{2}.} This idea can be extended to higher dimensions. This theorem is used, for example, in the analysis of medical CT scans where a "projection" is an x-ray image of an internal organ. The Fourier transforms of these images are seen to be slices through the Fourier transform of the 3-dimensional density of the internal organ, and these slices can be interpolated to build up a complete Fourier transform of that density. The inverse Fourier transform is then used to recover the 3-dimensional density of the object. This technique was first derived by Ronald N. Bracewell in 1956 for a radio-astronomy problem. == The projection-slice theorem in N dimensions == In N dimensions, the projection-slice theorem states that the Fourier transform of the projection of an N-dimensional function f(r) onto an m-dimensional linear submanifold is equal to an m-dimensional slice of the N-dimensional Fourier transform of that function consisting of an m-dimensional linear submanifold through the origin in the Fourier space which is parallel to the projection submanifold. In operator terms: F m P m = S m F N . {\displaystyle F_{m}P_{m}=S_{m}F_{N}.\,} == The generalized Fourier-slice theorem == In addition to generalizing to N dimensions, the projection-slice theorem can be further generalized with an arbitrary change of basis. For convenience of notation, we consider the change of basis to be represented as B, an N-by-N invertible matrix operating on N-dimensional column vectors. Then the generalized Fourier-slice theorem can be stated as F m P m B = S m B − T | B − T | F N {\displaystyle F_{m}P_{m}B=S_{m}{\frac {B^{-T}}{|B^{-T}|}}F_{N}} where B − T = ( B − 1 ) T {\displaystyle B^{-T}=(B^{-1})^{T}} is the transpose of the inverse of the change of basis transform. == Proof in two dimensions == The projection-slice theorem is easily proven for the case of two dimensions. Without loss of generality, we can take the projection line to be the x-axis. There is no loss of generality because if we use a shifted and rotated line, the law still applies. Using a shifted line (in y) gives the same projection and therefore the same 1D Fourier transform results. The rotated function is the Fourier pair of the rotated Fourier transform, for which the theorem again holds. If f(x, y) is a two-dimensional function, then the projection of f(x, y) onto the x axis is p(x) where p ( x ) = ∫ − ∞ ∞ f ( x , y ) d y . {\displaystyle p(x)=\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }f(x,y)\,dy.} The Fourier transform of f ( x , y ) {\displaystyle f(x,y)} is F ( k x , k y ) = ∫ − ∞ ∞ ∫ − ∞ ∞ f ( x , y ) e − 2 π i ( x k x + y k y ) d x d y . {\displaystyle F(k_{x},k_{y})=\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }f(x,y)\,e^{-2\pi i(xk_{x}+yk_{y})}\,dxdy.} The slice is then s ( k x ) {\displaystyle s(k_{x})} s ( k x ) = F ( k x , 0 ) = ∫ − ∞ ∞ ∫ − ∞ ∞ f ( x , y ) e − 2 π i x k x d x d y {\displaystyle s(k_{x})=F(k_{x},0)=\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }f(x,y)\,e^{-2\pi ixk_{x}}\,dxdy} = ∫ − ∞ ∞ [ ∫ − ∞ ∞ f ( x , y ) d y ] e − 2 π i x k x d x {\displaystyle =\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }\left[\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }f(x,y)\,dy\right]\,e^{-2\pi ixk_{x}}dx} = ∫ − ∞ ∞ p ( x ) e − 2 π i x k x d x {\displaystyle =\int _{-\infty }^{\infty }p(x)\,e^{-2\pi ixk_{x}}dx} which is just the Fourier transform of p(x). The proof for higher dimensions is easily generalized from the above example. == The FHA cycle == If the two-dimensional function f(r) is circularly symmetric, it may be represented as f(r), where r = |r|. In this case the projection onto any projection line will be the Abel transform of f(r). The two-dimensional Fourier transform of f(r) will be a circularly symmetric function given by the zeroth-order Hankel transform of f(r), which will therefore also represent any slice through the origin. The projection-slice theorem then states that the Fourier transform of the projection equals the slice or F 1 A 1 = H , {\displaystyle F_{1}A_{1}=H,} where A1 represents the Abel-transform operator, projecting a two-dimensional circularly symmetric function onto a one-dimensional line, F1 represents the 1-D Fourier-transform operator, and H represents the zeroth-order Hankel-transform operator. == Extension to fan beam or cone-beam CT == The projection-slice theorem is suitable for CT image reconstruction with parallel beam projections. It does not directly apply to fanbeam or conebeam CT. The theorem was extended to fan-beam and conebeam CT image reconstruction by Shuang-ren Zhao in 1995.
