CS373 Fall 2021: Mark Grubbs
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Marble Falls, Texas.
What high school did you attend?
I attended Marble Falls High School.
What was your favorite extracurricular activity in high school?
My favorite extracurricular activity was competing in UIL competitions. I enjoyed traveling to other schools around Texas and learning about ways to solve problems in ways that would be more competitively viable, even if neither my teammates nor I were the best at it. I competed in mostly STEM competitions like Computer Science and the different mathematical competitions, but I also did a little bit of Spelling, too.
Why did you come to UT?
I came to UT because my mom made me.
Why are you majoring in CS?
I like Computer Science due to the great amount of connections it has to other studies. I see that the connections are continuing to grow rapidly as time goes on due to the need to create and connect with others individuals across countries and continents. Also, I want to make games, and I mostly think logically, so working on the programming to make games interests me the most.
Why are you in this class?
I am in this class since I require a Writing Flag to graduate. However, I also enjoyed the way that Glenn Downing taught in a previous class.
What are your expectations of this class?
I have never done web programming, so, by the end of this course, I hope to better understand how to program on the web. I also hope to bolster my understanding of writing code in Python since I did not formally learn it.
How much JavaScript/Python/SQL/Web programming do you already know?
I only know some Python, though I was not taught the language directly. I just had to learn it on the spot for another CS course.
How did you like the first lectures?
The first lectures felt similar to the first lectures that I experienced in CS 371G. I felt they were good, but I hope that we can fit more into a class period since, in comparison to my CS 371G class, there is half as much time per class period to fit everything of a lesson.
How did you feel about the cold calling?
I had Professor Downing over the summer, so cold calling is pretty normal to me. It felt just as natural in the past two lectures as I had felt them when they became more natural during my past class.
What made you happy this week?
I got a game and beat it. The game is called ‘Noita.’
What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
AMD is developing an AM5 socket for their next processors. This news has been out for about a few months by now, but I just recently saw this this week and read about it. With quicker processors that also have more threads, this will surely speed up software should programmers adjust to using the extra processing power that will be in the hands of consumers. Here is one link: