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The Official Student Publication of the Department of Computer Science, UP Diliman
June to August 2005
KHAN: Game Review 8
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Analyzing life the CS way.
what’s inside:
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Why do I love her and not him, and him, and another him? Well, I can’t bring myself to love them; I can’t bring myself to even try. I had experiences with other hims and what I have with her now is simply different. Way different. Why do I love her? Loving her has no reasons. I just simply do. And that’s just one difference between loving her and loving them hims: loving them has to have reasons because otherwise there’s no point in loving them at all. I love her not because she loves me back. There are others who love me, others who would be willing to love me, others who would care for me. But I don’t need them—it’s her I need. Her warmth, understanding,
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parser. The UP
http://upparser.fil.ph
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Prof. Feria a Columnist
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The Sassy 4 Lawyer 16 CS Building Rebirth Volume Two, First Issue
Dr. Cedric Festin New DCS Chair By Karl Diaz
Dr. Cedric Angelo M. Festin officially became the new Chair of the Department of Computer Science (DCS) last June 1, 2005, replacing Dr. Ronald M. Tuñgol, who has left for Canada after serving for three years at the helm of the DCS. Dr. Festin has been teaching in UP since 1992. In 1995, he left for the United Kingdom to pursue his PhD and returned in 2002. He graduated from UP Diliman with a degree in Bachelor of Computer Science and in MS Electrical Engineering. For this semester, he is currently teaching CS 255 and supervises CS 198 and CS 298. In appointing a new faculty member as
parser showtime!
department chair, the Dean of the College of Engineering meets with the faculty to discuss the selection process. There is then a two-week period where faculty members may submit their nominations for the new head of the DCS. Once the list of nominees is finalized, the Dean proceeds to interview the nominees, which will eventually be the basis for the appointment of the next Department Chair. When asked about his plans as the new Chair, Dr. Festin said he will do what it takes for students to excel academically, for the faculty to succeed, and for all elements of the Department to “bring home the bacon”. His current tasks involve the relocation of the DCS to the new building.
Remember Parser Bigtime*? This is PARSER SHOWTIME! > 800 copies! > Colored! > 16 pages! > Free Khan MMORPG CD!
Sa’n ka pa? Go Parser!
*December 2004 Issue
DCS, UP CURSOR Welcome Freshmen With CS4CS ‘05 By Erica Mae Abbass (http://cai.i.ph)
The UP Association of Computer Science Majors (UP CURSOR) and the UP Department of Computer Science held its annual College Survival for Computer Science Students (CS4CS) to welcome the new batch of CS freshmen to the Department on the morning of June 15, 2005 at the Engineering Theater. Department Chair Dr. Cedric Festin officially opened the program with a welcome speech encouraging the freshmen to do their best in all their endeavors in college, and stressing that the incoming freshmen were quite blessed to be entering the program at a time of expansion and change. He was followed by Dr. Susan PanchoFestin, who gave a brief introduction to CS, Department policies and retention rules. Dr. Pancho-Festin gave a twist to the retention rules, where she introduced the freshmen to the Two-Strikes-You’re-Out rule and the Three-Strikes-You’re-Out rule (refer to the Department’s retention rules for more information).
To entertain the freshmen, a music video entitled “Tara CS Tayo!” was shown to illustrate what CS life in UP is like. Prepared by the UP CS Network, the concept for the video was based on the song “Biyahe Tayo” of DOT’s “Wow Philippines” campaign, to jive with the theme of the CS Freshmen
Day, “WOW COMSCI”. After the video, Dr. Festin went on stage once more to tackle the BSCS curriculum, explain the various research areas, introduce the faculty, and inspire the freshmen. As the event aims to help the freshmen survive college, the next part of the program was a video presentation by UP CURSOR containing various survival tips that would be helpful for the freshmen. Junior students Teejay Roque and Kat Martin took the stage to give explanations for each survival tip, and shared their own experiences with the freshmen. Representatives from the Engineering Student Council (ESC) then promoted the projects
CURSOR’s Indakers during an intermission number.
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UPD Dominates ImagineCup 2005 Philippine Finals By Sophia Lucero (http://sofimi.i.ph)
Teams from the UP Diliman Department of Computer Science garnered first and third place in the local finals of Microsoft ImagineCup 2005, held at the Eugenio Lopez Activity training facility in Antipolo last June 7 and 8. UPTeam2, the winning team, to be coached by TJ Vergel de Dios, will represent the Philippines in the world finals in Yokohama, Japan, this July 27 to August 1. An annual programming competition for undergraduate students this time with the
theme “Imagine a world where technology dissolves the boundaries between us,” the IC2005 local finals narrowed the competition down to three - two from UP, and one from Ateneo. UPTeam1 (Kristine Marie Dario, Elmira Gay Sto. Domingo, Jeffrey Louie Quiambao, Jocelyn Mae Villaraza) developed iSchool, a web service inspired by UP’s UVLE, while UPTeam2 (Kristina Jane Baylon, Jon Eric Cantos, Rhea Therese Lucas, Sarah Kristine Roxas) came up with Vulcan, a customizable web application based on the Six Degrees of Separation principle.
Vulcan Team
iSchool team
UP ACM Wins International Competition Beats First-world Universities By Phillip Kimpo Jr. (http://corsarius.i.ph) The Association for Computing Machinery - University of the Philippines Student Chapter (UP ACM) bested 750 chapters worldwide -- many of them from the US -- by winning the recently concluded Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) 2004-2005 Student Chapter Excellence Awards. UP ACM, the first and only Filipino ACM chapter, bagged two out of the five categories, Best Community Service and Best Recruitment Program. UP ACM, which joined the contest for only the first time, won 500 US dollars for each award. Founded in 1947, ACM is world’s oldest and largest educational and scientific computing society. ACM’s student chapters are spread worldwide over 500 colleges and universities. The Chapter Excellence Awards are given yearly to the chapters with outstanding Activities, Website, Recruitment Program, Community Service, and School Service. Last year’s batch of winners were five North American chapters. This year saw the Philippines barging into the prestigious circle, winning not only the usual single category, but two. The other three winners were from the University of Kansas (Activities), University of Texas at Austin (Website), and Dalhousie University (School Service). Community Service That Matters While UP ACM was able to bag the Best Recruitment Program award through the phenomenal increase in its member population (jumping from roughly a dozen to 90 in just one semester), winning the Best Community Service award was entirely another matter. With last year’s Best Community Service award won by a US chapter donating a batch of computers to a middle school, UP ACM decided to go on another track. It believed in the power of imparting knowledge, not material objects. Thus UP ACM held a computer literacy outreach program for the children of Barangay UP Campus last April 2005 in one of the DCS’ computer laboratories. Sixty children from underprivileged families attended the two-day event. (See related article.)
CS Seniors Bag 2nd & 3rd Place in URC ‘05 By Carlos Miguel Lasa (http://carlooos.i.ph) The Department Computer Science (DCS) won two awards in the 2005 Undergraduate Research Competition held last April 21 at the 2nd Floor Lobby of Melchor Hall.
A field of twenty-nine competing research groups from various fields was narrowed down to ten finalists, four of which were declared the contest winners. DCS seniors Alfonso Miguel Mante, Mark Alvin Ligaya and Isabel Casas grabbed second place with their thesis called “e-NoDeS: Early Nodule Detection Software,” while Kevin Manansala, Karen Desiree Tan, and Pauline
Rodriguez won third for “AMASSIS: A MultiAgent System Simulation of the Immune System.” Coming in first place was a group from the Department of Chemical Engineering (DChE), with the project entitled “The Pyrolysis of Waste Polystyrene and Used Motor Oil to Diesel Additive”. Tied at third place with the DCS group was another DChE project entitled “A Preliminary Investigation on the Development of Nanocomposites from Recycled Polycarbonate and OrganoMontmorillonite.” The four winners were given Php 50,000, Php 30,000 and Php 20,000, respectively, along with glass trophies. Both e-NoDeS and AMASSIS were projects developed for the
CURSOR Seizes 4th Place in FOPC Rankings By Tristan Jed Roque (http://teejay.i.ph) Two of the oldest organizations of the CS Network, UP CURSOR and UP CompSoc, along with 16 other Engineering-based organizations, participated in this year’s Freshmen Orientation Program Committee (FOPC 2005), with CURSOR placing an impressive fourth among all participants.
To shoulder the costs of holding the numerous FOPC projects, the 81 FOPC member organizations fulfilled minimum requirements such as a certain number of kilos of newspapers and white papers, t-shirt orders, and tambay hours, all translating into points for each org. After the first half of the tambay month, UP CURSOR emerged on top with a commanding lead of some 25,000 points. At the tally’s end, CURSOR finished fourth overall, behind first-placer UP Statistical Society, and was ranked second best among all Engineering organizations, trailing IE Club. Being part of the top seven in this year’s race for FOPC chairpersonship, UP CURSOR, which is one of only five FOPC member orgs whose total consolidated points reached the six-digit mark, will be part of the FOPC Steering Committee next year. The FOPC is the umbrella alliance of various recognized organizations in UP Diliman. The FOPC took charge, together with the Office of Guidance Counseling, of welcoming about 3,000 freshmen last June. The FOPC held a series of events for freshies this year, such as the free film showing of “Closer” and free concert named “Freshteeg!” Through the FOPC block bidding, UP CompSoc and UP CURSOR handled the G-11 and G-10 CS blocks, respectively.
past year under the DCS and Prof. Prospero Naval, Jr advised both projects. “We never expected it at first because originally our group, GroupAIM/e-NoDeS, was given an INC. We still worked during the summer while everyone else was job hunting or on vacation,” Mante relating his URC experience. “Then a day or two before the contest we found out that Prof. Naval gave us our grades and we would be able to graduate on time, and then we won! We were so happy!” he added. Mante also encouraged the incoming seniors taking CS 198 to always have regular consultations with their advisers, listen very well and always jot down notes.
Prof. Feria Writes Column for Manila Bulletin By Sophia Lucero (http://sofimi.i.ph)
Prof. Rommel Feria, a senior faculty of the Department, is now a columnist of one of the country’s leading newspapers.
“Of Macs and Tux,” Prof. Feria’s column, appears every Monday and Wednesday in the TechNews section of the Manila Bulletin, starting three months ago. Twice a week he shares his experiences as a guru in Macintosh, Linux, and Open Source technologies. It is not the first time, however, that he has been immersed in writing. He has been a writer of a US-based Digital Camera magazine and a local Science magazine in the late 90’s. “Writing on tech stuff for the masses appeals to me because it allows me to extend my ‘teaching’ beyond UP. I believe that information available locally are not sufficient or are too Microsoft-centric,” he says. “Writing is important to us — either writing a technical report or a journal article. This is actually a requirement — to publish in scientific journals.” Prof. Feria is also the current Director of the UP Computer Center (CC), as well as the head of the Biomedical Computing Group of the Department.
