Galita's life cycle is over, a cute little dog that my daughter Lissi picked up from the street and who gave us a lot of love and happiness.Galita was very naughty. Being at home made Dolly, another bigger dog, dump the garbage can so that she would then be the one digging for food. And that we gave her a lot of food and other things that she liked. But it seems that her nomadic life led her to try to store as much food as she could find.Galita got along with everyone. She was very sociable. I d...

It was the early 70's and as I have commented in other articles, our Neuroscience Department had a 12-bit 32 Kilo Words computer, a punched tape reader and an extended typewriter to punch tapes.In those days, computers were scarce, very scarce, and that meant that their use as such was in the hands of large ministries or large companies, but it was very rare for a small department to have one. The self-sacrificing work of the Department staff that prior to my entry into it and usin...

In other articles I have commented that in 1972 I was studying Pure Mathematics and I  coincide with Dr. Pedro Valdés (Peter, as everyone knows him) that he was continuing his studies in Mathematics to increase his working capacities in Neurosciences.We became good friends, we studied together in the University Park, in the Classrooms, in the Library, until one day he told me: "Tomorrow, Saturday, I'll wait for you at my house to continue."Saturday comes, I go to Peter's house, I r...

Do you really think that programmers do our job "so badly" and make "so many mistakes" that we cause the thousands of vulnerabilities that the Windows operating system has had, has, and will have?As a fact, I affirm that all "legal" antiviruses ask Microsoft for various "entry and interception points" where to put their "legally added" programming to the operating system. For example, how do you think an antivirus "checks" every file before being "opened" by Windows Explorer? Becau...

The history of Spreadsheets is fascinating, from Richard Mattessich who in 1972 wrote the article "Budgeting Models and System Simulation" creating the concept, to Pardo and Landau, who tried to obtain a Patent.But the renowned inventor of Spreadsheets is Dan Bricklin, with his VisiCalc, which was available since 1979 and was, let's say, the first and most important computing tool in the hands of anyone when it was implemented for the first computer that we can call "personal".I kn...

Programming... There are so many work and development opportunities for the Programmer and the Entrepreneur... Smart houses, the internet of things (IoT), websites as varied as the world is, mobile applications (Android, IOS), Security in communications and in business, PC applications (Windows, Mac, Chrome OS), are some examples of how varied and necessary for Programmers to do their work. Artificial intelligence? And who programs, trains, and maintains it? Programmers first. A...

Hi !. I am Octavio, and as editor of this section I offer to share your experiences in programming, from curious anecdotes to difficult moments when making large or small systems. We will also share how to solve all kinds of problems using programming as a tool, for PCs, for Mobiles, and even for the Cloud. If you are a novice, then welcome, and if you are an expert, then welcome too. All kinds of writings will be interesting to us to publish, because where else will you find tha...

One afternoon of the many in which the programs we developed took hours and even days to produce results, several colleagues were meeting near our computer and the topic of robots came up.Some of us talked about the distance between the human being and the automation of processes by computers, which by the way is currently maintained, others about the development of Neuroscience itself, others the development of mathematics and computing itself, in short, almost any topic fit into...

At the beginning of the 70s we had a computer with 32 Kilowords and 12 bits in length each word and to program it encoded the machine language by hand and could also use a posfix notation language called LEAL although it was difficult for us anyway to translate algorithms especially if what prevailed was the calculation, so frequent in the Neuroscience applications that we developed supported by statistics, including multivariate ones.In those years and also in the 60's, it was com...

My current works and ideas.Over the years I have been developing a series of works and research proposals that I would like to present to you as a whole for your consideration. For each one you will find here an introduction to the topic and also links to the complete content already more elaborated. Most of the topics are under development and from time to time I add or modify information. Keep this in mind so that from time to time you can revisit the topics that were of interest...

One of the most fantastic things about having a computer in our department in the 70's is that we could do with it what we wanted, literally, without having to go through all the bureaucracy created around the so-called "Calculation Centers", where weeks and even months passed between having an idea and getting a real program to implement it. In other words, we lived through the personal computer revolution years before it even existed.In those years a young researcher, the current...

I had the joy of meeting Manchita. I had never had dogs, as a child only a cat. Manchita came to us by chance. A friend of my daughter found her alone on the street, and despite the fact that for several days she made her visible in front of her house, no one claimed her. Well, my daughter stayed with her. At first I was little at home, spending time with my daughter, either in ballet classes or in her apartment. Later on, my daughter is hired abroad, and leaves us looking after...

Under Rocinante's helmets I made the happiest quixot of my life.It was the 80s of the last century, and my friend Peter and I, being at a scientific event at the University, we read on a flyer that in "El Bodegón de Bartolo", a nearby coffee bar, from 10 AM it could be consumed with beer At an open bar and we couldn't hold out, we went out there with Peter's girlfriend, Yanai.When we get to the bar they inform us that no, that there is nothing at all until 5 pm, and then Yanai tell...

Yesterday walking and walking I went to repair a fan where a technician who has been repairing electrical appliances for more than 20 years, has a lot of experience, is fast and accurate.Upon arrival there was a "return at 2:30" sign and waiting for it a Mrs. arrived with a rice cooker. Well, we started talking and talking, and I said to myself, why wait until everyone has internet to use Facebook? Facebook we have it within reach...Well, without meeting each other, exchanging pho...

As it will have happened to all of you that for years Microsoft has imposed its Windows 10 updates above any personal or business consideration of those who have bought its product.And let's not say that they are only critical and security updates, along the way it has already imposed more than five versions of Windows 10 associated with the "continuous update" system that they implemented as a universal solution to the problems of Windows 10 itself.Well, along the way there have b...

It was in the early 80's of the last century when a psychologist named Roberto began to work with us, a very affable man, always with a smile, I never saw him annoying, much less bothering anyone. He was welcome in our Neurosciences collective, although he actually belonged to the psychology school of the university. He immediately became interested in using the personal computers we had to design and create applications that would have an impact on psychology. We talked a lot, he...

I still remember when I was programming with GoTo. Programming without using it was not conceivable. Until the revolution started by Dijkstra with his note "Goto considered harmful" came to "structure" our minds for program development.The progress made with "Structured Programming" is incalculable, which allowed not only to increase the speed of having correct programs, but also to increase the number of people capable of programming.At that time, "Top to Bottom Programming" and "...

Back in the year 1973-74 I have already told how Dr. Pedro Valdés took me to know the work of the Department of Neurosciences.I immediately met Dr. Thalía Harmony, one of the most intelligent and determined people I have ever met in my entire life, and knowing that I was about to finish the second year of Pure Mathematics, She knew that I had no biological training.I will never forget that he looked at me with those "inquisitive eyes" that he has and told me: "To work here you must...