Seth Kinast’s Blog

Is it boring for you to see me just blogging about my day at school?

Oh well.

Had my first CS lab today… we were expected to compile a small Swing application and generate docs for it. Most of the code was provided for us, and the instructor had inserted some errors in the code.

So we got to class, and I, having read the syllabus a couple days ago, had the Java SDK and Eclipse installed and ready to go. About three other people in the 30-person class did. Heh. So the instructor spent the first hour showing them how to install Java, set env vars, and stuff like that. He then opened Notepad to edit code, and showed them how the code wouldn’t compile with the errors in it. Meanwhile, I had Eclipse fired up and it automatically detected all syntax errors without even having to compile the program! So I was done with the program before the others had even started

We then needed to generate documentation and send the program to the repository server. In two clicks Eclipse had complete javadocs created and integrated. Then— while the instructor was showing everyone how to use SSH Secure Shell for Windows, I popped open psftp and putty and had everything uploaded and submitted. The TA came over and kinda stared, since I was using some sort of scary console interface while everyone else had pretty icons and nice windows. But hey, who got done first?

Because I got done so early, I made my ZAP meeting on time. Mark is an awesome guy, a lot of fun to work with. I think I’m going to have a great time being a tutor. I looked at last semester’s ZAP schedule, and it was a few columns in an Excel spreadsheet. So I offered to do him up a dynamic version using Sunbird and PHPiCalendar, so he could update things on the fly. I hope that’ll make me a little more memorable to him if I ever need a recommendation or something

I just got to Tulsa, after getting lost twice and almost running out of gas. Had a computer job to do, and needed to pick up Andrew’s Social Security card. But bleh, I’ve got stuff to do… don’t need to be here. Good to see Mom and Dad though. I’ll get out of here as fast as I can, and get back to do some real work.