Tonight was the third meeting of the Braindump NYC meetup physically hosted by Hunch and logistically hosted and sponsored by my friends at Hackruiter. Each meeting has a technical theme and those present are invited to give very short presentations along the theme.

Tonight’s theme was “algorithms” with a wide variety of types being presented.

The first short talk I gave was on An Envy Free Cake Division Protocol, as given by the paper of the same name (PDF) and the fantastic book Cooking For Geeks. I cheated because a protocol is strictly speaking not an algorithm, but is still procedural. Nevertheless, the main criticism of the talk was that I didn’t actually bring any cake. I was happy to spread the sheer awe that I experienced when I found out there is a whole section of science devoted to optimal ways to cut a cake.

I also gave an abridged short talk on the Linux O(1) and CFS scheduling algorithms by Ingo Molnar. The O(1) algorithm is special for me because its debut during the 2.5 series got me interested in kernel development for its sheer simplicity and mantra that working code speaks louder that words.

I’m really excited by this event series. I’ve learned interesting practical and theoretical knowledge both times I’ve went and have really enjoyed the people who attend.