Sharif Haason — Writing https://sharifhsn.dev/blog/ Sharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.dev 2026-04-01T14:42:17.714Z A New Chapter: Graduation and a New Role at Monarkhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2026-04-01-a-new-chapter-graduation-and-a-new-role-at-monark/2026-04-01T14:42:17.714Z2026-04-01T14:42:17.714ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devI’m thrilled to make two major announcements: I have completed my Master’s in Financial Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, and I am starting a new role at Monark… The December Fed Meeting: What to Watchhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-12-10-the-december-fed-meeting-what-to-watch/2025-12-10T11:00:16.071Z2025-12-10T11:00:16.071ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe December Fed meeting is today! Despite the worrying lack of data, the market is confident that rates will be cut by 25 bps, with the FedWatch tool giving a 87.6% chance for a… Why 50-Year Mortgages Fall Shorthttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-11-15-why-50-year-mortgages-fall-short/2025-11-15T14:30:01.051Z2025-11-15T14:30:01.051ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devFederal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte recently floated a big potential change to the mortgage market: 50 year mortgages. Unfortunately, these aren’t realistic.… Jefferies and First Brands: What the Trade Debt Meanshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-10-09-jefferies-and-first-brands-what-the-trade-debt-means/2025-10-09T14:28:33.464Z2025-10-09T14:28:33.464ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.dev“Jefferies Fund Has $715 Million in First Brands Group, LLC’ Trade Debt”… but what does that exactly mean? This Bloomberg headline is causing market turmoil about Jefferies, but… Why Rate Cuts Won't Fix a Labor Supply Shockhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-09-09-why-rate-cuts-won-t-fix-a-labor-supply-shock/2025-09-09T19:37:25.419Z2025-09-09T19:37:25.419ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devInterest rate cuts won’t relieve a labor supply shock: with lessons from energy and housing crises. After today’s stunning job revision of −911,000 jobs for March 2025, the stock… Oil Prices and the Energy Provisions in the One Big Beautiful Billhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-07-03-energy-provisions-one-big-beautiful-bill/2025-07-03T18:00:26.040Z2025-07-03T18:00:26.040ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devGreat video about oil prices from experts in commodities. I think Wasif Latif’s point about the price being right for oil is really significant for the implications of the energy… Neural Networks Aren't Impressive on Their Ownhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-06-07-neural-networks-aren-t-impressive-on-their-own/2025-06-07T19:26:59.305Z2025-06-07T19:26:59.305ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devNeural networks AREN’T impressive… in the context of data analysis, by themselves. With the explosion in discourse about AI, traditional neural networks have also gained cultural… The Case for Structured Errors in Rusthttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-05-28-the-case-for-structured-errors-in-rust/2025-05-28T18:20:44.156Z2025-05-28T18:20:44.156ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devI found this article on structured errors insightful. Although it is focused on Rust, the explanations of the direct benefits of encoding information about the failure surface of… Rust's `subsecond` Crate Brings Hot Reloadinghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-05-28-rust-s-subsecond-crate-brings-hot-reloading/2025-05-28T18:00:05.331Z2025-05-28T18:00:05.331ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devRust’s subsecond crate is a game changer for application and game development in Rust! Its innovative hotpatching method enables hot reloading for select libraries. By far the… What a U.S. Credit Rating Downgrade Meanshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-05-17-what-a-u-s-credit-rating-downgrade-means/2025-05-17T15:52:46.770Z2025-05-17T15:52:46.770ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devMoody’s has downgraded the US’s credit rating from the best (Aaa) to second-best (Aa1), sending the markets into a buzz. But what does it mean to downgrade a credit rating? All… Rust at 10: Why I've Followed the Languagehttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-05-16-rust-at-10-why-i-ve-followed-the-language/2025-05-16T17:38:11.094Z2025-05-16T17:38:11.094ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devRust turns 10! In honor of this momentous anniversary, I’d like to reflect on what Rust means to me, and why I have followed it for so long. I first heard about Rust in 2021,… Copulas and Portfolio Riskhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-14/2025-04-29T00:00:00Z2025-04-29T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devEnding early today because the Pacers are playing tonight Generally speaking, the Basel 2 , Basel 3, and current Basel 3.5, all these rules and regulations require that banks… Counterparty Risk-Weighted Assetshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/counterparty-risk-weighted-assets/2025-04-28T00:00:00Z2025-04-28T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe syllabus records “Risk Weighted Assets: Counterparty RWAs. Calculation and modeling,” taught by Juan. The personal course export contains the scheduled topic but no worked… Multi-Name Credit Riskhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-13/2025-04-24T00:00:00Z2025-04-24T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThis is going to be a basic introduction, this is a complex topic to cover comprehensively. The Gaussian latent-variable framework and conditional-independence construction are… Neural Networks and Credit Ratingshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-13/2025-04-22T00:00:00Z2025-04-22T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThis is an idea that was created in the 50s, exploded in the 90s, where it was called neural networks. A lot of development on the brain happened, so ANN was a term to… XVA and Counterparty Riskhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/xva-and-counterparty-risk/2025-04-21T00:00:00Z2025-04-21T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe syllabus records “Introduction to X-VAs: CVA/FVA,” taught by Yee Han. The personal course export has the topic and date, but no worked XVA lecture notes. The former CVA/FVA… Why Federal Reserve Independence Mattershttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-04-18-why-federal-reserve-independence-matters/2025-04-18T16:23:13.160Z2025-04-18T16:23:13.160ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devTrump is threatening the independence of the Federal Reserve. But why does this even matter? And what does the Fed even do? The role of central banks in the economy is a… Dependence and Copulashttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-12/2025-04-17T00:00:00Z2025-04-17T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devLecture notes on minimum, independent, and maximum dependence in a one-factor credit model. Euler–Milstein and Monte Carlo Extensionshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-12/2025-04-15T00:00:00Z2025-04-15T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe will expand on the variance reduction techniques, we will repeat a couple things from last week. But before we do that, we should talk about Euler Milstein or Euler Maruyama.