1. 1 Surviving CPSC 428 A Practical Guide on Maintaining Your Sanity

2. 24 Sep 05/10102 What your predecessors have said: “…[it] was very difficult, but very rewarding” - “…most challenging course in the CS major.” - “…was very interesting, very, very challenging, and tedious.” “Hard as hell; humbling experience; learned a lot; skills increased.” - “I found this class to be very stressful.” “…[was] very hard because it is problem based and thus question based, and no one asked questions.” “…it tested me on so many different levels.” - “…enjoy[ed] figuring things out on my own…” - “…its real world!” - “…taught me more about myself than any other CS course.” “This class is very time consuming.” – “This class took more time than all my others combined.” - “Show[ed] me how to manage my time and … what I can and can’t do.” “I hated this class for a good stretch but looking back it helped me to improve my programming and debugging skills.” “…you can’t expect someone to cram 4+ years of supposed learning into one semester.” - “I don’t think its fair to assume that we have knowledge from previous classes.” “…it seemed the goal of this class was for us to teach ourselves how to teach ourselves.”

3. 24 Sep 05/10103 CPSC 428 is: A mind exercise A process wrapped up in a product Ambiguous Time-consuming As difficult as you want to make it

4. 24 Sep 05/10104 CPSC 428 is all about Getting your brain around a problem that is outside your frame of reference Developing solutions Implementing solutions Thinking Getting “on board” early in the term

5. 24 Sep 05/10105 Tips Be prepared to answer your own question – which means… It’s ok to think out loud in front of people “Why” is a good question to ask. Seek to be active in the learning process Engage Dr. Stevenson and each other (don’t let anyone get away with anything)