CS373 Summer 2018: Brendan Miller
Week 1 (June 4–10)
- What did you do this past week?
I started work last week doing IT for a research group. It’s been good so far, and having some discretionary income is always a plus. The first CS373 lecture was a welcome change of pace for me — I’m accustomed to large introductory classes with no meaningful professor-student interaction. And I think I have never been called on to participate in any class up until this past Friday. And I did most of the readings (and will do the rest after I finish this blog post).
2. What’s in your way?
My sleep habits. I am very sensitive to light and sound, which is not ideal for living in west campus. I sometimes wear a sleep mask, but without fail it is on the floor by the following morning. Apparently I am a violent sleeper.
3. What will you do next week?
I will presumably start project 1. Since it is a solo project, I am not sure when I will be forming a group/meeting with group members. I am going to change my work schedule to fit more effectively with lectures. Since class only meets Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I plan to fit most of my work into the remaining two weekdays.
4. What are your expectations of the class? (this question will vary, week to week)
Even though the lectures and projects are said to be disconnected, I still anticipate a good amount of lecturing on optimization. That, and further explanation of workflow and development tools like Docker. My overall expectations of the course are that I will learn how to use tools and frameworks that are vital to being a successful software engineer. Additionally, I hope to be able to communicate my design choices more effectively than my current method of saying “well it works, doesn’t it?”.
5. What’s my pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
In order to be efficient, you need to be well rested. Some people (and most college students) believe that sleeping a few hours per night is sustainable. But sleeping 6 hours per night for one week straight degrades mental performance comparably to the effect of missing sleep for one night. To be fair, it is possible to interpret that information as “all-nighters aren’t that bad”.
