Max Altman

CompSci108- Fall 08

Duke '10

St. Louis, MO

Projects: NanoGoogle

Fennec

- I started using a computer when I was about five years old. I remember using one of those really old Apples to play “educational games” on in Kindergarten. The first time I remember using the internet was a few years later when I watched my brother use an extremely slow dial up to connect to the internet via AOL.

- I started with one of those old apples that I don’t even know the name of.  I owned another unidentified computer after that, and then moved on to an IMac (it was blue). I then moved to an IBook. I then used an e-machines desktop, which I am ashamed to admit. I next moved to a Dell Inspiron laptop for a long time, and am currently enjoying my Dell XPS M1530.

- I use my computer almost constantly all day. I bring it to all my classes, and take all my notes on my computer.  I use it for computer science HW, and coding projects on my own time.  I also use it for research, entertainment, and communication every day.

- My first experience with any type of program was in elementary school, when I did something called “Lego Logo”, where I built small Lego robots, and programmed them with simple IF statements and small loops to complete tasks. I really enjoyed this, but never did much programming for a while after that. What probably sparked my interest in computer science again was my older brother’s experience in it.  He took computer science in high school and college, and I was always interested in learning what he was studying.

- A computer scientist can do tons of different things on a daily basis.  They could work by themselves working on developing their own programs, but I most often associate them with working on projects in small groups. They work on projects from website creation to software creation to server maintenance. Some computer scientists also are involved in business, where they use their programming knowledge to help them in tech-based companies.

- When I was in eight grade I designed and programmed a robot that had to navigate a maze with light sensors. It wasn't working at all, and right before it was my turn to go, I reprogrammed the whole thing, and sent it into the maze without even testing my code. I won, and it was awesome.

- I am currently working on my own programming project for a dating site that matches people. I really like doing it because I have to design the program myself from scratch, and am learning a lot by incorporating tons of new features into it that I knew nothing about before.

- I see myself using (really cool) computers in the future the same way I use them now, but doing more advanced projects in a more practical setting. I'll probably still be using them for gaming also.

Footer