CS50

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After All of the Fun…

December 12, 2011 in Scott's Blog by Scott Yim | 1 comment

This weekend was one of the most eventful and exhausting couple of days I’ve had in a while. As I said in my last post, Friday, December 9 was the CS50 Fair, which was just as epic as I imagined it to be. There were final projects from over 600+ students on display, along with several corporate sponsors: Facebook, Microsoft, Dropbox, and Bridgewater, just to name a few. They were all giving out free swag, including iPhone cases, t-shirts, and sunglasses. My final project partner, Lina, and I presented our website to so many people throughout the course of the fair, and we got some great feedback. We also hunted down David Malan (CS50’s famous instructor) and showed him our project! I actually didn’t care if he was impressed with our project or not, as long as we got a picture with him. And we did! You know, he’s such a celebrity…I don’t think he realizes what a big deal he is. Before I took the class, I’d see him walking around campus and was tempted to ask for a photo, but I’m super glad I waited until he was actually my professor. It’s crazy to think that we’ve talked in person at office hours and exchanged email after email. I sound crazy. He’s just a normal person, I know. But he’s still a big deal and I’m glad I can cross him off the list of people I have to meet before I graduate. Perhaps I’ll write a post sometime devoted to all of these people…but I bet I’d sound even more crazy. How embarrassing. To wrap the conversation about CS50 up,  Lina and I agreed as we were leaving the fair that it had given us an unusually strong feeling of accomplishment that other classes haven’t quite given us thus far.

Lina, me, and our friend Jenny with David Malan!!

Lina, me, and our friend Jenny with David Malan!!

I spent Saturday sleeping and studying so I didn’t wear myself out before the Five House Formal at the House of Blues in Boston on Sunday evening. Reid’s band, The Nostalgics, was awesome and you can see pictures from the stage in her post from a few days ago! I had a +1 to the event, so I brought my friend Marianna, who lives in one of the houses that had their own separate formal on another evening. It was incredibly fun to see so many familiar faces all in one place. Typically, house formals are either independent of each other or occur together with one other house. Each house’s House Committee (HoCo), comprised of elected student representatives, plans each semester’s formal. Talking to my house’s outgoing Co-Chair, I learned that the communication and planning about the Five House Formal started all the way back in January. I think all the hard work was reflected in how much everyone loved the event.

Marianna and I before the Five House Formal!

Marianna and I before the Five House Formal!

All of the fun stuff is over for now because exams have begun. I actually had a final this morning. All that separates me from vacation and the second semester of my junior year is the Organic Chemistry exam! I have an entire week to devote to it, so I’m hoping all goes well. It’s eerily quiet on campus this time of year. People take longer to respond back to texts and emails, and some even go missing for entire evenings. In the midst of all the free time shelves being empty, I was able to snap a nice picture of the John Harvard statue without anyone else in the frame (a rarity!). Check it out below…it’s a nice change of pace, especially because I feel like I’ve been posting way too many pictures of myself lately!

The John Harvard Statue

The John Harvard Statue

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Hack, hack, hack!

December 7, 2011 in Scott's Blog by Scott Yim | 1 comment

Sorry that I’ve been missing in action for a few days; I’ve been busy working on a super special final project that I’m excited to tell you all about. The culmination of my semester-long programming efforts as a member of the Computer Science 50 (CS50) cult on campus is almost here. The course concludes with the CS50 Fair this Friday, December 9, which is a day-long event for the entire Harvard community from 11:30 am to 4:00 pm where students showcase their final projects. I’m working with my friend Lina on a website called HarvardConnect, which is a database we created, made up of Harvard undergraduate personal profiles. These profiles display contact information, as well as links to social media websites that the student is a part of.

The front page of my CS50 final project, HarvardConnect!

The front page of my CS50 final project, HarvardConnect!

Before the CS50 Fair, interested students are invited to participate in the CS50 Hackathon, which took place last Friday, December 2. The Hackathon is an all-night coding extravaganza with hundreds of students at the Microsoft N.E.R.D. building in Cambridge, MA. It was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had this semester. I know it sounds crazy…voluntarily staying up all night to program a project that isn’t due for another week. Initially, I thought I was going to be miserable…and sleepy! However, I decided to participate because everyone I talked to said it was absolutely necessary to get the full CS50 experience. And I’m so glad I did.

I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. The Microsoft facility was beautiful and modern looking, which was a nice change from all the brick on campus. When my classmates and I walked in, we were videotaped and given name tags to wear. In addition, we were told to “log in” online for a live stream of updates. I didn’t realize what a big deal this whole thing was, and the whole event was very grandiose. There was an endless supply of coffee, tea, and snacks, on top of pizza at 10:00 pm, Chinese takeout at 1:00 am, and, for those who were still standing at the end of the evening, IHOP breakfast at 5:00 am. Aside from the food, there were staff members walking around snapping photos and interviewing students on camera. It almost didn’t feel like real life because there was so much cool stuff happening that I couldn’t comprehend what was going on. There were surprises left and right, and it was definitely a lot to take in. I was exhausted when I got back around 7:30 am and slept away most of my Saturday morning, but I would do it all over again if I could.

Our friend, Alan, asleep at 4:00 am. He was so close to making it through the night!

Our friend, Alan, asleep at 4:00 am. He was so close to making it through the night!

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“You want to make sure you work for someone who inspires you.”

November 14, 2011 in Scott's Blog by Scott Yim | 1 comment

Simple advice, right? I thought about it, though, and it’s true. Well, at least I think so. This was something Mark Zuckerberg (or, “Zuck,” as his colleagues called him) said when he came to visit campus on Monday, November 7. The Office of Career Services (OCS) and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) sponsored the event, entitled “Facebook Q&A,” with Mark, as well as two of his colleagues, including Vice President of Engineering Mike Schroepfer. The talk was capped at 200 students, who all had to apply by submitting a resume to the OCS website. I couldn’t have been more excited when I opened my email and read: “Congratulations! You have been accepted to attend the Facebook Q&A session with CEO Mark Zuckerberg and VP of Engineering Mike Schroepfer.”

We were all encouraged to submit questions days beforehand, which were then compiled by the moderator, my CS50 professor David Malan. Mark said he didn’t start Facebook for money (today, his personal wealth amounts to $17.5 billion), nor did he think the website would become what it is today. He said his impetus for Facebook was simply because he thought it was cool. Despite reading about Mark being an unpleasant person in interviews, I found him to be a laid back guy. Who knows? He very well might be unfriendly in day-to-day life. However, he seemed affable and gave candid responses to everything Professor Malan asked him.

I left Farkas Hall inspired. It was 6:30 PM, and my face must have been beaming as I walked out because a reporter from the local news on NBC decided to pull me aside. Not that I didn’t enjoy the event, but I’m pretty sure I looked so happy because I was looking forward to dinner. Regardless, she was one of the most enthusiastic human beings I’ve encountered in my lifetime, and she asked me some questions about the event. My mom was especially excited that I would have my 5 seconds of fame on the local news.

It’s surreal to think about how Mark Zuckerberg was just one of us. I don’t want to put him on this giant pedestal because yes, I guess he is just like anyone else. He wears plain, (what appears to be) Hanes t-shirts (one of my favorite things) and your everyday athletic sneakers. See Mark looking like a typical human being below.

Mark Zuckerberg Visits Harvard

Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard for "Facebook Q&A"

But…what he’s accomplished is actually amazing. Today, Forbes Magazine cites him as the #9 Most Powerful Person in the World at the age of 27. It’s interesting to think that someone I walk by on any given day could very well be the next Mark. I think that’s pretty special. It’s one of the reasons why I love meeting new people here because everyone is so passionate and driven that you never know who will end up where. I feel just as fortunate as I do excited to be able to say I went to school with all of these people.

 

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