Category: Academic

I have installed Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional on both my desktop as well as on my laptop. I am preparing for my C# class that will begin on Monday. I find myself being amazed at the simplicity of such a massive application. On my desktop it is about 4.5GB installed, while on my laptop I installed it to take only about 1.7GB (just C#, nothing special).

I received my C# textbook today and read over the requirements for software. In addition to requiring an installation of the Microsoft C# IDE, I also have to have a SQL server. For now I am going with MS SQL Server 2005 Express, but I am likely to select something more robust for working with during the semester.

While I have taken many programming courses before, this is the first that has used the Microsoft IDE for anything. I am excited about working with it, and maybe learning how to make some things a little more graphical. Everything I have read relating to learning C# seems to be directed at reassuring me that it is an exciting programming language.

Classes start in under a week, so now I’m getting like all nervous and stuff. Usually I’m very calm this time of the year, I am so planned and everything it just seems like it should be fine and smooth. I suppose my biggest problem this semester is I changed schedules around so much that I wasn’t entirely sure what I really wanted my schedule to look like. I have two 3D studio courses, an Art History course, an American history, a programming course and a literature course. It could be an exhausting semester, but at least I will have plenty to do in my spare time. Or… is it really spare time if I do nothing else but academics?

I am still really nervous, especially having an 18 hour load, even though 12 hours are online. 18 Hours is not normally considered insane for a normal student load.

Everything worked out this morning. The registrar received the new information this morning and was able to correctly transfer UNC’s ART390 (Special Topics Studio: Digital Photography) as NCCCS’s ART264 (Digital Photo I). I am quite relieved that the credit has transferred properly now.

Yesterday in the mail I received a little note from the registrar’s office at Gaston College. The note stated that the credit from UNC Chapel Hill could not be transferred because there was no equivalent course in the Gaston College catalog, even though I was assured by my dean that the course would transfer without a problem. I was originally discouraged from doing a transient study form because he felt there should be no problem, and that doing a form would only be extra insurance of the transfer. I’m glad I did the form now. I have faxed a copy of the form and the syllabus for the course to the registrar’s office. I will likely call the registrar’s office on Monday to get thing straightened out. I do not like the feeling of having credit hanging in limbo. I prefer nice, clean transfers that happen transparently.

Even though CPCC has canceled their Advanced C++ course, some other institutions are offering web-based Advanced C++ courses. Lenoir Community College and Pitt Community College are the two primary schools offering the course. Unfortunately, it is way too late in the registration period for me to feel motivated enough to work with the administrative hurdles involved with moving the course. First, I would need records from CPCC to be sent to the other schools, then I would have to observe the registration time-frames from the other schools, including payment schedule (which is a bitch, since CPCC won’t release funds on the canceled course until after the semester begins).

In addition to the registration concerns, I am not prepared to add a fifth institution into my game of transcript pong yet, there are already too many balls in play (although, Lenoir does offer free transcript service).

Nothing substantial, just making a simple correction for the dropped course.

CSC153, C# Programming has now taken the place of Advanced C++ on my schedule for Fall. It is a new language for me, and it will give me something to work with in Visual Studio (I’ve always had it, just never really used it). I worry that the course will be just another over-simplified "welcome to blah programming language" course. I know that the first thing that will be required is a simple "hello world" program, but I think that’s standard even at graduate level programming courses. I am looking forward to this being a little more event driven than some of my other courses, and perhaps introduce me to something new… maybe even a GUI way of doing things. I have heard many things about C#, everything from it is crap and is slow to being raving about how extensible it is and comments like that. I will now have a chance to decide for myself and develop a true opinion of the language.

Below is the course information:

Schedule: Internet

Upon checking my course records this morning I found out that CSC234, Advanced C++ has been dropped from the schedule of classes at CPCC. After getting myself so excited about it, I am a little sad that it isn’t an option. I am now weighing my options… I could potentially take a C# course. No other interesting languages are offered, but the game development department is still offering their "Intro to Game Programming" course.. but that’s not really my thing.