There are lots of things in my comp sci class that are new to me. There are other things that are old. There are yet more things that are so old, they’ve come around to being new again.
For example, did I mention that this is an undergraduate course? CSE142. An intro-level undergraduate comp sci course. It’s programming, not computer literacy, but it’s undergraduate. I didn’t realize until last week what that actually meant. It’s boring, not because of the course material but because of the way the professor and TAs have to guide and sometimes drag the students through every single step of the process, from turning in homework to Uhh, so what’s a variable again?
I don’t mean that they’re stupid. I’m sure they’ve got plenty of brains, but you couldn’t tell that from the quiz section I attended this morning. The TA (who was barely better than the students, in my opinion) was trying to get us to help fill out the implementation of a certain class. I felt like a complete smart-ass because I knew all the answers (I did! I’m not speaking figuratively here), and no one else seemed to want to speak up. I tried not to monopolize the class, but on the other hand, I didn’t want to sit around waiting for a bolt of lightning. You would never see that in one of my LIS classes; even in 540, where likewise almost nobody but me understood completely, people spoke up all the time, if only to complain and ask about what they didn’t understand. None of this dumb unresponsiveness.
I have learned some interesting concepts. Java is different from the other programming languages I’ve used (C++, Perl, PHP) in that objects are absolutely mandatory. Everything is modeled as an object (except for really simple types like integers and floating-point numbers). The first exercises we did were oriented towards making us think about planning and modeling software projects in terms of objects. That stuff was really cool, and I’ve really started getting my head into that way of thinking. It’s sort of like modeling a relational database, except objects actually do something rather than just containing data. Modeling the world in either fashion is a mindset.
Now we’ve moved on from modeling into Java itself, and the discussions of variables and methods and constructors and such are really boring me. I know what a variable is. It took me less than a minute to grasp the ramifications of public and private variables. All right, let’s move on. We’re spending all of next week on control stuctures! Been there, done that. Argh!
So I’ve decided that I really need something else to occupy my attention during class, while I’m waiting for the professor to get around to the one new and interesting thing that he will say that day which will make it worth my while to go to class. Jeff suggested that I take Delilah and do my homework during lecture, but she’s too big and heavy. Reading is too obvious, and besides, I want to pay attention with at least half an ear. I’ve decided to follow the lead of my LIS colleagues by taking up knitting. Jeff says that if anyone gives me a hard time, I should just explain it in terms of an algorithm.
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