Dennis Shasha
Encyclopedia
Dennis Elliot Shasha is a professor of computer science
at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
, a division of New York University
. His current areas of research include work done with biologists on pattern discovery for microarrays, combinatorial design
, network inference, and protein docking; work done with physicists, musicians, and professionals in finance on algorithms for time series
; and work on database applications in untrusted environments. Other areas of interest include database tuning
as well as tree and graph matching.
in 1977, he worked for IBM
designing circuits
and microcode
for the IBM 3090. While at IBM, he earned his M.Sc. from Syracuse University
in 1980. He completed his Ph.D. in applied mathematics at Harvard in 1984 (thesis advisor: Nat Goodman).
Professor Shasha is a prolific author, researcher, and public speaker. He has written six books of puzzles, five of which center on the work of a mathematical detective by the name of Jacob Ecco, a biography about great computer scientists (coauthored by freelance journalist Cathy Lazere), and technical books relating to his various areas of research. In his non-academic writings, perhaps his greatest invention is the notion of omniheuristics, a kind of super-heuristics concerned with the ability to solve any and all manner of puzzles, conundrums, enigmas, and dilimmas. Owing their decidedly curious character, he has given particular note to puzzles that start off easy, but have apparently innocent variants that are particularly perplexing; he calls them 'upstarts'.
Professor Shasha has written monthly puzzle columns for Scientific American
and Dr. Dobb's Journal
. He lives in New York with his wife, Karen, his daughter, Cloe, and his son, Tyler.
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences
The Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences is an independent division of New York University under the Faculty of Arts & Science that serves as a center for research and advanced training in computer science and mathematics...
, a division of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. His current areas of research include work done with biologists on pattern discovery for microarrays, combinatorial design
Combinatorial design
Combinatorial design theory is the part of combinatorial mathematics that deals with the existence and construction of systems of finite sets whose intersections have specified numerical properties....
, network inference, and protein docking; work done with physicists, musicians, and professionals in finance on algorithms for time series
Time series
In statistics, signal processing, econometrics and mathematical finance, a time series is a sequence of data points, measured typically at successive times spaced at uniform time intervals. Examples of time series are the daily closing value of the Dow Jones index or the annual flow volume of the...
; and work on database applications in untrusted environments. Other areas of interest include database tuning
Database tuning
Database tuning describes a group of activities used to optimize and homogenize the performance of a database. It usually overlaps with query tuning, but refers to design of the database files, selection of the database management system , operating system and CPU the DBMS runs on.The goal is to...
as well as tree and graph matching.
Background
After graduating from YaleYALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
in 1977, he worked for IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
designing circuits
Integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit is an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterned diffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material...
and microcode
Microcode
Microcode is a layer of hardware-level instructions and/or data structures involved in the implementation of higher level machine code instructions in many computers and other processors; it resides in special high-speed memory and translates machine instructions into sequences of detailed...
for the IBM 3090. While at IBM, he earned his M.Sc. from Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
in 1980. He completed his Ph.D. in applied mathematics at Harvard in 1984 (thesis advisor: Nat Goodman).
Professor Shasha is a prolific author, researcher, and public speaker. He has written six books of puzzles, five of which center on the work of a mathematical detective by the name of Jacob Ecco, a biography about great computer scientists (coauthored by freelance journalist Cathy Lazere), and technical books relating to his various areas of research. In his non-academic writings, perhaps his greatest invention is the notion of omniheuristics, a kind of super-heuristics concerned with the ability to solve any and all manner of puzzles, conundrums, enigmas, and dilimmas. Owing their decidedly curious character, he has given particular note to puzzles that start off easy, but have apparently innocent variants that are particularly perplexing; he calls them 'upstarts'.
Professor Shasha has written monthly puzzle columns for Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...
and Dr. Dobb's Journal
Dr. Dobb's Journal
Dr. Dobb's Journal was a monthly journal published in the United States by CMP Technology. It covered topics aimed at computer programmers. DDJ was the first regular periodical focused on microcomputer software, rather than hardware. It later became a monthly section within the periodical...
. He lives in New York with his wife, Karen, his daughter, Cloe, and his son, Tyler.
Dr. Ecco Mysteries
- The Puzzling Adventures of Dr. Ecco - (1988, Freeman, and republished in 1998 by Dover),
- Codes, Puzzles, and Conspiracy - (1992, Freeman, republished in 2004 by Dover as Dr. Ecco: Mathematical Detective),
- Dr. Ecco's Cyberpuzzles - (2002, W. W. Norton),
- Puzzling Adventures - (2005, W. W. Norton),
- The Puzzler's Elusion - (2006, Avalon Publishing),
Computer Science
- Out of their Minds: The Lives and Discoveries of 15 Great Computer Scientists - (1998, Springer)
- Database Tuning: Principles, Experiments, and Troubleshooting Techniques - (2002, Morgan Kauffmann)
- Puzzles for Programmers and Pros - (2007, Wrox)
Historical
- Red Blues: Voices from the Last Wave of Russian Immigrants - (Holmes & Meier, 2002)
- Iraq's Last Jews: Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon - (2008, Palgrave Macmillan)
External links
- http://cs.nyu.edu/~crispy/Voronoi
- http://homepages.nyu.edu/~yy497/projects/showcase/SudokillWebGame
- http://www.cims.nyu.edu/~ah203/SnowWalkers.html