Shan-leung
Maverick WOO

Another three years passed and now I have finished my undergraduate study in Cornell, where I spent many happy days with my friends. As usual, I try to keep the number of graphics down, so there is only one simple GIF showing my name in Chinese characters. I figured I need it for some of my Chinese fellows. For the rest of the Chinese content, bear with me and you are welcome to ask me for translation.

Although I try to keep this page updated, for the most updated contact information, please finger me (finger maverick+@cs.cmu.edu) to read my .plan instead.

Finally, there are some image links below, most of which I receive in e-mails from my buddies. I will be more than happy to include credit to original creator if you let me know.

I am interested in many theoretical aspects of Computer Science, specifically I do research in issues related to data structure design and implementation.

I like to work in daily batch mode---i.e. I will keep a couple of projects at hand and every day I work on only one of them. Say if today is "programming day", then I will sit down, fire up Emacs and program honestly. I should thank my undergrad research advisor, Andrew Myers, for teaching me that I should try to "get some work done everyday".

• (current) Data Structures for Search Engines
  
  • Data structure research inherently must first talk about applications. We have yet to discover the "universal" data structure that is good for every possible applications, nor do I think we will ever find one.
    
  • Once we know the application area, then we can starting making assumptions that fits the application area. I have chosen search engines for they use data structure extensively and the data set they are handling is simply unprecedented.
    
  • My current research is to design data structures with highly desirable time bounds yet at the same admit data compression to create a win-win situation: you save huge amount of space, yet at the same time I keep your time bounds and don't blow up the constants too much. Sounds too good to be true? I don't know, otherwise it's not research. :P 
    
  • In my research, I have a very strong feeling of "theory meet practice". To elaborate:
    
    • when we teach our students about algorithms, how often do we really care about the actual constant hidden in the Big-O notation? 
      
      And even if we actually care about it in an undergrad class, I doubt if we can stress that sufficiently---the reason being that a factor of, say, two in running time usually doesn't matter because the data set we handle in the real world is usually relatively small. But there are exceptions and there are too many of them when you are at the right place... 
      
      In search engines, you are accessing a huge data set some ten thousand times a second. A factor of two saving alone would mean a lot, especially in sub-linear operations. (Suppose an access takes log(n) time in a dictionary for n elements. An algorithm that runs in 50% faster can support n² elements in the same amount of time. Think about it. This factor of 2 is very real.)
      
      (Interestingly my scientific computation friends are all aware of the different constants in QR and LU. So I guess if you do real things often enough, then constants do matter.)
      
    • space-time is the most common tradeoff in algorithm design. At times we are willing to trade space for time. But in search engines, this is a very delicate issue on one hand you have too many data where trading space for time can be unacceptable, on the other hand you can't really trade time too much as you need to keep the bottleneck at the network bandwidth, not your machines.
      
• Computation Geometry and Graph Drawing
  
  • I like questions that I can visualize.

• Computational Complexity
  
  • Juris Hartmanis and Steven Rudich opened my eyes to the beauty of complexity theory. (Say more later.)
    
• Graph theory
  
  • As I was reading (or more honestly, trying to read) some of the work by Paul Erdos, I simply can't resist the beauty of this field. (Say more later.)

• YesAsia.com (Hong Kong)
  Programmer/System Administrator (Summer 2000, Christmas 2000)
  • Perl scripts to convert Chinese text to GIF images
  • Administrate Linux and Windows network
  • Netscape Servers (Mail, Directory, Enterprise)
    
• Microsoft (Seattle, WA)
  Program Manager (Summer 1999)
  • Visual C++ Library Team
  • NDA... :P (NDA is non-disclosure agreement, in case you don't know.)
    
• Morgan Stanley (Hong Kong)
  Networking Technical Staff (Summer 1998)
  • Network operations and monitoring
  • Extensive work using Perl, Tcl/Tk, Sybase, NetScout
    
• Hong Kong School Net
  Voluntary Student Helper (1995-1997)
  • Linux and Solaris System Administrator
  • Netscape Servers (Mail, Directory, Enterprise)
  • Three years of hard work made me hate to own more than the root password to my own machine. In fact, now I don't even want the root password on my own workstation. Thank you, my sys-admin. :P
    
• Hong Kong Joint School Electronics and Computer Society
  Committee Member and Student Advisor(1994-1997)
  • Organize Joint School exhibition and other activities
  • Advise new committee members

