1. What did you do this past week? My partner and I finished up Project 2 with fairly good results. We are pretty certain the logic handles all valid input and that all the i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed. I also finished another project with my partner in 361 that involved implementing a covert channel. I feel quite fortunate to know some talented and intelligent people who are willing to work with me. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to work with the same partner more than once in this class, so I will have to fan out and find another capable being.

2. What’s in your way? I currently do not have any blockers at the moment – unless you want to count this sickness I’m currently fighting, which is really annoying me.

3. What will you do next week? I have my first exam of the semester coming up on Friday in History of Rock. While the content is obvisouly not difficult, I am quite annoyed with the inconsistent communication of the course. At the beginning of the semester, I was told the lecture slides would be available to use in preparation for the test, but apparantly that word has been reneged. Nonetheless, I will find a way to be fully prepared and have memorized the trivial information needed.

Thoughts on the course, so far… Should the course be titled Object Oriented Programming? Don’t get me wrong, after speaking with previous students I knew the class was more of a C++ class than OOP, but I just wonder how misleading that is to other students. I have fully enjoyed the class thus far and found the content to be useful. My goal was to reinforce my C skills and learn some new C++ along the way.

Tip of the Week: Ergonomics. As Computer Scientists, programmers, software developers/engineers, etc., spending many hours behind a keyboard is a fact of life for us. You should not be quick to dismiss how important the set up of your workstation is and how it conforms to your body. There are standard ergonmic guidelines that I learned last summer and if you aren’t aware, go look them up and use them. I am a big fan of the adjustable desk and pray that I get one this summer. Some people really like to stand all the time, but I’ve done enough standing in my professional career as a cook to last a lifetime…