Hello all,
Time is slowly winding down. The end of the semester is getting closer and closer...right now in 462 we're focusing on our FOSS projects, so there really isn't much to post about. If you're interested in checking out my team's progress on our project, please feel free to check out our wiki. Between this project, my research, and my independent study, I got my hands pretty full...and I didn't even mention the other 3 classes I have. I can't complain though...I'm about to graduate and I already have SOMETHING planned for me (NC State acceptance :) ). Even though Georgia Tech is where I really want to be, things will turn out how they should...and at least I got accepted somewhere!
Also, I would like to put a plug in here that I think me and Alex Johnson should still try and plan an end of the year something for CS Seniors. We're the shiz and deserve the celebrate it :D!
That's all for now...more to come later..
Until next time...
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
POSSCON 2011
Hello again all! I come with reports from POSSCON. As anyone who follows my blog or is in 462 knows, last week was the Palmetto Open Source Conference. I didn't get the opportunity to attend the entire conference, but I did get to go and experience the tail end of it. It's hard to completely judge something based off of one day (especially the last day) but I'm going to share my experience at POSSCON 2011.
First I would like to start by saying I did not get to meet any of the 3 speakers that I initially really wanted to meet. I feel like there weren't as many people there on Friday as there may have been the other two days, but the turn out wasn't bad. I did get to meet and speak briefly with John 'maddog'. The rumors are all true....he's one the coolest, most badass, intelligent person you will probably ever meet. I first met him in the 3D printing session. I didn't know who he was at first, but he had been sitting in the same seat with his laptop open the entire session. Once it was time to get up and break into groups, I heard someone walk up to him and call him 'maddog'. That's when I knew who he was. Brandon, Jordan and I got the chance to share a couple of laughs with him. The real treat with him was hearing him speak. Even though he was kinda long-winded, his History of Linux session had to have been one of the most interesting ones and I regret only getting to see the last portion of it (especially since the session I was in lost internet and had to end early with little accomplished).
Now to sort of backtrack, I would like to give a brief recap of the day. I arrived a little late (still not quite able to figure out Columbia), but checking in was still fairly easy. And of course, like at most conferences, I got a 'swag bag' :), which had some pretty cool stuff in it, including a Ubuntu user magazine with articles on different open source software alternatives available for Ubuntu users. It also included a guide in the back of the magazine with setup and troubleshooting help for Ubuntu. The first session I went to was the 3D printing breakout session where I got to see 3D printing for the first time...as well as learn that I can build my own 3D printer for around $400. Now, when I first thought about this, I was thinking 'this seems really cool, but what am I gonna really do with a 3D printer?'...then I actually thought about it and realized how much I can make with a 3D printer. So now, I am convinced that I am going to build a 3D printer (and hopefully very soon). I even got to keep one of the objects they printed, which I also found to be super cool :) One problem I had with this session was that there was a lot more talking than I thought there would be in the group I chose to be a part of. I thought it would be more hands on, but I did get to walk around and see what the other groups were doing. I ended up leaving this session early in order to go and check out the open source gaming session that I knew some other students were in...this was a mistake. I'm already not a big fan of video games, but when you walk into a session on video games and half the people are doing their own thing and the speaker sounds bored, you know there's something up. So this particular session wasn't too successful.
Of course, lunch was great....the food in general was great. Yogurt parfaits, muffins, fresh fruit....yeah, you get the point.
For the afternoon session, I decided to check out the session on how to start a business cheaply on open source. The speaker, David Duggins, was really nice, but because of technical difficulties, the session didn't go quite as it was supposed to. He was planning on showing us different websites and open source software he uses and that the audience was interested in when it comes to open source alternatives to closed source software such as Microsoft Office and Outlook. Although the session had to end early, I still got the opportunity to get some good resources to open source software, which I believe was the main purpose.
There were also raffles and give-aways, none of which I won....so I don't think it's worth going into detail on that. Well..except that one was the Galaxy Tab and I would have loved to have taken it home with me in my 'swag bag'.
Overall, it was a interesting, and informative experience at POSSCON. As with most computing conferences, the best thing was the people. Everyone was friendly and forthcoming with information. That always makes the experience all the more memorable.
Until next time...
