Responses to Questions and Comments from Introductory Survey

I do my best to update this document after receiving your notes. I don't always succeed.

You might also want to read my answers to this semester's CS151 and CS195.

• Personal
  • Where are you from?
  • Where did you go to college?
  • What is your favorite food?
  • What are your hobbies?
  • Do you plan an instrument
  • Will you wear the Tigger costume this semester?
  • What are your interests in terms of books, movies, philosophies, neat things, etc?
  • Why do you like Macs?
• Professional
• The Course
  • Will you feed us during class?
• Miscellaneous
• Some Previous Versions

Personal

Where are you from?

I was born in Newton, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. At age one, we went to the Netherlands and lived there two years. I remember almost nothing from that time. I lived in Newton until I went to college in Chicago (at the University of Chicago). i spent about eleven years in Chicago.

Where did you go to college?

The University of Chicago. S.B., Mathematics, 1985. S.M., Computer Science, 1987. Ph.D., Computer Science, 1993.

As you may know, Chicago has many similarities to Grinnell, particularly in that many of the students there like to learn for learning's sake. Chicago also has a strong undergraduate emphasis on the liberal arts. Of course, Chicago also has a large common core in contrast with Grinnell's open curriculum.

What is your favorite food?

Hmmm ... the particular one varies from day to day and week to week. I tend to like Asian cuisines (Thai, Chinese, Indian).

What are your hobbies?

See My answers to the introductory survey.

Do you plan an instrument

I played some piano (not very well) as a youth. I've played some guitar off and on since college, but not enough.

Will you wear the Tigger costume this semester?

Perhaps. Does April 1 fall on a class day? How do you know about the Tigger costume?

What are your interests in terms of books, movies, philosophies, neat things, etc?

Ouch. That's a long one. Most of my fun reading is of science fiction and fantasy. These days, I tend to read urban fantasy (e.g., Charles de Lint).

More to come ...

Why do you like Macs?

When I started using Macs (1984 or so), I liked them more than PCs because they had a useable and consistent user interface that made it quick to get things done. I did not use Macs exclusively. I used Unix boxes a lot when I wanted to program, do more serious text formatting, or access the Internet (okay, the predecessors to the Internet).

These days, I think PCs are almost as easy to use as Macs (PCs have gotten easier to use, Macs have gotten ahrder), although I think Macs still have an advantage in terms of consistent interface (the magic of the User Interface Guidelines). Since I'm also a Unix programmer, I like that my OS X mac runs Unix under the hood as it were.

Professional

The Course

Will you feed us during class?

Last semester, I fed the CS151 students in the 9 a.m. class because it seemed like many of them rolled out of bed and ran to my class. You should have more time to eat, but I'll try to bring you food once in a while.

Miscellaneous

Some Previous Versions

You may also want to look at my responses to the current survey and my responses to questions from past semesters:

CSC152 99F, CSC152 2000S, CSC151 2000F, and CSC152 2000F.