Category Archives: ece2524s13

May 15, 2013
5:09 pm
by: lilengineerthatcould

And Now You’re an Anstronaut: Open Source Treks to The Final Frontier

There have been a couple of blog posts recently referencing the recent switch NASA made from Windows to Debian 6, a GNU/Linux distribution, as the OS running on the laptops abord the International Space Station. It’s worth noting that Linux … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in *nix, ECE2524, ece2524s13, gpl, iss, linux, nasa, open source, technology, vtclis13

April 10, 2013
3:53 am
by: lilengineerthatcould

ToDo: Make ECE2524 Obsolete

Why would I want to eliminate the course that I’ve been teaching the past four semesters, that I have put so many hours into to update content, create new assignments, written (and re-written each semester… another topic altogether) a set … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in ece2524s13, engineering education, GEDI, programming, vtclis13

April 2, 2013
2:57 am
by: lilengineerthatcould

How will we build a Third System of education?

I have recently been reading about, as Mike Gancarz puts it in Linux and the Unix Philosophy, “The Three Systems of Man”. This is, to my understanding, a fairly well documented and often-observed concept in software design, possibly first referenced … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in ece2524s13, education, GEDI, learning, linux, second-system, third-system, unix, vtclis13

March 26, 2013
4:17 am
by: lilengineerthatcould

Digital amplifier: the tweet heard ’round the world

Sometimes, in the face based modern world we live in, it feels like we’re living in the future. But all it takes is the watchful eye of the Internet, and specifically, its uncanny, sometimes disruptive tendency to amplify lurking social … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in culture, Diversity, ece2524s13, technology, vtclis13

March 19, 2013
3:56 pm
by: lilengineerthatcould

About Time: Idioms About Time

TL;DR: In the comments below please post, in your native language, or a non-English language in which you are fluent: how you would ask someone what time it is, and the literal word-for-word translation into English how you would ask … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in ece2524s13, idioms, language, time, vtclis13

March 11, 2013
8:09 pm
by: lilengineerthatcould

Humans in the loop

Today’s hot article in the local twitterverse is a New York Times piece called Algorithms Get a Human Hand in Steering Web. I discovered it from a tweet by @GardnerCampell, also a beautiful retweet by @mzphyz: Above all: Algorithms are … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in algorithms, computing, ece2524s13, Psychology, vtclis13

March 5, 2013
4:27 am
by: lilengineerthatcould

Are we sacrificing creativity for content?

I decided to become an engineer, before even knowing what “engineering” was, because of a comment my 4th grade art teacher made regarding an art project. I’m pretty sure she meant it as a complement. The concept of “<insert form … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in art, code, creativity, ece2524s13, expression, programming, vtclis13

March 4, 2013
8:35 pm
by: lilengineerthatcould

iBreakit, iFixit

This past weekend ended up being the weekend of repairs as two lingering problems increased to a point that they could no longer be ignored: The drain pipe of my bathroom sink completely detached itself from the sink basin. The … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in DIY, ece2524s13, ifixit, MPB, repair, vtclis13

February 28, 2013
4:52 am
by: lilengineerthatcould

Creative writing, technically

A number of recent conversations, combined with topics-of-interest in both ECE2524 and VTCLI, followed by a chance encounter with an unfamiliar (to me) blogger’s post have all led me to believe I should write a bit about interface design and … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in collaboration, ece2524s13, hidden stories, tools, version control, vtclis13, workflow, writing

February 26, 2013
4:00 am
by: lilengineerthatcould

I am a Selfish Git: A bit on my teaching philosophy

A common observation I encounter from people who have taken my class is that there is less structure in the assignments than they are used to, and oftentimes less than they would like. A consequence of this is that participants … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in ece2524s13, learning, programming, Teaching, vtclis13