First I would like to start by saying I did not get to meet any of the 3 speakers that I initially really wanted to meet. I feel like there weren't as many people there on Friday as there may have been the other two days, but the turn out wasn't bad. I did get to meet and speak briefly with John 'maddog'. The rumors are all true....he's one the coolest, most badass, intelligent person you will probably ever meet. I first met him in the 3D printing session. I didn't know who he was at first, but he had been sitting in the same seat with his laptop open the entire session. Once it was time to get up and break into groups, I heard someone walk up to him and call him 'maddog'. That's when I knew who he was. Brandon, Jordan and I got the chance to share a couple of laughs with him. The real treat with him was hearing him speak. Even though he was kinda long-winded, his History of Linux session had to have been one of the most interesting ones and I regret only getting to see the last portion of it (especially since the session I was in lost internet and had to end early with little accomplished).
Now to sort of backtrack, I would like to give a brief recap of the day. I arrived a little late (still not quite able to figure out Columbia), but checking in was still fairly easy. And of course, like at most conferences, I got a 'swag bag' :), which had some pretty cool stuff in it, including a Ubuntu user magazine with articles on different open source software alternatives available for Ubuntu users. It also included a guide in the back of the magazine with setup and troubleshooting help for Ubuntu. The first session I went to was the 3D printing breakout session where I got to see 3D printing for the first time...as well as learn that I can build my own 3D printer for around $400. Now, when I first thought about this, I was thinking 'this seems really cool, but what am I gonna really do with a 3D printer?'...then I actually thought about it and realized how much I can make with a 3D printer. So now, I am convinced that I am going to build a 3D printer (and hopefully very soon). I even got to keep one of the objects they printed, which I also found to be super cool :) One problem I had with this session was that there was a lot more talking than I thought there would be in the group I chose to be a part of. I thought it would be more hands on, but I did get to walk around and see what the other groups were doing. I ended up leaving this session early in order to go and check out the open source gaming session that I knew some other students were in...this was a mistake. I'm already not a big fan of video games, but when you walk into a session on video games and half the people are doing their own thing and the speaker sounds bored, you know there's something up. So this particular session wasn't too successful.
Of course, lunch was great....the food in general was great. Yogurt parfaits, muffins, fresh fruit....yeah, you get the point.
For the afternoon session, I decided to check out the session on how to start a business cheaply on open source. The speaker, David Duggins, was really nice, but because of technical difficulties, the session didn't go quite as it was supposed to. He was planning on showing us different websites and open source software he uses and that the audience was interested in when it comes to open source alternatives to closed source software such as Microsoft Office and Outlook. Although the session had to end early, I still got the opportunity to get some good resources to open source software, which I believe was the main purpose.
There were also raffles and give-aways, none of which I won....so I don't think it's worth going into detail on that. Well..except that one was the Galaxy Tab and I would have loved to have taken it home with me in my 'swag bag'.
Overall, it was a interesting, and informative experience at POSSCON. As with most computing conferences, the best thing was the people. Everyone was friendly and forthcoming with information. That always makes the experience all the more memorable.
Until next time...
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
POSSCON Excitement
POSSCON has begun! Today was the official start for the POSSCON Conference that I will be attending this Friday. As I stated previously, I would have liked to have been able to go all 3 days, or at least Thursday and Friday, but if I want my life to remain semi-sane for the next few weeks I should probably just go Friday (class conflicts). I will just continue to hope that the speakers I want to meet will still be around come Friday. If not, I'm sure I'll be able to find someone interesting to talk to.
Also, my team and I have been working away on the Fortune Hunter project. Working with Documentation is a little more difficult than I initially thought it would be. Especially since I didn't write the code (so for a lot of the code I don't know what exactly to put documentation wise--because I don't know what it's supposed to do!). But I've decided that the best way to try and get some decent documentation is to go through each class and make note of what's documented and what's not. Once I've gone through all the classes, anything that wasn't documented and I can intuitively figure out what it's supposed to do, I'll document it. After that, I'll go to the mailing lists to see if anyone can help me as I try to follow methods to see if I can find what they're supposed to do somewhere else in the code.
The semester's slowly but surely coming to an end and it's time to get into gear and get'r done!
Until next time...
Also, my team and I have been working away on the Fortune Hunter project. Working with Documentation is a little more difficult than I initially thought it would be. Especially since I didn't write the code (so for a lot of the code I don't know what exactly to put documentation wise--because I don't know what it's supposed to do!). But I've decided that the best way to try and get some decent documentation is to go through each class and make note of what's documented and what's not. Once I've gone through all the classes, anything that wasn't documented and I can intuitively figure out what it's supposed to do, I'll document it. After that, I'll go to the mailing lists to see if anyone can help me as I try to follow methods to see if I can find what they're supposed to do somewhere else in the code.