… Vietnam and the Tariff Shockhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-04-14-vietnam-and-the-tariff-shock/2025-04-14T15:40:44.045Z2025-04-14T15:40:44.045ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe biggest loser of the tariffs, the tragedy of the “miracle on the Mekong”: Vietnam 🇻🇳 When President Trump revealed the list of tariffs on “Liberation Day”, one country stood… The Big Short and the Boring Cause of the 2008 Crisishttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-04-12-the-big-short-and-the-boring-cause-of-the-2008-crisis/2025-04-12T18:25:14.194Z2025-04-12T18:25:14.194ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devI rewatched The Big Short last night, and realized that they sensationalized a pretty boring reason that the 2008 crisis happened. When the housing bubble burst and the Great… Romania's Export-Driven Debt Strategy as a Warninghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-04-11-romania-s-export-driven-debt-strategy-as-a-warning/2025-04-11T15:38:23.906Z2025-04-11T15:38:23.906ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devTrump’s policy of reducing the national debt through an export-driven economy has parallels to 1980s Romania—and it doesn’t end well. President Nicolae Ceaușescu was elected to… China's Tariff Strategy and the One-Punch Proverbhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-04-10-china-s-tariff-strategy-and-the-one-punch-proverb/2025-04-10T13:30:12.308Z2025-04-10T13:30:12.308ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devAn old Chinese proverb contains the key to understanding their tariff strategy: 打得一拳开 免得百拳来 “throw out one punch now to avoid a hundred punches in the future” What does it mean?… Structured Credit and CDOshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-11/2025-04-10T00:00:00Z2025-04-10T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devLast day of class is Thursday, May 8. The final exam is going to be posted then, take-home exam. It’ll be posted like an assignment. Will be posted in evening around 6:30, you’ll… Why Crashing the Economy Won't Workhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-04-09-why-crashing-the-economy-won-t-work/2025-04-09T01:35:45.991Z2025-04-09T01:35:45.991ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe secret plan behind crashing the economy—and why it can’t work 😴 The anticipation of and uncertainty around Trump’s tariffs have caused the stock market to plunge rapidly… Monte Carlo and Variance Reductionhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-11/2025-04-08T00:00:00Z2025-04-08T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe will cover this stuff in two different lectures. Today is Monte Carlo 1. The two theorems are the basis of the entire Monte Carlo simulation. The Law of Large Numbers (LLN) Misinformation in Volatile Marketshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-04-07-misinformation-in-volatile-markets/2025-04-07T19:31:32.998Z2025-04-07T19:31:32.998ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devMisinformation becomes especially dangerous in volatile markets… 😱 After President Trump’s tariff announcement on “Liberation Day” last Wednesday, markets have roiled. The… Documentation Is the Key to Vibe Codinghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-04-05-documentation-is-the-key-to-vibe-coding/2025-04-05T19:46:48.390Z2025-04-05T19:46:48.390ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devDocumentation is the key to vibe coding success! The use of LLM AI code assistants (or “copilots”) like Github Copilot and Claude has exploded recently. Many non-programmers have… Rust 1.86: `get_disjoint_mut`https://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-04-03-rust-1-86-get-disjoint-mut/2025-04-03T18:41:40.946Z2025-04-03T18:41:40.946ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devRust 1.86.0 has been released, with a very nice ergonomic feature to get around the borrow checker: get_disjoint_mut Rust’s borrow checker is the heart of its promise of memory… Credit Default Swap Valuationhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-10/2025-04-03T00:00:00Z2025-04-03T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe discussed the mechanics of CDS a bit, and then started on the valuation. So let’s discuss the valuation in more details. We have two legs. The premium leg is the buyer, who… Calibration and SDE Parameter Estimationhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-10/2025-04-01T00:00:00Z2025-04-01T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devParameter estimation for stochastic differential equations. investments by the West after dictator Ceaușescu failed to invade Czech republic he stopped imports and increased… CDS and Credit Marketshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/cds-and-credit-markets/2025-03-31T00:00:00Z2025-03-31T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe syllabus records “Introduction to Credit: Credit Default Swaps; relationship to Bonds; Credit as a traded asset class,” taught by Yee Han. The personal course export contains… The Cost of AI-Generated Imageshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-03-28-the-cost-of-ai-generated-images/2025-03-28T13:00:08.066Z2025-03-28T13:00:08.066ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devNew AI images stun the world 🤯 but are they worth the cost? 