University of Texas at Dallas
I have now attended all my classes at UTD once. They are all off to a pretty slow start, and it looks like the two classes I will be staying in will continue on that way. I am in CS 1, which is a basic java class, Discrete Math and sitting in on CS 2. CS 1 is being petitioned for credit, but I think it is unlikely that I will get credit before the add/drop deadline, which is only two days from today.
CS 1 should be a fairly easy class, but will be long lecture because the professor seems pretty slow moving. CS 2 would be quite a bit more challenging, just because the class is a project based class and would be as difficult as I made it.
Discrete math will be a much more difficult class, and hopefully once we get into the swing of things the lectures will pick up. At this pace, the tests will cover material in the book, and the lectures will highlight some of those topics.
I don’t remember CMU’s classes starting off this slow. The classes were typically 50 minutes, and the first day was spent 20 minutes on an overview of the class and the rest of the class started digging into actual material. In both the CS1, especially the CS1 class, and the CS2 class, there was a lot of hand holding. Thats great, because I don’t know anything UTD specific, but this class is populated by CS and SE majors. Explaining how to use the compiler during lecture is a bit much. If you can’t point the class to a web page for directions on how you want code compiled, then it seems the school has very low expectations for the CS and SE majors. An hour and fifteen minute lecture was spent going over syllabus and computer basics in both CS1 and CS2. CMU has a one hour required pass fail class that covers how to use all the different computers on campus, and has specific tracks for the different majors. As a CS or engineering major, your focus was on unix and the tools availible, with the basics of the macs and their office suite of software. I thought the class was dumb at the time, but if one lecture of each CS class is going to start with an intro to how to use a computer, then it seems to make a lot of sense.
Overall, I am very happy with the classes, although it may not seem like it from my above statements. If I am stuck in CS1, I will be spending a lot of time writing swing code. Discrete is going to be a difficult class, and I am looking forward to it. It covers a lot of topics that need to “click” in the brain to be of any use. Deriving proofs will be a big part of this class.
I added two topics, education for school and tech knowledge posts, and food. Hawaii will be a food adventure, so there should be some decents posts on food regarding that. My own list of San Francisco’s best might also be covered. I will be back there in August 2006 for the FINA World Masters Championships. What a great time to go to San Francisco, it is 61F there right now.