The semester's slowly but surely coming to an end and it's time to get into gear and get'r done!
Until next time...
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
TOS Ch. 9 & Miscellaneous
Once again I have returned to spread the word of the happenings (or at least my happenings) in my Software Engineering Practicum course. Our assignments for today were to pick the 3 speakers we would like to meet and discuss what we would like to discuss with them if given the opportunity and to read TOS Chapter 9. I did the first assignment over Spring Break (I was looking at the page anyways so I figured I would go ahead and knock it out), which you can read in my previous post. Now that I know that at least two of the three people I want to meet will be there on Thursday, I'm trying to make it my mission to find a way to be there Thursday. If I can't...I'll just have to hope they're there Friday as well.
The readings we have had to do in Teaching Open Source haven't been very lengthy, but I think this Chapter was by far the shortest Chapter we have had to read. I'm not exactly sure what I was supposed to get from it besides how the book is written and how to gain access to it and its resources. The concept "release early, release often" is definitely not unfamiliar to me, but I believe this Chapter was just used to close the book and let us readers know how we can get access to it any other versions of it.
On a bright and sunny note, I was just recently accepted at North Carolina State for Graduate School (Ph.D. Computer Science Program)! :D Although my heart is still set on Georgia Tech (Go Yellow Jackets!), it feels good to know I got in somewhere and that that somewhere is actually a good school. Hopefully there will be more good news to come soon :)
Until next time...
The readings we have had to do in Teaching Open Source haven't been very lengthy, but I think this Chapter was by far the shortest Chapter we have had to read. I'm not exactly sure what I was supposed to get from it besides how the book is written and how to gain access to it and its resources. The concept "release early, release often" is definitely not unfamiliar to me, but I believe this Chapter was just used to close the book and let us readers know how we can get access to it any other versions of it.
On a bright and sunny note, I was just recently accepted at North Carolina State for Graduate School (Ph.D. Computer Science Program)! :D Although my heart is still set on Georgia Tech (Go Yellow Jackets!), it feels good to know I got in somewhere and that that somewhere is actually a good school. Hopefully there will be more good news to come soon :)
Until next time...
Thursday, March 10, 2011
POSSCON Ahoy!
Hello all...it is nearing the time of POSSCON. Anyone reading this who does not know what POSSCON is should definitely check out this link. As part of our 462 curriculum, we are required to attend at least one day of POSSCON this year. I'm conflicted right now because the day I can attend the day I want to attend are two different things. I would LOVE to attend all three days, but this becomes difficult because of classes and things of that nature. Unfortunately the only day I can really go is Friday (labs have pretty strict attendance policies for some reason). I am, however, going to blog about the 3 presenters I really want to see (even though they will not be speaking or may not be there when I am)..I will also mention one or two from Friday, being that those are people I have a higher chance of meeting.
The three speakers that I would really enjoy getting the opportunity to meet with are Walter Bender, Leslie Hawthorn, and Bryant Patten. The main reason I would like to meet Walter Bender is because I am currently working on software for his organization (Sugar Labs). It would be interesting to hear straight from the horse's mouth what brought about the idea of Sugar Labs and what he expects to come from the organization. It would also be interested to find out his research background (being that I am interested in continuing research outside of undergrad) and see how big of a role it played in his career now.
Being that I am a female in technology, I feel it is only befitting for me to try and meet at least one female in technology. it doesn't look like any of the speakers for Friday are female, but hopefully there will still be people there from the previous days. Aside from her sex, I would really like to meet her to get to discuss with her exactly what it is she does. For our FOSS project, I am in charge of Outreach/Documentation so it would be interesting to find out what it's like for someone who does it for a living. Again, I am also interested in her research background and the role it has played in her current success.
Last, but not least, I would like to be able to meet Bryant Patten. The research I am currently involved with deals with educational software, as well as the software my team and I are working on, so it would behoove me to speak with him as well. I can definitely see myself working with educational software further down the road, so that is more incentive for me to meet him. I would love to know, as with the other two, his research background and whether it played a role in his career decision. Also, I wasn't able to find as much information on this speaker as the other two, so I would also be interested in finding out how his career got started as well as any advice he'd like to dish out.
There aren't many speakers on Friday, so I haven't quite decided which 3 I would like to meet...I'll keep you posted on what I come up with.
