What did I do this past week? It’s been a surprisingly dense first week of class! This week was the classic “Hello World” (or actually “Nothing to see here.”) in C++, alongside some C++ features (operator overloading!), a comparison to Java (functions vs. methods), and a tour of Google Test. I’ve got a fresh Ubuntu VM ready for the class. I’ve only ever used Docker in a UNIX environment, so I’ve decided to avoid the Windows route, for now (though I may fall back if it’s too slow). Also, I got this blog stood up.

What’s in my way? There are a great deal of developer tools I need to get a hang of (got my GitHub student pack, so that’s one thing off the list) that Professor Downing listed on day one. C++ is still very unfamiliar to me - especially the syntax - despite having a Java and C background.

What will I do next week? The plan for next week is to have my environment setup for the class, so I’ll be able to run through the class examples on my own. I’d also like to speed-read through “C++ Primer, 2nd Edition” by Stanley B. Lippman during the week. There are newer versions of the book available that I should look for as well; the one I have is 15 years old!

I’m a fan of Prof. Downing’s teaching style; I think teaching by example is generally an effective approach, and cold-calling students in class requires I stay attentive. Lectures so far have been “cookbook” style, which certainly does well in terms of immersion in the C++ language and the UNIX environment, but can be especially daunting for someone without a solid programming or UNIX foundation. (Fortunately, the prerequisites for the course should be enough to keep up).

I am somewhat concerned about missing attendance quizzes for interviews, which don’t count as drop-able. After all, if the class is focused on making us more job-worthy, and we should be pursuing internships over the summer (rather than taking classes), it seems backwards to penalize interviewing, which is a crucial step in the job hunting process. Of course, we should aim to schedule our interviews to not conflict with classes, and I have been blessed so far with flexible interview schedules, but others might not be so lucky.

Overall, I am glad with my first impressions with the course, and I think I will learn a great deal of practical knowledge. While I still have no idea how tough the projects will be, I am fairly optimistic about them (at least it’s not PintOS… unless it is, in which case, my head would explode).

Tip of the Week: The PCL’s sixth floor has rows and rows of programming books. Every language, every OS, every computer sciencey-thing you could imagine is up there. If O’Rielly books had real animals, it would be a zoo. I strongly recommend stopping by every once in a while to see what’s available.