🤔 AI images have flooded social media seemingly overnight, with the specific trend of “Ghiblization” (transforming… Hazard Rates and Credit Default Swapshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-09/2025-03-27T00:00:00Z2025-03-27T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devΛ , the hazard rate, is convenient to work with. If we integrate over it, we can get the survival probability 𝑉 ( 𝑡 ) at time 𝑡 . We can also get the probability of default 𝑄 ( 𝑡… Midterm Cheat Sheethttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-midterm-cheat-sheet/2025-03-25T00:00:00Z2025-03-25T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devHandwritten midterm reference for quadrature and Black-Scholes notation; several formulas are unclear in the source render. GARCH Risk Statisticshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/garch-risk-statistics/2025-03-24T00:00:00Z2025-03-24T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe syllabus records “Risk Management: GARCH — Statistics.” The personal course export contains the schedule and the workbook implementation notes for the Black–Scholes/FX… LIBOR Market Model and Hazard Rateshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-08/2025-03-20T00:00:00Z2025-03-20T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe LIBOR Market Model (or Brace-Gatarek-Musiela Model ) is a model constructed in terms of the forward rates underlying caplet prices. HJM was defined as a process for the… Stochastic Volatility, Jumps, and Fourier Transformshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-09/2025-03-18T00:00:00Z2025-03-18T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devTheoretical transformations, very technical How do you solve a Heston model using Fourier transforms? The very first stochastic volatility model introduced is the Hull-White model. Short-Rate Calibration and HJMhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-07/2025-03-13T00:00:00Z2025-03-13T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe’ll look specifically at Vasicek and CIR. Then we will make some remarks on the Hull-White two factor model, then some more complex model. The code for this in a package in R.… American Options and Cubic Splineshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-07/2025-03-11T00:00:00Z2025-03-11T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devCubic Splines, you solve something that is like a tridiagonal system Artificial Neural Network multilayer perceptron… the whole point of this is that you can exercise this at any… FX Volatility Smiles and Uncertaintyhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/fx-volatility-smiles-and-uncertainty/2025-03-10T00:00:00Z2025-03-10T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe syllabus records “Black-Scholes shortcomings: smile effects.” The source export contains the volatility-surface helper below and explicitly labels it “Vol Surface Functions —… Hull–White Interest Rate Treeshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-06/2025-03-06T00:00:00Z2025-03-06T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThis will be focused on numerical methods, next week we will have more examples. What is the difference between interest rate risk and stock price risk? One of the most important… Crank–Nicolson and the Heston Modelhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-06/2025-03-04T00:00:00Z2025-03-04T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devDon’t use AI, you won’t learn anything. And it’s not really intelligent, it just takes things from the Internet. There are two different general finite difference schemes, which… Finite-Difference Sketcheshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-finite-difference-sketches/2025-03-04T00:00:00Z2025-03-04T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devA handwritten finite-difference sketch with A/B/C labels; surrounding equation notation is unclear in the source render. FX Discrete Hedging and Greekshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/fx-discrete-hedging-and-greeks/2025-03-03T00:00:00Z2025-03-03T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe syllabus labels this class “Black-Scholes shortcomings: discrete hedging; volatility uncertainty.” The source workbook expresses the risk measures as functions. It does not… Constant Maturity Swaps and Short-Rate Modelshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-05/2025-02-27T00:00:00Z2025-02-27T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devTiming and quanto adjustments, we also looked at nonstandard swaps, LIBOR for LES? Another kind of nonstandard swap is… The definition of a CMS is an interest rate swap where the… Differential Equations and PDE Methodshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-05/2025-02-25T00:00:00Z2025-02-25T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devFinite difference methods to approximate PDEs this week Next week we will continue this and do a little bit more complicated stuff. Homework is due right before spring break. Black–Scholes Pricing for FXhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/fx-black-scholes-pricing/2025-02-24T00:00:00Z2025-02-24T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe syllabus calls this class “Introduction to Black-Scholes. BS usage for a practitioner. First and Second order risks. Xgamma. Intuitive awareness.” The source notes are the… Interest Rate Adjustments and Currency Swapshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-04/2025-02-20T00:00:00Z2025-02-20T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe may have to make some adjustments when we value interest rate derivatives. These are convexity, timing, and quant adjustments. We will see when it is appropriate to make these… PBMs Under Fire: What CVS's Response Leaves Outhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-02-18-pbms-under-fire-what-cvs-s-response-leaves-out/2025-02-18T16:47:24.726Z2025-02-18T16:47:24.726ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devTrump has taken aim at pharmacy benefit managers, and the response from the industry seems to be… duck and cover. Prem Shah, executive VP at CVS, responded to skepticism on… Trinomial Trees, Dividends, and Greekshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-04/2025-02-18T00:00:00Z2025-02-18T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devI posted an assignment, this assignment is due this week on Sunday. Let’s just talk about the homework. This covers material from first two lectures. This lecture and previous… Bond Options, Caps, Floors, and Swaptionshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-03/2025-02-13T00:00:00Z2025-02-13T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe’re going to look at bond options, caps and floors, and everything about swaptions. Depending on time, we may go forward. Basically these are instruments whose payoff is… Tree Approximation and American Optionshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-03/2025-02-11T00:00:00Z2025-02-11T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe’re not going to use the arbitrage method, we are going to use the forest methods. You all understand the stochastic process. Fundamentally, it starts from a point 𝑆 0 , and… FX Parity and Forward Tradinghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/fx-parity-and-forward-trading/2025-02-10T00:00:00Z2025-02-10T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe syllabus records this class as “Stochastic Processes — Intro to FX: FX parity; Spot and Forward trading; FX conventions.” The source document does not contain a prose… Yield Curves and Bootstrappinghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-02/2025-02-06T00:00:00Z2025-02-06T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe started to look at interest rates. In the first part we’re going to discuss various interpolation methods, functions that are useful for modeling the yield curve. That’s… Black–Scholes, Calibration, and Implied Volatilityhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-02/2025-02-04T00:00:00Z2025-02-04T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devHanlon 2 is occupied by the system administrator, Zheng Xing. He will move his class so that we can occupy there. They will need to remote desktop into the lab. I should have… Bond Pricing, Duration, and DV01https://sharifhsn.dev/blog/advanced-derivatives-week-01/2025-01-30T00:00:00Z2025-01-30T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devTake-home exam format, 24/48 hours, lots of writing code, during finals week. If a company wants money, it has options. It can issue stock, get a bank loan, or issue a bond. What… The Cost of Transit Delayshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-01-28-the-cost-of-transit-delays/2025-01-28T14:46:42.541Z2025-01-28T14:46:42.541ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devAs a frequent user of public transit, I know how impactful delays are both on my productivity and my mental health. Being stuck in Secaucus Junction because of some nonsense… Stochastic Processes and Computational Pricinghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/computational-methods-week-01/2025-01-28T00:00:00Z2025-01-28T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devI’m out on vacation this week, so I watched the recording A stochastic processes is merely a collection of indexed random variables. The indexing of these variables confers a… Rust 1.84: Three Infrastructure Changeshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2025-01-10-rust-1-84-three-infrastructure-changes/2025-01-10T13:25:09.372Z2025-01-10T13:25:09.372ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devA new version of the Rust language has been released: Rust 1.84.0! Although there aren’t any new language features, this release kickstarts three big infrastructure improvements… Exotic Optionshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/exotic-options/2024-12-12T00:00:00Z2024-12-12T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThis is the last lecture we have for this class. Next week will be a review session. Exam will be online . December 21, We’re going to be pricing exotic options. We are focusing… Options and Volatilityhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/options-and-volatility/2024-12-12T00:00:00Z2024-12-12T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe straddle strategy is owning a call and put option with the same characteristics. If I end up long a call option and short a put, it ends up being a forward contract. I can… Default Fields in Rust Structshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2024-12-08-default-fields-in-rust-structs/2024-12-08T16:50:39.228Z2024-12-08T16:50:39.228ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devA recent RFC (request for comment) for the Rust language has divided the community: default fields in structs. In order to implement a default version of a struct in Rust, one… Hedging Bondshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/bond-hedging/2024-12-05T00:00:00Z2024-12-05T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devNotes added to lab 4 and discussion which delves into the analytic part establishing the connection between the two. Futures are less flexible because they are standardized, and… Rust 1.83 Brings More `const`https://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2024-11-28-rust-1-83-brings-more-const/2024-11-28T16:16:30.611Z2024-11-28T16:16:30.611ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devA happy Thanksgiving to all! Today, in addition to my loved ones, I’m grateful for a brand-new version of Rust, now with more const ! const evaluation is one of the most… Poisson Processeshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/poisson-processes/2024-11-28T00:00:00Z2024-11-28T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devin-class final will be decided by Thanksgiving All of the stuff we learned about stochastic calculus has been organized around the Ito process, which is continuous. We’re going… Linear Hedginghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linear-hedging/2024-11-21T00:00:00Z2024-11-21T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devLet’s say I’m trading futures. What is the log return of this? The futures contract at time 1 is worth 𝑆 0 𝑒 𝑟 , then at time 2 is 𝑆 0 𝑒 2 𝑟 , etc. If you look at log returns,… Stochastic Differential Equationshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/stochastic-differential-equations/2024-11-21T00:00:00Z2024-11-21T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devCame late because my brother couldn’t get up 🙁 where 𝛽 is the drift and 𝛾 is the diffusion. Diffeqs always need a boundary condition, given by Multidimensional Market Modelshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/multidimensional-market-models/2024-11-14T00:00:00Z2024-11-14T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe Girsanov states that The norm of a process is the Euclidean Norm: ∥ Θ ( 𝑡 ) ∥ = ∑ 𝑗 = 1 𝑑 Θ 𝑗 2 ( 𝑡 ) And so the square of the norm is just that. Risk-Neutral Valuation and Interest Rate Parityhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/risk-neutral-valuation-and-parity/2024-11-14T00:00:00Z2024-11-14T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe’re going to continue derivatives, uninteresting because I’m taking 620. Then we will start linear risk, more interesting. A financial engineer is someone who doesn’t know… Joint and Conditional Distributionshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/joint-and-conditional-distributions/2024-11-11T00:00:00Z2024-11-11T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devKeep in mind that you can’t separate 𝜖 out from 𝑌 because they are not necessarily independent. We can use the fact that 𝜖 is complementary to divide up what 𝑋 means. But notice… Forward Contractshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/forward-contracts/2024-11-07T00:00:00Z2024-11-07T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devOn problem 2, either you optimize for risk-free or risky assets. The question becomes unconstrained optimization. Either we have the same thing as Exam 1, released on 13 or 19?