Done with third semester

I am really excited to write this post as this is my first ‘real’ post. Currently, I am studying Computer Science and Engineering in a college in Kerala and I finished my third semester. As of this day, I am writing my end semester examinations.

The semester officially began in the first week of September and ended right before Christmas holidays(2023). Final exams commenced in the first week of January, 2024 and are still ongoing.

Unlike the first two semesters which mainly focused on non core subjects such as mechanics, physics, chemistry and electronics, I eagerly looked forward to the third semester because we delved deeper into the core subjects which included discrete mathematics, object oriented programming in Java (OOP in Java), logic system design and data structure & algorithms(DSA). We also had lab sessions for OOP in Java and DSA.

The third semester kicked off with a new classroom in the new block of our college. Our classroom is right below the Principal’s office and next to our teachers staff room. It is a strategic location.

What I enjoyed!

Lab Sessions

I really loved going to the lab and doing programming.It was really cool to mess around with the code. Now, I am not a smart guy and some of the programs we learned were challenging but with the help from my friends and teachers, it wasn’t a really big problem. You know what I really enjoyed the most? Helping my friends find bugs in their programs.

After completing some programs, we would go around the lab and help our friends fix issues with their code. It was really fun. Most of the time, it was really easy to fix the bugs. But there were moments we would just stare at the code for a long time, not knowing why the program wouldn’t run. It was a mix of fun and frustration.

Free Periods

Another great thing was that we had more free periods than the first two semesters. We would talk a lot. The teachers staff room is right next to our class and usually a teacher would come and shout at us for talking so loud. Some of my friends made most of the time by playing games like UNO. I would turn on my phone and watch an episode of my favorite tv show or just take a nap.

What I did not enjoy

In addition to the core subjects, we had two more subjects - professional ethics and sustainable engineering. I found these subjects really boring and didn’t really like them. It sometimes put me to sleep.

Record writing is an important part of the engineering life and I still don’t see the point of writing these records. It takes too much time and effort and the time spent for writing records can be used for something else.

New Skills

At the beginning of this semester I made a decision to focus more towards improving my programming skills. With some push from my friends, I went ahead with learning Flutter. I learned to create some simple applications from YouTube. One of the apps I built was a simple unit converter app. In addition to this, I created a simple birthday app that displays your age after entering your birthday.

I also learned to create a simple static site from scratch using Hugo. Yes, my site currently uses a theme but in the future, I will probably shift to a custom designed theme.

Wrapping Up!

So there you have it! That is a wrap on my third semester. I had a blast and a great time with my friends. I also learned some new things. Now, I am looking at five more semesters ahead. I can’t wait for the start of the next semester. Wish me luck!

This is day 1 of #100DaystoOffload