DCS, UP ACM Hold Computer Literacy Outreach By Phillip Kimpo Jr. (http://corsarius.i.ph) Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day, but teach him how to fish, and you feed him for life.
Core 2 environment and other open source software, such as TuxType, TuxPaint, and Mozilla Firefox were introduced to the This was the guiding axiom children. for the UP Diliman Department The Diliman of Computer Science (DCS) and Computer Science the Association for Computing Foundation (DCSF) Machinery - UP Student Chapter provided the funds (UP ACM) as they conducted for the children’s the Summer Computer Literacy snacks. Certificates Outreach Program (SCLOP) last were given to the April 11-12, 2005 at Room 209 of children at each Melchor Hall. session’s end. Sixty children aged from eight The SCLOP to 18, all hailing from Barangay was the successor of UP Campus were immersed in last year’s summer a short introductory course on outreach program computers. The children were from held by the DCS underprivileged families and had The children hold up their certificates after the training day. faculty. The previous little to no computer experience. outreach also aides. Two sessions were held each day, targeted Barangay UP Campus children as its the morning session for the eight to 12 year The SCLOP covered basic hardware, beneficiaries. old kids, and the afternoon for the 12-18 basic UI navigation, basic file management, For more information, visit the SCLOP year olds. Throughout the two-day training, typing, basic graphics, basic Internet and website at http://upacm.org/activities/sclop. 17 UP ACM members served as teachers and OpenOffice.org. The open source Fedora jsp.
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newsBytes The Parser Blog a Head-turner
One of The UP Parser’s latest offerings is The Parser Blog, a group weblog (blog) by its staffers. Once more, Parser keeps you abreast of the latest happenings in the DCS and the Internet with the most rapid and popular publishing method around. Since its creation in Decemer 2004, the blog has steadily gained recognition in the Philippine blogging scene, linked and was cited by famous blogs such as Yugatech and the PCIJ (Phil. Center for Investigative Journalism) Blog. Visit The Parser Blog at http://parserblog. blogspot.com. An RSS feed of the blog is available at UP Parser Online, http://upparser.fil.ph.
Leithold Dies at 80
Louis Leithold, author of the most widely used calculus textbooks, was found dead in his Los Angeles home. He was 80. “The Calculus” — the seventh edition of one of his books, used here at the Department of Mathematics — was first published in 1968 and is widely used in high schools and universities for calculus courses. Leithold’s exemplary teaching and works in calculus has inspired many, including Jaime Escalante, who has turned to teach minority students in East Los Angeles and was documented in the 1988 “Stand and Deliver.” Escalante says that “he was one of the great mathematicians. His book had beautiful problems. It made us believe that anybody could do calculus.”
Halalan One More Time
The University of the Philippines Linux Users’ Group (UnPLUG) aims to revive the Halalan Project by creating another version of the election software. Codenamed “Ograsiah!”, the project will focus more on security, scalability, and usabilit y. Another feature will be mobile voting through Simple Messaging Service (SMS), or more popularly known as “text messages”. From the PHP-based first version, the group plans to build the new version in either Java, Ruby, or revert to PHP. This language issue, among others, was discussed in the recent “Halalan Convention” held last July 30, 2005 at the NEC AVR.
Hewlett-Packard Donates NEC413 Laboratory
On June 29, 2005, guests from HewlettPackard Philippines graced the ceremonial turnover of the 12 HP-branded workstations to the Department of Computer Science. This donation helped provide graduate students of the department with their own research laboratory for their theses and projects. Mr. Paul Martin, Director of Global Delivery Application Services, represented Hewlett-Packard Philippines. Dean Rowena Cristina L. Guevara represented the College. HP also donated 12 machines to the Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Also present were BCS alumni Joanne Jill Olazo and Lourdes Macatulad.
JEDI highlights Sun CEO’s JavaOne Keynote
In JavaOne, an annual conference by Sun Microsystems discussing Java technologies held last June 26-30, in San Francisco, California, Sun CEO Scott McNealy discussed problems of education, integrating student information as well as classroom content information. He described Sun’s response toward improving education systems — JEDI. JEDI (Java Education & Development Initiative) is a collaborative project that aims to make highquality, industry-endorsed IT and Computer Science course material available for free to universities and colleges in the Philippines, which conforms to international education standards. It is a project of Sun Microsystems, Inc. and the University of the Philippines Java Research & Development Center (UP JRDC). Five of the DCS faculty members of JEDI recently attended the said conference. – Sophia Lucero (http://sofimi.i.ph), Ardee Aram (http://ardee.i.ph), Dr. Susan Pancho-Festin, and Mr. JP Petines
Parser // News * WORA, a main characteristic of Java, means “Write Once, Run Anywhere.”
Free Flash & Photoshop 1st RP Blogging Summit Held in UP Diliman By Phillip Kimpo Jr. KISSes Held (http://corsarius.i.ph)
By Sophia Lucero (http://sofimi.i.ph) Last April 13 and 22, 2005, the Association for Computing Machinery – UP Student Chapter (UP ACM) and the UP Association of Computer Science Majors (UP CURSOR) jointly held two Knowledge and Information Sharing Sessions (KISSes), one on Macromedia Flash and another on Adobe Photoshop.
Over 60 people attended the free KISSes, which were hosted by the Department of Computer Science at MH 209. Jason Masipiqueña and Pio Claudio, Gaming and Graphics SIG Heads of UP ACM, taught the basics of Flash on April 13 for two sessions — 9-12 AM as a members-only session, and 1-4 PM as a free for all. On April 22, Daniw de Leon of UP CURSOR gave a crash course on Photoshop from 1-5 PM. Participants also had the option to have primer CDs burned at a minimal fee. The CDs contained the programs’ trial versions and several tutorials. Both organizations are planning to hold several more sessions within the coming months.
iBlog: The First Philippine Blogging Summit was held last May 7, 2005 at the National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development (NISMED) Auditorium, UP Diliman.
The morning session, entitled “Blogging for Newbies” was conducted by Abe Olandres and Gail dela Cruz. Olandres, a founder of plogHost Web Services, presented “Blogging 101,” a crash course on how to make and register your own blog within minutes. Dela Cruz, a freelance digital artist and creator of the 2004 Filipino Blog Site of the Year www.Kutitots. com, taught summit delegates the various techniques in beautifying their blogs. The afternoon session kicked off with Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) Commissioner Damian Domingo “Dondi” Mapa’s talk on “Governance and Blogging.” The iBlog participants gather onstage for photos.
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DCS Student Wins 2005 P&G Student Excellence Award
By Tristan Jed Roque (http://teejay.i.ph) DCS student and UP Parser news editor Carlos Miguel M. Lasa was awarded the 2005 Procter & Gamble Student Excellence Award (SEA) last March 17 at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati City.
He was one of the twelve awardees chosen this year, selected from a field of around 400 candidates, with three each coming from UP Diliman, DLSU, AdMU and UST. The awarding ceremony was held in the Rigodon Ballroom of the Manila Peninsula, where Lasa bested the other four SEA finalists from the College of
Engineering of UPD (three coming from Industrial Engineering, one from Civil Engineering). It was the first time a DCS student won the award. Along with Lasa, UP students Donald Ngwe (Econ) and Maureen Valencia (BA) were also awarded. The P&G SEA started in Academic Year 1999-2000 as a partnership program between P&G and its four partner universities in the academe. SEA seeks to recognize exceptional students who have consistently demonstrated academic excellence and organizational leadership and who best exemplify the ideals of their respective universities. Together with the objective of recognizing the top students in their
penultimate year, this year’s event was also the introduction to the celebration of P&G Philippines’ 70 years of “Touching Lives, Improving Filipino Life”. The selection process was done through a nomination by the dean of the college, an application to the SEA, taking a problem-solving test, and undergoing several formal interviews with P&G managers. Lasa, a former Parser managing editor, had previously served in the Engineering Student Council as a CS Representative during AY 2004-2005. He is currently a senior in the BSCS program and is the president of the UP Association of Computer Science Majors (UP CURSOR).
60 na ang nagpasukat! Magpapahuli ka ba?
Ma’am Riza Batista Wins C4C Tilt
By Phillip Kimpo Jr. (http://corsarius.i.ph) Our very own Ma’am Riza Theresa B. Batista, together with Angel B. Calayag, won first place in the recently-concluded Call for Convergence: The Telic Communications, Inc. VoiceXML Contest with their project, the UP Diliman Voice Enabled Guide. The University of the Philippines Diliman Voice-Enabled Visitor’s Guide conveniently and effectively finds directions within the UP Diliman campus using automated and interactive voice responses to user’s queries. Batista and Calayag will be awarded $2000.00. The contest was sponsored by SUN Microsystems, Voxsant, and Kooltel. com. Ms. Riza Batista and Ms. Angel Calayag are also curerntly completing their Masteral degrees in Computer Science, and are groupmates in CS 260: Advanced Software Engineering. Visit http://www.callforconvergence.com for more details.
Be a Mentor, Be a Friend The student population of the Department of Computer Science decreases rapidly after the Freshman year due to the strict retainment rules and other matters. With this in mind, the Department of Computer Science along with the CS Representatives formed a team of dedicated and outstanding mentors to guide the freshmen and to monitor its performance as well.
By Geomar Lubaton (http://ramgee.i.ph)
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Specs. Maroon beach twill material; velcro close-collar; Embroidered UP & DCS text at the back (same font as “CS JACKET”); belt-like trim at the base Price. Eight hundred pesos (Php 800): must pay a minimum of 50% downpayment during your fitting/measuring. Fitting. Sign up or contact us so we can notify you of the next fitting. This time, it will most probably be on a Saturday so the working Alumni can come. If you cannot be there on that day, please try to estimate your size (by finding someone who’ll be there, or by giving a rough S/M/L/XL measure). Contact. Ia (09202974104); Phillip (09172779456); Jonas (09156232163); Geo (09154017593) or email upparser@yahoo.com Making big things possible — Parser.
