Minh’s Notes

My website was completely down this weekend. f2o, my host, has been having some server issues lately. That’s kinda frustrating, because it’s happened for the last three weekends, and always when I think of something new to post, so now I forget what I wanted to write.

Not that I’ve really had any time to write. The title of this post is a bit ironic, actually, because between programming, debugging, and programming some more – and dozing off in my chair due to lack of sleep – I really do need some downtime, though I’ll probably spend that time dozing off in my chair again.

Speaking of programming, I now work with the big, Solaris-powered computers on campus. Traveling across campus to one of the computer clusters is a pain, though, so I connect remotely using my MacBook Pro. (Yes, I switched over the summer. Another thing I forgot to blog about…) On any given day, I now use Mac OS X, Windows, and Solaris on the same computer. Back in September, when I setup Windows on my computer via Boot Camp, I thought it was the coolest thing since Microsoft Bob (joking), but compiling programs on the remote Elaine workstations gives you a warm fuzzy feeling that you don’t even get with dual booting. The black and white console tells you you’re not just “playing” with computers anymore: you’re a computer scientist.

And then you run the software you’ve just compiled, and you experience the programmer’s rite of passage known as random heaps of gobbledygook, hastily dumped onto the screen. The compiler’s no longer smart enough to keep you from doing silly things with your code, gently slapping your wrist every time you forget a semicolon. Beyond lie uncharted waters; here be void *s.

Once the program works, though, it’s marvelously fast, ceases to crash every time you exhale, and makes you want to shout for joy! That’s the idealized story, anyhow; in real life, you’d be recovering from all the headbanging you’ve been doing. And that’s why I need some downtime. But, alas, I’ve got two papers to write and plenty of sleep to catch up on.

I really miss finishing all my homework – including social studies – before dinner…

Entry №1069, posted by Minh Nguyễn at 9:33 PM | Edit | Permalink
Categories: C++, College, Frustration, This Website | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

So last night, I finished my only midterm of the quarter, the one for CS106X. I can’t discuss the midterm itself, for the obvious reasons, but as always, I would’ve done so much better had I gotten five extra minutes. Timed tests really aren’t my thing. Time my homework, my daily commute on bike, or my shower, and I just might finish the job on time. But time any test of mine: I won’t do quite as well.

For those of you still learning the basics of C++, the title of this entry tells the compiler to follow the pointer grade to a spot in memory and decrement – that is, subtract one from – the value located there (likely an integer or double). At least, I hope that’s what it means; otherwise, I’ve got quite a bit of studying to do.

Fortunately for me, no compiler in its right mind would want to parse the title of any blog entry.

Entry №925, posted by Minh Nguyễn at 11:15 PM | Edit | Permalink
Categories: C++, College | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Maybe you still read this blog. Maybe you even still pay attention to what I say here. Or maybe not. Anyhow, the lack of updates here is due to the following:

• Summer reading

  I had to read both Judgement [sic] in Stone and Brave New World for English, and I had to complete certain chapters in my brand-spanking new Biology Student Study Guide, 7^th Edition, after reading my brand-spanking old Biology, 5^th Edition. Obviously, there were a few discrepancies.

  I’ve been quizzed over the reading already. We’ll have to see how that turns out.

• School

  Well, it is that time of year. Teachers, students, and counselors alike have been warning us that our Junior year is our hardest, by far. So you’ll naturally be expecting fewer and fewer updates to this blog in the next few months.

  My teachers are okay, I suppose. Miss Kremer (AP Biology) seems pretty nice. And Mr. Cahill (English Ⅲ) should be very interesting. But I’m not too thrilled with Mr. Mongenas (Morality & Social Justice), who doesn’t seem to be too thrilled about teaching the course.

  And then there’s AP Computer Science A. Despite this year’s Course Catalog stating that the course teaches C/C++, the school is teaching Java in the course instead. I’m not quite thrilled about learning a language that, in my opinion, isn’t nearly as powerful/flexible/whatever. And I’m also not quite thrilled that a classmate of mine, Harjus of Quote-of-the-Day fame, was the only student in the Class of 2005 (my class) to learn C++ at our school.

  But I’ll have to cope. It is, after all, high school.

• Jim

  Some of you who are lucky to have my screen name may know that, instead of using AIM or NIM to connect to the AIM networks, I use a Jabber client called Jabber Instant Messenger (JIM).

  Now, I’m helping to build a new, Mozilla-the-Platform–based Jabber client also called JIM. I’m interested mostly because it’s so easy to fix things, add new features, or skin, being that it’s created entirely in XML, CSS, and JavaScript.

  (Jim will soon be merging with Jabberzilla, another Jabber client for Mozilla. Jabberzilla has fallen into disrepair in recent months, so it’s getting the overhaul of the simpler Jim. In turn, Jim will take on the more widely known Jabberzilla name.)

  So far, I’ve reported several bugs on Jim. I’ve also done extensive work to extend the Luna Blue theme to Jim, and I’ve reviewed and heavily edited the text strings used in Jim.

So that, in a rather large nutshell, is why I’m busy.

By the way, this is the 50^th post on this temporary blog. Just goes to show how much I can procrastinate a long-needed website job.

Entry №91, posted by Minh Nguyễn at 6:32 PM | Edit | Permalink
Categories: C++, High School, Mozilla, Summary, Sun Java | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)