Cool Cherry Cream

Today I had my first computer science tutorial. Tutorials are different from lectures in that they are conducted by a grad student and not a professor. He explained that a tutorial is basically a cross between a lecture and a lab. A lecture is where you sit for an hour and take notes and a lab is where you have a computer in front of you and you program. At least, I think that's what a lab is, as I have my first one tomorrow.

Today's tutorial was on installing the JDK and JRE and IDE and all those crazy acronyms for Java. So pretty boring.

It kind of sucks, changing IDEs every year. In Grade 10 it was Visual Basic, so it was basically a totally separate course. Then in grade 11 it was Ready to Program Java, which wasn't even real Java. Grade 12 was Eclipse, and now they want me to switch again and use JCreator.

And you know, I would. It looks basically the same as Eclipse. Pretty straightforward.

But guess what? No workie on Linux. Big surprise there.

Now, maybe I'm just a complete moron, but the guy was going on about how if you're going to use Eclipse or some other IDE, you should come in early and try it in JCreator before handing it in to make sure it works.

Umm… hello? This is Java. It's a .java file. A .java file will do the same thing whether it's in Eclipse or JCreator or Dr. Java or anything. That's what Java's about, being cross-platform and portable and all that, right? Like, if I make a JPEG file on Photoshop and have to hand it in to someone who only uses Microsoft Paint, I don't need to test it in Paint first. It just works. Now, of course, I couldn't hand in a .psd file to someone using Paint, and that's understandable. But .java files are universal. Right? …right?!

Anyway, we had a lot of time left at the end of class, so the guy says he's going to show us a video on cheating from "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" and I'm like "hellll yeah!". Funnily enough, I'd seen the original non-MSTK version of it before. But yeah, that's pretty awesome, watching MSTK in university. During class. In a lecture hall. On a big screen. On YouTube. Sweet.

I hurried on down to the cafeteria to get dinner before they closed. As I was waiting in line, I heard two guys behind me talking about a tutorial and about how one of them was "asleep for the first ten minutes" and that they "just watched videos". And I was like "hmm! Sounds familiar!". And then when they said how there were quite a few girls in the class, I was like "bingo. ComSci students".

I get that that last part was a joke, and I have no problem with that. And they way they said "what are you doing here?" was more just a surprised comment than a "you shouldn't be here" comment.

But still, I was like, whoa. Sexist, much?

And then I realized… that's exactly what *I* thought at my first ComSci class. If I'm standing outside of the math or computer lecture hall and there's a girl there, my immediate reaction is "uh oh… is this the right class?". And god forbid she be a pretty girl. "Oh shit, what time is it? This class does start at 12, right? Maybe she's waiting for another class. Is this even the right room number? Where's my schedule?"

I can't blame them though, I'm not gonna be a hypocrite. Facts are facts, there's no disputing that girls and computers normally do not mix. And pretty girls and computers? Is that even possible? Those two dudes speak the truth, even if it's not politically correct.

And you know? I look at these other girls in my math and computer classes and I wonder why they're here. Do they really like computers? Or do they just like making MySpace layouts?

But it's not just the girls. I can't seriously believe that these 100 or so guys taking computer science enjoy doing this too. They like downloading MP3s on LimeWire and playing WoW. Do they really want to be in computer science, or did they just think this was going to be a fun and easy major?

One of the kids asked if we'd learn any hacking in computer science. The answer was obviously no. And I mean, seriously. Even if they did offer classes in hacking, that's just not cool. You don't learn hacking like that.

Learning to hack is like learning to be a ninja. They cant't teach you that in school.

And what's with everybody "r we gunna be learning c++? i wanna lern c++! lets do c++!". I remember in high school someone asked me what programming languages I knew.

Now, I've never actually used C++ (or C or C# or…) myself. I think I tried to get it to work in Eclipse once, but gave up. But when I hear C++, I always think of this little quote:

C++ is like teenage sex:

• It's on everyone's mind all the time.
• Everyone talks about it all the time.
• Everyone thinks everyone else is doing it.
• Almost no one is really doing it.
• The few who are doing it are
  • doing it poorly;
  • sure it will be better next time;
  • not practicing it safely.

Anyway, I'm getting off topic. I'm trying to come up with a story that I can tell when people ask me if I'm taking computer science and I'll be like "pshaw, like, no way". Because being one of like two or three girls in a class is cool, but one of ten is not the same. I'm not special much.

Also, I want to be an astronaut.

Because seriously:

Like seriously. What is cooler than being an astronaut? Nothing. You just can't top it.