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http://jangelo.i.ph Parser // News
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Connie Veneracion, more popularly known as The Sassy Lawyer, is currently one the most controversial bloggers in the Philippines to date. Tagged as the “most famous Filipino blogger” by the iBlog Summit press committee, Connie has utilized the internet infrastructure and the blogging technology as a means to amplify her voice about socio-political matters not only of the country but also of the world. Parser Tech Editor Ardee Aram interviews Connie about how she thinks blogging affects society at large. (This is an abridged version of the interview. The full version may be found at the Parser website, http://upparser.fil.ph). Ardee: Kailan kayo nagsimula magblog? Connie: 2003, early 2003. Ardee: Please describe your usual blogging day, or your usual routine, habits, idiosyncracies before, during, and after blogging. Connie: Before, yung before, chores muna yung before. Pero minsan interspersed. Pero reading always comes first before blogging. Ardee: Nag-blo-blog hop din kayo? Connie: Bihira. Kasi, most Filipino blogs, diary type. Di ako voyeur... Merong a few na binabasa ko but that’s because kilala ko na yung mga tao, so ibig sabihin I can identify with them, pero yung sasabihin mong total strangers magbabasa ako ng diary na ganyan, di ko kayang sakyan yun. Among Filipino blogs, bihira naman talaga yung nagbloblog about social issues, so wala akong masasabing nababasa kong ganon... Ardee: yung blog niyo ba ay moderated? Connie: Diyos ko pano mo pa imomoderate yun san ko hahanapin yung oras na iyon?! Every comment posted, every trackback sent I am notified via e-mail... Iisa-isahin ko yun. Pagka nakita ko doon pa lang na merong yung ganon yung irrellevant kasi maraming ganon... obviously idedelete mo na yun...But unless it’s patently abusive, it’s just a personal attack but it’s total non-sense I’ll let it be... Pagka minsan archive page na siya tapos mahaba pa mainit pa yung discussion, minsan pinababayaan ko na...pinababayaan ko na sila because the interaction is not just between me ang my reader but between reader ang reader. Yun yung maganda doon. Ardee: May nabasa akong entry doon sa blog niyo about an American arguing about how the
Americans helped the Filipinos in the World War... Connie: Alin yung screen name “kano”? Pinaglaruan namin yon! Kasi sabi niya hindi daw siya Amerikano, Spanish daw siya, tapos ang wife daw niya Filipina. Meron siyang sariling theory kung papano nangyari yung Philippine history, as in kung bubusisihin mo yung comments niya parang, excuse me, ang sinacite pa ata nito si Gregorio Zaide na matagal
working abroad. So kung second o third generation filipino ka, doon ka na pinanganak maiintindihan ka ba naman noon kung filipino yung blog mo diba? Hindi ka babasahin... kasi alam mo yung [pakiramdam na] ang tagal na namin ditto, naalala ko yung mommy ko nung buhay pa nagluluto ganon pero we cannot reproduce that, kasi we did not grow up in the Philippines. You have to reach those people and then you establish your rapport with them...it was the most logical thing: use
An Interview With
The Sassy Lawyer
nang obsolete... di siya maniwala na yung battle of manila bay staged...Karamihan kasi I object sa mga ganyan yung matatagal na abroad yung imbibe na sa kanila yung American culture to the point na yung American interpretation ng history nilunok na nila yon, hook, line, and sinker... Kung mapipikon ka, walang patutunguhan yung usapan dito. Madalas mangyari yon...the discussion gets emotional nang hindi nawawala yung thread talaga. Nadoon parin yung substance ng discussion pero dumadating din yung point na, wala na, personalan na. Pag ganon sinasara ko na yung commenting... Ardee: Why do you use English as your language on your blog? Connie: Because of the international audience. Ayokong malimit ako na yung nagsasalita lang ng filipino, in fact even sa Pilipinas hindi naman lahat nakakapag Filipino talaga... Saka initially kasi yung food blog because it came first no, yung target audience naman talaga noon ay yung mga Filipinos
English... Ardee: Do you think blog serve well as a means of spreading views, opinions and advocacies? How does blog compare to books, newspaper, radio or television in this aspect? Connie: Oh yes. Okay isa-isa. Ang books hindi pang masa yan. There is only a certain sector of society na talagang regularly bumibili ng books... Unless yung gusto mo eh hanggang doon lang yung marating mo, class AB o di yon mag publish ka ng libro. Newspaper, in terms of dissemination of information effective siya pero dissemination of opinions, I don’t think so. Kasi pag sinabi mong opinion columnist ka sa isang mainstream media publication, [you ask the question] is this really how your opinion goes, or is this your opinion after considering that you can only publish things that will not fret your own advertisers, your own publisher...hindi free yung opinion... how could it be 100% honest diba? Yung radio [at] yung TV, yan ang masa, yan ang nakakaabot sa masa. Ang mahirap naman diyan, although very effective in term of dissemination both ng information tsaka ng opinion...dahil yun yung educational attainment ng masa, hanggang doon ang training nila hindi na nadediscern kung alin yung fact, kung alin yung opinion, kung alin yung fiction. Lahat nilulunok...if the broadcast media were a little more responsible or a little less concerned making money and give more attention to talagang public service... kung mababalance nila yoon, the most effective media is TV and radio. Kaso hindi. Aside pa yon from the fact na merong mga media
Game Review
Naruto: Narutimate Hero 2 Anime and video games don’t usually mix well, but make an exception for this one. If you’re an avid fan of fighting games, a certain yellow-haired ninja boy, or both, then you’d better try Naruto: Narutimate Hero 2. Let’s quickly go over the game’s details, so hold your Kage Bunshins tightly! Gameplay. The game features three playable modes (RPG, Freefor-All, and Practice) and two special “collectors” stuff (Jiraiya’s Shop and Naruto’s House). You can tussle with a computer or another player in Free-for-All, and you can test your skills in Practice mode. However, the game truly shines in RPG, where you control Naruto and wander around Konoha, following the storyline. You can earn money and use it to buy action figures or even movie discs from Jiraiya’s shop — so you can watch them in Naruto’s house! You can even unlock a multitude of jutsus for use in character customization (Chidori Naruto, anyone?). Your moves are attack, use item, jump, and block. Sounds simple? You can use a character’s jutsus, or their Ougi attacks (an equivalent for a Super Move), which costs a lot of chakra. Still sound simple? Things can get tougher as Kawarimi, Block-Cancel, Air Juggling, and other famous fighting tactics are unveiled. It is good to read an FAQ, watch a tutorial video (http://www.shishi-rendan.com), or spend long hours to get the hang of it.
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corporations na identified sa certain politicians of political agenda or political groups. Saan mo ilulugar? Paano mo paniniwalaan tong mga taong ito di mo alam kung paid sila ng specific na tao, paid sila ng specific na organization or talagang ang concern lang nila is gumawa ng pera...yung category nila ng news tsaka ng opinion na lalabas, tugma lang doon sa kung ano yung tingin nila bebenta doon sa tao para mabenta nila yung publication nila o yung programa nila. I mean that’s the case with “Mare and Pare” sa channel 7. Although, team
kayo [sic] kasi up to date kayo sa issues, pero, susmaryosep, tingnan mo naman yung format. Is this really a discussion or is this balibagan lang ng asaran among the panelist? ...Para na kayong showbiz niyan diba? Iseparate niyo naman yung news medium tsaka yung information dissemination doon sa pure entertainment medium... Sayang, kasi yung TV and radio yun yung pinaka nakakarating from [class] A hanggang [class] E napapasok yan. Ardee: Do you think blogs are influential enough to shape the opinion of the majority? If not do you see potential in blogs to be a major socio-political voice? Connie: At this point in the Philippines not yet. Para masabi mong influential siya kailangan mararating mo lahat, di ba? Eh tingnan mo yung nature ng blog, kailangan mo ng computer, kailangan mo ng internet, which is not an item in the average filipino household. In fact, [they are the] minority. Kung titingnan mo nga no ibabase mo doon sa [blog] stats ko, let’s say bigyan natin ng figure. Ang rounded figure ay 4,500 readers a day. Doon sa 4,500 na yon, tingnan mo kung ilan doon yung nagaaccess ng blog mo sa bahay, ilan yung habang nasa opisina tsaka nasa eskwelahan. Minority ang nagaaccess ang nasa bahay...chances are yung facility na yon ay hindi available sa kanila sa bahay. So paano mo mararating ang lahat? Unless yung gobyerno magiging project nila yan na bigyan mo ng P.C. tsaka internet connection yung bawat pamilya then that’s the time na masasabi mo talaga na it can be so
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By Abel Belmonte
Many unlockables await you, most of them by playing through the RPG. Remember the green suit Gai gave to Naruto? Yes, you can play as Green Suit Naruto using Gai’s and Lee’s moves! You want to know how Hinata fights if she weren’t shy? Go unlock Successor Hinata, a better fighter than Neji! You can also unlock stuff like cards, action figures, and more, which will take time. Graphics. Simply top-notch. It features cel-shaded animation and has a manga-feel to it. Lots of kanji and the usual manga “sound effects” pop out when you throw shurikens (or some villain!). You can also see the different characters’ facial expressions when they react to attacks (Ever seen Itachi give a surprised look?). Sound. The opening music features GO!, the fourth intro song in the anime. The BGM will give you that ‘Naruto feeling’, but taking the cake are the voices. It’s like watching subbed anime, only without the sub. Conclusion. Probably the game’s only con is that it’s in Japanese — which might not even be a bad thing at all, especially for the die-hards. But this game is fun even if you’re not a Naruto fan! A great fighting engine, funny characters, and even funnier animations. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll finish my foe using Naruto’s Sexy no Jutsu!
Parser // Tech * Bluetooth technology got its name from Viking King Harald Blaatand (Nordic for “blue tooth”).
With the rise in popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) in the country, it’s no wonder software companies and network service providers are all trying to get a little piece of this new (and large) cash pie. Enter Mirinae Entertainment’s “Khan: The Absolute Power” — one of the latest games to hit the Philippine scene. Khan is an MMORPG set in different territories of the Mongolian Empire during the 13th Century. This historical setting should not lull the player into expecting an equally historically flavored game. Though the game world gives you the feel of being in 13th Century Mongolia, China, India or Europe, varieties of monster hordes roaming around will immediately make you realize this game is still more fiction than history. The concept of historically based MMORPGs is still quite unique in this country, and this could draw the attention of gamers tired of the pure-fantasy premise. Visuals. The textures on the surfaces of objects like building facades, roads, footpaths and mountainsides are artfully drawn. The game’s graphics engine is entirely in 3D, and gives players the opportunity to experience moving around and interacting with NPCs and other players in a very lifelike and threedimensional way. The graphics this engine produces are best viewed zoomed out. The look of the characters and monsters are quite outlandish. Character animations are fluid enough. The visual effects of character skills are average for this type of game: nothing
too fancy, but nothing too bad either. There are a few occasions that the game will give bad camera angles, thankfully the angle can be adjusted (but not the pitch) to clear up the view, though this might a little hard to
stats (since Ki gained from a kill can vary from 40-3400 or even greater; experience points gained are a lot more constant). This presents an interesting game mechanic that is quite different from conventional RPG gameplay. Another modification is the automated placement of skill points. Parties, or groups of characters banded together for easier leveling, are the heart and soul of every MMORPG (remember the acronym). Khan’s party system, though easy enough to get accustomed to, presents a rather exploitable g a m e p l a y
A game review by
Jason Erick Masipiqueña & Frank Tan Jr. do if you’re in the heat of battle.
Gameplay. There is the ever present hack and slash concept (kill monsters to gain experience which increases your character’s level), the local in-game economy (player to player item trading), et cetera, et cetera. Khan presents slight tweaks to these essential RPG elements, but still presents more or less the same game experience as any other game currently out on the market. First off, the character leveling is a little different in Khan. There are two things you get when you kill monsters in the game: experience and Ki. Experience points only increase a character’s level while Ki points are what players spend to increase their characters statistics (strength, dexterity, intelligence, etc.). These are gained separately from each kill, so theoretically a low level character can have very high
sassy lawyer... from page 5
influential it can sway presidential elections. Pero hindi pa eh... Pero sa isang sector [sic], it has arrived. Hindi na kayo floating lang doon somewhere... Alam mo na yon [kung] pinapansin ka na nung newspapers, pinapansin ka na ng T.V. Ardee: Pwede kayong magbigay ng concrete example ng promising influece ng blogs? Connie: Maraming batuhan ng accusations ng newspapers na nangongopya ng content. Hindi nangongopya as in word per word, kung hindi titingnan niya yung links mo, tapos from your links titingnan yung source, tapos lalabas yan sa newspaper. Hindi lang yung extent, kundi more. Labas ka ng opinion mo about a very current issue, as in nauna ka doon sa lahat ng columnista. O magbilang ka, 1 week, 5 days o yung mga columnista maglalabas din. Basahin mo yung thread nung opinion nila, parang sounds familiar. Ardee: Di kayo cinicredit? Connie: Newspapers don’t credit bloggers. Kaya ng nag away kami nang Inquirer eh. They interviewed us tapos gumawa sila ng sariling project citing American bloggers, as in parang the Filipino blogging community don’t exist after interviewing us! Ardee: Hindi lang ba kayo ang naging [biktima]? Connie: Hindi lang ako! ...Noon inis na inis ako sa ganon, and I told Chin Wong of Manila Standards. Nilabas niya ito sa column niya, ang isyu na yan na ginagamit ng media ang bloggers for sources for links, etc. Sinabi ko kay Chin there was a time when it pissed me off so much that I was actually entertaining ideas about suing. Pero kung titingnan mo on a broader context it means I’m winning. It means I’m so influential that they’re actually picking my ideas...ano ba yung unang intention ko nung nag-blog ako, e hindi ba para madisseminate yung opinion ko? If this is what it takes for my opinions and my ideas to get disseminated, then by all means do it. Just don’t copy my exact words...so blantant[ly].. Ardee: ...May sinulat si Andrew Sullivan na article stating that blogs would replace conventional media.... Connie: That’s a lot of bull****. (laughs)...Of course not! Meron ka bang ipapasahod sa mga reporters para pumunta sa
probinsya at maglakap ng information? Meron ka bang ibibili ng camera ng mga reporters mo, ng mga tape recorders, etc.? Wala. Meron ka bang pera para mag publish ng print? Ang mahal kaya mag publish in print. Meron ka niyan? Unless you can do that, then you can[not] talk about overthrowing media...Blogs are supposed to be the alternative medium. Wag niyong ambisyonin na ioverthrow ang media at kunin kung ano yung kanila. Kasi when you do that then you become mainstream media and you cease being effective as an alternative medium... Ardee: Satisfied na kayo na yung blog is just an alternative medium? Connie: Yes. Pag hindi ka na alternative medium, you became part of the system, if you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem. Kung part ka na ng system nalunok ka na. Unless it is already the system that you envision...then it’s alright to become part of that system, pero hanggang hindi ka dumadating dun sa point na yun, I’d rather be the alternative medium. Ardee: ...Do you believe that blogs should be regulated, na may censorship na rin? Connie: No. That’s the worst thing that could happen to blogs. I think that among bloggers themselves there should be code of ethics na susundin yung lahat. Pero alam mo ang hirap niyan dahil sa category. Can you impose a “blogger’s ethics” to a blogger maintaining an online diary?...Pag sinabi mo namang code of ethics to bloggers who talk about politics and law, that would be tantamount to censorship already because you’re implementing a set of rules for a particular set of blogger and not for everybody. I don’t see how it can be done unless it’s on a voluntary basis. Ngayon when you talk about putting it on a voluntary basis, that’s setting a personal standard for your blog. Kung talagang ang taas ng level mo, gusto mo excellent ka parati, iimpose mo sa sarili mo yun. Pero doon sa mga blogs na walang silang interest kundi, ay gusto ko lang mabasa ako kahit na puro bullshit yung pinagsusulat ko kasi may mga taong ganoon, admittedly. They wouldn’t care...besides, blog exists
characteristic. Low level characters can join parties with much higher level characters, and with an experience sharing feature, all the lower level character would have to do is simply follow the stronger one around while he kills monsters for his weaker companion to gain trouble free exp. Though it may seem a convenience, people could exploit this feature by making tank characters, or characters who do all the killing and damage eating, to level up their weaker characters. The game’s interface and control system closely resembles that of another popular RPG, Diablo II. Its general layout is quite the same; the attacks and skills are wired to the left and right mouse buttons respectively, even the shortcut keys/hotkeys are similar (except for drinking potions, among other things). This is quite an efficient setup and provides a control system that’s easy enough to learn within only a few minutes of play. Sound. The sound effects and music in the game are of good quality. The music is a mix of synthesized and medieval themed tracks. Khan: The Absolute Power attempts and succeeds in being a non-traditional MMORPG through the unique gameplay concepts it has presented, but with all the online RPGs swamping the local gaming industry, we will still have to see if it does stand out among the rest.
in cyberspace. Hindi ito physical object that you can control the circulation off like newspapers or books or magazines. How can you control anything? Let’s say pinasara yung blog ni XYZ. All he has to do is go to another web host, assume another screen name, reinvent himself all over again and do exactly the same thing. What’s to stop him? ...[Though] at this point, bago pa lang ang blogs sa Pilipinas. Ang pakiramdam mo ngayon free-forall, pero magsesettle down yan. At tsaka, you have to see it in the context that blogs come and go. Yung nagsstay, yun yung merong substance, merong goal na gustong maachieve kung bakit minemaintain yung blog. ...Yung mga ass-hole lang, they never last long. Ardee: Meron kaya kayong final words para sa ating readers? Connie: Ako I would encourage everybody to blog. The way I look at human history, we have history subjects, we have history books. Pero kung tutuusin, yung mga sumulat ng mga libro na yan, saan nila kinuha yung data nila? Saan nila kinuha yung documentations nila? I’ll give a very concrete example. There’s this book about Taal, it was written by an American who was working at the time sa IRRI. He was so in love with Taal. I blogged about it, nag-eemail na nga kami. His name is Tom. He was so enamored with the tale of Taal. Siya ang nagresearch, then he wrote a book about it na merong possibility na merong sunken towns diyan. Noong nagreresearch siya, alam mo kung ano ang na-unearth niya? Journals ng Spanish friars. Old old documents, mga ganoon. So itranslate mo. Pagka yung historians nagsusulat ng history books, ano bang dini-dig up? Hindi ba personal documents din from individuals? So why don’t we write history according to us, according to ourselves? Not according to the government, not according to some interest group, but according to us. So yun, kung titingnan mo in that sense, there’s no reason why everybody shouldn’t blog. Everybody should, because we are history. I hate the idea of history na history is about the important people, of course not. History is about our way of life, and we want that documented the way we see it. So let’s all do it.
There’s no reason why everybody shouldn’t blog. Everybody should, because we are history.
Parser // Tech Parser. Kung saan makulay ang buhay.
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up.parser Department of Computer Science University of the Philippines Diliman http://upparser.fil.ph http://parserblog.blogspot.com upparser@yahoo.com
Phillip Kimpo II Editor-in-Chief Adelaida Sophia Marie Lucero Associate Editor & Business Manager Jonas Fabian Roque Dino Paolo Lacdan Marvin Harnell Lee Geomar Lubaton Jeffrey Louie Quiambao CS Representatives / Managing Editors Carlos Miguel Lasa Tristan Jed Roque News Editors Erica Mae Abbass Features Editor Karl Oliver Diaz Opinion Editor Ardee C. Aram Tech Editor Daniel Joseph Saracin Julia Isobel Teehankee Literary Editors Kristine Marie Dario Layout Head Frank Tan Jr. Circulation Manager Maybelle Sibayan Head Artist Jon Eric Cantos Jenny Cheng Benjamin Pio Claudio Jose Paolo Ferrer Stevenson Lee Jason Erick Masipiqueña Staffers Abel Belmonte Bernice Cabanding Nureen Renee Guiaya Jim Guiyab Ivy Joy Mallare Mark Roxas Jose Paolo Sy Junior Staffers Florence Tiu Balagtas Adviser Dr. Cedric Angelo Festin Department Chair Proud member of the UP CS Network (UP Alliance of Computer Science Organizations) This publication belongs to the House of the CS Firefoxes.
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Editorial
Apathy
As harsh as it may sound, some people simply do not care. There are those who choose not to take pride in the recent slew of victories for the Department of Computer Science — intra-university, regional, national, and even international competitions, all conquered by DCS students and faculty. There are those who choose not to give the UP Alliance of Computer Science Organizations (CS Network) even the most modest of respects. There are those who choose not to be thankful for the presence of the foremost venue for DCS students’ views, The UP Parser, choosing instead to carp at the presence of advertisements, which in the first place allow the effective dissemination of information vital to the DCS’ growth. On the other hand, the people who choose to care are hurt by their colleagues’ (sometimes) blatant display of apathy. They are left to think, is this a sign of things to come, an ominous future where it is standard protocol for orgs to give each other the cold shoulder, where service and sacrifice is met with ratcalls and unappreciation, where people are concerned only with their own affiliations and snub the bigger family that is the Department? This publication does not wish to enforce its opinion on anyone. It merely implores to those concerned to give even the littlest of efforts to understand all sides, to probe each circumstance, to do away with tactless and injurious words, and to respect the differences among affiliations. Because ultimately, it is not a cadre of organizations nor persons which will benefit — it is the Department itself.
Get your firefox ID Lace at the Computer Science Department now! Just approach Ate Mila if you wish to buy. The Firefox ID Lace is Php 30 each.