Abjjad
Abjjad is an Arabic reading application that was launched in June 2012 by Eman Hylooz. Abjjad offers users the ability to download and read thousands of books offline through its iOS and Android applications. In December of 2020, Abjjad had more than 1.5 million registered accounts. == About Abjjad == Abjjad was founded in June 2012 by Eman Hylooz as a reader community dedicated to Arab readers, authors, and book lovers. Abjjad developed into a smart electronic platform to provide Arabic electronic books with ease to Arab readers everywhere after discovering a large gap in the world of Arab publishing, which is the legal electronic publishing, by forming strategic partnership with Arab publishers such as Dar Al-Shorouk, Dar Al Tanweer, Dar Al Adab, and Dar Al Saqi. == History == In May 2012, Oasis500 provided Abjjad with the seed funding to launch the website. In June 2012, Abjjad was launched with a budget of 15 thousand dollars. Within the first three months more than 10 thousand members were registered in Abjjad. Abjjad has participated in different local and international forums to meet several investors and entrepreneurs. In October 2012 Abjjad participated in Global thinkers forum in Amman, Jordan where Eman Hylooz, founder & CEO, presented the concept of Abjjad, its vision and future plans In mid-December 2012 Abjjad participated in Global Entrepreneurship in Dubai where it was presented to investors as a start-up and a new project in the Middle East. In February 2013 Abjjad was one of ten startups MENA apps has nominated from Jordan and Palestine to participate in startup Turkey. In May 2013 Abjjad participated in World Economic Forum in Amman, Jordan and later in June 2013 participated in Arab Net in Dubai. By the end of 2013, Abjjad won the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum's Best Arab Start-Up Business Award for 2013. During 29 October 2013 till January 2014 Abjjad has launched their campaign for crowd funding through Eureeca Abjjad managed to raise US$161,000 in 88 days from 43 regional donors, over US$40,000 over its initial target. By the end of 2020. Abjjad had raised a $1 million investment round led by Jordan Entrepreneurship Fund, Ramal Capital Fund, and JordInvest Fund. Because the funds will be used to acquire users and e-books, Abjjad hopes to become the largest Arab electronic library as well as the largest income-generating platform for Arab authors and publishers, while also providing readers with a unique digital reading experience. == Features == The ability to read an unlimited number of books from an electronic library containing thousands of Arabic and translated books. Abjjad ebook library is constantly expanding and cooperating with new publishing houses to add more books. Reading offline without an internet connection. The application allows the user to download books in seconds and read them anywhere. Intuitive feature which include the ability to flip the pages of the book, highlight the reader's favorite quotes, and add notes, in addition to night reading mode and the option to modify the style and size of the front. The ability to interact with other readers and read their book reviews. More than 1.5 million Arabic readers make up the Abjjad reader community, and the user can read and connect with their reviews, book ratings, and favorite quotes. A virtual personal library that enables the user to rate and organize books by placing them on one of the three shelves: I will read it, currently readings, and/or read it. Abjjad's library includes various genres and literary fields, such as: reference books, novels, stories, literature, psychological books, philosophy, biography, politics, history, religion, self-improvement and human development books, as well as international books translated into Arabic. The library includes the most famous works of Arab authors such as: Naguib Mahfouz, Mahmoud Darwish, Radwa Ashour, Tayeb Salih. Aside from Arabic translation of works by well-known worldwide authors including: Elif Shafak, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mark Manson, and others. == Statistics == In December of 2020, Abjjad had more than 1.5 million registered accounts. == Awards and honors == 2013: Won the Mohammad Bin Rashid Award for Best Arabic Startup 2014: Won the Golden Award for Jawa's "Best Online Community" 2015: Won the Business Women of the Year Award by Bank al Etihad 2016: Won the Said Khoury Award for Entrepreneurs and Innovators 2016: Won the Best Application in the Arabic Region Award by His Highness Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah in Kuwait. 2019: Won the Mohammad Bin Rashid Award for Arabic Language for the best artistic, cultural or intellectual world to serve the Arabic language. == Abjjad in the media == Abjjad has taken a huge interest in the Middle Eastern and western media; the author of Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East, Christopher M. Schroeder, has interviewed Eman Hylooz and wrote about her experience with Abjjad in his book. In addition, France24-Monte Carlo Doualiya has interviewed Ms. Hylooz on Retweet program to discuss Abjjad idea and provide the latest statistics of the website. Moreover, Sky News Arabia interviewed Hylooz to relate her experience with Oasis500 and Eureeca in Abjjad's crowdinvestment campaignPage text. furthermore, Al-Aan TV interviewed Ms.Hylooz in ArabNet in Dubai, 2013. Abjjad has been mentioned on Oasis500 website as one of the five startups which the company funded and gained different prizes. Wamda, Mediame and crowdfundinsider have discussed Abjjad's experience in the crowd investment on Eureeca. And the expert in the Arabic literature in English, M. Lynx Qualey, has interviewed Eman Hylooz in March 2013 to talk about Abjjad's story of success, how it differs from other social networks and what are its future plans. Abjjad was also featured in "Hashtag Arabi" website when it launched its premium subscription called "Abjjad Unlimited" in 2017 with the support of the Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation. In her interview with the Jordan Times, Eman also discussed her background in computer science and software development, which helped her found Abjjad.
