CS371g Summer 2021: Adithya Arunganesh

• Where did you grow up?

I was born in Irving, TX, and grew up in the DFW area for most of my life although I have actually lived in other cities such as Memphis and Cleveland.

• What high school did you attend?

I attended Lebanon Trail High School in Frisco, TX.

• What was your favorite extracurricular activity in high school?

Honestly, I am a little split when it comes to extracurricular activities in high school because each of them brought something to get excited about.

• Why did you come to UT?

UT has been a school that I’ve always had my eyes on throughout high school. It has one of the best computer science programs in the nation and is the best in the state of Texas. On top of that, a lot of tech companies recruit out of the University of Texas at Austin so it is also a great opportunity to network and find internships as well.

• Why are you majoring in CS?

I am majoring in CS because ever since I started programming, I have got a thrill out of doing so. It’s very challenging which makes it interesting at the same time if that makes sense. I enjoy the problem-solving aspect of computer science and the satisfaction when your code finally works as intended (because for some reason it never works on the first run) is unparalleled.

• Why are you in this class?

I am in this class primarily to receive an upper-CS elective credit. However, the main reason I chose this class over other prospective classes was that I find it useful for a person like me who is trying to learn new programming languages and broaden my range. That way, knowing generic programming practices would definitely aid in making those types of transitions.

• What are your expectations of this class?

I do not have too many expectations for this class. For a summer course, I am just expecting a more relaxed class where I hope to learn something new over the summer. Hopefully, this class is not too intensive and I have some spare time to do other activities during the summer break as well.

• How much C++ do you already know?

As of right now, I do not have too much experience in C++. I can probably count on my fingers how many times I have programmed in C++. I can probably follow along with my Java and C knowledge to try the bridge the gap though.

• How much Javascript/Python/SQL/Web programming do you already know?

I do not have much experience using Javascript/Python/SQL/Web programming. Nonetheless, I still look to do some projects sometime in the near future that utilizes all of those tools.

• How did you like the first lecture?

I enjoyed the first lecture although at times it was a little slow probably due to the 2 hours class. I think that I will be accustomed to the timings as I attend more classes though.

• How did you feel about the cold calling?

I think cold calling is not a bad idea. Although it does sometimes make you uncomfortable at times, it’s one of the best ways to gauge participation within the class.

• What made you happy this week?

I had a chance to hang out with my friends this week and play basketball. Most of my high school friends went to different colleges so it was very refreshing to see some of their faces once again after a long time.

• What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

My pick of the week is to use WinSCP, especially when working with the UT CS Lab machines. WinSCP is a tool that allows you to copy and paste files over from two different workspaces (most likely this will be from the home desktop to the ssh-ed lab machine). For someone who was new to working with ssh, WinSCP was such an easy and intuitive tool to use in order to transfer my files instead of going one by one in the command line.