Deadlines are insane.

I really don’t like being rushed, but I have a tendency to wait till the last moment to do most of my school things. During work, I can work away on projects and get them done. But when I’m in school, with lectures, reading, and programming projects: it gets a bit overwhelming sometimes. The first two just make me want to wait to absorb all the details of the day, but I really can’t. I still end up doing the bad thing and waiting till the last moment. Take for instance my current course load: Advanced Digital Design (Circuits), Computer Graphics (OpenGL Programming), Principles & Paradigms of Programming Languages, and Compiler Construction II. The first one we designed a WEP co-processor, FREAKING HARD AS HELL, let me tell you. Actually I don’t want to scare you. Comp Graphics is probably the funnest class I’ve taken, I really enjoy messing around and creating some neat looking 3d things, it takes time, but oh so much fun. PP of P Languages: Not much work, until a HW deadline comes up, then its rush rush rush to get it done. They’re not posted that often, so I have an excuse (week to do it? come on!). Now the kicker: Compiler Construction II. WHAT A CRAZY CLASS. I never thought I’d ever need to create a compiler, but my lord, I AM. Two projects kind of sucks, plenty of time to slack off and not do anything. First one I bombed, don’t wait till 2 days beforehand to get started. Second one, deadline is a week away, okay. So, started a bit early, I just hope I finish! Its actually rather rewarding going through and seeing, "Look, I take this language, I get this other language, easy compilation, its low level assembly: Program Runs and output is created! WOW!"

I guess the moral of the story here is: Classes are part of the equation, but assignments are where you really shine. Don’t eat all your time up with one class, don’t slack off. 10 weeks is too quick, its so easy to get behind.

Also, fun programming assignments, where you actually create something that is amazing is the most rewarding thing. Writing simple programs that work in the background and don’t show you much of anything, are not the way to go.

This doesn’t look like much, but its per-pixel lighting. The lighting is dynamic and it looks damn fine to me: