Dear Reader,

If you're reading this, then you're either taking this class in Fall 2015 or you're considering taking it this coming Spring, 2016.

If you're considering registering for CS371p, Object Oriented Programming with Downing, G., then good for you. You're going to learn C++.

That's all I can promise you. This is either good news or bad news, depending on your opinions.

Dr. Downing does an excellent job teaching C++, and is truly an excellent lecturer in many ways. The projects are easy, and the tests are straightforward, so if these are qualities that you like in a class then by all means take it.

If you want to learn about anything other than C++, then abandon all hope, ye you enter here. This is not a theory class, do not expect to learn anything that can be applied anywhere else. If you are of the opinion that going to lecture for 3 hours a week to learn a new programming language is silly, because either a) you think that juniors in a CS program should be able to pick up a new language without someone spoon-feeding it to them, or b) you think that C++ will be obsolete in a few years, then don't take this class.

If you think (b), then our hopes are aligned, but unfortunately far-fetched. C++ has been around longer than you or I.

So, there you have it. These are my thoughts on the class shrunk to 250 words.

Tip of the Week: http://www.multicore-association.org/workgroup/mpp.php

The ability to program multi-core systems is crucial as humanity hits the computational speed barrier. We're at 16nm now in iPads, chips can only become so small. A group of people got together and made this platform-agnostic guide to programming on multi-core systems. It condenses the material well if you're into that sort of thing (namely, programming for performance).

Unfortunately, you do have to give them your email address to get the PDF. It's probably elsewhere on the internet if you searched around, though.

This is an image of me doing what I do when I'm not at a computer.