Parser // Opinion * UP Parser Online has undergone four URL changes, with the current address being http://upparser.fil.ph
Parser Pulso ng Publiko ANG TANONG: Sasali (o nakasali) ba kayo sa org/s ng CS Network? Kung oo, anong pagkakaabalahan mo doon? Socio-academic, purely academic, web development, software development, open source, Department service, journalism, or other pursuits? Kung hinde, bakit?
HINDI - 18
Work. 2001-12993 Paalis na ako sa CS Dept, hehe. 2004-52354 Acads muna! 2003-05480 Nakakatamad. 2003-21841 Hindi ako CS eh! [No Student#] (Ed. Note: Ano ba yan.)
ACAD - 9
Nuninuninuni... 2002-15457 ACM Pogi! - 2002-09237
WEB DEVELOPMENT - 8
Sa next time na lang! 2004-37669
SOCIO-ACAD - 8
Need help! :) 2004-10856 Cursor!!! 2003-15355
SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT - 8
Meron na...isa pa? 2004-23621
JOURNALISM - 5
Parse you pa rin! 2002-20059 (Ed. Note: Eherm...)
SOCIAL/SOCIALIZATION - 5
Sawa na ako sa acads. Fun naman. [No Student#] Cursor Sexy!!! 2003-03454
ANY/LAHAT - 5
No comment... :) 2004-19333
UNDECIDED - 5
Pag-iisipan ko muna. 2002-21254 Wala lang! 2004-66699 (Ed. Note: Totoo ba tong SN na ‘to? Hehe.)
DEPARTMENT SERVICE - 2
Hihi...kilala niyo ako? 2005-19146
PROGRAMMING - 1 MAY 3 ORGS NA - 1 HAHAHA!!! - 1
Hahaha!!! [Student#: Hahaha!!!] (Ed. Note: Ka dyan.)
BABAE - 1
Integral of dx = x + c 2002-23419
WALANG FIELD - 1 OTHER PURSUITS - 1
Sexy ako! 2004-06434
LA LANG - 1
Master, I am not worthy. 2004-61872
HA? - 1
Of Blogs, Blues, and Business
To Fly a Kite in a Vacuum Tube
By Daniel Joseph Saracin and Karl Oliver Diaz
By Cai
According to wikipedia, a weblog (also known as a web log or blog) is a web application for entering, modifying and displaying periodic posts. It is also used to refer to the entire set of multimedia that constitutes a single account. Blogs, or online journals, have been in existence as far back as 1980’s. Indeed, the first Filipino blog was created in 1996; however, the concept of blogging rapidly gained popularity only recently. There are at least 9 million blogs in cyberspace, with 40,000 new ones sprouting out daily. Of course, most of them are just plain silly. Even by assuming that 99% of fresh blogs are senselessly off the point, at least 400 blogs still have the potential to influence your cause. Daily.
There’s really nothing good about staying up until 2AM when your last sleep was almost 24 hrs ago, your class starts at 7AM, and you’re an hour away from UP. It’s only been a month since the sem began yet here I am. I don’t know if the earth is rotating faster than 24hrs a day, or I am just running a turtle race. If it were so, I wouldn’t mind stepping on the brakes. Anyway, I’m tired of speeding up, just because everything is on fast mode and I’m being left behind.
There is no doubt that there are millions of blogs online. However, are they of any importance to the society? When the concept of blogging boomed around 2002, a handful of blogs were crafted to broadcast political ideologies. A few examples of these demonstrate sentiments from both sides on the US invasion of Iraq. Another example would be blogs that offer different opinions about Philippine presidents, namely Estrada and Arroyo. Just as Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press set the model for the dynamics of mass media, blogging has also introduced a radical shift in power. Businesses could change dramatically now that everyone is a potential publisher. Companies over the past few centuries have gotten used to shaping their own message. Now, they’re losing control of it — and it looks like they’re not getting it back. What about language and literacy? Since blogs are open to the public and the citizens of the worldwide web, a blogger, supposedly, takes into consideration his or her target audience. Most of them opt to use English as their language, primarily due to the fact that it reaches out to a wider range of online readers compared to their native languages. In a way, this is a form of neo-colonialism using blogging to influence one’s writing language. On the other hand, it is also a means of improving one’s English literacy: a very useful tool when one ventures into the international community. Most blogs were first used as online journals: a way of broadcasting thoughts, ideologies and philosophies to the worldwide web. A lot, though, were used as public diaries, sharing anecdotes of one’s life, which matters not to anyone except for a select few. Unless one is a very significant person, using blogs in this manner is only beneficial to no more than one’s ego. Thankfully, not all blogs are used as such. Some themed blogs discourse different topics, which, although not as reliable as information found in books or websites, nevertheless provide an alternative and, possibly, interesting viewpoint. After all, blogging can be used to introduce a new way of looking at things. Blogs have caused the web to grow, but it isn’t the same web but an entirely new one. The web we’ve come to know is mostly a compilation of documents, an archive of permanent and unchanging information. The blog-oriented web, however, changes rapidly, with each blog tied to a more specific moment. Imagine now the implications of getting an up-to-the minute view on what the relevant world is thinking. Blogs still don’t easily translate into big bucks for now. The blogosphere runs mainly on people’s passion to communicate but sure enough, with money or not, the dominance in this new web will primarily be to those who host the best conversations.
I hate it when everyone’s feeling left behind, thinking they should somehow catch up with the things they do. I was like that but every time I run, I stumble down. I wanted to break loose from those chains. It annoys me when people are trying to do things they are not supposed to do, just like running when no one’s chasing them. I hate that they are being conformists, which by the way every one of us is. Yeah. I guess Humanity is condemned to be free, and to be a conformist too. I’m not being philosophical here; I’m not crazy talking about society and politics this way. I’m crazy about those people whom you would ask whether you can fly a kite in a vacuum tube and would tell you that you’re trying to pull their asses out! So what? In the end it would only be a question of what you have done. The fact remains — I can’t fly a kite in a vacuum tube. Sabi ni Jean Jacques Rousseau: Freedom is the power to choose your own chains. Sabi ko: Death is the absolute freedom. Naka-print sa mamang nakasalubong ko sa Ynares Center: WAKE UP AND LIVE! One chance to live: one life to give. Isang quote: Failure doesn’t hurt, but what hurts is knowing you hadn’t given your best. Sabi ni Boy Abunda kay Kris: This too shall pass. Sabi ni Tweety: Mag-aaply ka na ba ulit? Wala nang defer-defer ha! Assignment ni Maam Gallo (4th year Filipino teacher): Isulat muli ang burador. Sabi ng klasmeyt nung hi-skul: ROCK THE WORLD! But don’t let the world rock you. Sa cover ng notebook: Independent thinkers NEVER follow suit. Sabi ni Janice de Belen: Little do we know that the questions we asked, the answers come when we don’t ask them anymore. Leni Bedspacer: Sa umaga, puyat akong sisikatan ng araw nang walang natatapos. Sa gabi, pagod akong lulubugan nito na walang nagagawa. Sabi ni Noemi: Odi et amo. (I love and I hate) Sabi ni Lew: Nasa UP ka para mag-aral. ABNKKBSNPLAko?! Ni Bob Ong: Isa lang ang hiniling ko sa kanila: ang karapatan kong madapa at bumangon sa buhay nang walang tatawa, magagalit, magtatanong o magbibilang kung ilang beses na akong nagkamali at ilang ulit ako dapat bumawi. Sabi ni Malen: Hindi ko alam kung pupunta ako sa burol ni Cardinal Sin sa Manila Cathedral. Sabi ni Abby: Yakult lives on! Ayon kay Sir Berdin (4th year Economics teacher): Hindi pa ito ang totoong mundo. IKAW? ANONG MASASABI MO?
Parser // Opinion Parser. Sexy, pogi, bibo, foxy!
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F
or m o r e than two decades, the UP Association of Computer Science Majors (UP CURSOR) has served as the only organization in the University that is solely dedicated to the development and growth of the Department of Computer Science and its students. Each year, UP CURSOR holds a weeklong celebration of the organization’s founding called CURSOR Week. This year marks CURSOR’s 22nd year, and we celebrate it with projects that are bigger, bolder than ever before. So mark your calendars, because from August 26 – September 22, 2005, we will give you the following scintillating activities: CURSOR Week Opening Ceromonies and Film Showing Join us on August 26, Friday, as we officially open the week in the Beta Epsilon AVR. Afterwards, we will hold a short talk and film showing for the benefit of the students of the College of Engineering.
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Parser // Features
The @rte Movement [http://arte.upcursor.org] Art and Technology have always had a rift during the long course of history. The gap is slowly being closed, step by step, and here we offer a further leap. This is The @rte Movement: Art & Technology United. This event is spearheaded by @rte Attack!, a Digital Art and Digital Photography contest for college students. The entries of the finalists of the competition will be displayed during the week on 2nd floor lobby of the College of Engineering, from August 29 – September 2. Aside from the contest, there will be a number of talks on Digital Art during August 29-30, as well as booths by companies in the Digital Art and IT industry from August 29 to September 2, 2005. Parties interested in the talks may register at the website. The talks are free of charge, but you may avail of a certificate if you wish for Php 75. For any inquiries, you may contact us at arte.attack@gmail. com or visit the website and leave a note there. Gawad Kalinga In its undying commitment to serve the less fortunate, UP CURSOR, in cooperation with UPSILON, will sponsor an outreach program aimed at helping building houses for the less fortunate through its participation in Gawad Kalinga, to be held on August 31, 2005. Junior Programmers’ Conference True programmers need not be separated by school nor by age. UP CURSOR’s Junior Programming Conference bridges these invisible gaps between the youth’s top coders and instead aims to unleash their true prowess at their calling.
The JPC helps them achieve this through a seminar during the morning of September 1, 2005, followed by a programming competition for high school students in the afternoon. Veering away from the typical, expect the JPC to be not just your ordinary programming contest. Double Vision: The CURSOR Party UP CURSOR as an organization has always taken great pride in both its scholastic and extracurricular achievements. CURSOR members both hold and participate in academic, programming, artistic, and sporting competitions, and even hold several socially relevant activities. For this reason, we hold Double Vision: the CURSOR Party as the culminating event of CURSOR Week, in order to represent UP CURSOR’s dual vision of both academic excellence and social service. The event will serve as a venue for members and non-members to unwind and make sure that CURSOr’s 22nd year celebration ends with a bang. The night features many and varied performers and bands, and is open not only to members and alumni but also to anyone who wishes to share in the revelry. See you on the night of September 2! For any inquiries on CURSOR Week events, you may contact the following people: Jasper Castillo (09275195841) >> JPC Sophia Lucero (09202974104), Mari Manso (09169568441) >> The @rte Movement Geomar Lubaton (09154017953) >> CURSOR Party Carlos Lasa (09174863403) >> CURSOR Week
CURSOR Week 2005
CURSOR Sportsfest On August 27, fresh from the opening, we will hold a day of sports and fun aimed to strengthen the unity among UP CURSOR members, applicants, and alumni! Lunch is free, so we invite the whole sexy family to come.
