Where can I get the latest specification of Erlang BEAM VM? - functional-programming

I want to read the instruction set for the BEAM VM and learn its internals, but what I can find with google is all out-dated.

The Erlang-on-Xen project did a pretty extensive write-up of all the current BEAM instructions: http://erlangonxen.org/more/beam
Here's a historical description, which explains pretty well how things actually work: http://www.cs-lab.org/historical_beam_instruction_set.html
This (long) mailing list thread may also be of interest: http://erlang.org/pipermail/erlang-questions/2012-May/066515.html - At least the link to http://www.erlang.se/~bjorn/beam_file_format.html
Edit (2017): Nowadays, there is also the BEAM Book: https://github.com/happi/theBeamBook

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openCL on consoles for General purpose GPU?

Can we use openCL on consoles like Xbox One and PS4 for General purpose GPU? If yes, can we use openCL framework like ArrayFire - http://arrayfire.com/ ?
No.
While the AMD GPU hardware on the most recent version of each console is similar enough to desktop hardware that has OpenCL support, the console vendors do not offer OpenCL as a programming API (unless it's not public information and only available under NDA). If enough game devs asked for it perhaps it would happen.
I was also looking for it too! And I've found this discution: here
Apparently, up to now, the only way out is to use HLSL for Xbox, and PSSL on Playstation. According to a guy on the topic above. They (the APIs) are different, but very similar in such a way that shall be possible to write a code that compiles under both platform using some preprocessors.
PS.: I'm also looking for a good answer for that question. So, if you've found anything around, please post here, I'd love to know ^^

Programmer's Guide for Pic Microcontroller

I'm looking for programmer's guide for PIC16F1947 micro but so far couldn't find such manual. Is it available online? If yes, where can I find it?
I've searched microchip.com and Google but didn't see such manual.
By programmer's guide I mean a manual for us, the programmers. The manual should contain how to write programs for PIC micros (e.g., how to write interrupts, what does __config do, which files to include etc).
Thanks.
EDIT
I'll use MPLAB IDE 8.46, ICD 3 and HI-TECH C Compiler 9.81.
This manual will probably work as a starting point. It talks about things like interrupts and generally how to perform various simple tasks: http://www.cs.ucr.edu/~eblock/db/downloads/PICmanual2.pdf
You will still need the datasheet and/or the programming guide to perform more complex tasks. Those documents will provide the necessary details to drive functionality on your specific chip. Here's a link to the programming guide: http://microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?dDocName=en538146
I found a data sheet for the PIC16F1947 catalogued here; not sure if it's the right one:
http://www.alldatasheet.com/view.jsp?Searchword=PIC16F1947
(Passing this site on, as even though it's not the manufacturer's site, it's a really good resource for finding data sheets; I'm not affiliated.)
ETA: Hmm, well, it used to be a good site, but it seems less so, now.. Leaving this here in case it is still useful.

A terse introduction to Qt?

Is there a terse introduction to GUI programming with Qt, meant for programmers with a decade's worth of experience (but who don't have any exposure to Qt). I am looking for something that gets one started quickly, and covers all the advanced stuff (including best-practices and patterns). Was looking for something like this book - Advanced Qt Programming - which alas, isn't out yet.
I would start with Qt Architecture, Graphics if you need it, IO and Networking, Model/View (learn and love it), Various other APIs, and finally How To's and Best Practices. The Qt Documentation is one of the major strengths of the toolkit. In many cases you won't need other resources. They even give a quick overview of tips for learning here.
Note: I'm linking you to the next release documentation since I think it looks better, the current release is here. When reading things over, just look for the comment on when the feature was introduced to make sure it will be available for the release you are using.
Programming with Qt, Second Edition