… Risk-Neutral Measureshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/risk-neutral-measures/2024-11-07T00:00:00Z2024-11-07T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devLet’s go into the world of sports gambling. Hypothetically, we’re going to have two teams competing, Team A and Team B. Objectively, Team A is the better team. Let’s say in the… A Rainbow on Election Dayhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2024-11-06-a-rainbow-on-election-day/2024-11-06T19:56:37.382Z2024-11-06T19:56:37.382ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devA brief pause from election-day politics to notice an unexpected rainbow. Random Vectors and Independencehttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/random-vectors-and-independence/2024-11-04T00:00:00Z2024-11-04T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devBeginning chapter 7, vectors of random variables. We are concerned with a random vector The cdf of this vector is We can also say that if we have a random vector (X, Y) then Derivatives and Clearinghouseshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/derivatives-and-clearinghouses/2024-10-31T00:00:00Z2024-10-31T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe Treynor ratio is intended to capture systematic risk, but doesn’t tell you anything about portfolio returns. Sharpe ratio doesn’t tell you anything about systematic risk. R^2… Stochastic Calculus Reviewhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/stochastic-calculus-review/2024-10-31T00:00:00Z2024-10-31T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devRecognize that this is some function that looks like 𝑓 ( 𝑎 , 𝑏 ) , like where 𝑎 is a deterministic component and 𝑏 is a stochastic component. Then solve your partials Student's t and Heavy-Tailed Distributionshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/student-t-and-heavy-tailed-distributions/2024-10-28T00:00:00Z2024-10-28T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devDefinition 5.4.6 says that the pdf is then X is a Student t-distribution with degrees of freedom 𝑡 𝑛 . Proposition 5.48 will tell us all the moments, which are not easy to prove. Remembering the Boarding-School Historyhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2024-10-27-remembering-the-boarding-school-history/2024-10-27T15:20:30.081Z2024-10-27T15:20:30.081ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devA reflection on President Biden's apology for federal Indian boarding schools. Interest Rate Risk and Durationhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/interest-rate-risk-and-duration/2024-10-24T00:00:00Z2024-10-24T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe Economic Value of Mean Squared Error: Evidence from Portfolio Selection What’s the intuition? Everyone talks about optimization, rational agents doing the best they can. A… Multidimensional Itô Calculushttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/multidimensional-ito-calculus/2024-10-24T00:00:00Z2024-10-24T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe’re going to be talking about multivariable stochastic calculus. All of this material is fair game for the midterm. Next week is the midterm review session. Bring questions!… Gamma, Beta, and Chi-Squared Distributionshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/gamma-beta-and-chi-squared-distributions/2024-10-21T00:00:00Z2024-10-21T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devDefinition 5.36 says that X is a Chi squared distribution whose pdf is described by This is actually linked to the gamma distribution There is also a remark which says that the… Black–Scholeshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/black-scholes/2024-10-17T00:00:00Z2024-10-17T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe will either lend or borrow from a bank at interest rate r. In that scenario, the amount of wealth that i have at maturity time T. My wealth would be the value of my shares and… Probability and Regression Reviewhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/probability-and-regression-review/2024-10-17T00:00:00Z2024-10-17T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe can actually do this from a portfolio perspective, it’s the same idea. We have some weight What’s the variance? 𝕍 [ 𝑍 ] = 𝑤 1 𝜎 1 2 + 𝑤 2 2 𝜎 2 2 + 2 𝑤 1 𝑤 2 𝜎 12 It’s the… Continuous Random Variables and Transformationshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/continuous-random-variables-and-transformations/2024-10-14T00:00:00Z2024-10-14T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devRecall for a discrete random variable. The moment formula is The moment for a continuous rv is the integral All the possibilities are the real line here. Bonds and the Time Value of Moneyhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/bonds-and-time-value-of-money/2024-10-10T00:00:00Z2024-10-10T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe started with the foundation, risk-reward trade offs, portfolios. Then we moved to quantitative analysis on individual assets. Mostly we have focused on a single game, a single… Itô Calculushttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/ito-calculus/2024-10-10T00:00:00Z2024-10-10T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThis is seemingly one of the simplest integrals you could do. If we’re going to do this integral, how we’re going to do that is to create a process Δ 𝑛 ( 𝑢 ) → 𝑊 ( 𝑢 ) that… Minneapolis Housing and Zoninghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2024-10-08-minneapolis-housing-and-zoning/2024-10-08T21:50:44.977Z2024-10-08T21:50:44.977ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWhat Minneapolis changed in its zoning rules, and what happened to housing and rents. Stochastic Integralshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/stochastic-integrals/2024-10-03T00:00:00Z2024-10-03T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe left off last week talking about first passage time. We said that the cdf was Last thing before Stochastic Calculus we should talk about maximum to date . This will be… A CUPS Vulnerability Explainedhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2024-09-27-cups-linux-vulnerability/2024-09-27T11:29:52.298Z2024-09-27T11:29:52.298ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devAn overview of the 2024 CUPS printer-discovery vulnerability and its risk. Brownian Motionhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/brownian-motion/2024-09-26T00:00:00Z2024-09-26T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe most important properties of Brownian motion are that it is a martingale (the expected value of the process is 0) and it accumulates quadratic variation at a rate of one per… Brownian Motion and Geometric Growthhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/brownian-motion-risk-models/2024-09-26T00:00:00Z2024-09-26T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devUnder market efficiency, financial prices should exhibit a random walk. Eugene Fama is the big guy behind market efficiency. He was interviewed by the Financial Times ( Open… How rustc_codegen_clr Connects Rust to .NEThttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2024-09-23-rust-mir-to-dotnet/2024-09-23T11:47:41.887Z2024-09-23T11:47:41.887ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devA short guide to Rust's compiler pipeline and a