* Ma’am Riza Batista shifted into ComSci from MassCom; her course was Communications Research.
By Jeffrey Louie Quiambao (http://jefspeaks.i.ph) Terms usually are vulnerable to misconceptions. It is for that very reason why the term “CS Network” accidentally misleads many people, especially those who are not well informed. Only through transparency can we effectively inform people with utmost truth and clarity. What is this CS Network, then? Let’s take note of this one fact first: things change. That is why it’s being said that it’s the only thing which remains constant. And with change, adaptation must proceed with
Science Representatives (AY 2004-2005) to be almost the department equivalent of the Engineering Alliance of Student Leaders (EASL) where different organization heads/representatives were called to be the audience of the incumbent Engineering Student Council for their presentation of their projects and plans for the college. It was aimed for faster and better information dissemination. Now, the present Computer Science Representatives with their primary goal for their term of a
The CS Network is now an avenue for anybody, may it be a CS organization or a CS student alone, who is willing to help for the betterment of the department and as well as the college. It also acts as a unified body aiming towards a harmonious CS community (i.e. every activity/project is a product of having the benefit of the many as its primary goal). And with the coming of the Engineering League of Excellence (ELE), the CS Network now stands as the local council of the CS Department. Currently, it is composed of the incumbent CS Representatives as coordinators, faculty the purpose and goals of the CS Network, the UP advisers (of the Alliance of Computer Science Organizations. student body and as well as of the different homogenous Computer Science community, CS organizations) and representatives from together with the CS department realized the different CS organizations and service the potential of the CS Network to suffice arms. what is being required.
New Wine in Old Wineskins: The CS Network Redefined The CS Representatives explain
it. The CS Network that exists today is just another prodigy of change. It was first conceptualized by the former Computer
The CS Firefoxes Bright and blazing with intensity, the Firefoxes of Computer Science are raring to set the College on fire. CS Firefoxes — fiery, foxy, and feverishly eager to excel. Fox you!
Colors: Green and Orange. Green is freshness and brimming vigor. Orange is energy and blazing passion. Quite apt for the DCS, youngest of all Engineering departments; yet a force to be reckoned with — always thoroughly driven and inspired. We endeavor with great enthusiasm, raising the quality of our work above anyone else’s. Both colors also symbolize life. Birthed in an entirely different age, we live to innovate. We breathe new life into the old. Long-standing ideas turn into bright new ones in our hands, to be used in ways never seen before. We turn impossibilities, wishes, and dreams all into realities. Incidentally, green is the color of the DCS and orange is the color of the College, so our choice of House Colors embodies our loyalty to the institutions closest to our hearts. Symbol: The Binary Tree. Central to the DCS logo, one of Computer Science’s foundations. Many algorithms revolve around this simple data structure, and a vast number of realworld problems have been solved with the use of the unique object. Just like CS people – we solve problems, the simple, efficient, and inimitable way. Symbol: The Firefox. Emblem of a popular web browser close to the heart of CS folks and over 60 million people worldwide. The Mozilla Firefox browser has captured the world’s affection with its excellent features and the tagline, “Igniting the Web.” CS Firefoxes: Igniting the College. That’s a guarantee. Symbol: The Fire. We are the fire of the College. Our passion and emotion are as evident as the brightest flame. Fire is a symbol of strength, fitting the strong wills and personalities of CS people. Be in awe of our searing, blazing fury.
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dcs batch representatives Freshmen Reps 1) Antonio Mari San Miguel 2) Joan Cantillas 3) Jim Lerry Guiyab 4) Manica Dimaiwat Sophomore Reps 1) Ma. Elena Bacay 2) Roger John Ragasa 3) John Michael Tolentino Junior Reps 1) Joebet Isaac Del Rosario 2) Tristan Jed Roque
cs network guidelines Description The CS Network serves as an intermediate level between the department and the organizations/students, and a venue to convene and share ideas among organizations. It gives support to activities if what is asked will not exceed the capabilities/ limitations of the department. It is open to any organization/student that/who is willing to help the Department and/or College in any way. Objectives - To coordinate and mediate the activities of the students or organizations. To improve information dissemination. - To ensure a systematic scheduling delegation of similar activities for department-related events. - To promote harmonious working relationship. - To support activities that promotes the well-roundedness of the students. - To document every activity made.
T h e ancient Greeks viewed fire as the origin of all things. Fire can destroy, but it can forge as well. Similar to CS people. We choose to forge solutions in the smithies of our minds. Symbol: The Fox. Cunning and quick. Isn’t this what CS people are known for all around the University? Wily thinkers, the best minds in the best college. The fox is a creature bound by no one, free to roam the vast expanses of nature. We are foxes of our own. Free to think, free to innovate, and free to excel. Submitted to the Engineering Student Council (ESC) for the Engineering League of Excellence (ELE) coat of arms defense. By Phillip Kimpo Jr. (http://corsarius.i.ph) & Sophia Lucero (http://sofimi.i.ph)
Guidelines 1. All projects of the Department and the ESC shall go through the CS Network if the CS students are the stakeholders. 2. An organization is required to present their department-related activities to the CS Network. An activity is department-related if the name “Department of Computer Science” is mentioned in the event or it supports the initiatives of the department. 3. An organization is not required to present their non-Department-related activities to the CS Network. However, they are requested to submit a post-documentation of their project for the Engineering League of Excellence Merits (ELEM). 4. When two (2) or more NEW and same activities are presented in the Network, a First-Come-First-Served Basis is implemented. Established events are considered PROTECTED and are not subject to this rule. 5. All activities that will go through the CS Network must submit a pre-documentation and post-documentation. The template for the documentations is uploaded in the CS Network mailing list. 6. All minutes of the meeting must be forwarded to each organization’s mailing list unless specified otherwise.
* Aside from the DCS Firefoxes, other monikers in contention were the Surfers, Daemons, Penguins, and Trojans.
What’s CS4CS ‘05... New at The Parser Blog?
from page 1
I. Arial vs. Helvetica (The Game) “You cannot get any geekier than playing a neverending flash game where two lookalike fonts hit each other, character by character!” II. Happy Parser Day! “To all staffers of The UP Parser, the College of Engineering’s first and foremost departmentbased publication, HAPPY PARSER DAY!” III. View Grades Online! “The Computerized Registration System Online of UP Diliman now offers a service to view one’s own grades. Wonderful! Congratulations to this wonderful member of the CS Network. Whee.” Want more? Visit http://parserblog.blogspot. com to view the full posts. Parse you!
they will be launching for the year. CS Representatives Dino Lacdan, Geomar Lubaton and Jeffrey Quiambao presented their visions for the CS community, while ESC Chair Rhet De Guzman and Vice-Chair Daniel Icasiano promoted several college-wide projects, including the upcoming Engineering League of Excellence (ELE). This was followed by presentations from the different CSrelated organizations and Department service arms comprising the CS Network. These included the CRS Team, Eng’g Webteam, DCS SAs, UnPLUG, UP ACM, UP CompSoc, UP CURSOR and the UP Parser as well. To end the program, Prof. Prospero Naval gave a speech underscoring the importance of the freshmen doing their best in their academics. But before everything ended, UP CURSOR’s Indakers entertained the freshmen with a dance number, grooving and shaking their bodies to the songs of Janet Jackson. Lunch was served afterwards at the Engineering Lawn.
Blogging Summit... from page 3 Up next was five-time Palanca awardee and internationally published author Dean Alfar, who entertained the crowd with his witty and informative talk on “Blogging Creatively”. Alecks Pabico of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) followed, sharing his insights on the emergence of bloggers as journalists and the role of blogging in journalism. Last to present was arguably the summit’s main speaker, Connie Veneracion, popularly known as “The Sassy Lawyer” in blog-circles. Veneracion, a lawyer by profession and recipient of the Most Informative Blog Award in 2003, enlightened the delegates on “How to Build a Bookmark-Worthy Blog.” Over 300 persons registered in the event hosted by the UP Law Program on Internet and Society (UP Law ISP). Delegates were given the chance to raise questions in the open fora following each session. Aside from free food, people were also given free i.ph domains worth $15.00. Various iBlog t-shirts were also sold. The summit’s official website can be found at http://www. iblogph.org.
The CS Grad Party ‘05 By Geomar Lubaton (http://ramgee.i.ph)
The CS Graduation Dinner was held last April 20, 2005 at Balay Kalinaw in UP Diliman from 6:30 to 10:00 PM. One hour before the event, everything was going smoothly. The Grad Party Volcorps were almost finished setting up the place, giving the necessary forms to the early birds. After waiting for the crowd to get bigger, Dino Lacdan and Geomar Lubaton, the event’s hosts, had the people settle down to get the party started. The event was started by an opening speech by the past Department Chair Dr. Ronald Tuñgol then was followed by a game called “Modified Human Photograph”. In this game, the grad students were asked to group into threes to test their creativity and acting skills by depicting scenes like “nasuntok ng lasing sa may McDo” and “nagka-kram sa thesis.” Next was the much awaited dinner! Thanks to the gourmet skills of Michael Lee, an HRIM student in College of Saint Benilde (CSB), a delectable buffet of peppery stuffed pork roulade and fried chicken with béchamel sauce appeased approximately 80 hungry tummies of the people who attended that night. The food was good for 100 persons but there were few leftovers. Mr. Ryzaldi Acmad Moti, Chief Operating Officer of 25by8, an e-solutions company, shared a talk on the quality of UP CS graduates, and gave them survival tips after graduation. Ms. Joyce Avestro, president of the Department of Computer Science Alumni Association (DCSAA), introduced the Association to the graduates and swore them in as the newest batch. She also announced Georgino Adriano and Ma. Christina Olpoc as the elected Batch Representatives. They will be in charge of contacting their batchmates in upcoming events such as alumni homecomings.
Parser. ‘Pag narito ka, wala ka ‘don.
s t a f f e r
slambook
Here are the Parser staffers who have graduated last March 2005. All the best to you!
