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CompSci 108 - Fall 2006
This is me failing to finish a CS assignment. I don't know how the popcorn got
there.
David Zhang
^ That's my name. I immigrated here from China when I was five. I eat watermelon and sometimes sunflower seeds while programming to techno music, and I like to play ping pong like a true Asian. That's pretty much me.
I'm a sophomore this year. My hobbies include sleeping and playing frisbee. I kind of have a nickname (东东), but only my relatives use it. It's pronounced "dong dong." Please don't call me that. Thanks.
Here's a link to the CompSci 108 homepage.
Go visit bash.org. It is a necessary part of having anything to do with computer science. In fact, I've always wondered why computer science professors don't give quizzes on bash quotes. For example, consider how relevant #338364 is to our course.
Now I'm supposed to try to answer some questions.
When did you first start using a computer? What kinds of computers have you used?
I started using computers when I was in second grade. It was one of those old Apple machines with the green monochrome displays and two 5.25" floppy drives. After that, everything I've used has been x86, and recently I got rid of Windows in favor of Linux (Fedora Core).
How do you use computers on a daily basis? What event(s) made you interested in studying computer science?
I do the usual stuff on the computer -- read email, browse the web (a lot of Slashdot...), listen to music, etc. Wondering how all these programs work made me interested in programming. Why do programs break when you feed them certain things? Why is this program over 1,000 times slower than this other one even though I'm trying to crack the same password hashes (wait, what?)?
What do you think a computer scientist does on a daily basis?
I think a computer scientist looks for solutions to problems, both theoretical and practical. Maybe he's searching for a solution to an unsolved problem, maybe a more efficient problem to some solved problem, or maybe just something unique, a different way of solving an old problem. Actually I just made all that up. I have no idea what I'm talking about, and I'm hoping this course will teach me a little more of what I need to know.
Describe your best (or worst) programming experience; what made it so good (or so bad)? Describe your most (or least) favorite programming project; what made it so appealing (or so unappealing)?
Ummm, my English is bad (after all, I am in CS), so these two questions sound the same to me. Anyways...
My best programming experience was probably the Huff program in CompSci 100. Even though very detailed instructions were provided, along with a little bit of code, it was the most independent assignment I had done up until that point. Watching the program actually work was very satisfying. Even though it managed to "compress" some files by making them bigger.
How do you see yourself using computers in the future?
I'll probably still be doing the same things. But hopefully user interfaces will improve in some radical way. I'm tired of sitting here pointing and clicking. The mouse is a nice little device, but switching a hand back and forth between the rodent and the keyboard is so slow. Maybe one day somebody will merge the two devices in an effective way.
The End
Congratulations, you read it all! ...hah, who do you think you fooled? You must have cheated if you are reading this, because the last 2/3 of this page is so boring that it would have put an insomniac into a coma.
Please disregard the last paragraph if you are actually Professor Duvall. In that case... have a nice day! =)