• Cast Away
  • One day logic was proven all wrong because the tide lifted, came in, and gave me a sail. And now, here I am. I'm back. In Memphis, talking to you. I have *ice* in my glass. And I've lost her all over again. I'm so sad that I don't have Kelly. But I'm so grateful that she was with me on that island. And I know what I have to do now. I have to keep breathing. Because tomorrow the sun will rise. Who knows what the tide could bring?
  • I love you too, Kelly. More than you'll ever know.
• The Gladiator
  • Ancestors, I ask you for your guidance. Blessed mother, come to me with the Gods' desire for my future. Blessed father, watch over my wife and son with a ready sword. Whisper to them that I live only to hold them again, for all else is dust and air. Ancestors, I honor you and will try to live with the dignity that you have taught me.
  • I knew a man once who said, "Death smiles at us all. All a man can do is smile back."
• The Story of Us
• The Sixth Sense
• Saving Private Ryan
• As Good As It Gets
  • You make me want to be a better man.
  • The life that I was trying for is gone, and I'm feeling so damn sorry for myself that it's difficult to breathe.
• City of Angels
  • When they ask me what I liked best, I'll say it was you.
  • I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss from her mouth, one touch of her hand, than eternity without it. One.
• The Rock
  • I love pressure. I eat it for breakfast. [Me too... and before breakfast I usually think about how to do several generally impossible things... :P]
  • Look, I'm just a biochemist. Most of the time, I work in a little glass jar and lead a very uneventful life. I drive a Volvo, a beige one. But what I'm dealing with here is one of the most deadly substances the earth has ever known, so what say you cut me some FRIGGIN' SLACK?!
• The Devil's Advocte
• Good Will hunting
  • Real loss is only possible when you love something more than you love yourself.
  • Why shouldn't I work for the N.S.A.? That's a tough one, but I'll give it a shot. Say I'm working at N.S.A. Somebody puts a code on my desk, something nobody else can break. So I take a shot at it and maybe I break it. And I'm real happy with myself, 'cause I did my job well. But maybe that code was the location of some rebel army in North Africa or the Middle East. Once they have that location, they bomb the village where the rebels were hiding and fifteen hundred people I never had a problem with get killed. Now the politicians are sayin', "Send in the marines to secure the area" 'cause they don't give a shit. It won't be their kid over there, gettin' shot. Just like it wasn't them when their number was called, 'cause they were pullin' a tour in the National Guard. It'll be some guy from Southie takin' shrapnel in the ass. And he comes home to find that the plant he used to work at got exported to the country he just got back from. And the guy who put the shrapnel in his ass got his old job, 'cause he'll work for fifteen cents a day and no bathroom breaks. Meanwhile my buddy from Southie realizes the only reason he was over there was so we could install a government that would sell us oil at a good price. And of course the oil companies used the skirmish to scare up oil prices so they could turn a quick buck. A cute little ancillary benefit for them but it ain't helping my buddy at two-fifty a gallon. And naturally they're takin' their sweet time bringin' the oil back, and maybe even took the liberty of hiring an alcoholic skipper who likes to drink martinis and play slalom with the icebergs, and it ain't too long 'til he hits one, spills the oil and kills all the sea life in the North Atlantic. So my buddy's out of work and he can't afford to drive, so he's got to walk to the job interviews, which sucks 'cause the schrapnel in his ass is givin' him chronic hemorroids. And meanwhile he's starvin' 'cause every time he tries to get a bite to eat the only blue plate special they're servin' is North Atlantic scrod with Quaker State. So what do I think? I'm holdin' out for somethin' better. Why not just shoot my buddy, take his job and give it to his sworn enemy, hike up gas prices, bomb a village, club a baby seal, hit the hash pipe and join the National Guard? I could be elected president.
• The Peacemaker
  • I'm not afraid of the man who wants ten nuclear weapons, Colonel. I'm terrified of the man who only wants one.
  • You will look at what I have done and say, "Of course -- why not -- they are all animals. They have slaughtered each other for centuries." But the truth is, I'm not a monster. I'm a human man -- I'm just like you, whether you like it or not. For years, we have tried to live together, until a war was waged on us, on all of us: a war waged by our own leaders. And who supplied the Serb cluster bombs, the Croatian tanks, the Muslim artillery shells that killed our sons and daughters? It was the governments of the West who drew the boundaries of our countries -- sometimes in ink, sometimes in blood -- the blood of our people. And now you dispatch your peacekeepers to write our destiny again. We can never accept this peace that leaves us with nothing but pain, pain the peacemakers must be made to feel. Their wives, their children, their houses and churches. So now you know, now you must understand. Leave us to find our own destiny. May God have mercy on us all.
• Edward Scissorhand
  • Before he came down here, it never snowed. And afterwards, it did. I don't think it would be snowing now if he weren't still up there. Sometimes you can still catch me dancing in it.
• The Ladyhawke

Songs and Lyrics
The Chinese lyrics are mostly from bbs.org.hk. Indeed I like sad songs.

1. Right Here Waiting For You (Richard Marx)
2. Miss You Finally (Trademark)
3. That's Why You Go Away (Michael Learns to Rock)
4. Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You (Glenn Medieros)
5. All Out Of Love (Air Supply)
6. Without You (Air Supply)
7. Yesterday (Beatles)

1. 愛是永恆 (張學友)
2. 一生中最愛 (譚詠麟)
3. 我說過要你快樂 (吳國敬)
4. 從不喜歡孤單一個 (蘇永康、彭家麗)
5. 祝君好 (張智霖) 
   (English translation done by me; Korean version translation by a Korean friend of mine)
6. 准我 (杜德偉)
7. 追 (張國榮)
8. 太陽星辰 (張學友)
9. 思念誰 (巫啟賢)
10. 越吻越傷心 (蘇永康)
11. 愛你是我一生中理想 (吳國敬)
12. 我不是愛過便算的人 (蘇永康)
13. 如果這是我愛你最好的距離 (蘇永康)
14. 我應該 (張學友)
15. 讓你愉快（讓我孤獨） (張學友)
16. 妳知道我在等妳嗎？ (迪克牛仔)
17. 有多少愛可以重來？ (迪克牛仔)
18. 甘心替代你 (鄭伊健)
19. 直至消失天與地 (鄭伊健)
    
20. 等 (陳百強)
21. 偏偏喜歡你 (陳百強)
22. 不想獨自快樂 (蘇永康)
23. 我終於失去了你 (趙傳)
24. 把悲傷留給自己 (陳昇)
25. 味道 (辛曉琪)
26. 新不了情 (萬芳)
27. 忘情水 (劉德華)
28. 真永遠 (劉德華)
29. 離開你以後 (劉德華)
30. 一起走過的日子 (劉德華)
31. 聽風的歌 (郭富城)
32. 李香蘭 (張學友)
33. 舊情綿綿 (張學友)
34. 離開以後 (張學友)
35. 怎麼捨得妳 (張學友)
36. 一生不醉醒 (張學友)
37. 這麼近 （那麼遠） (張學友)
38. 忘記你我做不到 (張學友)
39. 日出時讓戀愛終結 (張學友)
40. 祇想一生跟你走 (張學友)
41. 我等到花兒也謝了 (張學友)
42. 等你等到我心痛 (張學友)
43. 還是覺得你最好 (張學友)
44. 一千個傷心的理由 (張學友)

Saxophone

• The International Saxophone Home Page
• alt.music.saxophone FAQ

Table Tennis

• International Table Tennis Federation
• Table Tennis page in About.com

Magic

• The Magic Warehouse

Digital Photography 

• Digital Photography Review

1. The same question pops up every time I introduce myself. Everyone, depending on their ages, thinks I took my name either from Top Gun or a rather old TV show. Well, the truth is that I took it from a computer game I played when I was very young. If I remember correctly, it's a flight simulator of F19 and Maverick is actually the air-to-surface missile, as shown here.
2. I keep my bookmark at Backflip.com, it's kind of slow, but better than anything else I tried. I know there are other competitors, but there is a lock-in effect... (I am lazy on things like this.)
3. I sometimes write programs so that I can get my computer to behave the way I want. I spent some considerable time building my .emacs and occasionally upgrading the packages. It's for NT Emacs because I use Windows 2000. Here is a screen shot.
4. I also happen to like color a lot. This is my color theme for windows.
5. I maintain my Software Ideas page, which documents how I want some software to behave.
6. This is my not-so-little bear... It's almost two feet tall. Yes, I like cute toys and in fact I got a lot of stuffed animals and toys. But most of them are no longer in my place now... I wish they will come back one day though, despite I can't control when that day will be.
7. If you want a proof that P = NP, don't go there for I don't think you will understand what he's talking about. Instead, try read this interesting survey and dig up the relevant papers and start reading.
8. This PNG is from a paper co-authored by a fellow student Andrew Faurling along with his Xerox PARC colleagues. It contains six soothing colors that are best (in some metric) for highlighting.
9. If you are in a job hunt, relax, and read this cool Peanuts comic. Remember not to rush and distinguish between your job and your career.
10. I don't know who to credit for this, but I find this cartoon strip really cute. But perhaps, Jack should have some better thing to do, such as getting another wood? :P But I know why he did that, for love is blinding.
11. I am building a resource page for Hong Kong International Students in the US. It seems to me that we are a pretty small group oF foreign students that at the same time have lots of demands on Living.
12. My secret x10 page...

This page was authored using Microsoft FrontPage 2000, not that I don't speak HTML well, but I think we invented WYSIWYG editor for good reasons.