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From: gds@mit-eddie.UUCP (Greg Skinner)
Newsgroups: net.college
Subject: Re: CS Undergraduate Programs (scheduling, hardware)
Message-ID: <1935@mit-eddie.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 25-May-84 13:49:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.1935
Posted: Fri May 25 13:49:46 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 1-Jun-84 05:37:00 EDT
References: <103@hpda.UUCP>
Organization: MIT Lusers and Hosers Inc., Cambridge, Ma.
Lines: 114

<e to the x, dy/dx>

The above is a cry most often heard at football and basketball games.
Tell me, would YOU go to a school with a cheer like that? :-)

> MIT.  Mind you, my view is quite biased since I'm a student there but here
> goes.

Well, so am I, I am about to get out, and now here's my chance to flame
after being here for soooooooooo long.

> In general, the course requirements at MIT allow significant freedom of
> choice.  Unlike most other universities, there are no formal core courses 
> to be taken during the first two years.  Sure, there is a two term physics
> requirement and some others.  However, there is opportunity to be exposed
> to a potential major early on in one's college career.  I would say that
> it is the norm for a hopeful CS major to take the first computer class
> (LISP/SCHEME) sometime during the first year.  In fact, I took it my freshman
> year and that was the first time I touched a computer.

It is the norm now for a potential CS major to be hopeful to be able to
take the first computer class in SCHEME (they don't teach Lisp anymore
here -- it has grown beyond all imagination).  Starting last spring, due
to overcrowding some freshmen were required to leave the class.  This
was the first time this had happened in a number of years.  The reaction
was very violent.  Since then, this has propagated to our software
engineering course (using CLU) and a microprocessor course (they make
you take an exam to be able to take the course now).

> I don't mean to give the impression that one is rushed through things too
> early either.  Such freedom can be confusing but it's not too difficult
> to put a tentative schedule together.  Each student has a faculty adviser
> for that purpose.  Freshmen are assigned professors randomly to serve as 
> their advisers.  Sometime during the sophomore year, you are asked to specify
> a tentative major and are assigned a professor in that department as your
> adviser. 

During the second semester of your freshman year, you fill out a form
with your intended major.  You can remain undesignated until halfway
through your sophomore year, and then you must choose.

separate from a second list of "restricted electives" in your major.

> Another source for exposure is the Undergraduate Research
> Opportunities Program (affectionately called UROP).  Through this
> program, undergraduate students are given the chance to participate in
> research activities for a faculty member.  Often, the work done by the
> undergrad in this program is quite remarkable.  Certainly, it let's
> one apply the things learned in class to real-world issues.  Being
> able to work first hand with world-renowned researchers and
> state-of-the-art equipment is nice. 

Score one point for MIT for UROPs.  That's the one thing about MIT
that's really good.  You can really learn a lot by hacking around and a
UROP gives you this opportunity.  Other schools may be less demanding
but don't nearly have as much hardware & software as the 'Tute does (who
can boast a zillion VAXes, 4 DEC-20s, lots of Lisp machines, Altos, IBM
PCs, ...).  Not to brag, but I really enjoyed being able to work on a
whole bunch of different machines.

> Life at MIT has its highs and lows.  Expect the all-nighters.  The place 
> is most certainly a challenge but most of the people who get in do get out.  
> There are fun times too: parties, intramural sports, Boston, Cape Cod,
> hiking in New Hampshire, sailing on the Charles.  

This person obviously lived in MacGregor house, notoriously known for
their trips to Cape Cod.  MacGregor probably has the best view the
Charles,  since it is the tallest dorm on the Charles (15 stories +
house tutor's rooftop apartment).  No kidding though, I spent my share
of all-nighters and will be relieved not to have to do it for a while.
I guess it was worth it going here, now that I am finally graduating,
but it will be good to get away for a while to relax and get back to the
simpler pleasures of life (being asleep instead of awake at 4am).

I noticed that people are complaining about registration.  At MIT, it's
done in two steps.  Note, we are on a 4-1-4-3 schedule here -- fall term
runs Sep-Dec, 1 month (Jan) is called IAP (Independent Activities
Period) where you can take all sorts of fun seminars and do all sorts of
other fun things, spring term runs Feb-May and a limited number of
courses are held in the summer term Jun-Aug.  Three weeks before a
semster ends, registration material is available for pre-registration.
At the end of the semester, you hand in your registration forms with
what you think you'll be taking next term.  When the next term starts,
on the first day (Registration Day) you go to your undergrad advisor and
have him sign the registration form you filled out the term before (he
may discuss it with you if he thinks you are taking too much or too
little) and then you take his signed form and bring it to a place where
it is collected, and you pick up your ID sticker for the semester and
you are officially "registered".  Registration day tends to be a
madhouse sometimes, because a lot of people change their minds from what
they thought they'd be taking when they first filled out the form (I
personally never took what I thought I'd be taking) and some people swap
sections.  All in all, it seems a lot better than running around from
class to class hoping it is not closed yet.

About hardware:  (Pardon me for my smug smile.)  The majority of
undergraduate CS work is done on a DEC-2060 running TOPS-20 -- it has
1.5 Mb of core and about 600 Mb of online disk storage.  The Scheme
course has now moved to a set of HP9638 personal computers.  A few
courses are run on this machine (mit-eddie) and the rest on a VAX-11/750
running (gasp, choke!) VMS.  Everything (except the HPs) are connected
by the Chaosnet, a 10Mb (I think that's the right speed) Ethernet-like
local area network which connects many of the other research machines
around the 'Tute.  Soon, a number of VAXes will be coming to MIT for
Project Athena, and many more Institute courses will be using them (not
just the EE dept. either).
-- 
                                                  [This space available
                                                   for rent.]

Greg Skinner (White Gold Wielder)
{decvax!genrad, eagle!mit-vax, whuxle, ihnp4}!mit-eddie!gds

And he who wields white wild magic gold is a paradox ...