Digital content
Digital content is any content that exists in the form of digital data. Digital content is stored on digital media or analog storage in specific formats. Forms of digital content include information that is digitally broadcast, streamed, or contained in computer files. Viewed narrowly, digital content includes popular media types, while a broader approach considers any type of digital information (e. g. digitally updated weather forecasts, GPS maps, and so on) as digital content. Digital content has increased as more households have accessed the Internet. Expanded access has made it easier for people to receive their news and watch TV online, challenging the popularity of traditional platforms. Increased access to the Internet has also led to the mass publication of digital content through individuals in the form of eBooks, blog posts, and even Facebook posts. == History == At the beginning of the Digital Revolution, computers facilitated the discovery, retrieval, and creation of new information in every field of human knowledge. As information became increasingly more accessible, the Digital Revolution also facilitated the creation of digital content. Despite an evolution to digital technology, which occurred somewhere between the late 1970s, distribution of digital content did not begin until the late 1990s with the rise in popularity of the Internet. In the past, digital content was primarily distributed through computers and the Internet. Methods of distribution are rapidly changing as the Digital Revolution brings new channels, such as mobile apps and eBooks. These new technologies will create challenges for content creators, as they determine the best channel to bring content to their consumers. Despite the benefits, new technologies have created new intellectual property issues. Users can easily share, modify, and redistribute content outside of the creator's control. While new technologies have made digital content available to large audiences, managing copyright and limiting content movement will continue to be an issue that digital content creators face in the future. == Types of digital content == Examples include: Video – Types of video content include home videos, music videos, TV shows, and movies. Many of these can be viewed on websites such as YouTube, Hulu, Paramount+, Disney+, HBO Max, and so on, in which people and companies alike can post content. However, many movies and television shows are not available for free legally, but rather can be purchased from sites such as iTunes and Amazon. Audio – Music is the most common form of audio. Spotify has emerged as a popular way for people to listen to music either over the Internet or from their computer desktop. Digital content in the form of music is also available through Pandora and last.fm, both of which allow listeners to listen to music online for no charge. Images – Photo and image sharing is another example of digital content. Popular sites used for this type of digital content includes Imgur, where people share self-created pictures, Flickr, where people share their photo albums, and DeviantArt, where people share their artwork. Popular apps that are used for images include Instagram and Snapchat. Visual Stories - Stories are a new type of digital content that got introduced by Snapchat. Since then, stories as a format has been introduced in a couple of other platforms such as Facebook and Linkedin. In 2018, Google introduced their AMP Stories, which provides content publishers with a mobile-focused format for delivering news and information as visually rich, tap-through stories. Text - Type of digital content which is available in text or written format. Blog websites which store data in form of textual format. === Paid digital content === In order to have access to more premium digital goods, consumers usually have to pay an upfront charge for digital content, or a subscription based fee. Video – Many licensed videos, such as movies and television shows, require money in order to be viewed or downloaded. Popular services used by many include streaming giant Netflix and Amazon's streaming service, as well as recent notice put forth by the online video platform YouTube. Audio – While songs can be streamed for free, generally in order to download most licensed music, consumers need to purchase songs from web stores, such as the popular iTunes. However, Spotify Premium is emerging as a new model for purchasing digital content on the web: consumers pay a monthly fee to unlimited streaming and downloading from Spotify's music library. According to a report done by IHS Inc. in 2013, the global consumer spending on digital content grew to over $57 billion in 2013, which was up almost 30% from $44 billion in 2012. In past years, the US has always been a leader in consumer expenditure on digital content, but as of 2013, many countries have emerged with great consumer expenditure. South Korea's overall digital spend per capita is now greater than the US. ==== Consolidation ==== According to research firm Ampere Analysis, in 2024, a small group of six media conglomerates; Disney, Comcast, Google, Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix, and