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Disarmingly Forthright MSCS Advice Nick Black  nick Disarmingly Forthright MSCS Advice Nick Black  nick

Disarmingly Forthright MSCS Advice Nick Black nick - PDF document

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Disarmingly Forthright MSCS Advice Nick Black nick - PPT Presentation

blackgatechedu November 21 2009 1 Abstract As a secondyear CSMS student at GT CSBS 05 from this same beloved Institute and a presumptuous cad I thought t to provide some advice from the trenches as it were sans hindsight or indeed even a 40 2 If youl ID: 77670

blackgatechedu November 2009

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4You'reaCS(orinfosec,orbioinformatics,orCSE)MSstudent.Actit.JointheACMandIEEE.Ican'tstressthisenough.ReadtheCommu-nicationsataminimum,andkeepabreastoftheJournal.Ifyou'veneverdonetheACMProgrammingCompetition,yougetayearofgraduatestudenteligibility|it'satonoffun,agreatresumeentry,andhonesyourskillslikenothingelse(also,youmeetgoodpeople).Don'tembarrassyourself.Badpasswords,unencryptedauthenticationchannels,and lesleftworld-accessiblemaywellseeyourdatastolen,modi ed,ortrojanized.Therearethousandsofundergraduateshere,asubstantialportionbothfrightfullyskillfulandutterlymad.Ifyoudon'thaveatleast100semi-frequent,provocative/informativeRSSfeedsyou'recheckingafewtimesdaily,you'renotlearningenough.Readtheclassics.BrowsetheNewHackerDictionary(Igotanentryinasanundergraduate).Gailyoverusewordslike`grok',`batch',`*-state'and`contextswitch',andsoundtheoccasionalbarbaricW00Tovertheroofsoftheworld.TakeatleastastrollthroughAPIUE4,SICP5andTAoCP6.5SoftwareIstronglyencourageyoutorunanopen,POSIX-styleoperatingsystemduringatleastyourMS.IfyouneedsomeWindowsorOSXclosed-sourcecrutcheryat rst,useanyoftheadvancedvirtualizationsolutionsonLinuxorFreeBSD|\learningKVM"oughtbesomethingyoucaneagerlytackleinadayortwo.NoonewholearnsUNIXwelleverleavesher,andit'simmediatestreetcred.You'llalsobefaroutaheadofthegameinSystemsandNetworkingclasses,andanythinginvolvingserveradministration.Thisgoeswithoutsaying,butlearnandrunVimorEmacs,orboth.7AlldocumentsproducedfromhereoutoughtbeeitherUTF-8plaintextorLATEXoutput.My rstreactiontonon-LATEXdocumentsistode ate;it'sveryunlikelythatanythingreallyinterestinglurkswithin.Puttingyourvaluableresultsintoanythingelsewouldbelikebuildingatimemachineoutofa1986DodgeCaravan|itjustain'tdone! 4Really,everythingW.RichardStevenswroteiscanonical.5Availableonline:http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/6FindKnuth'smistakes:http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/boss.html7I'mavimmanmyself(over500linesof.vimrc!),butIdolovesomeEmacspgsmlmode.2 8ClassesBeconstantlyshapingyourprojectorthesis.Doaprojectorthesis.Projectspecswillcontainambiguities,contradictionsandoutrightnon-sense.Watchtheclassnewsgroupandwebforadiligently,before,asandafteryouwork.Don'tbeafraidtopostrequestsforclari cation(thisispreferabletomailingTA's).Understandthatprofessorswillregularlyhaveonlyahazyideaofwhat'sgoingoninaproject,andclassisnevertheplacetobringprojectsup.Whiningaboutgrading,assignmentdates,assignmentdicultyetcelicitscontempt.Someoneelsewillalwaysbetheonetobitch,andifnot,you'retheonlyonebitching.Thereisalmostalwaysacurve;justcalmdown,dothebestanyonecandowiththeclass,andbe ne.PhDstudentsaresingularly-drivencreatures,andtakeclassesfortheirown,mysteriousreasons.Workingwithoneinagroupwillmeanphonecallsandemails,prettymuchconstantly,untiltheassignmentisdone.Thiscanbebothusefulandmaddening.Inapinch,theyalsogenerallyknowwhat'sgoingonatanygiventime.Everyprofbeginsthesemesterbydividingitupintoprojectperiods.Everyprojectclasshas1{4projects.Pigeonholeprinciplethatagainstafulltimeload,andrealizeyou'llalmostcertainlyhaveworkcomingdueinclusters.Thisiswhyyou'regivenweeksforwhatseemweeklongtasks.Nothingseemstopisso professorsmorethantotallybailingoutonanassignment.Thisseemsworsetodolatethanearly.Similarly,masterfuloratrocious nalexamperformancesarepivotal.You'dbetterbevery,verygoodifyouskip20%ofaclass.Corollary:Nightowl?Thinktwiceaboutclassesbefore10:00.Barringextraordinarypersonale orts,SystemsandNetworkingclassesarethemostprogramming-intensiveclasses,whileTheoryandstataliciousAIo eringsarethemostmentallydemanding.They'resimilarlythemostvaluableonageneral-purposeprogrammingresume.Theoryclassesbeginningwitha'7'areprobablybestavoidedunlessone'satheorystudent.'6'indicates\standardgradclass"while'8'suggests\experimental/seminar",but'7'somehowgotstuckwith\lasciateognesperanza,voich'entrate."You'reuselessafter40hoursawake.Weliveinanageofcognitiveen-hancement;perhapstheirmostbanefule ectisfosteringadelusionofcompetencelongafterthebrain'sshutdown.Getregularsleep.|Atlanta,20094