1. What did you do this past week? Finished my implementation of AES, which can handle 128, 192, or 256 bit encryption. We started working on the Life project, but there are some particulars that are a little fuzzy. We have just begun discussing the techniques needed for this project, so there will be a lot of learning on our own. My productivity took a hit because my Mom was in town to celebrate being named College Scholar again, but I really enjoyed hanging with her and my family. It’s time to get focused for the final semester push.

2. What’s in your way? Right now it’s the confusion on how this handle class is supposed to take care of multiple classes all magically.

3. What will you do next week? I will be solely focused on finishing the Life project ASAP, and will be spending all my free time attempting to do so. Hopefully this project will not take as much time as the last. After that, I will be focused on finishing the iOS project, in attempt to have that done before the last week. There will be another Security project in there somewhere.

Thoughts on the course, so far… This is the first point in which I’m a little annoyed. We are supposed to implement this handle class in Life, but we haven’t learned the necessary tools in lecture to do so, and will not before the project is due. In addition, we have yet to finish discussing basic inheritence, which is also needed for this project. I would have liked to have these tools before the project was assigned, and they would have been useful in the last project.

Tip of the Week: Communication skills are paramount to success. If you struggle in this area, consider taking a class or two here or in a professional development environment after graduation. You will be expected to have solid communication skills in the industry. This is something I intend to keep working on after graduation.