Paramount Global—are poised to dominate the global content market. These companies are projected to account for 51% of all global spending on content, a significant increase from 47% in 2020. Disney, in particular, is a major player, with an estimated $35.8 billion investment in television and film content, representing 14% of global spending. This significant increase, fueled by Disney's full ownership of Hulu, highlights the company's strategic focus on streaming services. A substantial portion of the projected $126 billion global content spending is allocated to streaming platforms. === Non-purchasable digital content === Not all digital content is purchasable, and is simply anything published digitally. This would include: News – in recent years newspapers have attempted to expand their readership by creating access to their newspapers digitally. As of 2012, 39% of readers learned about news from online formats, making news a prevalent form of digital content. Advertisements – as media consumers increasingly use digital formats to watch TV, check the weather, and search for content, advertisements have shifted to digital forms to keep up with their viewership. Advertisements are now being made digitally and placed on sites ranging from Facebook to YouTube. Question and Answer sites – these sites are a type of Internet forum where people can post questions they want answered, or provide responses to previous inquiries. With millions of questions posted each day, anyone has the ability to create content on these sites, so the information provided may not be 100% reliable or accurate. Popular sites include Yahoo! Answers, WikiAnswers and Quora. Web mapping – sites such as MapQuest and Google Maps provide users with map content. These sites give people the ability to quickly look up the location of a landmark and create routes to a destination. Online maps are a form of free content provided by companies such as Google and AOL, serving as much more efficient alternatives to the traditional Thomas Guide. == Business implications == === Digital companies === Digital content businesses can include news, information, and entertainment distributed over the Internet and consumed digitally by both consumers and businesses. Based on revenue, the leading digital businesses are ranked Google, China Mobile, Bloomberg, Reed Elsevier, and Apple. The 50 companies with the highest revenue are split between those offering free and paid digital content, but these top 50 companies combined generate revenue of $150 billion. === Educational opportunities === Programs such as CUNY's Macaulay Honors College in their New Media Lab, run by industry professional Robert Small, is set up to train and introduce students to the various disciplines within the digital content industry. The goal is to offer information and access to professional work opportunities. They also explore within an incubator how to create businesses and start ups within the world of digital content. There are many educational events in support of choosing digital content as a career. === Government support === The Irish government adopted a "Strategy for the Digital Content Industry in Ireland" in 2002.
Bulletin (service)
Bulletin was an online newsletter platform launched by Facebook on July 6, 2021, that allows notable writers to make announcements directly to their subscribers. Its competitors included Substack, of which Bulletin was called a "near-clone." Writers participating in the platform's launch included Malcolm Gladwell, Mitch Albom, Tan France, Jessica Yellin, Jane Wells, Erin Andrews and Dorie Greenspan. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated that Bulletin represented the first time that the company had "built a project that is directly for journalists and individual writers." In October 2022 Meta announced the shutdown of Bulletin. The platform went into read only mode in January 2023 and became unavailable in April 2023. == History == Facebook announced Bulletin as its online newsletter platform on June 29, 2021. and launched by the company on July 6, 2021. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg touted the service by saying that Bulletin represented the first time that the company had "built a project that is directly for journalists and individual writers." Writers participating in the platform's launch included Malcolm Gladwell, Mitch Albom, Tan France, Jessica Yellin, Jane Wells, Erin Andrews and Dorie Greenspan. == Reception == Unlike competitor such as Substack, Facebook indicated upon service's launch that it would not take a cut of subscription fees of writers using that platform. According to Washington Post technology writer Will Oremus, the move was criticized by those who viewed it as a form of predatory pricing intended by Facebook to force those competitors out of business. Sandeep Vaheesan, legal director of the think tank Open Markets, called for the government to reexamine predatory pricing as a violation of antitrust law, saying, "We want companies to compete by making better products, investing in new equipment and tech — not purely relying on their financial advantages to capture market share."
Matchbox Educable Noughts and Crosses Engine
The Matchbox Educable Noughts and Crosses Engine (sometimes called the Machine Educable Noughts and Crosses Engine or MENACE) was a mechanical computer made from 304 matchboxes designed and built by artificial intelligence researcher Donald Michie and his colleague Roger Chambers, in 1961. It was designed to play human opponents in games of noughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe) by returning a move for any given state of play and to refine its strategy through reinforcement learning. This was one of the first types of artificial intelligence. Michie and Chambers did not have immediate access to a computer; they worked around this by building the engine out of matchboxes. The matchboxes they used each represented a single possible layout of a noughts and crosses grid. When the computer first played, it would randomly choose moves based on the current layout. As it played more games, through a reinforcement loop, it disqualified strategies that led to losing games, and supplemented strategies that led to winning games. Michie held a tournament against MENACE in 1961, wherein he experimented with different openings. Following MENACE's maiden tournament against Michie, it demonstrated successful artificial intelligence in its strategy. Michie's essays on MENACE's weight initialisation and the BOXES algorithm used by MENACE became popular in the field of computer science research. Michie was honoured for his contribution to machine learning research, and was twice commissioned to program a MENACE simulation on an actual computer. == Origin == Donald Michie (1923–2007) had been on the team decrypting the German Tunny Code during World War II. Fifteen years later, he wanted to further display his mathematical and computational prowess with an early convolutional neural network. Since computer equipment was not obtainable for such uses, and Michie did not have a computer readily available, he decided to display and demonstrate artificial intelligence in a more esoteric format and constructed a functional mechanical computer out of matchboxes and beads. MENACE was constructed as the result of a bet with a computer science colleague who postulated that such a machine was impossible. Michie undertook the task of collecting and defining each matchbox as a "fun project", later turned into a demonstration tool. Michie completed his essay on MENACE in 1963, "Experiments on the mechanization of game-learning", as well as his essay on the BOXES Algorithm, written with R. A. Chambers and had built up an AI research unit in Hope Park Square, Edinburgh, Scotland. MENACE learned by playing successive matches of noughts and crosses. Each time, it would eliminate a losing strategy by the human player confiscating the beads that corresponded to each move. It reinforced winning strategies by making the moves more likely, by supplying extra beads. This was one of the earliest versions of the Reinforcement Loop, the schematic algorithm of looping the algorithm, dropping unsuccessful strategies until only the winning ones remain. This model starts as completely random, and gradually learns. == Composition == MENACE was made from 304 matchboxes glued together in an arrangement similar to a chest of drawers. Each box had a code number, which was keyed into a chart. This chart had drawings of tic-tac-toe game grids with various configurations of X, O, and empty squares, corresponding to all possible permutations a game could go through as it progressed. After removing duplicate arrangements (ones that were simply rotations or mirror images of other configurations), MENACE used 304 permutations in its chart and thus that many matchboxes. Each individual matchbox tray contained a collection of coloured beads. Each colour represented a move on a square on the game grid, and so matchboxes with arrangements where positions on the grid were already taken would not have beads for that position. Additionally, at the front of the tray were two extra pieces of card in a "V" shape, the point of the "V" pointing at the front of the matchbox. Michie and his artificial intelligence team called MENACE's algorithm "Boxes", after the apparatus used for the machine. The first stage "Boxes" operated in five phases, each setting a definition and a precedent for the rules of the algorithm in relation to the game. == Operation == MENACE played first, as O, since all matchboxes represented permutations only relevant to the "X" player. To retrieve MENACE's choice of move, the opponent or operator located the matchbox that matched the current game state, or a rotation or mirror image of it. For example, at the start of a game, this would be the matchbox for an empty grid. The tray would be removed and lightly shaken so as to move the beads around. Then, the bead that had rolled into the point of the "V" shape at the front of the tray was the move MENACE had chosen to make. Its colour was then used as the position to play on, and, after accounting for any rotations or flips needed based on the chosen matchbox configuration's relation to the current grid, the O would be placed on that square. Then the player performed their move, the new state was located, a new move selected, and so on, until the game was finished. When the game had finished, the human player observed the game's outcome. As a game was played, each matchbox that was used for MENACE's turn had its tray returned to it ajar, and the bead used kept aside, so that MENACE's choice of moves and the game states they belonged to were recorded. Michie described his