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Trash Talk - I get to choose classes for next semester.

Animate Dreams - Mon Nov 27, 2006 11:56 pm
Post subject: I get to choose classes for next semester.

Right now, I'm taking 2 programming classes, should I add a third? I took 1010 and 1015 this semester(C++ and Java, respectively, and for you C++ and Java haters, it was either that or VB), and now I'm taking 2010(required, continuation of C++) and 2080(I can't figure out what language from the course description, and 2070 has the same description, but it's required, so whatever). Should I attempt a 3rd programming class? I got by easily this semester because I already knew the C++ and the Java wasn't really all that complex, it was just the same as the C++ class only arranged differently. I'll also be taking a Greek class, but I still need more hours.
I figure this is one of the better places to get a few suggestions on what to do with my Computer Science major, got any suggestions?

Purge - Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:02 am
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Pick a science.

Mine GO BOOM - Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:05 am
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As I have no idea what the hell is up with four digit classes as most colleges are 100=basic, 200=advanced, 300=high level, 400+ = grad school. And the numbers behind mean nothing, as each school uses different numbers for different class types.

Want to list the class titles instead, in a nice ordered list using [list] maybe? List the ones you want, and the ones you are thinking about. If your college has links to descriptions of classes, include a couple for the ones you are interested in. Also, what year are you, freshman?

Animate Dreams - Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:17 am
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This will be my 2nd semester of Sophomore, and as a general rule just take out a digit and it will convert to the 3 digit scale. Only at APSU, and at my old college, Lee University, it was more like 100 = freshman level, 400 = senior level. I'll have to take a few 4000 level classes at APSU. I'll also have to take some Math classes. >_> I hate math, I had several crappy teachers that ruined it for me.

Anyway. I just figured out I don't know where I'm supposed to sign up for classes in the first place. Normally I could just copy/paste off their site. APSU isn't really run that well, though, so they may not even have things like course descriptions online. I'll get back to you on that. >_>

Muskrat - Tue Nov 28, 2006 12:52 am
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I'd stick in a math, good to keep up on it.

Wish my school had greek.

Cyan~Fire - Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:09 am
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Pop Music and Culture.

(That's what I'm taking next semester.

)

Smong - Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:43 pm
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If you took 3 different programming classes wouldn't that mean at least 3 programming assignments too? Depends if you think you can handle all that in one semester.

LearJett+ - Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:49 pm
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Rome Under the Caesars and the History of Rock and Roll in the same semester.

Animate Dreams - Tue Nov 28, 2006 8:42 pm
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This makes me angry. No Greek this semester, they only offer the introductory course in the Fall. >_> And they don't have Dutch, Japanese, or Italian, or any of the other languages I'd like to learn. Maybe I can take a Latin class?

Quan Chi2 - Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:03 pm
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I hate any foreign language course. It's useless. Can someone tell me how learning Greek or Spanish is going to be essential for my line of duty after college? I'm not wondering. I've thought hard.

Animate, take philosophy.

Animate Dreams - Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:06 pm
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Hmm... should I take COBOL, or this "selected languages I" class?
COBOL description is "The COBOL programming language and its application to the solution of problems in the busines field. Topics include structured programming, COBOL program structure, elementary COBOL language structure, control breaks, table processing, report generation, menu processing, sorting and merging of files, indexed, sequential, and relative files."

I like that, they tell you what the class is about. Then there is this other class:
Programming in Selected Languages I:
Detailed study of one or more modern programming languages. Emphasis placed on competent programming in the selected language(s),understanding the main application areas for the languages(s), and history and basis for creation of the language(s).

Okay, that one sounds more interesting, I just hate how they don't tell you what language it is. But... really, which one would be more beneficial to me as a programmer? I know COBOL is still used for lots of old programs, but would this other unknown language be any better?

Animate Dreams - Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:07 pm
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Wow, Quan, didn't you just answer yourself? You like Philosophy... but you don't want to take Greek?
O_o

SamHughes - Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:31 pm
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Seriously, avoid COBOL. There is no reason you'd want to use COBOL, unless you want to sell your soul. I suppose there are still a few jobs in COBOL, and I suppose they pay pretty well... but still... You could probably pick it up in a short amount of time anyway, on your own.

Quan Chi2 - Tue Nov 28, 2006 9:40 pm
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Animate Dreams wrote:

Wow, Quan, didn't you just answer yourself? You like Philosophy... but you don't want to take Greek?
O_o

when you say Greek, don't you mean the Greek language course? You didn't say Greek philosophy.. or did you?

