one down...five to go (exams!)
Yup it's that time of the semester when life comes to a standstill...the semester exams...2 weeks of hell and reading a lot of crap that will hardly, if ever, be useful to anybody anytime. Considering how outdated most of what we learn is. By the time the syllabus is updated the technology is outdated.
hmm...leaving that aside - I just finished reading the book Vertigo by Ashok K Banker today. I got a personally autographed copy of the book, yesterday, from Ashok K Banker himself! A great writer and human being and one of my favourite authors now. He has an awesome way with words and his books are really well worth a read (or two or even three!).
Coming back to Vertigo - it's a story of a guy trying to survive in Bombay. The book takes you through his life of dealing with his alcoholic mother, his (very demanding) girl friend, his job, money, etc... A very intense novel and definitely 'unputdownable' like all of Ashok's works. In fact I finished the book in two sittings inspite of having a final exam tomorrow!
I first came to know of Ashok's writing when I read an interview of his in one of the magazines about his plan to retell the great epic Ramayana (one of my favourite epics!) in a 7-book series. It is supposed to be the first ever re-telling of the Ramayana in English ever!This caught my attention and soon enough I got my hands on book one of the Ramayana - Prince of Ayodhya.
Rama. Thus began one of the best works I have ever read. Ashok's retelling was very well written and does a lot of justice to the original epic. Ashok transports us literally to the world of Rama and I couldn't wait to get my hands on the remaining books of the series! And there is more good news - he is also planning to retell the Mahabharatha! It doesnt get any bigger and better than that!
Well I doubt if even Lord Rama can come to my rescue if I don't log off now and start preparing for tomorrows' exam!
hmm...leaving that aside - I just finished reading the book Vertigo by Ashok K Banker today. I got a personally autographed copy of the book, yesterday, from Ashok K Banker himself! A great writer and human being and one of my favourite authors now. He has an awesome way with words and his books are really well worth a read (or two or even three!).
Coming back to Vertigo - it's a story of a guy trying to survive in Bombay. The book takes you through his life of dealing with his alcoholic mother, his (very demanding) girl friend, his job, money, etc... A very intense novel and definitely 'unputdownable' like all of Ashok's works. In fact I finished the book in two sittings inspite of having a final exam tomorrow!
I first came to know of Ashok's writing when I read an interview of his in one of the magazines about his plan to retell the great epic Ramayana (one of my favourite epics!) in a 7-book series. It is supposed to be the first ever re-telling of the Ramayana in English ever!This caught my attention and soon enough I got my hands on book one of the Ramayana - Prince of Ayodhya.
Rama. Thus began one of the best works I have ever read. Ashok's retelling was very well written and does a lot of justice to the original epic. Ashok transports us literally to the world of Rama and I couldn't wait to get my hands on the remaining books of the series! And there is more good news - he is also planning to retell the Mahabharatha! It doesnt get any bigger and better than that!
Well I doubt if even Lord Rama can come to my rescue if I don't log off now and start preparing for tomorrows' exam!
posted by Sabarish @ 1/19/2005 06:55:00 AM
"Considering how outdated most of what we learn is. By the time the syllabus is updated the technology is outdated."
-- I beg to differ. I too had this misconception, some time back. You are not taught to become software workers. The subjects you learn are there to make you more of a computer scientist. They try to raise your understanding of why's and how's of computing. So, an Operating System course is not there to teach you how to program on longhorn, but, to tell you how the kernel must be working to give you that experience. Get the basics right. It's foolish to construct a building without a strong foundation. As far as learning the latest tech, you can (and are) do it on your own.
BTW, ALL THE BEST for your exams!
Hi Rohan!
Thanks for the wishes (I need them)!
And coming to outdated subjects part - i do agree with you that certain core subjects like OS, Computer Networks, C, etc. are a must for any computer science student. But we do learn a lot of other subjects which I feel are not needed and have little use - they should atleast be 'optional' subjects so that those who are interested in them can take it and the rest can leave it.