I’ve now been to all my classes once. Here’s a course review:
NUMERICAL ANALYSIS: this class doesn’t seem too bad, but the lecture is in a hot room and the professor is Indian with a very low monotone. It has weekly homework, but I can put up with it since it’s my only TR class and it triple counts (major and both minors).
INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNET: what a joke. An online course that hasn’t changed much since it was introduced in 1994. I’ve already taken 2 of the 16 online quizzes for the class. 100% so far. Too bad it doesn’t look like I will be able to just do the whole class in an afternoon, since the quizzes aren’t all available yet.
OPERATING SYSTEMS: this semester, we’re using PintOS instead of Linux as the operating system for the class. This class looks like a lot of thinking, but four of the five projects are group projects. The projects also require extensive documentation. And I think McQuain has hijacked the projects for this course now. At least I don’t have him as my professor–my professor seems like he will not be anything like a McQuain clone. Thankfully!
MICROPROCESSOR SYSTEM DESIGN: JP has never taught the course before, but I have a good feeling about him. He’s encouraging us to make the course interactive. His notes seem well prepared, although it’s his first time teaching the course and it’s outside his area of research. I feel no need to rush out and switch to Thweatt’s 9am section. I’d rather have the extra sleep and not have a hole in my schedule, although the hole would make a good lunch time.
STATISTICS FOR ENGINEERS: what a class! It’s a large class, but it’s going to rock. The professor comes in and goes “ok, who’s heard stories about me?” Every hand goes up. From how class went, I can see why. He told us we didn’t need to buy the $90.80 book. He told us the only reason it was required is because the author has an office across the hall from him. He also told us that the only difference the version that says “for Electrical Engineers” on the front has from the cheaper normal version is the words on the cover. He seems to love doing things to upset the administration. He referred to the provost as “an asshole” within the first few minutes of class. Another choice quote said while going over the syllabus: “I used to do quizzes to make people come to class. Now I just don’t care.” He then went on to recommend that we stay home when we don’t feel like coming to class. Nice. I’ll still come to class–I want to learn some statistics and I don’t want to miss his stories!