Random Late Summer Musings

On Scampi

This is kinda funny. A picture from my shrimp scampi entry comes up pretty high on the results page for a Google image search for "scampi." Consequently, most of the hits I've been getting lately have been from people searching for images of scampi. The goofy thing is, what I made wasn't so much scampi as it was shrimp stir-fry. Nonetheless, people seem to like the picture.

On Computer Science

One of the truly depressing things about being a Computer Science major—other than the long hours and the fact that you're doomed to a life of complete social ineptitude—is the process of picking elective classes in the major. Many of the truly interesting classes are either offered rarely (we're talking every couple of years in some cases), or are very impacted. The other classes aren't necessarily bad, but choosing the right one is like playing Russian roulette. All too often, it's not a question of picking the course that you're most interested in, or that will be most useful for a career. Rather, you pick courses based on which instructors will do the least damage to your GPA.

It's a sad fact of the major, really. My longtime lab partner told me a few quarters ago that he admitted to an academic advisor that he would pick his remaining courses based solely on how easy it is to get an A—even if that means picking an instructor who won't adequately challenge him or prepare him for the future. Experience had left him with a cynical, pragmatic view of the major. Much to his surprise, the academic advisor said "That sounds like a pretty good strategy to me." Go figure.

Some instructors are great—their courses are challenging without being unreasonably difficult, and they teach with a genuine concern for student success. They aren't necessarily easy graders, but they don't give out impossible assignments, either (yes, I have had a class where the instructor acknowledged he'd given us an impossible problem).

Good instructors are hard to find, though. I often go to RateMyProfessors.com to see what other students thought of a professor's course before signing up. What gets really frustrating is when all the potential instructors are rated poorly. Then you have to guess blindly. Thankfully, RateMyProfessors.com has been wrong on occasion, and I've found some poorly rated professors to be dynamic, engaging instructors with interesting assignments. Unfortunately, the site has also been very accurate about poor instructors.

Man, this is a depressing post, huh? I'll try for something happier later, I promise.