Alfonso Miguel L. Mante (Ponch)
Current Occupation (Current Employer): Still hunting Position held in Parser: Managing Editor Positions held in other organizations: Academic Affairs (CURSOR), Member (ARISE), CS Representative (ESC) Favorite CS subject: Hmm... CS140 kasi masaya ‘yunvg class kapag discussions Favorite CS Faculty Member: Dami! Sir Quiwa, Ma’am Joyce, Ma’am Ong, Sir Miranda... Favorite CS Organization: CURSOR!!! Other comments: reserve me a copy, ha? =)
Lia N. Maliwat (Lia)
Current Occupation (Current Employer:) Still looking Position held in Parser: News Editor Positions held in other organizations: Academic Affairs Committee Head 2003-04 (UP CURSOR)
Luis Antonio (Chicco)
B.
Reyes
Current Occupation (Current Employer): Jr. Software Developer (SMART Communications) Position held in Parser: Managing Editor Positions held in other organizations: CS Rep (ESC), External Affairs (UP CURSOR) Favorite CS subject: CS199!!! THESIS! Favorite CS Faculty Member: Sir Mario! Favorite CS Organization: CURSOR! Other comments: Long live PARSER!!! Galing nyo talaga!
Jan E. San Jose (Jan, Janny)
Current Occupation (Current Employer): ITO Support Specialist (HewlettPackard) Position held in Parser: Staff Positions held in other organizations: Reporter (Engineering Logscript) Favorite CS subject: CS131 Favorite CS Faculty Member: Prof. Evangel Quiwa
Michael James O. Sepulveda (Mike)
Awards and Recognitions were given to the cum laudes and magna cum laudes of the batch. Finalists in the Undergraduate Research Competition e-NoDes and AMASSIS (see related news article) were also recognized. The highlight of the evening was the tribute for the graduates. Sighs and laughter filled the room as the screen flashed photos of their freshmen year, their barkada photographs, thesis presentations, and more. It reminded them of their stay in UP with all its ups and downs, and the challenges they are to meet as they welcome the real world. Ms. Joyce Avestro surprised everyone as she bid them goodbye with a musical number. The party was officially ended by words from Dr. Susan Pancho-Festin at around 10 pm and the to-be-graduates were off to their own gimmicks and get togethers.
Current Occupation (Current Employer): ITO Support Specialist (HP Asia Pacific) Position held in Parser: Managing Editor Positions held in other organizations: Member (UP Cursor), CS Representative (ESC), Member (UP Arise), Career Handbook Staff (UP CAPES), Member (UP Sugbuanon) Favorite CS subject: CS12, CS21, CS131, CS140, CS145, CS150, CS174 and CS199 Favorite CS Faculty Member: Prof. Quiwa, Maam Joyce, Sir Feria (Go thesis!!) Favorite CS Organization: UP Cursor Sexy! Parser - parse you! (hehehe...) Other comments: Make this year the Department of Computer Science year... Be proud to be part of this Department and if you think that the Department doesn’t know what they are doing or teaching, they do and believe me. Every small detail we thought as students were unimportant turn out to be some of the most important lessons are teachers could ever teach us — that being both technical, as well as teamwork, planning, design, and concepts. To the suceeding batches, good luck and do your best. To the Dept, thank you very much for all the lessons taught. You just don’t know how much you are appreciated.
Parser // Features and News
p11
Hate
Kasalanan
...then we grew silent
by Germond Akome
by DJ Saracin
DON’T TOUCH ME. I am still, I DETEST THE WAY YOU MAKE MY SKIN in monologue TINGLE EVERY TIME YOU BRUSH with the silence AGAINST ME. I’ve created to whisper DON’T TALK TO ME. secrets to you. I LOATHE THE VERY SOUND OF YOUR VOICE With your hand in mine, THAT SEEMS TO CARESS ME I shall speak to you AND MAKE ME LONG FOR MORE. with a longing DON’T LOOK AT ME. that suffers the distance I ABHOR YOUR GLANCE THAT MAKES in us. THE PAIN IN MY STOMACH ALL THE MORE INTENSE. I’ve grown deaf DON’T GIVE ME ANYTHING. to the echoes of my ranting. EVEN THE SIMPLEST GIFT FORCES ME I still listen. TO YIELD MYSELF TO YOU. Sometimes I think i hear you, STAY AWAY FROM ME. faintly. I DON’T EVER WANT TO LOSE MY IDENTITY.
by Jeric Cantos
in places i’ve never been to, then you speak to me Sa gabi, sa gabi, ika’y pinagpapawisan, as though i’m lost. Nababagabag, mayroong pinagnanasahan. I enjoy wandering in your Naghanap, naghanap, ngunit walang matagpuan, daydreams... Iyong paningin, ibinaling sa kadiliman. if only longing wasn’t such a far place.
Heto na, heto na, maari nang lasapin, Tukso ng laman, maari nang abutin. Sya na nga, sya na nga, nasa iyong harapan, Ang tawag ng dugo, iyo bang pakikinggan?
In time I shall head towards this place I remember you by, where we never spoke, nor touched.
Kay sarap, kay sarap, ligaya ng laman. Sa wakas, ikaw rin ay mapagbibigyan. Mapusok, Mapusok, ‘di mapipigilan, ‘Di pabibigo ang pangangailangan.
...well, maybe we might have. There are moments when I can only see so little I find you in my thoughts, without my words and yours.
Gone
by Raeff
your hot breath wafted on my neck in the midst of a fitful slumber I opened my eyes and saw the invisible nothing that had been here since... the pain hurts so, not unlike acid burrowing too deep to take out yet quite short of numbing me into deep peaceful unconsciousness Hear me, O, moon goddess and take now my life. Spare me, I beseech the, from this mortal strife. teary-eyed i leaned back as fluid ice seeped into me as a glacier would copper drops tainted what would have been clear rippling crystal the metallic sting of the incision that had been mere seconds before along with all my thoughts, my turmoil, now subside, now subdued i long to see what changes you have been through after... but i guess you would very much rather not have me nor have me know as i fall into the dark and unexplored abyss of dreams, surging and ebbing i wish i only knew, though i know i will not, where did you go, now that I’m gone?
Lumabas, pumasok, walang inaalintana. Umatras, sumulong, hanggang umapaw ang banga. Napuno ang salop, walang ni anong babala, Sumambulat sa wakas, ika’y napahilata. Bata, batid mo ba ang mundong pinasok mo? Ang bawat sarap ay may katumbas na presyo. Malas ka pare, kapag ikaw ay nabisto, Pangongopya sa M.P. katapat ay singko.
mahirap manganak ng tula
by Cai
mahirap manganak ng tula lalo pa’t walang binhi ng kagalakan o kalungkutan o kaya nama’y matinding sakit na tumatagos sa kaibuturan mahirap manganak ng tula kung wala namang sinapupunang kakanlong sa mga parikala’t talinghaga walang magluluwal ng mga akda mahirap manganak ng tula kung walang kakagat sa bunga ng matamis na tamod ng panulat mahirap manganak ng tula kung walang basbas ng kasal ang manunulat at burador walang lunsaran ng pagbabago mahirap manganak ng tula at pagtugma-tugmain ang mga salita mahirap manganak ng tula...
See your name in print. Send your submissions for Parser’s literary section to upparser@yahoo.com. Please limit submissions to 500 words.
Spectre
by Karl Diaz
And then I woke up. It really was such a horrible nightmare that I’ve been having recently. I turned to my side and reassured myself that you are still there. Somehow, I can’t stop the nagging feeling that if I lose sight of you, there’s a chance I might lose you forever. It still would be a few more minutes before the alarm goes off. I really enjoy these moments of twilight wakefulness, no matter how much my dream world haunts me. I love seeing your face in undisturbed, innocent slumber, without the icy brick wall you usually build around you. Somehow, your sleeping form reminds me of the human I fell in love with. I cherish the fleeting minutes I have before you wake up. I know that when you open your eyes, you will begin building that cold wall again. When you awake, you will no longer be human but a frozen and seemingly empty shell. I wonder what goes on in your mind. The inevitable came and you opened your eyes. Once again, your features resumed the icy glaze they usually have. I understand, though; you have always been like that: detached and emotionless. I guess, in a way, you are lucky because your apparent lack of emotion is one of your strengths. However, I know that you do have emotions; you just have a hard time showing them again. The day begins once again with a silent breakfast. Are we drifting apart? I know that you are usually cold and unresponsive but these last few days, you have been ignoring me. It’s like I’m never really there, heck, your eyes even seem to focus somewhere behind me. Maybe I’m just too paranoid. You have left earlier for work so I remained behind to clean up, lock the house and go to work myself. I’ve cleared the table, washed the dishes and swept the floor; oh, you know how much of a neat freak I am. I would have taken out the trash this morning had I not seen a box. I saw it inside the trash bin: a small box, not too different from the sort where they place rings in. It had my name on it, though I don’t remember owning any box of that sort. Curiosity getting the better of me, I opened it and there it was. My brain told me to expect a ring while my hypothalamus wanted to believe otherwise. I just can’t take it, why would you buy me a ring and then throw it away just like that? I don’t know. I feel dizzy and I think I need a whiff of fresh air. I left the house to walk for a while; maybe I could even clear my head. I ran around the city, I can’t remember much aside from the dizzying whirlwind thoughts inside my head. So it is true, the earth really is moving. It was late when I returned and you can be sure I’m quite exhausted. I entered the bathroom for a quick shower. It felt like a frigid torrent from my head to toe even though I’m still dry. Panic struck me as I smelled the copper scent of your, now lifeless, blood. Your eyes are closed, but I could tell you have been crying. Was there any problem? Why didn’t you tell me? I feel horrible, swearing my love to you when I wasn’t there during the times you needed me most. I tripped on my own feet as I hurried downstairs. I know you are dead, but I am still hoping that maybe, just maybe, if I call an ambulance, you would come back to me. We could sort things out together, just like we usually did long before. I picked up the phone and began leafing through the numerous pages held on the door of the fridge by those cute little magnetic toys. Pizza delivery? No. My boss? Definitely not. Your boss? Maybe later. Where are the emergency numbers? There’s the phone bill, the electric bill, today’s mail, some newspaper clippings with my name on it, the plumber’s number. Wait, clippings? My name? I read: obituaries. This has got to be a joke. Some nutcase has sent my full name and my full birth date claiming that I died two weeks ago. This has got to be a joke, right? Somewhere behind the mirror, my reflection wasn’t there to reassure me. And then I woke up. It really was such a horrible nightmare... We don’t just write programs; we write.
Parser // Literary
p13
o r d i n a r y vs. computerrific!
FUN RUN:
Ang ordinary barbeque ay barbeque.
Ang CS barbeque ay barbe-stack. First in. Last eaten.
Ang ayaw ng isang ordinary boyfriend ay materialistic na girlfriend.
Ang ayaw ng isang CS boyfriend ay object-oriented na girlfriend.
