I thought it’d be worth mentioning the classes at UF that, looking back, had the greatest impact on me.  I’ve taken a bunch of classes over the past 4.5 years, but these were the ones that I really can appreciate the most…

It wasn’t until this class that I really understood how computers worked.  I started this class as a freshman who could barely count in binary.  In one jam-packed semester, we learned all about: number systems, logic gates, mixed logic, k-maps, multiplexers, flip-flops, ALUs, RAM, ROM, etc.  We also learned how to design hardware components using Quartus and VHDL, and program them onto our PLDs to watch different LEDs on our breadboards react to various switches and buttons (see picture of my breadboard wired up after programming a PLD).

All in all, we started with simple logic gates and designed an entire (basic) 8-bit CPU – and then programmed it by writing and hand-compiling assembly code.  What a great learning experience!

This was also a great example of where it was completely worth taking the class with the harder professor who gives more homework, because he was very passionate about the subject and knew how to teach it well.  I don’t remember every detail of what I learned 4 years ago in this class, but because I had a great professor, I can still explain most of the major concepts and would feel comfortable diving back in if needed.

This OOP class has had a greater influence on me as a developer than anything else ever has.  Heavily based on both in-class lectures (with reading assignments) and very large get-your-hands-dirty team programming assignments, the course was a great mix of theory and practice.

We went over many important topics such as encapsulation, inheritance, composition, cohesion, encumbrance, type conformance, Law of Demeter, Tell Don’t Ask, Open-Closed Principle, Liskov Substitution Principle, and MVC.  We also became deeply familiar with reading UML diagrams and sequence diagrams and used these to express complex software object models.

The real value from this course, though, came from the programming assignments.  We worked in groups of 7-8 people throughout the semester on three different iterations of a real-time role playing rage (RPG) in Java based on proper OO design based on what we had learned at that point in the semester.  We actually started from scratch for each of the 3 iterations, and, for each iteration, I spent about 90 hours outside of class working with my group on a solid UML design and implementing our design in Java.

These group assignments, even though they were very time consuming, had a huge amount of value in helping us turn abstract OO concepts into practice.  They were also very rewarding as we were creating a pretty cool game

A side effect was that I also learned a lot about teamwork and leadership, and working with a group of people under high-stress work environments.  They also were what caused me to really know Java well.

• Design Patterns in OOP (CIS 4930) – Dave’s other class.  I’d highly recommend it to anyone wanting to become a better programmer/designer.
• Business Finance
• Intro to Financial Accounting

The site’s back-end is run by WordPress – I am very happy with using it as a complete, but cost-effective, content management system (CMS) solution. The back-end is not fool-proof (lot’s of things to click) but certainly is not too difficult for most clients. Most importantly, being able to take advantage of a such a well-written, open-source solution enables clients to have a CMS with little additional cost.

In addition to using WordPress, I integrated a Google Calendar, allowing the company to add events to a good-looking calendar easily through Google’s existing calendar website. Even more exciting is the fact that users of the site can then “subscribe” to the calendar, or copy specific events to their own personal Google Calendar.

Google Calendar is officially my second most-relied-on service by Google (search is #1, personalized home is #3). Even though it does have its share of problems, I now rely on it to pretty much run my life, since I switched from Outlook Calendar a few weeks ago.

Hopefully John, Tom, and Maxim from 24/7 Tutor are happy with the site – and hopefully it will bring them a lot of new business.

Edit: someone asked me if there’s really that big of a market for personal tutoring for a University. There certainly is. TutoringZone currently dominates the market I believe (although with a crappy web design), TutorGator looks like they just ripped off Facebook’s site design, and I know there is at least one other company.

In “Speaking & Writing for Engineers,” I was required to write a resume and application letter to apply for an internship (optional on whether we actually sent the letter). Already being a step ahead of the class with an existing resume, this provided for a good time to produce an updated resume for your reading (and hiring) pleasure. I was sure to fill it with lots of buzzwords (yes, I do agree with Buzzwords say all the wrong things, in general) and acronyms, knowing that many companies these days simply scan resumes and run queries on their database for matching people. Additionally, I am going to be on both sides of a mock job interview soon to come.

Having an updated resume came just in time for UF’s Career Showcase – a two day event in which hundreds of employers speak with students about job openings in their companies. There were some big companies there and I got to meet a lot of recruiters. I spoke with a guy from Microsoft (with Windows Live) who asked me what AJAX really is. Not surprisingly, he said I was the only person so far that day that had a good grasp of it. (The “not surprisingly” is more from the lack of web-awareness of normal Computer Science/Engineering majors and less from the fact that I am just incredible).

In Java II, my latest project was to create an analysis, design, and implementation of a Travel Agency. We’re still doing simple console applications but are getting into different types of inheritance in Java. My UML diagram and screenshot below: