Computer science, year two, sem four.

Here's a quick peek into what I'm learning this semester.

Probability and Queueing Theory:

Popularly referred to as the DSP(Degree Stopping Paper). This subject isn't boring or dry. But we dread it anyway because you will almost certainly flunk this paper at least once unless you're reasonably lucky. Throw in a lousy professor who acts like he's all that (very,very puke inducing) and voila! A fail proof recipe for disaster.


Computer Architecture:

A lot of theory and block diagrams, but on the whole a good subject. There's always the standard CPU block diagram to fall back on if you suddenly forget everything (Hey, these things happen) two minutes before you enter the exam hall.
And we have a really cool professor who has the best sense of humour I've encountered in any of my teaching staff so far. Hallelujah.

Analog and Digital Communication:

A comeback of the good old days when I loathed Electron Devices and Circuits. I don't loathe this one yet. That's only because I don't know what's in it. But it looks suspiciously like EDC so I think it's a strong possibility that this one's not going to be one of my favourites either.

Operating Systems:

Love it. It's a pretty easy subject and the book is a good read. I think Silberschatz even cracked a joke or two which is not completely beyond redemption. The professor's slower than an MTC bus on the Maduravoyal road but he's great. And he actually knows who Travolta is. Do you know how rare that is in a professor in my college?? We're working in Linux for the practicals. Seems simple enough...


Visual Programming:

Interesting. Only, I didn't realise that till now. I was comatose for most of the classes on account of having no clue about what was happening. The professor completely overloads us. We might thank her for it in the long run but it's a major pain right now. You will not believe the amount of code we have to remember to create a window with something crappy like 'Hello!' written in the centre.Theory and Practicals run pretty much in parallel. I have to admit though, it's not a bad subject. I might grow to like it when I actually start studying.


Design and Analysis of Algorithms:

Easy. And it's a nice subject. Not very difficult to score in it. Professor's pretty good when it comes to teaching too.
The system software lab is fun. We just type in the code and have a good time after the first half an hour.
It's funny...we have this program which creates a text editor okay? It is probably the suckiest editor in the whole wide world but I'm still unaccountably proud of it because I spent half an hour typing out the code. It's a beautiful, beautiful moment when I hit the F2 key and the rubbish I typed in it actually gets saved.


So these are my subjects. I can't say I hate any of them. They're pretty cool actually. But...Oh wait, no bitching right?
Right.
So that's about it. Have fun, enjoy life and try to survive whatever it is that you do. Ciao.