Ang ordinary single ay ayaw makipagrelasyon.
Ang CS single ay ayaw mag-commit.
Ang ordinaryong genes ay namamana sa father side o sa mother side. Ang CS genes ay namamana sa left subtree or right subtree. Ordinary customer: Two cups of rice, please.
CS Customer: Two instances of rice, please.
Ordinary McDo Crew: Sir, ang drinks po ba nila regular or large?
CS McDo Crew: Sir, ang drinks po ba natin float, long or double?
Maricel Soriano (MS): Get out of my house! I don’t need a parasite!
CS: Get out of my drive! I don’t need a virus nor a worm!
Vilma Santos (VS): Para kang karinderyang bukas-sara sa lahat ng gustong kumain!
CS: Para kang CD-writer na bukas-sara sa lahat ng gustong magburn!
Ang dalawang magkaibang ordinaryong bagay ay Ordinary EEE: Exclusive OR. Ordinary Math: Disjoint set.
Ang dalawang magkaibang CS stuff ay atomic.
Teka, pahinga lang ako... Ordinary sosyal: beauty rest. Ordinary athlete: recharge lang.
Teka, pahinga lang ako... CS: Defrag(mentation) lang.
Ordinary workaholic: Do not disturb. Busy.
Workaholic CS: Do not disturb. Multitasking. Multithreading.
Ang ordinary taong hindi umaasa sa iba ay independent.
Ang CS People na hindi umaasa sa iba ay stand-alone.
Ang ordinary item na hindi madaling gamitin ay inconvenient.
Ang CS item na hindi madaling gamitin ay hindi user-friendly.
Ordinary student: Bumagsak na naman ako. Third take ko na ito!
CS student: Bumagsak na naman ako. Pangatlong iteration na ito!
In an IT-job interview... “What languages do you know?” Ordinary: Filipino, English, Spanish, Latin, French...
In an IT-job interview... “What languages do you know?” CS: C, C++, Java, Perl, Haskell, Python, Lisp, COBOL, Prolog...
Kapag ang event ay naantala... due to technical problems.
Kapag ang event ay naantala... due to runtime errors.
An ordinary good student manages his time well.
A good CS student synchronizes his processes well.
Monkey see, monkey do.
Override. Overload.
Ang ordinary boy scout ay laging handa.
Ang CS boy scout ay laging buffered.
Tara, gig tayo, bro!
Tera, giga tayo, bit!
Life is like a box of chocolates, don’t know what you gonna get.
Life is like a bin of spam, don’t know what you gonna get.
Ordinary CS Student: Ano yung persistence? UP Diliman CS Student: Persistence? Hindi mo alam! I give up! Ordinary CS Student: (sa sarili) Wala naman itong persistence!
By Jonas Roque (http://jonas.i.ph)
Literary
more
Mama, Para!
Ika labing tatlo ng Hulyo dalawang libo’t lima. “Ano ba yan?” …yan ang aking natanong sa aking sarili habang naghihintay ng isang himala o pangitain sa gitna ng dagat ng mga tao na aking kasabay sa T.Sora. Wala talaga akong ideya kung saan ako pupunta sakay ng isang dyip upang makagawa ng isang ethnography. Ha?...Ano ‘yon? Di mo alam ang ethnography? Hay eto na naman tayo…Mageexpalin na naman ako. Ahmm…ang ethnography ayon kay Mr. Webster is the study and systematic recording of human culture o kaya a descriptive work from research of human culture. (English yan! Hehe..) Mabalik nga tayo doon sa problema ko… Di ko talaga alam kung saan ako sasakay para lang may magawa akong ethnography…Hay, e kung bumalik na lang kaya ako sa UP at sumama sa mga nagrarally? “Papet pasista, Patalsikin si Gloria!...” Pero andito na ko baka di ako umabot saka sayang ‘yong pamasahe pabalik. Bahala na! Papara na ko dito ng kahit anong dyip. Bahala na kung saan ako makarating. Sinenyasan ko ang isang driver…Naks nagsmile pa talaga sa akin o baka dahil ‘yon sa kinakamot niyang balikat…Anyway pagkatapos ng ilang sandali, isang green na dyip na may plate number na TRU 635 ang tumigil sa aking harapan; may kalumaan na ito pero di pa naman kinakalawang kaya kaaya-aya pa rin namang tignan…di katulad ng kasunod nitong dyip na kapanahunan pa ata ni Marcos ginawa… Parang pinamana ng council of elders!... May mga tao na noong sumakay ako pero matino pa naman ang nakuha kong upuanb. Hanep sa loob parang kang nasa gubat green na green. At take
By Jim Lerry Guiyab note, may mini altar pa siya sa harap complete with rosary, rebulto, sampaguita, sticker ni Mama Mary at Jesus Christ, basahan, at baryang panukli. Maya-maya pa ay tumakbo na ang dyip na aking sinasakyan. Pagkalipas ng ilang minuto, tumigil ito sa isang over pass upang kumuha pa ng pasahero. Grabe ang daming sumakay. Punuan na pero sige pa rin ang tawag ng driver. “Konting usod lang ho…panlabing dalawang tao yan…” Panglabing dalawa?! E di na nga kaming magkasyang sampu dito! Ano ba yan ginawa kaming sardinas?! Pero grabe nakakamangha ang aking nakita. Para palang si Moses ang pwet ng tao sa dyip, nakakahati ng mga tuhod na humaharang sa kanyang uupuan. Maya-maya pa umandar na muli ang dyip. Iba-iba ang gimik ng mga tao sa loob ng dyip may mga nakasabit sa bar ang kamay, may mga tsismoso at tsismosa, mga taongparang di natutulog sa kanilang bahay at dito natutulog, at ang mga wala lang. Teka may nakalimutan papala ako ang mga ‘usi’. Ang mga usi, as in usisero at usisera, ay tulad ng katabi at kaharap ko ngayon habang sinusulat ko ito sa loob ng dyip. Sila ‘yong mga taong pinangarap na maging giraffe na pilit pinapahaba ang leeg para lang mabasa ang text ng katabi o kaya naman e makinig sa may usapan ng may usapan. Pero sa aking kaso basahin ang sinusulat kong ethnography. Kailangan itago baka mabasa pa ‘yong pinagsusulat ko tungkol sa kanila.
p14 Parser // Specials and Literary
To be continued. Visit http://upparser.fil.ph for the whole story.
It’s back and TH!
4
Thread 1 CS 155 Student 1: Anong tawag sa mga hindi pa natutulog dahil sa MP? CS 155 Student 2: Ano? CS 155 Student 1: Nontoken Thread 2 Senior Student: Patulong naman sa 155 MP ko oh. CS Alumni: May kilala akong magaling sa compiler... si Chris Clarin* Thread 3 Teacher: Mag-share lang ako something offtopic pero related sa class Thread 4 Trend Delegate: (while developing a software) Eis ang galing! (surprised!), ‘pag may nabago, naiiba! Other Delegates: Wooh! The greatest revelation of all time! Thread 5 Senior Student: Wala pa lang seniors sa juniors. Junior Teachers: Ayan ka naman! Thread 6 Webteam SA #1: Paano mag-charge to page 16
Written on the epitaph of life
By Mark Roxas
Each day has a new hue of gray the trees blue and the birds dead on the sky is an ugly, dark shade not of clouds but of smoke instead rivers flowing with no direction oceans dry up under the torture of the sun the earth crying out with pain unmentioned the morbid end has just begun dry winds slowly approaches from the east ghastly presence come creeping from the west they muster in and come to feast on hungry spirits uttering, “Be our guest, be our guest” The lone star percieved in daylight shows no mercy on its face its arms pierces through the silence of the night death onto the valley laid upon its gaze ... where it happens no one knows when it happens would never be told but this reality is only a stone’s throw it lies in the exhausted life, the shattered heart of a broken soul
There’s more than one way to be heard.
Scribblets!
Php 50 for the first 50 characters, Php 1 for each succeesing character. Contact Ia (09202974104) for inquiries.
* Hedy Lamarr, a Hollywood sexy actress, helped develop Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum technology.
BACK AND 4TH... from page 14 nitong digital camera? Webteam SA #2: Isaksak mo. Thread 7 A Libre news headline: UP CURSOR, nakalibreng tanghalian Thread 8 An Imagine Cup team is known to be the s.k.waters. Meanwhile, two among the ACM ICPC (International Collegiate Programming Competition) team names are UP WET, and, UP Team of Artistic Engineers Thread 9 May taong hindi maka-download ng movies, kaya pinag-download siya ng Quicktime player. Netguy: Ayan, may Quicktime na ‘ko. Pero ayaw gumana! Pwede bang i-rename ko lang ang .zip sa .mpeg? Thread 10 Bago sumabak sa laban CS Volleyball Team & “Star” Player: Go team! CSV Team: Fox you! “Star” Player: Fighters! * Newly graduate Chris Clarin is the CS155 teacher
slice of cs JEDI Teachers @ JavaOne
From the DCS Archives: Big toys for the big... geeks? Architect’s vision of the building
ang DCS sa hinaharap...
another PrintScreen special
College of Engineering Library and Computer Science Building (COELACS)*
be eager to excel, be a firefox! By Geomar Lubaton (http://ramgee.i.ph)
We need you. Our Department needs you. The Department of Computer Science (DCS), the CS Representatives, and the UP Alliance of Computer Science Organizations (CS Network) would like to gain your support in the soonto-be-unveiled Engineering League of Excellence (ELE). It promotes academic excellence, student awareness, and participation in extracurricular activities of the college. You can help the DCS through any of the following: > Academic Excellence. Be the heroes of House Firefox! Students are encouraged to study and be University and College Scholars. Those who are graduating are also encouraged to finish with honors. Also, we would really appreciate it if you can submit your Math, CS, Physics, and other Engineering exams with a grade of 90% or better at the “EXAM IN” box at the CS Department. Please make sure that your exams are properly signed by your respective instructors. You can collect your exams at the “EXAM OUT” box at the CS Department. > Extracurricular Activities. Be the most wellrounded students of the College! Activities such as the Freshmen Week, Engineering Week, Engineering Cup, CS Week, Student Council Elections, Dean’s Hour, and College Outreach Program entail participation from both students and faculty members. You are encouraged to join in these activities in order for our Department to garner merits for ELE. > Special Awards. Be the best! If you happen to have won or participated in academic competitions outside the College and/or University, we request that you report this and submit any proof to any of the CS Representatives or to the staff of The UP Parser. These competitions include university, regional, national, and international contests – programming, photography, art, literary, sports, debate, research competitions, count them all! Be recognized.
Parser // Specials Parser. Ang orig at hindi payayanig.
p16