LANGUAGE AND LOGIC.

LANGUAGE AND LOGIC.

More often we hear that our engineering graduates are not employable. Most of the IT industry titans repeatedly ask us to improve the employability of the graduates passing out of our collage. This article is an attempt to analyse the reason for this and also to place some suggestions to improve the situation.

Recently there was a news item in TNIE which said that GOOGLE is planning to induct high quality mathematics graduates for designing their search algorithms. It is significant to note that GOOGLE did not say computer graduates but said mathematicians. What does this mean?.

There are numerous computer training institutes both software and hardware. The software institutes teach numerous languages which can be used to write computer programs. Almost all the syllabi of science / commerce streams on undergraduate / graduate / post graduate levels of education, have one computer language as their curriculum. There are numerous high useful and high powered computer languages like C, C++, C#, Java etc. etc. Almost all the software institutes teach how to write program in these languages by teaching the syntax of the language.

Now what is syntax? Syntax is defined as language rules or sentence structure or in simple terms grammar. This is akin to what the mother teaches her children to talk properly. She teaches the language and how to talk. She corrects the language. Similarly the computer colleges or computer institutes teach the students this syntax of the language which can be used to write programs for our applications. They award certificates and grades based on a exam given to test the student’s ability to use the syntax to write the programs. Repeat testing the knowledge of syntax. The whole course takes one or two months during which the institutes and the students claim that they know the language thoroughly and they can write programs using the computer language. We see that most of these certificates reflect very high score or grade proving that the student is very good at using the syntax.

Then why is it that these “High Scoring” students are not employable in the IT industry.

Language is only a medium to express the thoughts. Framing of sentence can be helped by a database of words in the mind. But the thoughts will to originate in the mind and this is independent of the individual. These thoughts cannot be taught in a short period and for this the mind has to be trained to think logically.

Training the mind to think logically has the only and the first choice being Mathematics. Mathematics is a subject of numbers which uses the mind to think logically. Algebra, geometry and calculus trains the mind to visualize the numbers and shapes and to order the problem properly and take correct timely action to solve the problem in correct and orderly steps. The subject of Maths is for the mind to train itself to walk, run, think and convert the thoughts into sentences.

Logic and mathematics starting with arithmetic onwards show you how to follow steps, one at a time and one after another, for arriving at results or conclusions, one at a time and after another. Learning that a error in one step make all the following steps and results or conclusions wrong is a step towards cautious approach for problem solving ability. Mathematics is a rule and pattern based discipline show through experience and trial or error, how to solve problems first by following given methods and later, if needed, by combining and exploring different methods, by trial and error. Algebra at full strength involves the thought-based derivation of formulas and gives explanations why they work. The items and skills in mathematics altogether, cumulatively, have a greater and greater use in obtaining and describing calculations, and in describing the calculations and assumptions that appear in many disciplines. Mathematics courses are designed to problem solving skills, rote or opportunistic, and to provide a growing knowledge of ideas and skills that altogether,

Various branches in Maths like discrete mathematical structures, operations research, Numerical methods and data structures directly connect knowledge of the functional aspect in the problems and the device drivers. The through knowledge in this subject is very necessary to ensure a faster reasoning of the problems and write a code in the language known.

Though the knowledge of a language is important it will definitely not override the necessity and importance of a strong base in Maths and Physics. The knowledge of Maths is the thought process and the language is the talking process. This aspect is being overlooked by almost all the computer institutes though the academic syllabi give equal importance to both. But students, unfortunately, give importance to the subjects teaching language ignoring the subjects teaching the logic. The colleges are helpless when seeing higher score in subjects of language and lower score in subjects of logic (read Maths).

So students have to learn more of Maths alongwith the computer languages to be able to excel in the field of highly competitive filed of computer programming.

PRANAYAMA

P R A N A Y A M A

An introduction.

Often when a person passes away (under normal circumstances), in any language / country / religion, we hear “He breathed his last”. Does it not mean that the number of breaths that a person can take in his lifetime is fixed? So if a person is destined to take 1,00,000 breaths the moment he takes that last breath, he would have ended his life.

So what is the significance of the above on the subject quoted? In simple and very basic terms, breath slowly and live longer. You can take the same number of breaths for 50 years or hundred years.

WHAT IS THAT:

The very basis of yoga is for a happy, healthy and a longer life. Patanjali in his Ashta anga Yoga says Pranayama (the fourth limb) as the conscious control of breath. The literal translation will be prana – breath and ayama – stretch, extend. Here prana equated to breath is not just air but it is the life that sustains activates the body and mind.

As long as prana is in normal condition, the cells and tissues remain healthy and perform their functions properly, but the moment its vitality starts decreasing, the cell begins to decay. Prana is the link between individual and cosmic beings. The breath is the thread through which prana travels from the cosmos to the individual and vice versa.

Some other school of thoughts define Pranayama in different manner but the sum-total of the expressions is the same. One of them say Pranayama is the increasing awareness and conscious control of breath and prana.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND.

