Why geeks should write

Q:How many programmers does it take to change a lightbulb? A: That’s a hardware problem. Now that I've broken the ice, let's get to the bacon and beans of the subject As someone very interested in writing, there are a lot of things I could do which employ both computer science and writing. I could choose to be a tech writer. I could publish the first book in computer science written entirely in verse. I could research artificial creativity. I could make an app that does your writing homework for you- without plagiarizing. But do I think people who don't already enjoy writing should invest their time in picking it up as a skill or hobby? Absolutely. In computer science, the mastery of any mental skill can be turned into an asset. As Joel Spolsky points out, writing, however, helps develop a multitude of them; from effective communication to critical thinking. These are skills that might someday be important when getting your ideas across to many people, be it in a board meeting or TED talk, or climbing up the company ladder. Another reason is that com-sci is a lot about solving problems - and some problems may be recurring ones. Writing a debug journal may be beneficial to both the writer and other people in the future, as few of the course readings cover in depth. Lastly, computer science is vast, and mastery of something vast needs organization and recognition of small victories. Keeping written track of one's progress can be a great motivator and organization tool. With that aside, I strangely find a lot of parallels between literature and programming, especially with the rules of short stories and poetry, but that's the material for another blogpost. Stay Tuned!

Vv important life changing event

Assignment 1

My partner and I actually finished and submitted  the assignment so ahead of time, it felt surreal. "Is this real life?" I asked myself. Did I actually finish something before it was due? Am I the same person any more? Is this what adulthood feels like?

The week goes on and I get along with the plethora of other things UofT gently places on my shoulder every day. I had labs to do, prelabs for the labs, lab quizzes, non-lab quizzes, postlabs after the lab, midterms, assignments, papers and so on (life advice: do not take  hardcore life sci courses as electives). So I finished A1, and I was soon drowning but not with csc148. Life could be worse.

A few days after the A1 assignment deadline, I log in to MarkUs to this.


"*omitted* has added you in their group fr Assignment 1. Do you accept the invite?"

I swear to god, I almost flipped a table . I had forgotten to approve of the group request. As a result I hadn't submitted anything for A1.


So I slouch to Danny's office with my ego trailing in the mud behind me. I ask him how much trouble I'm in. Turns out, not tooo much trouble. A few emails and proofs later, I'd be fine.
See the thing is, I definitely got lucky. I know certain departments in this University that I'm taking classes in wouldn't have been nearly as lenient. To give you an example,  my friend got 100% in all her quizzes, but didn't realize she had been sitting in the wrong tutorial section the whole time (the rooms were adjacent and for the same course). And guess what the department did about it? Gave her a 0 in all of them, even after she appealed.

So I got lucky. I guess the take away lesson here is: check your MarkUs regularly kids. The same goes for portal, Rosi, cdf, lam, and what have you. Speaking of which, I logged into portal today to realize the deadline for declaring an exam conflict was yesterday, and I have a conflict.


Guess I'm not a different person after all.