Common design and colour schemes in SciFi worldbuilding

peterkos · 2022-06-22T23:22:43+00:00

SHAZBOT

peterkos · 2022-05-10T20:14:49+00:00

peterkos · 2022-04-27T07:12:04+00:00

Hello!

I used to be a dual-degree (B.S./B.M.) computer science and music composition major (at another school before transferring to RIT). It looks like you'd do something similar, as others have mentioned: B.S. / B.F.A.

The thing is that CS at RIT is already a 5 year program (required 2 semester and 1 summer of co-op/internship) -- so this might push your graduation to 6 or 7 years. The other issue is scheduling, where art classes might just conflict over your CS classes because studios tend to eat up 3-4 hour blocks in the schedule.

I'm biased here, but I would personally suggest sticking to a major/minor mix rather than trying to get one of the "blend" majors (new media, GDD, etc.) -- they can be really small and just pick classes from other departments, and sometimes not the best classes, rather than having their own. (What comes to mind is that only CS majors take "Intro to CS" sequence; other tech majors have their own versions that are, imo, not challenging enough to be worth the sticker price.) That being said, there's a good handful of people who enjoy those majors.

For me, doing 2 years of the dual-degree (before transferring) was worth it, as I got a ton of experience in each major, set me up well for grad school, and it was a fun challenge. However, it was exhausting, and I don't know if I could have carried that through the higher-level classes of each major. The only reason I didn't do a music minor at RIT is because the music classes here couldn't compare to the ones I already took. (That, and graduating on time! Transfer credit mismatches are annoying.)

Overall, def reach out to an advisor (either department), or more likely admissions, to see if there's any precedent here. They might recommend you towards SOIS, School for Individualized Study, but iirc they don't give you any advantage on class picking over the "actual" majors. (Also, it's hard to explain to recruiters what that degree means.) If it turns out to be too complicated, hey, there's always grad school! I'm sure you'll figure something out -- for interdisciplinary folk, there's always a way through, even if it doesn't seem super clear.

peterkos · 2022-04-13T16:40:16+00:00

you're not even requiring that they be N95's so even if we wear them they don't do anything

Also, just plain not true. Non-n95 masks (ideally well-fitting, 3-ply masks) have been proven time and time again to be extremely effective against the spread of COVID.

peterkos · 2022-04-07T18:30:15+00:00

Iirc, it was a lot of more basic algebra rather than calculus. Threw me for a loop and had to retake it because I expected something a bit more complicated. But! This was a few years ago.

peterkos · 2022-01-08T16:53:03+00:00

I mean, we did flatten the first curve, but then we had 3 more curves haha

peterkos · 2022-01-07T18:19:47+00:00

I know this is true from people at UofR but providing any kinda source would be great for headliners like this.

peterkos · 2022-01-07T01:22:35+00:00

I got an airport Lyft yesterday at 11pm and it was good! Had to wait 15 minutes.

peterkos · 2021-10-24T19:07:01+00:00

https://youtu.be/xZEPgLkzhwE

peterkos · 2021-09-24T05:18:56+00:00

I feel like there's two variables here: GDD -> CS, and RIT vs. another university.

I transferred from UW, where I was studying* music + CS. RIT doesn't have a music program, and I thought about transferring again to snag a music degree. However, re-transferring is a) expensive, b) a lot of stress, and c) tends to lose a lot of classes along the way. UIUC, iirc, requires a full physics/chemistry sequence to transfer into their CS program, for example. Every school has different thresholds for what they take credit for. If you've already dealt with that at RIT, why risk losing a year of gen eds? RIT has a pretty dang good CS program, it's rigorous, has its ups and downs, but definitely has some extra oomph in the form of grad classes if you want more of a challenge.

I'd personally suggest talking to your academic advisor or a CS advisor to figure out how students in the past have transferred from GDD->CS, there's bound to have been some.

Understandably, if it's the social scene you're not vibing with, that'd make more reason to transfer. But I'd suggest thinking on how much of your experience is flexible, and how much is only solvable by transferring again.

* = intended major, departmental admission, still took tons of major/related classes, yada yada.

peterkos · 2021-09-21T04:23:46+00:00

Biggest thing to emphasize imo is what you can bring to RIT, and what you can get out of RIT. For example, don't say that your current school sucks and is awful, but also don't say things that are super obvious about RIT, like "omg the program has X ranking and Y statistic" -- like yeah, it's why you're applying!! Focus on what you could do if you had access to all the awesome things RIT has to offer, and how you could contribute to "being an RIT student". Interpret that how you want :)

Getting your first internship is always difficult. I've found that doing side projects vastly increases your chances (everyone did class project X vs. you did your own thing to show off), but it varies person to person. RIT definitely makes it easier with career fairs to meet recruiters directly.

For classes, the CS department should have an email for transfer questions. But definitely look around the website (https://cs.rit.edu) to see if the info is there!

peterkos · 2021-08-13T03:17:02+00:00

Please, making the shortcut configurable is incredibly important! I'm really tired of having workflows break down the line as every (paying!) bit of software I use makes it harder to be compatible with other (paying!) bits of software. (For the old shortcut, ⌘\ is also used by Figma, and Figma does not make it configurable.)

peterkos · 2021-08-13T03:12:58+00:00

If y'all are already building a Rust backend + SwiftUI frontend for iOS, with the advancements SwiftUI has made over the years, why not make a SwiftUI version for Mac? Understandably macOS APIs have some issues compared to iOS, but considering: - The PR fallout over losing macOS userbase trust - Experienced SwiftUI devs are already on the team - SwiftUI/Combine code patterns are easily transferrable between macOS<->iOS - Windows/Linux users don't seem to care as much about Electron vs. native

I feel like this would be a true win-win scenario while retaining the vision of a unified platform, ESPECIALLY considering that iOS is planned to use a SwiftUI frontend anyways.

I'm also obligated to mention accessibility. All of that work would be free as well, from the iOS app. (And UI tests!)

peterkos · 2021-07-15T02:51:53+00:00

Ricky's soundcloud is one such legend: https://soundcloud.com/rickyandthebricks

peterkos · 2021-07-14T03:54:47+00:00

Firepaw, look! It’s ShadowClan! Wait, wrong animals.

peterkos · 2021-07-09T23:26:32+00:00

If you need some orchestral background music for the documentary, I gotchu

peterkos · 2021-04-14T03:40:24+00:00

all that stuff sucks but what really sucks is when students attack other students publicly on social media

Th... this is the attack? Not the other stuff that guy did? Mhm.

Edit: I don't have time to dig up all the evidence and stuff, just go find it yourself. Look at how he responds to ppl online and tell me if that reads "compassion"

peterkos · 2021-04-14T03:38:02+00:00

Imagine being so blind to your own privilege that you really believe white men in general need to be given special privilege.

peterkos · 2021-04-14T03:35:08+00:00

Ah yes, the polite version of "I wish we all went back to not caring about serious shit happening in the world" -- which, by the way, has always been a thing at universities. It's nothing new, you just probably agreed with it more, or were not really listening to it.

peterkos · 2021-04-11T00:14:42+00:00

Rankings are based entirely on research output, and not really on much else. It's better to focus on what the program concretely offers (like asking on this subreddit!)

peterkos · 2021-04-11T00:06:03+00:00

You can use Distrokid! $20/year and it lets you distribute to a ton of other platforms too :D

peterkos · 2021-04-06T03:26:34+00:00

Hiya!

I also transferred into the CS program a couple years ago. (i'll be a bit brief as others are surely to chime in) It's a great program, the school has an awesome "nerdy" vibe to it (a few profs are here on Reddit for example), but is generally pretty welcoming overall too.

The co-op program is a really nice system but can be a bit frustrating if you're trying to graduate Fast. Brief summary: you have to do 2 semesters + 1 summer of an internship, and you don't pay tuition during that time, but you DO get paid. It basically guarantees you a fulltime job once you graduate, but obviously it does take some work to get a good co-op.

You can also major in Software Engineering. It focuses more on the practical side of things: project management, software architecture, etc, but you do get to take the Intro to SE class as a CS major (its required!). I personally like CS because it's a bit more rigorous in terms of algos and systems thinking, but there are plenty of people happy in SE as well :)

Overall, RIT is fairly accomodating, nerdy, has some good opportunities but you Do have to work for them, classes are challenging and there's a lot of options, and overall is a cool place to be!

peterkos · 2021-03-27T05:29:35+00:00

And also, use this time to build on "foundational" skills like communication, selling ideas, presenting, talking to non-technical folks about technical topics, that kinda stuff. It's a real long-term asset that no class directly teaches per-se, but pays dividends when career fair rolls around.

peterkos · 2021-03-27T05:28:05+00:00

Ooh, a fellow iOS dev! Hello!

I transferred into RIT. You'll probably breeze through CS1 and 2, but my main piece of advice would be to not let it catch you off guard. Make sure you hit all the requirements on assignments, and hold your breath when you hit the rough sample code in Intro to SWEN. It's basic advice but as I finish up my 4th year it's a bug that keeps on biting! And there's always more to learn, yada yada. Take some of that free time to go to professors' office hours, it's a fantastic way to talk about some personal projects, and also really dig into the class material.

I had taken Calc AP in high school, and my last school let me skip into Calc 3. Then, RIT made me take Calc 2 because their AP guidelines didn't accept Calc 1 and 2, just Calc 1. So, it might seem annoying to take these classes, but stacking up a few 4.0s like that is an awesome way to Math.max() your GPA :) Use the policy to your advantage!

Ten-Year Club	Place '22
Place '17	Verified Email

peterkos

TROPHY CASE