Now let us come to a little of science behind Pranayama. A normal person breaths about 15 – 20 times per minute. IN this process about half litre of air is drawn into the lungs. This air takes part in the breathing process under reverse osmosis principle. The Oxygen in the inhaled air is exchanged with the more polluted high density air in the lungs transferred from various parts of the body. The time given for the gas to take part in the exchange is less than half a second after which we will start exhaling. So in actual terms even though we inhale half a litre of air the actual gas exchange is only 200-250 ml.

Now imagine the following state visualized in Pranayama. We inhale slowly for about 5 seconds and we can take in about 2.5 litres to 5 litres of air into the lungs. Since the air inhaled is more we have to give time for the alveoli in the lungs to exchange the bad air effectively. So we hold the breath for about 3 seconds. Once we get a feeling for exhaling we slowly and consciously exhale for another 6 seconds. Now we have taken 14 seconds for one breath. This can be done effectively by any healthy individual without any serious health problems. So effectively we have increased the duration of our breath and the number of breaths we take in one minute has been reduced to about 3-4 breaths.

COMPOSITION OF INHALED AND EXHALED AIR.

	Nitrogen in %	Oxygen in %	CO2 in %	Others in %
Inhaled air	79	20	0.04	0.06
Exhaled air without Pranayama	79	16	4	0.06
Exhaled air with Pranayama	79	10	10	0.06

THE ACT OF PRANAYAMA:

The most important aspect is the procedure of breathing. We have to sit in a comfortable position preferably in padmasana or vajrasana with the back straight. Calm yourselves and close the eyes. Imagine a bright light on the forehead.

Before starting Pranayama we have to exhale first. Exhale by pushing the abdomen which inturn pushes the diaphgram and empties the lower part of the lungs. Next we have to draw the chest and the shoulders inside to press the middle and upper part of the lungs. Now inhalation is started by pushing the abdomen forward and filling the lower part of the lungs. Next the middle part by expanding the chest and lastly the upper part by expanding the shoulders. Using the abdomen and the shoulders is very important since it gives more space for the lungs to expand and hold more air.

So as explained earlier a breathing in which we consciously inhale, exhale and holding breath can be in simple terms called as Pranayama. In Yogic terms inhalation is called as Puraka holding the breath is called as Kumbhaka and exhalation is called as Rechaka. Kumbhaka can be antara (after inhalation) or bahya (after exhalation).

TYPES OF PRANAYAMA:

Pranayama is of various kinds based on the type of the breathing.

1. nadi shodhana Pranayama – Inhale with left nostril and exhale in the right nostril by pressing the thumb.

2. Bhramari Pranayama - chanting hm sound while exhaling.

3. Ujjayi Pranayama

4. sitkari Pranayama etc etc

As all knowledge goes this also has some conditions to be followed before jumping to practice. The best way will be with a teacher who can first assess the person and prescribe the type of Pranayama.

Results: Increase your lifespan to mean lead a long, healthy and happy life. Always be calm and self poised. Have a radiant face. Increase your concentration and analytical thinking power. Be more productive. Say goodbye to boredom, laziness and tiredness throughout the day. INCREASE QUALITY OF LIFE.

Is computers necessary in education?

Knowledge is power. Vivekananda said “Education is the perfection of the divinity already in man”. Education creates an environment for the mind to blossom and to be more creative. We must not forget that our President has that we have to transform our country to a knowledge power.
To appreciate the necessity of anything we need to move into an era where such thing did not exist. We need to know how the information was exchanged. Any information that was to be exchanged was written in paper just 20 years back and was transmitted over snail mail. The information was not available to us when we needed the most. We had to wait for such information.
Now the World has shrunk. What is the meaning of this sentence? The information explosion has brought all the knowledge from every nook and corner of the world to a 15 inch wonder called computer screen. Today computer is used as storehouse for the information to be mined on any subject on this earth. Any information we want is available to us is at the fingertips i.e. at the click of the mouse. We get all the formation on any subject from everywhere in the world. When information on any subject has become so easy to get the process of acquiring knowledge gets all the more easy.
Hence use of the computers in the process of acquiring knowledge can be very helpful in expanding the horizons of logical reasoning and problem solving capabilities. The boundaries of knowledge will have no meaning as there will be an unending source of information on any subject we lay our hands on. Complete information available with any person on this earth on any subject can be got on the internet. Especially almost all the universities on this earth have hosted almost all their research papers of their scholars on the net and is made available for everyone to study and expand their knowledge base. Almost all the important places on the earth and full information on them is also available on the net. Numerous forums for students on each and every subject on this earth can provide a perfect platform to discuss on various subjects and problems faced by students and their fraternity.
Every place on the earth can be viewed to the minutest detail and great precision and also all the connected data on such place with ease. All the places from the amazing Amazon basin to the great wall of china can be seen on the net which gives insight to the history and the science that go into the making / creating of these wonders.
All the encyclopedias and knowledge storehouses have been digitized and even without internet any information can be accessed with a compact disc which can hold huge quantity of information in a very small space. All the desired digitized data can be stored in a compact disc and can be accessed at any time and any place.
When knowledge acquisition is the main motto of a student the absence of computers for a student in the process of education will seriously cripple this process of gaining insight to mine of information.
Now can we imagine education without computers? IMMPOSSIBLE, is it not?