@ infinity, plus 1

Here is an interesting puzzle a friend/colleague put me to a few days ago:

You are given a very (very, very ….you get how very, don’t you?) long array of natural numbers and another natural number k. The task is to find out if there is any the first sequence of numbers in the array whose sum is divisible by k (if there is any). Of course, you need to come up with the most efficient algorithm for this.

Useless hint: This can be accomplished in O(n), n being the size of the array. Update: I’m not sure if my solution is correct, so I’m not even sure if this (useless) hint is correct.

Starts tomorrow, 19th April 2007. Register yourself. See you there.

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If you did not ‘get’ the title of this post, you are probably one of them!

I don’t remember how the conversation started, but I found out today that a lot of my friends have not even heard of the legendary Real Programmers Don’t Use Pascal and The story of Mel. So I am writing this post in the interest of sparing all the quiche.

From Wikipedia:

Real Programmers Don’t Use Pascal is an essay about computer programming written by Ed Post, Tektronix, Inc, Wilsonville OR USA. It has been published as a letter to the editor in Datamation, volume 29 number 7, July 1983. The title is a parody of the bestselling tongue in cheek book on stereotypes about masculinity Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche.

The story of Mel is a response, and a parody of the parody.

The Great Escape, originally uploaded by ukaaa.

Cool idea, awesome photography.

He says, “Don’t worry miss, I’ve got you.”

She says, “You’ve got me?! Who’s got you?”

Just love the scene. It is one of those rare magical moments in the movies.

For the uninitiated, this is a scene in the first of the Superman movies. In fact this is the first time Superman is seen on screen; he catches Louis mid air while she is falling from a tall building and the above conversation ensues.

I got reminded of this when HBO played the movie recently.

Life is short, originally uploaded by Sids.

Seen behind the driver’s seat in an autorikshaw in Bangalore.

TN_Registration_Kannada_Number_Plate, originally uploaded by Sids.

But why? Your guess is as good as mine.