General linear group by Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
Invertible matrices. Or if you think a bit more generally, an invertible linear map.
When the field is not given, it defaults to the real numbers.
Non-invertible are excluded "because" otherwise it would not form a group (every element must have an inverse). This is therefore the largest possible group under matrix multiplication, other matrix multiplication groups being subgroups of it.
Info-ZIP by Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
The dominant Linux implemenation, e.g. default zip command on Ubuntu 23.04.
So dominant that it is usualy called just "zip".
MIDI by Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
In simple terms, represents keystrokes of a piano, but it can likely also represent other effects (TODO confirm: bend, vibrato, slides, attack strength)
Can contain multiple parallel tracks as seen from the Wikipedia example: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MIDI_sample.mid
You can see what it contains well with GUI music editor.
MIDI is fun. It is a basic high level representation of most instrumental music, including beats.
To actually listen to MIDI, you need a software synthesizer, which knows what sound to make for each note. One way to specify such instruments is the SoundFont file format.
SoundFont by Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
Contains instructions on how to synthesize MIDI.
Extension: sf2.
Can be imported for example by:
vmpk by Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
VMPK is a virtual device that replicates what you would get by connecting a physical MIDI keyboard to your computer. It is not a software synthesizer on its own. But it does connect to a working synthesizer by default (Sonivox EAS) which makes it produce sounds out-of-the box.
TODO: then I messed with my sound settings, and then it stopped working by default on the default "MIDI Connection" > "MIDI Out Driver" > "Network". But it still works on "SonivoxEAS".
Reasonable default key mappings to keyboard covering 2 octaves.
3 multiple simultaneous keys did not work (tested "ZQI"). This might just be a limitation of my keyboard however.
When viewed as matrices, it is the group of all matrices that preserve the dot product, i.e.:
This implies that it also preserves important geometric notions such as norm (intuitively: distance between two points) and angles.
This is perhaps the best "default definition".
Note that:
and for that to be true for all possible and then we must have:
i.e. the matrix inverse is equal to the transpose.
Conversely, if:
is true, then
These matricese are called the orthogonal matrices.
TODO is there any more intuitive way to think about this?
csvkit by Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
Lots of features, but slow because written in Python. A faster version may be csvtools. Also some annoyances like obtuse header handing and missing features like grep + cut in one go: csvgrep and select column in csvkit.
There seems to be no way without a pipe, you seem to need to reparse the columns, e.g. the tutorial at: csvkit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/tutorial/2_examining_the_data.html#csvgrep-find-the-data-you-need does:
csvcut -c county,item_name,total_cost data.csv | csvgrep -c county -m LANCASTER
csvtool by Ciro Santilli 40 Updated 2025-07-16
A compiled executable under /usr/bin/csvtool, has an Ubuntu 23.04 package: manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lunar/en/man1/csvtool.1.html
There seems to be no sane filtering mechanism however: stackoverflow.com/questions/46540752/using-csvtool-call-to-filter-csv-in-bash

Pinned article: Introduction to the OurBigBook Project

Welcome to the OurBigBook Project! Our goal is to create the perfect publishing platform for STEM subjects, and get university-level students to write the best free STEM tutorials ever.
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