Manvin Chawla
CISB 11 10256
8/1/2010
essay.htm
Meaningful Topics I learned in CISB11
Throughout the course of this class, I have learned a great deal of new concepts through reading chapters in the textbook, browsing through the articles posted on Blackboard, participating in discussion postings, and conducting research on the Internet. Additionally, I have advanced my understanding of several topics that I was already familiar with through further research in order to complete several assignments. These topics include building and modifying databases in Microsoft Access, writing code in Java using Eclipse, installing and using open source Linux distributions, and analyzing codes of ethics from several organizations.
This class introduced me to a program I had never used previously: Microsoft Access. Although I had no experience with this program whatsoever, I found the interface to be extremely user friendly and intuitive. This ease of use, combined with the excellent instructions provided my instructor, proved to be extremely beneficial in helping me understanding the power of Access and its practical use in the real world. I learned that Access is an invaluable tool for sorting, organizing, and retrieving large quantities of data, especially in the application of business where database management is absolutely crucial. Up until this point, I had always used Excel to organize large quantities of information; however, by gaining familiarity with Access, I now have the knowledge necessary to efficiently organize vast quantities of information. This could prove especially useful if I chose to pursue careers such as database management and systems analyst, where organizing information in a readily accessible manner is crucial to efficiency and success.
I also learned a great deal about programming in the latest chapter of this class. I learned that fundamentally, programming is heavily arithmetic based, and that many programs used advanced algorithms to achieve certain functionalities. I also gained familiarity with the integrated development environment Eclipse and the Java language as a whole. Although I did some light programming in Java many years ago, I forgot much of the fundamental syntax-therefore this chapter was an interesting refresher. I also had a chance to use the newest version of Eclipse, which is far superior to many other development tools that I have used in the past, including CodeWarrior. This is because Eclipse is both lightweight and powerful.
Learning about Linux was also an insightful experience for me. Although I have dabbled with older distributions of the operating system in the past, I never took it upon myself to try a modern distro until this class. As a result, I installed a stripped version of Ubuntu on my netbook and I have been enjoying it thoroughly ever since. Not only does it run faster than Windows on low end hardware, it also uses less resources and gives me extra battery life as a result. Additionally, the compact nature of Linux makes it ideal for a machine like a netbook with limited storage space and resources. I liked using Ubuntu so much that I will probably put it on my main machine and dual boot with Windows 7 at some point.
Finally, I learned a great deal about codes of ethics via research in this class. I found that many major organizations and companies have standards to which they expect their members and employees to strive for. In particular, I found the IEEEs code of ethics to be most intriguing, because it highlights upon the qualities that any professional engineer should possess. These include having adeptness in the technological sector, responsibility for actions performed and overseen, and a duty to constantly push the envelope of what is possible through extensive knowledge of science and math. This particularly entails to me because I am an Engineering major, and I aim to strive for excellence because I want to have a meaningful impact upon this world.
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