backend that targets .NET. Discrete Distributions and Momentshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/discrete-distributions-and-moments/2024-09-23T00:00:00Z2024-09-23T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe will be covering discrete random variables this week. A discrete random variable is one whose image 𝑋 ( Ω ) is a finite/countable subset of ℝ . First thing we introduce is the… Martingales and Random Walkshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/martingales-and-random-walks/2024-09-19T00:00:00Z2024-09-19T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.dev(continuing from last time) A stochastic process is a collection of random variables indexed by time. If you start out at time 0 and each time you pick heads you go one step,… Monte Carlo Risk Simulationhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/monte-carlo-risk-simulation/2024-09-19T00:00:00Z2024-09-19T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.dev50 bps cut! Markets exploded today. Information gets priced in a nonlinear way Today’s topic will be a little independent of what we’ve done, so it will be more into the… Random Variables and CDFshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/random-variables-and-cdfs/2024-09-16T00:00:00Z2024-09-16T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe can consider a mapping between all of the sets in the 𝜎 -algebra of one measurable space ( Ω , ℱ︀ ) to another sample space Ω 1 , where the mapping is measurable each set has… What Washing Machines Can Teach Us About Tariffshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2024-09-12-washing-machine-tariffs/2024-09-12T11:54:43.644Z2024-09-12T11:54:43.644ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devA look at the 2018 washing-machine tariffs, consumer costs, and U.S. manufacturing. Probability Spaces and Filtrationshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/probability-spaces-and-filtrations/2024-09-12T00:00:00Z2024-09-12T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devLet’s define an infinite probability space Ω ∞ . This sample space is uncountably infinite, which means that the probability of any particular outcome is zero. Therefore, in… Risk-Adjusted Performancehttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/risk-adjusted-performance/2024-09-12T00:00:00Z2024-09-12T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devLet’s say we want to invest in long-term U.S. government bonds. The monthly average return of this is 0.47%, half of the equity market, and 2.3% standard deviation, less than… NVIDIA, Cisco, and Market Euphoriahttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2024-09-10-nvidia-and-the-cisco-bubble/2024-09-10T13:30:09.913Z2024-09-10T13:30:09.913ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devBill Smead compares current enthusiasm for AI with the dot-com era's Cisco boom. Probability Measures and Bayes' Rulehttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/probability-measures-and-bayes-rule/2024-09-09T00:00:00Z2024-09-09T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe have already considered the measurable space ( Ω , ℱ︀ ) of the sample space and 𝜎 -algebra. We can now define the probability measure ℙ as a measure defined on events in the 𝜎… Bessent on Tariffs and the Deficithttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2024-09-05-bessent-tariffs-and-deficits/2024-09-05T11:41:31.361Z2024-09-05T11:41:31.361ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devA response to Scott Bessent's arguments about tariffs, inflation, and fiscal policy. Risk Measurement and Portfolio Constructionhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/risk-measurement-and-portfolio-construction/2024-09-05T00:00:00Z2024-09-05T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devFinancial risk management involves identifying, assessing, measuring, and managing financial risks. Some risks are measurable, others are not. Risk cannot always be avoided, but… Probability Spaceshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/probability-spaces/2024-09-02T00:00:00Z2024-09-02T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe purpose of probability is to obtain answers about real-life phenomena which do not have a predetermined outcome. We need a mathematical model to describe this so that we can… What the Price Gouging Prevention Act Sayshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/linkedin-2024-08-27-price-gouging-prevention-act/2024-08-27T18:32:34.267Z2024-08-27T18:32:34.267ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devA summary of the 2024 bill's price-gouging language, defenses, and penalties. Floating Point Architecturehttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/floating-point-architecture/2022-05-31T00:00:00Z2022-05-31T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devFloating point numbers are complicated enough in the abstract. How do systems programmers and hardware designers cope with the complexity of floating point? In the general… IEEE-754https://sharifhsn.dev/blog/ieee-754/2022-05-31T00:00:00Z2022-05-31T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devIEEE-754 is the standard for floating point computation around the world. Thus, any real-world discussion of floating point must include it. IEEE-754 floating point numbers are… Floating Pointhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/floating-point/2022-05-28T00:00:00Z2022-05-28T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devFloating point representation is a complex topic full of nuance. To understand it, we must focus on the abstract method used to represent non-integer numbers. Math is infinite.… Network Securityhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/network-security/2022-04-22T00:00:00Z2022-04-22T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe internet has taken over the world, but with it have come malicious actors. People want to spy on you, scam you, steal from you, or harm you through the internet. Through… A Crash Course in Pythonhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/python-crash-course/2022-04-14T00:00:00Z2022-04-14T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devPython is a powerful jack-of-all-trades language that is much less limited than OCaml. Arithmetic works in a very simple and clear way in Python, basically like a calculator. 