[geeks] I want this....

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Wed, May 22, 2002 at 08:37:19PM -0500, Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:
> 
> That's debatable.  Besides that, I love Rice.  The mentality of the school
> has changed a bit in the last few years (becoming more politically-
> correct, ugh!), but, back in 1998, it fit me perfectly.  The CS department
> could lay off the Java and Scheme crackpipes, but I -love- the teaching
> style.

Hey, watch your mouth.  Scheme is one of the greatest languages ever.  If
only would get some darn bindings for it.  For starters, I'd like to see
scheme48 to wxwindows/fltk/tk/whatever bindings for every platform that both
packages exist on (windows, linux, other unix, probably not Mac, 
unfortunately).
 
> Here's the Rice way of teaching, for example, low-level software:
>   1) Introduce topic (say, avoiding the thrashing of a TLB), with
>      background information/problem to show importance.
>   2) Illustrate topic in C.
>   3) Let the students, as a group, translate the C code into MIPS assembly
>      in the lecture.
>   4) Give assignment using that the same topic, to be done in SPARC
>      assembly.
>   5) Ask students to check their work using a SPARC assembler they wrote
>      themselves in C, for an earlier assignment.
> 
> In short, in any of the reasonably-advanced courses, what's taught in the
> classrom differs in most of the details from the homework.  The topic is
> the same, but students are expected to make the logical leap.  I should
> point out that SPARC assembly is not taught as part of this particular
> class.  MIPS is.  Students are expected to read the SPARC documentation
> and figure out the differences (which are mostly semantic) for themselves.

Oooh, MIPS assembly.  Never got to learning it.  Here one professors teach
SPARC ASM, but the rest just do Intel, if they even really do that.
 
> I -love- the lack of the "preach, cram, spew" cycle.  I don't know how
> different that is from most universities, but I really hated that about
> high school.

Yeah, you have to put up with that in gened classes here, but not the CS
classes.
 
> > For instance, if you have a tolerance for annoyance, this school ain't
> > too bad, and the area if pretty stinking cheap.
> 
> I'm a pretty bitchy person.  Just ask Bill or Kirby (not Kris, the other
> one).  My tolerance for annoyance is very low, and I'm fairly outspoken.

To a certain extent, people can get away with arguing with/insulting 
professors here.  
 
> > Pittsburg also isn't too bad.  Philly is extremely expensive, but it
> > is easy to commute from more affordable areas.
> 
> There's also the benefit that PA is much closer to MIT (which my fiancee
> attends) than TX is.  I could feasibly take a train or a short, cheap
> flight instead of the five hour wallet-emptier that she and I each
> currently take about 3-4 times a year.

MIT is approximately a 7 hour drive from me.  10 hour drive from pittsburg,
only 5.5 hours from philly.  For those types of driving times you could
do it monthly.  Well, if it were me I would probably be doing it monthly.
Other people might not be able to take it.
 
> > There are good schools there, but I don't know how the tuition
> > compares to yours.
> 
> Tuition at Rice isn't bad at all.  Living on-campus with all fees comes to
> about $22k/year.  Since I'll be living off-campus, that figure will
> probably be appreciably lower.  I looked at Teresa's bill from MIT and
> screamed in horror.

I think the on campus fees here are estimated at around $11k, but I've never
really checked since I've never lived on campus.  I thought of going to MIT,
but I don't think I would have survived there.

I also looked at Penn State, and I knew that I would be bored out of my mind
there.  Plus I had no idea how I'd pay for either.
 
> > Not that I'm trying to push PA.  It just the only place where I know anything
> > about living expenses.
> 
> Living expenses where I am are -cheap-.  A two bedroom, one bathroom
> duplex-style apartment is about $400, utilities included.  But I'm a hour
> away from Austin, and three hours away from Houston.  Living expenses in
> Houston don't look to be -that- horrible.  Certainly a hell of a lot
> better than Austin.  As much as I love Austin, I plan to never live there.

Those aren't as bad as I would have expected.  Never mind here being cheaper.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd