NOOO, IAP.... baby don't go...

Colleges and Universities A-Z Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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<p>I barely knew thee...</p>

<p>we could have been so beautiful together.</p>

<p>:(</p>

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<p>


</p>

<p>:o .</p>

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<p>big tears. BIG TEARS goddammit !!</p>

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<p>Hey, what do you know, schedules are up on websis...</p>

<p>hey, this is an entire thread of me essentially talking to myself.</p>

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<p>OK. On the eve of a brand new semester... what classes are we all taking this term?</p>

<p>ME:</p>

<p>6.001 -- Structure + Interpretation of Computer Programs -- I'm petrified (no, as in, zero, computer science background)
18.03 -- Diff Eq -- eh whatever
8.022 -- E+M -- expecting to be spanked
24.09 -- Minds and Machines (Philosophy) -- :D :D
12.409 -- Fun with Telescopes!</p>

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<p>Second semester senior year. Easiest semester in the history of mankind.</p>

<p>7.27 -- Principles of Human Disease (taking it junior/senior P/D/F)
7.28 -- Molecular Biology
9.24 -- Diseases of the Nervous System
...and of course ~18 hrs/week at the ol' UROP</p>

<p>No class until 11:00 each morning, and no class at all on Fridays. ;)</p>

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<p>Ready?</p>

<p>8.02- E&M
18.02- Multivar Calc
18.03- Diff Eq
21H.105- American Classics</p>

<p>Yes, I am taking two math classes and a CI. Yay....
...</p>

<p>Yeah.</p>

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<p>pebbles,can u keep me updated on the computer science youre taking? i, too, have no computer science experience, and was wondering how hard it is to learn college material stuff right away.</p>

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<p>sure thing.</p>

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<p>augh freshmen. GIR classes were so much fun... ><</p>

<p>I also went into 6.001 without any computer science background - lots of people do, and even those who have programming experience don't find it very useful. It uses Scheme, which is a variant of LISP (Lots of Insipid and Stupid Parentheses (not really)). Scheme isn't a real language; it was created by MIT specifically for introducing students to the world of programming. Is Grimson or Boning teaching it this term?</p>

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<p>augh embittered upperclassman. I've never heard that sentence uttered sincerely before. Surely classes in your major > GIRs?</p>

<p>Grimson is "in charge", Darrell lectures. Thumbs up to the lecturer, the slides go rather quickly but he's pretty clear and has a nice sense of humor.</p>

<p>I like scheme so far.</p>

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<p>I don't know about anybody else, but classes in my major >>> GIRs.</p>

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<p>What do you mean by ">"? Didn't quite realize we could quantify classes...</p>

<p>Ah they added people. Be glad you don't have Boning.</p>

<p>My classes are much more interesting and funner in the "I'm enjoying what I'm learning" sense than GIRs, but that doesn't mean they're necessarily funner as courses. There are fewer people in the classes, and this term in particular, I have very few friends in the same classes - definitely no one from my normal study groups. Still trying to figure out what I'm going to do about a study group for some of them.</p>

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<p>"What do you mean by ">"? Didn't quite realize we could quantify classes..."</p>

<p>oh DEAR. Maybe that's our problem. They gave us the algorithm during orientation. Per said algorithm, TEAL is a -12.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
It uses Scheme, which is a variant of LISP (Lots of Insipid and Stupid Parentheses (not really)). Scheme isn't a real language; it was created by MIT specifically for introducing students to the world of programming.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Scheme is a real programming language lol. Scheme was invented at MIT initially to investigate the Actor programming model, but has since become a popular introductory programming language at many schools due to its simple syntax. In my AP comp sci class last year we used Scheme to go over the basics of computer science, and Scheme was a lot of fun. I saw an article recently that praised MIT's use of Scheme as opposed to the increasingly popular use of Java as a first programming language.</p>

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<p>I've never heard of that algorithm before - but I can understand that for TEAL. XD Some of my floormates were discussing the horrors of TEAL, past and present, earlier this week during dinner.</p>

<p>Scheme is not real dangit. =P By that, I mean that no one really uses it; if anything, people will end up using LISP. I know that it's used as an introductory course - I've taken it at MIT and I've friends who took it at UC Berkeley. I also do believe it's a good intro to programming - I've since managed to learn Verilog, C++ and Java in very short time spans without any difficulty at all - but that doesn't validate it as a "real" language to me any the more. I kind of compare it with jsim, bsim and tsim (which you use in 6.004). Those are languages/compilers made by the professor specifically for that course and is used nowhere outside of that class, to my knowledge. If it's not widely used, it doesn't quite count as a real language to me. (Just like how the Shanghai dialect isn't a real language; it's a dialect. Equivanlently, Scheme is a dialect of LISP)</p>

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<p>
[quote]
Scheme is not real dangit. =P By that, I mean that no one really uses it; if anything, people will end up using LISP.

[/quote]
True enough. :) Although I would say that any programming language that has official standards is a real programming language (Scheme has an IEEE standard). But, you are right, Scheme is rarely used in the real world.</p>