2 #… Diskshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/disks/2022-04-14T00:00:00Z2022-04-14T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devPersistent storage is essential to every system that we can think of, and we can hardly think of a computer without it. However, managing disks is not as simple as it might… Particleshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/particles/2022-04-12T00:00:00Z2022-04-12T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devTiny particles are affected in different ways than we are by waves. There are several different effects that must be discussed. Many people believe that Albert Einstein won the… Multimedia Networkinghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/multimedia/2022-04-07T00:00:00Z2022-04-07T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devStreaming multimedia is a relatively new concept in internet technology, but now has become central to the daily media consumption of people around the world. In contrast to the… Control in Prologhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/prolog-control/2022-04-05T00:00:00Z2022-04-05T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devConditional statements are very powerful and are in used in almost every language. How does Prolog implement the same idea? The basic idea behind a control statement is that… Special Relativityhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/special-relativity/2022-04-05T00:00:00Z2022-04-05T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devAlbert Einstein revolutionized the world of physics when he discovered the special theory of relativity. It is only possible due to his contributions that valuable technologies… Waveshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/waves/2022-03-29T00:00:00Z2022-03-29T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devLight is curious because it is both a particle and a wave, which makes it behave strangely in certain contexts. When projected through a slit, some strange fringes will appear,… The Link Layerhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/link-layer/2022-03-28T00:00:00Z2022-03-28T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThrough all the layers of the internet, the most essential is the link layer : converting bits to and from signals, detecting errors, flow control, and addressing. We have spoken… Prologhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/prolog/2022-03-24T00:00:00Z2022-03-24T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devProlog is a special programming language that is not like many others. It exemplifies the paradigm of logic programming . Functional programming is based on the idea that all… Threadshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/threads/2022-03-23T00:00:00Z2022-03-23T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devConcurrency is a powerful tool to increase performance in applications. This is usually accomplished using threads. Clock frequency in CPUs has massively increased over the past… Routing Algorithmshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/routing-algorithms/2022-03-21T00:00:00Z2022-03-21T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWhen a host needs to find the best destination/prefix to another host, what routing algorithm does it use? We can use either intra or inter domain. As you may recall, the routing… Swappinghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/swapping/2022-03-21T00:00:00Z2022-03-21T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devSometimes we don’t have a lot of memory to access. In those cases, we need a place to put our data. The natural solution is to put data in the disk, which has very high storage.… Routershttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/routers/2022-03-10T00:00:00Z2022-03-10T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devEveryone nowadays gets the Internet through the router in their home. But what is a router? It’s likely that you have an internet speed in the tens of Mbps. This unit is megabits… Mirrorshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/mirrors/2022-03-08T00:00:00Z2022-03-08T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devMirrors can interact with light in interesting ways. In fact, reflection and refraction are probably most people’s engagement with laws of physics surrounding light in their… Lambda Calculushttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/lambda-calculus/2022-03-03T00:00:00Z2022-03-03T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWhen we discuss the principles of programming languages, lambda calculus is the bedrock of our discussion. It is the most abstract, formal way to describe functions and… More Internet Protocolshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/other-protocols/2022-03-03T00:00:00Z2022-03-03T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devBesides the primary Internet protocols, there are some others to learn about, like DHCP , NAT , IPv6 , etc. What happens if a device doesn’t have a permanent IP address? You take… Electromagnetic Waveshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/electromagnetic-waves/2022-03-01T00:00:00Z2022-03-01T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe have discussed electric fields and magnetic fields, and the way that they change and interact. The full interaction of these fields will create electromagnetic waves , the… ISP Addressinghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/isp-addressing/2022-02-28T00:00:00Z2022-02-28T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devHow does an ISP assign IP addresses to its customers? An ISP has a block of addresses that are partitioned to its customers. If an ISP network has an address like 200.8.4/24… Making a Website with Zola, Github Pages, and Github Actionshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/making-a-website/2022-02-26T00:00:00Z2022-02-26T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devMaking a website in the modern era is not easy to do for free. I did it using Zola, Github Pages, and Github Actions. I’ve always wanted to have a personal website where I can… Currying Arguments in a Functionhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/curry/2022-02-21T00:00:00Z2022-02-21T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devCurrying is the concept of having multiple arguments in a function. OCaml defaults to currying its functions. int -> int -> int is a function that takes two int s and returns an… HTTP Explainedhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/http/2022-02-20T00:00:00Z2022-02-20T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devHTTP is probably the most visible Internet protocol to end users. It appears (as well as its cousin, HTTPS ) at the beginning of every URL we use to access the internet. But how… Paginghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/paging/2022-02-20T00:00:00Z2022-02-20T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe main problem that segments have introduced to managing memory space is that their variable size wastes memory through fragmentation. Fixed-size pieces that are easier to… TCP Explainedhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/tcp/2022-02-20T00:00:00Z2022-02-20T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devTCP is the well-known protocol for reliable transfer of data. But how does it actually work? System of handshakes ensures reliable transmission of data. What happens if a packet… Electromagnetic Inductionhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/induction/2022-02-18T00:00:00Z2022-02-18T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe final piece to the puzzle of electromagnetism here is electromagnetic induction , where we use magnets to create current. Like with charges in a magnetic field, magnets do… Data Types in OCamlhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/data-types/2022-02-17T00:00:00Z2022-02-17T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWhen we make our programs more and more complex, we need more complex data types as well. We have only used OCaml’s built-in data types, how can we construct our own data types?… Operational Semanticshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/operational-semantics/2022-02-17T00:00:00Z2022-02-17T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWhat are the formal semantics of how a programming language works, mathematically? That’s a broad topic. Operational semantics , which are how programs execute , are narrow… Tail Recursion in OCamlhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/tail-recursion/2022-02-15T00:00:00Z2022-02-15T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devRecursion in many languages can cause significant overhead. It might seem that the excess amount of recursion in OCaml would decrease its performance. But it actually doesn’t,… UDP Explainedhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/udp/2022-02-14T00:00:00Z2022-02-14T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe simplest transport protocol that is used communicate between sockets is known as UDP , the User Datagram Protocol . Let’s say we want to design the simplest transport… Magnetshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/magnets/2022-02-11T00:00:00Z2022-02-11T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe question of how magnets work has long puzzled many . We will endeavor to answer all of those questions today. Magnets work similarly to electric charges where like poles… SMTP Explainedhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/smtp/2022-02-10T00:00:00Z2022-02-10T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devEmail is the most popular way in the world to send large messages. This is a complicated process which requires its own protocol: SMTP . The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is how… Higher Order Functions in OCamlhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/higher-order-functions/2022-02-08T00:00:00Z2022-02-08T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe can do a lot of cool things with functions besides calling them in OCaml. Values are a subset of expressions, as previously stated. All expressions can evaluate to values, but… FTP Explainedhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/ftp/2022-02-07T00:00:00Z2022-02-07T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devBefore we had Google Drive, users needed a way to access files from other people quickly and easily. The method for that was FTP . The point of the File Transfer Protocol , was,… Memory Virtualizationhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/memory-virtualization/2022-02-07T00:00:00Z2022-02-07T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devAccessing physical memory can cause big issues if we do it directly. How can we virtualize the memory like the CPU so we can use it efficiently and safely? Let’s think of a super… Lets, Tuples, and Records in OCamlhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/lets-tuples-records/2022-02-03T00:00:00Z2022-02-03T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devLists are the most basic data structure in OCaml, but there are others that we need to be aware of. We have seen the keyword let used to define expressions and store values.… Circuitshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/circuits/2022-02-01T00:00:00Z2022-02-01T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devCircuits are the method by which all electricity travels throughout the world and power every single device in existence. It is therefore crucial to understand them while… DNS Explainedhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/dns/2022-01-31T00:00:00Z2022-01-31T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe need protocols to define the way that messages are interpreted. Messages are different based on what kind of information you are sending. For example, HTTP (HyperText… Packet Switching vs Message Switchinghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/packet-switching/2022-01-31T00:00:00Z2022-01-31T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devHow do we get the best performance in sending information over the internet? What is packet switching and how can it help? Performance is bottlenecked by propagation delay and… Schedulinghttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/schedulers/2022-01-31T00:00:00Z2022-01-31T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devThe way that the operating system decides which processes to run and when is a complicated process known as scheduling . This is how it works. We should understand a few… Lists in OCamlhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/lists/2022-01-27T00:00:00Z2022-01-27T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devLists are the most basic data structure in OCaml. The most analogous structure is a vector in C++ or Rust. Lists are homogeneous and of arbitrary length . The most basic list is… Electric Potentialhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/electric-potential/2022-01-25T00:00:00Z2022-01-25T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devBesides electrical charge and field, there’s another force that is relevant to electricity: electric potential . Gravity is similar to the electrostatic force, apart from the… Functions in OCamlhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/functions/2022-01-25T00:00:00Z2022-01-25T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devA function takes arguments, performs operations using them, and returns a value. In OCaml, we can write functions like so let rec fact n = (* the function is named fact and its… Electrostaticshttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/electrostatics/2022-01-18T00:00:00Z2022-01-18T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWhat is electricity, and how does it work? Fundamentally, the negative charge comes from the electron , a subatomic particle. The positive charge comes from protons , also in the… CPU Virtualizationhttps://sharifhsn.dev/blog/cpu-virtualization/2022-01-04T00:00:00Z2022-01-04T00:00:00ZSharif Haasonhttps://sharifhsn.devWe need a way to map on to the physical CPU through our operating system. We do this through virtualization. A process is an execution stream in the context of a process state.…