In this post, I’d like to talk about my thoughts in general about the class, and just a tad about the final project. So yess! we finished the final project, and its pretty neat actually! With coding in C in the unix environment, and using our cerebot board from our micro class we were able to build a neat little chutes and ladders game. We display things on the oled, and using the button as well as the rotary for to move and select settings. I’m pretty happy about what we did. With the impending doom of finals, it also feels good that we dont have a final in this class and instead this project.

Talking about the class in general, as previously stated I do like the format in how its half online and half in class. However I didn’t like how it was in litton reeves! But i dont think we have control over that.  In terms of in class assignments and discussions, I thought they were valuable and appropriate use of our time. The out of class homeworks and assignments were difficult for me, but I should have asked for help to clear up my questions so i could have progressed more easily in this class. Because if you fall behind in one thing, then the next thing will be more difficult as it usually built on the previous assignment. So yea that was probably my greatest downfall not asking for help early. Overall i did like this class though, and would just have approached it differently in hindsight.

Our group has progressed quite well in the unix final project. Even with work being piled on from other classes, we got together set roles for one another and worked on it individually. From there we met up again and its coming along great. We tried our best to use the unix design philosophies. The one that sticks out the most when judging our own project so far, is the rule of modularity. With several coding functions that break down our project to how it works. I look forward to seeing what other groups have to offer, and see how they approached their project.

I’d like to write a post on my experience with VT LUUG and Cyber Security meetings as we near the end of the semester. When I first started going to these meetings i was really excited and ready to learn whatever I could take away from these meetings. The people were awesome, and that really hasn’t changed, but yea the environment was great. But as I went to more and more meetings, I came to realize I really wasn’t getting as much as i could be getting from the meetings. I just didn’t know where to begin. They moved quickly and swiftly through the UNIX environment and that is probably through much use and practice. Even if i wanted to keep track of was going on, it just took me awhile to get where they were, and that’s something I could be working. Overall I wouldn’t say it was a waste of time though, I took bits and pieces away from each meeting, and sometimes the meetings were pretty funny and enjoyable.

Whats my name? (Haiku)

Short and sweet is best

I love logical thinking

My Name is Unix

Speak up (Limerick)

Starting from scratch this is going to be rough,

I work through the assignments throughout the semester this is tough.

Unix and Python kick my butt

And all I do is keep my mouth shut

I’ve almost made it to the end, I’ll be ok surely enough.

Coming from a background of zero unbuntu experience and operating the terminal, i think its very important to NOT make this class purely online. While in class I can see how the teacher types commands and explain to us why he goes about certain commands. While if this was an online class, i wouldn’t get this experience, and might get confused and fall behind in my work very quickly. At the same time i think its beneficial to NOT make this class purely in-class because i like having that time we dont have class to work on the homework for this class. If i have questions then i can ask them during next class. So as much as i like having an online class that would give me the freedom to open up my schedule, i would keep this class the way it is structured currently, as it is more beneficial for students.

Yesterday I took the Midterm for this class. I thought the practice midterm was very useful in preparing me for the actual midterm. I got practice with grep, sed, and command line inputs for the terminal. Question 1 was pretty much identical to the practice midterm and i already had a handle of using the script and so forth. One thing i haven’t been doing well on are the python assignments/homeworks, and thankfully for the test it was more of a simpler error handling, and I didn’t really bother with the extra-credit portion. Hopefully overall i did okay on this test. This week I also attended my first Cyber Security meeting, and I thought it was really interesting! They went over several hacking techniques that are used by hackers and actually gave a demonstration. Except they were running into errors with the “phishing” technique, and i really wanted to see more of the techniques they were talking about. They also went over questions a competition that VT cyber security participated in. The way they solved these questions was through out of the box thinking and intuitive thinking, it was really impressive. I look forward to the next cyber security  meeting.

Yesterday, i went to my first LUUG meeting, and my first impression was that this was a really cool group of people. I did feel kinda lost in terms of what they were talking about since i think it rolled over from the last meeting. In this meeting they talked about upcoming software for linux as well as general news for what they will be working on in the future. I would like to learn some things about like navigating unbuntu or something of the sorts. But the whole group is just really smart, and are very knowledgeable about linux. They did talk about in the future having like smaller “office hour” sessions, and i think attending those would really help, but thats still in development they said. Overall really fun and humorous group, and im glad i attended and look forward to future meetings.

This class is actually my first time using any version of Linux. I had to start completely from scratch. I choose to use a virtual machine over a usb or partition simply for personal preference. I can tab in and out between ubuntu and windows and i don’t have to restart my computer. The only con is that it isn’t full screen. I haven’t played around with the virtual machine fully, so I’m not sure if i can change that or not. Additionally, I’m taking this class along with ECE 3574, and since we work in similar environments in both classes, hopefully things i learn in this class can help in the other and vice versa. Its nice only having class on Wednesday, but it doesn’t mean i can slack! I look forward to learning something new, as well as trying this blog out. Its going to be neat way to keep track of my own progress.