Muskrat - Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:11 pm
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Learning more than one language is probably one of the most valuable skills you could get in school. If not to use it in a "practical" way then for developing the mind or getting deeper into literary pursuits or understanding other cultures.

Philosophy is also a good suggestion, I'm taking a PHIL seminar next semester called "The Concept of a Liberal Education."

And yeah, definitely avoid COBOL.

Blocks - Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:35 pm
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Take a course in complex analysis. It'll blow your mind. Well, if you're into applied mathematics.

Slightly more related to CS, take a course in cryptology.

Animate Dreams - Tue Nov 28, 2006 10:37 pm
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Lol, okay. And so much philosophy is ancient Greek... a lot of "philosophers" learn Greek. Anyway, Planetary or Stellar Astronomy? I wish I still had that sheet that told me all the classes I needed to take....

LearJett+ - Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:31 pm
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Quan Chi2 wrote:

when you say Greek, don't you mean the Greek language course? You didn't say Greek philosophy.. or did you?

The best way to learn philosophy is in its original language...

Smong - Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:08 am
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If you don't like writing essays don't take philosophy. Although people teach in different ways so you may escape this.

For the course that does not specify a language, I'm sure you can contact the course organisers and find out.

Quan Chi2 - Thu Nov 30, 2006 10:57 pm
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LearJett+ wrote:

[..]

The best way to learn philosophy is in its original language...

How is it the best way? Perhaps that conclusion is based on your own opinion. You can get the same meaning from the philosophical messages in a language other than the language the message was originally written or spoken in.

SamHughes - Thu Nov 30, 2006 11:18 pm
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Philosophy is a fine class, as long as you realize that it's just a game of making up reasonable sounding but false premises and computing logic on them.

Mine GO BOOM - Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:08 am
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Smong wrote:

If you don't like writing essays don't take philosophy. Although people teach in different ways so you may escape this.

I had no papers to turn in, didn't read a single article, and rarely talked in class. I showed up, eat food and stayed in the back the whole time. But when I did speak, it was some complete and utter bullshit, but it made the topic the class was discussing go off in some weird tangent that it seemed as if I made a good point. I was lying my ass off.

Our final exam? Talk to the teacher one-on-one on the last day of class while he showed a movie, and say what grade you want and why you deserve it. Even the complete slackers that showed up to class maybe 1/3 of the time got an A if they asked for it and BSed enough. I can tell you I didn't learn anything in that class, but I did enjoy the constant lunch time.

Muskrat - Fri Dec 01, 2006 12:52 am
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My philosophy prof owns my soul and lets it show with some death by workload.

But then again he's the head of the scholarship program that's paying for everything.

Mgb you sound like this dude in my logic class named Tim... man that guy is a weirdo.

K' - Fri Dec 01, 2006 7:18 am
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ROFL, my dad programmed in cobol, using punch cards on some ancient machine.

Anyway, sounds like you're a slacking loser, murphy.
Also, you ate food.
Speaking is easy...I could create an entire lecture about the human species, society and gaming as a petridish environment to study teenagers in under a minute by just rambling on and on.

Cyan~Fire - Fri Dec 01, 2006 3:20 pm
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My mom and my dad programmed on punch cards. Burn.

D1st0rt - Fri Dec 01, 2006 6:30 pm
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Here's my schedule for next semester if it's any help to you:

ME 2124 - Intro to Thermal Fluid Sciences
ECE 3054 - Electrical Theory
ENGE 2314 - Engineering Problem Solving with C++
ESM 2204 - Mechanics of Deformable Bodies
ESM 2304 - Dynamics
MATH 2214 - Differential Equations
CS 2204 - UNIX

You would probably enjoy a class on *nix operating systems, actually

Cerium - Fri Dec 01, 2006 9:37 pm
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I don't know how you handle that much work. I only take three classes per semester and the workload usually fucks me over towards the end (case in point: I should be working on my asm project or my db nonsense right now rather than reading this post).

SamHughes - Fri Dec 01, 2006 10:55 pm
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Some schools have information-wise smaller classes that go less in-depth per class or have less work. My school used to have 5 three-credit classes as the standard schedule, but now it's 4 four-credit classes, but some engineering curricula still hold over to 3-by-5. If you go one class over, to 5 four-credit classes, then that's about equivalent to 7 three-credit classes. Supposedly.

Blocks - Sat Dec 02, 2006 2:39 am
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Sleep goes inversely with workload.

Classes/units/workload vary widely by institution. The only way you can really compare one schedule to another is by looking at bags under the eyes.

If it's any help, here's my schedule this term, as a mechanical engineer:

And next term:

Also, what's up with MGB forums being filled with college guys?

Mine GO BOOM - Sat Dec 02, 2006 4:51 am
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Because most of us started playing Subspace back in high school days or earlier. Guess what, people get older.

In a few days, it will be our (Shanky and I) tenth anniversary of the day we first downloaded Subspace and entered a zone. That is a lot of time to stay around one game...

Quan Chi2 - Sat Dec 02, 2006 12:55 pm
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I'm going to be in college soon too! These classes you guys are pointing out seem very interesting. I looked some of them up. You guys must like college!

Muskrat - Sat Dec 02, 2006 3:56 pm
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I think I've already passed that anniversary. Got the Internet for xmas 95 and discovered ss sometime in 96.

College is awesome. Not sure whether I like it more for the relaxed environment, endless opportunities to meet people and have fun, or getting to learn things about the topics you choose.

In fact, I hope to make a career out of it and become a prof someday...

(PS As an added bonus most colleges have a pretty cool Girl-Guy ratio)

Quan Chi2 - Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:10 pm
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A professor as in a college professor teaching classes? Don't they read all of the time?

Anyway, school for me now is shit, and I can not wait to get out of it. I want to be able to learn what I want to learn rather than take bullshit subjects like US History and Spanish 3.

Muskrat - Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:57 pm
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Quan Chi2 wrote:

Don't they read all of the time?

As if that would be a bad job! I certainly don't want to end up staring at a screen working for the man. lolz

Didn't mean to mislead, you'll be stuck doing things like history and other core subjects for a couple years. I think it is a good thing: take a variety of classes in things you would potentially do. What I enjoyed most about the transition to college was the maturity associated with everything.

I prefer a schedule with a good mix of liberal arts classes like english/history/philosophy and then some math/science/technology. Too much of either would drive me crazy.

Mine GO BOOM - Sat Dec 02, 2006 7:02 pm
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Quan Chi2 wrote:

I want to be able to learn what I want to learn rather than take bullshit subjects like US History and Spanish 3.

There is this magic thing called "reading" that somehow through mystical arts can teach you material that you want to know.

Honestly, school didn't teach me too much. Its purpose is to cover a large area (even when you take specialized classes) so you can learn things better on your own. There are tons of material to read. What specifically do you want to learn? Myself or others can list good books or articles to read.

Since this will cause a split in the topic, I've make a new thread for all the reading material you should start with.

Purge - Sat Dec 02, 2006 7:33 pm
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Spanish and US History were actually my best and favorite classes. I scored a 98 on both the NYS Regents exams of those subjects.

Also, Quan, I'm curious as to what college or university you're planning to apply to.

BTW, GG in Turkey Bowl! We wooped your asses for the 26th year in a row!

D1st0rt - Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:45 pm
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Where did you say you were enrolled, Blocks? Looks like we're doing mostly the same things.

Blocks - Sun Dec 03, 2006 11:04 pm
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D1st0rt wrote:

Where did you say you were enrolled, Blocks? Looks like we're doing mostly the same things.

I am a sophomore at the California Institute of Technology. And yeah, our schedules are uncannily similar.

What year and major are you?

Bak - Mon Dec 04, 2006 1:04 am
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DATABASE SYSTEMS
COGNITIVE MODELING
PHILOSOPHY OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

Although I might end up dropping one and get research credit.

Animate Dreams - Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:21 pm
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I don't know how much I'd enjoy a Unix class... but I'd take it in a heartbeat, I really need to learn it.

Honestly, if I had the drive, I'd bet I could learn more on my own. College seems like a waste sometimes. It would be great if I only had to take the classes I wanted, and even though I do understand why you should take things you don't want to, I still don't like it. I probably would've been better off going to a tech school, especially since I'd probably still like to be an electrician.

On a side note, I got fabric softener(the liquid kind) on my nose. Now every once in a while I smell it and think it's something on me, and it takes a while before I realize its just my nose. >_> It's kind of weird, because I'll think it's my armpit, so I'll sniff it, then I feel really dumb because I've got my fabric softener covered nose stuck in my armpit.

-.-

Muskrat - Mon Dec 04, 2006 11:05 pm
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wash ur nose bro!

Mine GO BOOM - Mon Dec 04, 2006 11:30 pm
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Animate Dreams wrote:

I don't know how much I'd enjoy a Unix class... but I'd take it in a heartbeat, I really need to learn it.

Download VMware player and server for free, and install a bunch of different Linux distros onto it. Don't really need the GUIs, so just do basic server installs. If you do have a spare computer, put a bunch of things on there, like a couple of BSDs and at least five different Linux distros.

Then, try and setup things. Start multiple virtual machines and setup a vlan. Get Apache with a self-signed ssl connection running. Exim with spamassassin and clamav. Do packet shaping, both with Linux's iptables and BSD's pf. Do all of these with all the main distros bases, such as debian, gentoo, redhat, bsd, etc.

Animate Dreams - Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:25 am
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Oh, I've got my own computer here that I use for Linux, I've already gone through Fedora Core 5 and Debian. I love GUI though, and it kinda seems to me that the only differences between distros is the GUI, and the package manager... the rest is just differences in where they put stuff.

Brain's tried to convince me multiple times to do an LFS distro( http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/ ), but I've never figured out how to partition my Linux hard drive, so I never really got around to it. I'm about to reformat my Debian install and try out Gentoo, though. My biggest problem with Debian and Fedora Core was the lack of documentation(or maybe I just didn't know where to look), and I've heard Gentoo has lots of good documentation.

Cyan~Fire - Tue Dec 05, 2006 12:06 pm
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Not even the GUI is different. It's either GNOME or KDE, and any differences in "themes" can easily be recreated.

Animate Dreams - Thu Dec 07, 2006 4:01 am
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You know, I used the same GUI in both Debian and Fedora(I think Gnome), but Fedora's looked way better. Even after looking through several themes, all of Debian's looked more like Windows 3.1 stuff, while Fedora's looked like XP. You guys probably hate me for those analogies, but whatever. Should I try KDE next time, when I install Gentoo? Or maybe some other kind... I've heard of others but I've forgotten their names.

Speaking of which, for Gentoo, I suppose I should download the LiveDVD? Or is it better to do the minimal install CD and add what I need with the package manager?

Cyan~Fire - Thu Dec 07, 2006 11:56 am
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Animate wrote:

Well yes, the different distros have their own special themes, but everything in Linux is customizable, so you can always tweak one to look like another. That's what I meant.

I'd probably go for the CD version just because CDs are so cheap.

Mine GO BOOM - Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:42 pm
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Animate Dreams wrote:

Speaking of which, for Gentoo, I suppose I should download the LiveDVD? Or is it better to do the minimal install CD and add what I need with the package manager?

You can do either with the LiveCD. The LiveDVD doesn't really add much. I'd first recommend installing via the LiveCD's quick-installer. Get it up and running, but leave a partition empty. Then, try and install Gentoo through their handbook all through a console. You can install the second Gentoo from inside your first one. Hell, I usually install Gentoo on my testing machine from a working Ubuntu environment while I'm patching up things in Ubuntu.

Animate Dreams - Thu Dec 07, 2006 10:48 pm
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Eh. I don't know how to leave a partition empty.

I was going to re-partition Fedora once, to open up a new one, but apparently it's much harder to do it afterwards than it is beforehand.

Animate Dreams - Sat Dec 09, 2006 12:25 am
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Looks like I'm not doing LiveCD. It fails to start X Server.

Mine GO BOOM - Sat Dec 09, 2006 1:39 am
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Animate Dreams wrote:

Looks like I'm not doing LiveCD. It fails to start X Server. :(

The LiveCD itself failed to start, or when you installed via that method, that failed to start?

In either case, I'm sure the Gentoo team would like to know why a LiveCD failed. Post over at their forums with any debug information possible. Almost every distro out there wants their LiveCD to work on as many platforms and systems as possible.

The Apache - Sat Dec 09, 2006 9:54 am
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Quan Chi2 wrote:

Anyway, school for me now is shit, and I can not wait to get out of it. I want to be able to learn what I want to learn rather than take bullshit subjects like US History

history for me is actually really interesting...

D1st0rt - Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:12 am
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Blocks wrote:

What year and major are you?

Just finished up my fall sophomore semester in Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech

Blocks - Sat Dec 23, 2006 5:31 pm
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D1st0rt wrote:

Just finished up my fall sophomore semester in Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech

Wow, you're practically my twin. I'm a ME major as well. And I watch House.