wav-to-midi conversion

I'm new to this field - but I need to perform a WAV-to-MIDI conversion in java.
Is there a way to know what exactly are the steps involved in WAV-to-MIDI conversion?
I have a very rough idea as in you need to;
sample the wav file, filter it, use FFT for spectral analysis, feature extraction and then write the extracted features on to MIDI.
But I cannot find solid sources or papers as in how to do all that?
Can some one give me clues as in how and where to start?
Are there any Open Source APIs available for this WAV-to-MIDI conversion process?
Advance thanks
It's a more involved process than you might imagine.
This research problem is often referred to as music transcription: the act of converting a low-level representation of music (e.g., waveform) into a higher-level representation such as MIDI or even sheet music.
The sophistication of your solution will depend upon the complexity of your input data. Tons of research papers address music transcription only on monophonic piano or drums... because they are easy to transcribe. (Relatively.) Violin is harder. Voice is even harder. Violin plus voice plus piano is much harder. A symphony is nearly impossible. You get the picture.
The basic elements of music transcription involve any of the following overlapping areas:
(multi)pitch estimation
instrument recognition, timbral modeling
rhythm detection
note onset/offset detection
form/structure modeling
Search for papers on "music transcription" on Google Scholar or from the ISMIR proceedings: http://www.ismir.net. If you are more interested in one of the above subtopics, I can point you further. Good luck.
EDIT: That being said, there are existing solutions that we can all find on the web. Feel free to try them. But as you do, evaluate them with a critical eye and ear. What types of audio signals would cause transcription to fail?
EDIT 2: Ah, you are only doing this for piano. Okay, this is doable. Music transcription has advanced to the point where it can transcribe monophonic piano pretty well. A Rachmaninov concerto will still pose problems.
Our recommendations depend upon your end goal. You state "need to perform... in Java." So it sounds like you just want something to work regardless of how it gets you there. In that case, I agree 100% with others: use something that exists.
That's actually an interesting question; all of the MIR libraries I know are typically C/C++/Python/Matlab. But not Java. The EchoNest has a Java API, but I don't think it does note-level transcription. http://developer.echonest.com. (Edit: It does note-level transcription. The returned data includes pitch, timbre, beat, tatum, and more. But I find polyphony is still a problem.)
Oh, Marsyas is Java-based. Cool. I thought it was just C++. http://marsyas.info/ I recommend this. It's developed by George Tzanetakis, a professor in MIR. It does signal-level analysis and should be a good option.
Now, if this is for a fun learning experience, I think you can use the sound manipulation utilities in Java to experiment with the WAV signal and see what comes out.
EDIT: This page describes MIR software better than I can: The Tools We Use
For Matlab, you may be interested in the MIR Toolbox
Here is a nice page of common datasets: MIR Datasets
This is a very big undertaking for being new to the field, unless you mean you are familiar with signal analysis and feature detection in general and want to look more specifically into automatic transcription.
There is no API for WAV to MIDI conversion. Vamp is a framework for feature extraction plugins, but to do automatic transcription you would need to use all the functionality of the existing plugins, plus implement functionality that exists in none of them yet.
Browse through the descriptions of the plugins on the vamp download page, any descriptions you do not understand are topics you should start researching if you want to do this.
If you don't need to automate this task (ie, for a website where people can upload MP3's and get MIDI files back), then you should consider using a tool like Melodyne which is already quite good at going this. As Steve noted, this is a very difficult task to accomplish, and even the best algorithms and solutions present at the moment are not 100% reliable.
So if you are just doing studio work and need to do a few conversions, it will probably save you a bit of time (and lots of headache) to use a tool already designed for this task.
This is a field which is still highly under development, yet, there are some (experimental) algorithms available.
You can install sonic annotator and use a few vamp plugins.
For example:
./sonic-annotator file.wav -d vamp:qm-vamp-plugins:qm-transcription:transcription -w midi
./sonic-annotator file.wav -d vamp:silvet:silvet:notes -w midi
./sonic-annotator file.wav -d vamp:ua-vamp-plugins:mf0ua:mf0ua -w midi
Dolphin, sorry to be brusque, but you have completely underestimated the problem. What you want to achieve - a full piano sound transcription involving all parameters that were used while playing would need an enormous amount of research with people who have worked in the field for many years. Even a group of PhDs in signal processing would have to invest a lot of work to even come close to what you mean. Music transcription has needed decades of work to even work halfway reliable. I'd suggest you pick a different problem which you can manage better than this.

The Clean programming language in the real world?

Are there any real world applications written in the Clean programming language? Either open source or proprietary.
This is not a direct answer, but when I checked last time (and I find the language very interesting) I didn't find anything ready for real-world.
The idealist in myself always wants to try out new languagages, very hot on my list (apart from the aforementioned very cool Clean Language) is currently (random order) IO, Fan and Scala...
But in the meantime I then get my pragmatism out and check the Tiobe Index. I know you can discuss it, but still: It tells me what I will be able to use in a year from now and what I possibly won't be able to use...
No pun intended!
I am using Clean together with the iTasks library to build websites quite easy around workflows.
But I guess another problem with Clean is the lack of documentation and examples: "the Clean book" is from quite a few years back, and a lot of new features don't get documented except for the papers they publish.
http://clean.cs.ru.nl/Projects page doesn't look promising :) It looks like just another research project with no real-world use to date.
As one of my professors at college has been involved in the creation of Clean, it was no shock he'd created a real world application. The rostering-program of our university was created entirely in Clean.
The Clean IDE and the Clean compiler are written in Clean. (http://wiki.clean.cs.ru.nl/Download_Clean)
Cloogle, a search engine for Clean libraries, syntax, etc. (like Hoogle for Haskell) is written in Clean. Its source is on Radboud University's GitLab instance (web frontend; engine).

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