Am I An Education Masochist?

[Khendon Sevon]

I don't know what it is. I must like grinding my teeth at night trying to get assignments finished. I must enjoy the pain of endless homework and studying.

I could take 3 core CS courses, an easy elective, and a gym class next semester. 13 credits. I could take 13 credits. I'd have Thursday and Friday off.

Well, I don't want to do that. I added a humanity to the list. Still have Thursdays and Fridays off, only taking 16 credits (low for Stevens). Not bad.

No. No. NO. Thursday and Friday off?! Why would I want that? Besides, my humanity will be super easy, I'll just take a course that isn't too hard... Okay, so, 19 credits and no days free and my gym will be on Saturday.

*Blink*

What's wrong with me?

CS 638 - Interactive Computer Graphics II
CS 434 - Theory of Computation (EVIL)
CS 488 - Computer Architecture
MA 222 - Probability & Statistics
PE 200D7 - Outdoor Leadership
HSS 371 - Computers & Society
CS 393 - Web Programming

...why?

[Pierce Tondry]

Only you know your answer to that question.

Then again, I crammed 7 courses (21 credits) into my 2k5 Fall semester. One of those was incredibly knowledge-intensive and writing-intensive. Another was a competition. We won, and it was so worth it, but MAN.

The thing about that kind of course load is that it is manageable if you do nothing but school. Social life will fall by the wayside, so will exercise, and so will hobbies, all in the name of higher education. If you work, expect to be constantly tired wherever you are unless you manage your time incredibly well.

So that's the downside. The upside is, I could have been in school this semester but am not. I used the time since August to settle several nagging issues and I'm currently looking for a job. That's time (and money) I wouldn't have had if I was in school this semester. In short, my real life started sooner.

Look forward to the day you are free ahead of your fellows. That day is totally worth it.

[Khendon Sevon]

Oh, I don't want to graduate early.

In fact, I'd rather be here longer :) (say, for a masters degree).

I just don't think I could handle having all of that free time after 3 semesters of doing nothing but insane work.

That, and web programming looks like a great class (HTML, JavaScript, PHP, mySQL).

So, yeah. I'm not going to graduate early. I'm just going to have a ton of extra courses :) And a certificate in the design of games, and maybe a minor in history.

[Morgan Evanar]

If they make you do anything in Frontpage except fire up the application to say how awful it is, quit the class immediately. I hate Frontpage.

I wouldn't take a course load like that becuase quite simply, I like to talk to people :p

[Khendon Sevon]

No, the professor has already expressed that he hates every editor out there and that the only people that can get away with using them are "designers" not developers.

We have to use notepad or some other text editor.

Interestingly enough, my professor wrote the book for the course. He read us a couple paragraphs that bash AOL, FrontPage, and several other icky things.

[Morgan Evanar]

Try Crimson Editor or use the code mode in NVU. I like NVU just so I can preview pages quickly. Either way, highlighting is really nice.

[Khendon Sevon]

Uh oh, they want us to take Systems Programming, too.

CS 392 Systems Programming (3-0-3)
Introduction to systems programming in C++ on UNIX. Students will be introduced to GNU tools for compilation, dynamic linking, debugging, editing, automatic rebuilding, version control, and parser creation. Some aspects of the UNIX system call interface will be studied, drawn from this list: process creation, signals, terminal I/O, file I/O, inter-process communication, and threads. Style issues to be covered include: naming, layout, commenting, portability, design for robustness and debugability and language pitfalls. X programming and GUI design will be covered if time allows. Programming assignments will be given weekly.
Prerequisites: CS 383 and either CS 385 or CS 182.

Might have to put Web Programming off. Maybe I can take it over the summer...

This means I'll have horrible mondays, tuesdays, and wednesdays but then I'll have thursday and friday free to do all of my insane homework assignments, projects, etc.

Joy.

[Dasquian Belargic]

I only have 3 modules this semester, but I am also working (basically) full-time at the students union bar. Wednesday and Sunday are the only 2 days I have entirely free. >_<

[Khendon Sevon]

Results so far:
- Outdoor Leadership
- Probability & Statistics
- Theory of Computation
- Systems Programming
- Computer Architecture
- Technology & Society in America

Need Signatures For:
- Interactive Computer Graphics II