Until next time... :)
The three speakers that I would really enjoy getting the opportunity to meet with are Walter Bender, Leslie Hawthorn, and Bryant Patten. The main reason I would like to meet Walter Bender is because I am currently working on software for his organization (Sugar Labs). It would be interesting to hear straight from the horse's mouth what brought about the idea of Sugar Labs and what he expects to come from the organization. It would also be interested to find out his research background (being that I am interested in continuing research outside of undergrad) and see how big of a role it played in his career now.
Being that I am a female in technology, I feel it is only befitting for me to try and meet at least one female in technology. it doesn't look like any of the speakers for Friday are female, but hopefully there will still be people there from the previous days. Aside from her sex, I would really like to meet her to get to discuss with her exactly what it is she does. For our FOSS project, I am in charge of Outreach/Documentation so it would be interesting to find out what it's like for someone who does it for a living. Again, I am also interested in her research background and the role it has played in her current success.
Last, but not least, I would like to be able to meet Bryant Patten. The research I am currently involved with deals with educational software, as well as the software my team and I are working on, so it would behoove me to speak with him as well. I can definitely see myself working with educational software further down the road, so that is more incentive for me to meet him. I would love to know, as with the other two, his research background and whether it played a role in his career decision. Also, I wasn't able to find as much information on this speaker as the other two, so I would also be interested in finding out how his career got started as well as any advice he'd like to dish out.
There aren't many speakers on Friday, so I haven't quite decided which 3 I would like to meet...I'll keep you posted on what I come up with.
Until next time... :)
Thursday, March 3, 2011
TOS Ch. 8
Hello again...because we didn't have class on Tuesday, I'm not sure how class is going to go today...but I'm going to blog anyways. Our assignment for "today" was to read TOS Chapter 8 for our in-class exercise. This chapter was on documentation and ways of organizing a FOSS project. A lot of things discussed in this chapter are things either I had already been told a million times (i.e. Documentation is ALWAYS important) or things I had at least heard about previously. Overall I found the information very interesting. One thing I am very interested in learning more about is technical writing. I've heard how important it is and even had to write a couple of technical papers...but I'm not very experienced/knowledgeable in the area. Even though this wasn't really a lesson learned, the concept of a "brain dump" is hilarious to me (probably mostly because of what it's called). The concept behind the term is interesting as well of course :) . It is also interesting to think of documentation as being more than just in the code. After reading this, I can now understand how wikis, blogs, technical papers, etc. can be considered 'documentation' for a project, especially an open source project. These are all means of conveying information about the project for those using as well as contributing to it.
On another note, I am starting to get pretty excited about POSSCON...even though we still got about a month before we go, it's getting closer and closer. I still haven't been able to pick the three presenters/speakers I'm most interested in (there's just so many) but I'm sure I'll be able to narrow it down.. but until then, Spring Break is next week and it should be a nice, relaxing and well deserved break.
Until next time... :)
On another note, I am starting to get pretty excited about POSSCON...even though we still got about a month before we go, it's getting closer and closer. I still haven't been able to pick the three presenters/speakers I'm most interested in (there's just so many) but I'm sure I'll be able to narrow it down.. but until then, Spring Break is next week and it should be a nice, relaxing and well deserved break.
Until next time... :)
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Almost halfway there...
Hello again all....there isn't much to report for myself at the moment. My team and I are waist deep in trying to figure out how we want to handle the rest of this semester. At the moment, we are planning to work on a few small tasks as opposed to one large task. The only large task we found that we may want to work on is ticket number 62 (Dungeon 3 stuck) on the active ticket list. The only problem with this is that we aren't exactly sure how to get to dungeon 3 (or out of dungeon '1' for that matter!). So instead, we're thinking we will organize our time to get a few things done this semester. If you're interested in the task we're considering taking on, check out our team wiki.
On another note, the semester is almost halfway over (hence the title of this post :) ). Spring Break is next week and after that, it's the grind to the finish (Class of 2011 of course!). I should begin hearing from Graduate Schools soon...and hopefully I won't get any more FALSE ACCEPTANCE EMAILS....yeah. NC State sent out an acceptance email to all Fall 2011 PH.D. applicants, following an email that instructs us to disregard said email....say what now? You know what that spells....f-i-r-e-d. Oh well, hopefully i'll be getting some big envelopes soon.
Jusqu'à la prochaine fois...
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