Twitter for Learning

    I used to be a twitter hater. It just seemed like some enormous aggregate of worthless quotes from shallow celebrities and humorous meme-like one-liners from role players.

I couldn't have been more wrong...

    It turns out that, sure, although there exists banality on twitter there are also many valuable resources for gaining information regarding just about anything. Here are some practical aspects of twitter that I have discovered:

1. Twitter can help you recognize trends in software development, by keeping you up to date on the thoughts of the "rockstars" and professionals in the field. Through their comments, and links to recent blogs you can begin to gauge where the field is heading.
2. If you are learning a new technology, or already have an abundance of knowledge, you can follow tip-providing twitter accounts which give practical, to-the-point insight. For example, I follow @vimtips, @RegexTip, @java_tips, @TexTip, @AlgebraFact and more. Each of these has taught me some new tricks for tools that I use nearly every day.
3. Finally, twitter can keep you updated on group activities. The last few months I have gone to local Python and Ruby user group meeting which I heard were happening solely because of twitter.

    Through the last few months of using twitter, I'd really like to say that I have gained some practical knowledge. Do you agree and think that twitter is a useful tool for learning? Perhaps I left out more benefits of twitter? Or is twitter just pure evil? Feel free to share your thoughts.

Why I am in Computer Science and Math

    You know, 8 years ago when my dad first tried to teach me programming in BASIC, I couldn't stand it and thought, why in the world would anyone want to do this? A few years gone by, however, I started playing the massive online virtual reality game titled (quite justly) Second Life.

    I spent a good amount of time on weekends in the virtual world, not to socialize, not to participate in the "gun fights" held therein -- something else drew me in -- building. Second Life provides a very rich environment for constructing objects from basic, mutable shapes called prims. I quickly began constructing swords, jetpacks, guns, and anything else that could come to mind. Building these structures was a blast, but these structures were "dumb;" the extent of their interaction with the world was their ability to be attached to my avatar. This led to my discovery of Second Life's scripting capabilities.

    Scripting the structures was like giving them souls (so to speak), engendering in them an ability to interact with their surroundings. My enjoyment for scripting quickly surpassed my enjoyment for building. It was a very fun experience; I would construct objects, give them "minds" or other teenagers on the site would hire me to give their objects minds. In the end I received a new appreciation for programming, through this virtual sandbox. Later in high school, after I had taken a C programming class for fun, I decided that SW development is what I want to do. Ever since, I have been enjoying learning about new technologies, languages and methodologies and I hope to share some of these here.

    "What about math?" you may ask. Well, the story of my experiences with math is simpler: I have been doing it since I was a small child and it has never ceased to be fun, challenging, and exciting for me.