1. What did you do this past week? Besides prepare for and knock out Exam 1, I don’t recall much else. Thankfully my exam schedule has been kind to me thus far. The last week of classes will be awful though.

2. What’s in your way? Two things are in my way at the moment. My lymph nodes are swollen like hell and I’m having a perpetual headache, which makes it really hard to concentrate. In addition to that, my trusty computer died on Friday just moments before the exam. I suspect a faulty SATA cable, so fingers crossed that fixes it. I’m actually writing this on the Github website, which is really annoying.

3. What will you do next week? My week will be spent studying for another exam on Thursday and trying to finish a project in the same class. It’s sort of annoying that homework, a project, and an exam are happening the same week in that class. I will also begin working on the Allocator project with a new partner whom I met at the beginning of the semester.

Thoughts on the course, so far… I found the exam to be fair and was especially happy with the full disclosure by Professor Downing as to what we would be tested over. If you were in class, paid attention, and went over everything in the study guide, then the results should be good. On the flip side, if you did not know how do perform the algorithms, but knew the material, then you will probably be in trouble. Although, those were pretty ubiquitous interview problems.

Tip of the Week: I’m running out of material here. In light of my recent computer breakdown, I’m going to suggest that you build a computer at least once. Most CS students have probably done this, but those who can’t diagnose a hardware problem and fix it are making their lives more difficult in my opinion. Besides, what engineer doesn’t like to take shit apart and put them back together?