What did you do this past week? Since this week was the first week of the semester class wasn’t that eventful. We went over some of the basics of C++, some of the tools we will be using in the class including Docker and Travis, and looked at some examples of how operators are evaluated. Outside of this class I nailed down my classes for the semester: OOP, Cyberphysical Systems, Gov 312L, and Chem 301 as well as Proctoring CS312 Introduction to Programming. I also worked on my player for the Battlecode contest and we had our first tournament.

What’s in your way? I was caught off guard by the first daily quiz. In algorithms I could get away with just quickly looking over my notes to prepare for quizzes but it this class I clearly need to spend more time studying. Overall I have a number of time consuming classes this semester as well as proctoring duties so I need to stay on top of homework and readings so I don’t fall behind or get overwhelmed.

What will you do next week? Next week I will read the three papers assigned for this class as well as chapters 1 and 2 of the textbook. I will also learn to use some of the tools, practice some C programming, and start working on Project 1 which is due the following week.

What’s my experience of the class? So far it is very positive. I’m excited to get to use some of the tools that we discussed in class and I find Downing’s lectures very interesting.

What’s my pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week? Battlecode is an MIT run AI programming contest that I am currently participating in. Teams each programs scripts that dictate the behavior of units on a battlefield and they compete against other teams. If you are interested in AI programming, just like a challenge, or want an opportunity to brush up on some of your programming skills, it’s definitely worth checking out