reinforcement system with "reward" and "punishment". Once the game was finished, if MENACE had won, it would then receive a "reward" for its victory. The removed beads showed the sequence of the winning moves. These were returned to their respective trays, easily identifiable since they were slightly open, as well as three bonus beads of the same colour. In this way, in future games MENACE would become more likely to repeat those winning moves, reinforcing winning strategies. If it lost, the removed beads were not returned, "punishing" MENACE, and meaning that in future it would be less likely, and eventually incapable if that colour of bead became absent, to repeat the moves that cause a loss. If the game was a draw, one additional bead was added to each box. == Results in practice == === Optimal strategy === Noughts and crosses has a well-known optimal strategy. A player must place their symbol in a way that blocks the other player from achieving any rows while simultaneously making a row themself. However, if both players use this strategy, the game always ends in a draw. If the human player is familiar with the optimal strategy, and MENACE can quickly learn it, then the games will eventually only end in draws. The likelihood of the computer winning increases quickly when the computer plays against a random-playing opponent. When playing against a player using optimal strategy, the odds of a draw grow to 100%. In Donald Michie's official tournament against MENACE in 1961 he used optimal strategy, and he and the computer began to draw consistently after twenty games. Michie's tournament had the following milestones: Michie began by consistently opening with "Variant 0", the middle square. At 15 games, MENACE abandoned all non-corner openings. At just over 20, Michie switched to consistently using "Variant 1", the bottom-right square. At 60, he returned to Variant 0. As he neared 80 games, he moved to "Variant 2", the top-middle. At 110, he switched to "Variant 3", the top right. At 135, he switched to "Variant 4", middle-right. At 190, he returned to Variant 1, and at 210, he returned to Variant 0. The trend in changes of beads in the "2" boxes runs: === Correlation === Depending on the strategy employed by the human player, MENACE produces a different trend on scatter graphs of wins. Using a random turn from the human player results in an almost-perfect positive trend. Playing the optimal strategy returns a slightly slower increase. The reinforcement does not create a perfect standard of wins; the algorithm will draw random uncertain conclusions each time. After the j-th round, the correlation of near-perfect play runs: 1 − D D − D ( j + 2 ) ∑ i = 0 j D ( j i + 1 ) V i {\displaystyle {1-D \over D-D^{(j+2)}}\sum _{i=0}^{j}D^{(ji+1)}V_{i}} Where Vi is the outcome (+1 is win, 0 is draw and -1 is loss) and D is the decay factor (average of past values of wins and losses). Below, Mn is the multiplier for the n-th round of the game. == Legacy == Donald Michie's MENACE proved that a computer could learn from failure and success to become good at a task. It used what would become core principles within the field of machine learning before they had been properly theorised. For example, the combination of how MENACE starts with equal numbers of types of beads in each matchbox, and how these are then selected at random, creates a learning behaviour similar to weight initialisation
Raseef22
Raseef22 (Arabic: رصيف22) is a liberal Arabic media network founded in 2013 based in Beirut, Lebanon. It publishes content in Arabic and English from different Arab states and describes itself as an independent media platform. International Media Support mentions Raseef22 along with HuffPost Arabic and Al Jazeera as one of the biggest Pan-Arab online platforms. == Name == The Arabic word raseef (رَصِيف) means platform or pavement, and the number 22 refers to the number of states in the Arab League. == History == Kareem Sakka co-founded Raseef22 in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, which he cites as a source of inspiration. In an article in The Washington Post, he wrote that Raseef22 was created as a "digital space for those eager to know what was going on around them." Raseef22 was one of the 500 websites censored in Egypt in late 2017 after it published an article on Egyptian security agencies' vies to influence the media. After the site was blocked in Egypt, it was targeted in a cyber attack that took it offline in locations around the world. Jamal Khashoggi wrote for Raseef22 regularly. One of his notable articles was "Notes on the Freedom of the Arabs from Oslo, Norway," published June 5, 2018. The site was blocked in Saudi Arabia December 2018 when the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology ordered its censorship due to its "unprecedented response to the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul." This decision might have also been related to Raseef22's coverage of Saudi-Israeli relations and interviews with activists later imprisoned or placed under house arrest coverage In 2019 the Association of LGBT Journalists (AJL) in Paris gave Raseef22 a golden foreign press award for its six-month series of articles on gender and sexuality issues. == Readership == According to its publisher in 2019, the news agency counted 12 million readers annually from 22 Arab nations. Of the readership, he wrote that it "believes in the talent and promise of the Arab mind and sees the ugliness of tyranny, patriarchy, misogyny and the futility of proxy rulers and wars." Al-Quds Al-Arabi described Raseef22 as "oriented to the youth."