2002-03-27 Onsdag: Lisp > XML, and a to-do list

I'm thinking of dumping some of my classes (Radio, Biomedical Signal Processing), which would leave just two classes (Applied Non-Commutative Analysis, History of the Welfare State) continuing from last term, and for each of which I need only write a paper and little else. Then I could focus on travelling and studying physics or algebra.

It's strangely quiet here at Delphi... the korridor is empty, everyone is gone for the Påsk holiday.

I took the Swedish 108 exam, and I think it went very well — but I thought that last time, so who knows. The läsförståelse was on the subject of greenhouse gases (namely, carbon dioxide) and climate change, so I could have answered a number of the questions without having read the text. As for the uppsats.. well, we'll see.

In the news:

BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 27 - In an emotional and obviously
heartfelt speech, Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
today proposed normal relations and security for Israel in
exchange for the return of the Israelis to their 1967
borders, recognition of a Palestinian state and the right
of refugees to return.

I installed Apache Xalan today and used it to do some simple XSLT * XML transformations. Most interestingly, noticing the structural similarity between XML and LISP, I did a google search and found an XSLT stylesheet which transforms an XML document into a LISP data structure! (Found here.) As the author notes: `` Given this initial transformation, all of the current processing tools provided by W3C can be implemented by a better than average undergraduate in roughly one (caffeine assisted) weekend. Proof of this assertion is left as an exercise for the student.''

Grand plans for tomorrow:

1. Wake up early
2. Do (finish) my laundry
3. Clean my room
4. Run or bike somewhere
5. Go to the library and figure out how to calculate Clebsch-Gordon coefficients and other particle physics matters
6. Study for non-commutative analysis (representation theory, measure theory, fourier transform over groups, spherical harmonics)
7. Make waffles
8. Investigate preparation of black beans
9. Try to make some progress on my history paper
10. Talk to the international office about staying here an additional term
11. Go to the disco at Östgöta Nation

Anyway, it's quite quiet here right now, and it's sort of nice.