Hello.

Here we go again..

Although the number of times I have tried to start a blog can be counted on one hand, I already recognize (at least to some extent) the time and energy that goes into writing one.

In the past I feel I've chosen general topics which although interesting, did not exert a strong enough pull on me to write. Naturally, I am hoping this time is different.

Whoami

Hi. My name is Ehud Adler and as I write this I am currently at home, during the later stages of a world wide pandemic (the corona virus). I graduated from Queens College (CUNY) almost 6 months ago and started my full-time employment at Apple.

When I was in high-school I was what you may call a poor student. I won't say "bad", because that sounds to me as if I was a trouble maker. I was not. I just wasn't so into homework, studying etc.

I did well in subjects I was interested in and did fine in the rest. I wasn't a failing student, just not top of the class. One subject I never did well in was Math.

Not much changed in terms of studying until I took a gap year in Israel. My days in Israel we're filled with sitting, focusing and analytical learning. All of a sudden I was actually willing to sit down and study and learn. This bode well for my future college career.

With my new ability to study I began college and pursuit of a CS degree on the right foot. I took Calculus I in my first semester and got an A! Although this shocked me (and most likely my parents), I still was not a lover of math. Something about calculus just didn't draw me in the way applied math (computer science) did. At Queens, and most likely at many other colleges, Computer Science and Math overlap enough that a common track for students to take is CS Major + Math Minor (or the opposite). One semester in and I realized, that wasn't me.

Second semester rolls around and I decide to take 2 math courses. Calc II and Linear Algebra. Calc II was easier than Calc I for me (maybe it was the professor). I enjoyed it, but not enough to change my mind on getting a Math minor. That change of mind came from Linear Algebra.

Linear Algebra changed my college career. I find it interesting that although I enjoy Applied Math (Computer Science), it was abstract math (Linear Algebra) which won my love.

That semester I changed my college path. I was going to double major.

Since that linear class I've taken: Multi-variable Calc, Vector Calc, Abstract Algebra, Number Theory, Stat I, Stat II

It probably wouldn't shock you if I told you my favorites were: Abstract Algebra and Number Theory.

So with that background on me, let's get into the idea behind this blog

The idea behind this blog

Recently I picked up my Linear Algebra textbook. I read it once a week, slowly making my way through it again. Being slighlty more confident in writing Cpp I found myself thinking about how I would program Gaussian Elimination, Matrix Multiplication, etc. I thought, maybe I should write a cpp linear algebra library. I know professional ones exist but I've always been one of those people who learns best from doing.

This blog is my attempt to share my journey writing math libraries in cpp. I will work through my favorite math textbooks, implementing the mathematical algorithms/concepts in code when I see fit.

I will add a disclaimer that I won't be looking to necessarily write the most efficient or beauitful code. That can always come later.

That being said, feedback and comments are always welcome!

-- Ehud A.