In my first Data Structures class I was assigned a project where I was required to gather input from a user and then operate on that input to evaluate a mathematical expression. While I was writing the program I discovered how to dynamically allocate memory for an array of characters input from stdin. While I ended up abandoning the technique becuase it wasn’t going to work in that specific project, I wanted to document it here so I wouldn’t forget about it and so that others could benefit from my small insight.
All posts by Dominic
It’s never too early & it’s never too late, not to decide what your priority is, but to constantly reevaluate what your priority is. The trick lies in knowing that everyday you spend awake slightly alters your priorities and perceptions. Once you can acknowledge that, you’re truly free to control your priorities instead of constantly trying to live by them.
I was recently asked “If you could design a woman fit for Dom, what would the personality traits, looks, etc be?“
This was my answer:
First and foremost she would have a completely open mind. She would be both willing and eager to question everything and be dying to discuss those questions with me. She would have a completely silly sense of humor, amused by the smallest and corniest things. She would be tolerant of others and not pass judgement on people. She would be more concerned with what she could do for someone else before she did something for herself. She would read to expand her understanding as much as she reads for enjoyment (basically she would be smarter than me). This will prob sound weird but she would wear a baseball cap. For two reasons, because for some reason I find it irresistible, and because she would never be concerned with “how her hair looked.” She would rather just pull it through the back of a cap and get on with her day. She would wear shirts that showed just a little bit of skin around her belly button because she knows that I can’t concentrate when she does and she enjoys messing with me. She would somehow magically know when I feel like being alone and completely understand. She would enjoy just laying together on the couch watching a movie. If there were a woman that met these criteria then I would not care at all what she looked like, because I would not be able to keep from falling in love with her.
Home. So tired. I’ve been up for so long I’m not sure what the numbers on the clock mean anymore. They’ve become sequential wanderers without a purpose, marching towards an unknown destination. There’s a surreal feeling in my apartment tonight. Lights are off, the only sound floating in on the cool New York breeze crossing the barrier usually guarded by my window. I’ve been pouring the fundamentals of Calculus into my overcrowded brain non-stop for the past three days. Today was my midterm, the culmination of constant cramming since 7am yesterday morning. That’s 39 hours of limits, continuity, rules of differentiation and theorems that have all melded into an incoherent set of rules to operate on functions that I’m still not sure represent an ultimate purpose. Success has yet to be determined, as grades will not be posted for a few days.
As I slowly loose consciousness I am acutely aware of the mound of responsibilities that have patiently waited for this milestone to pass. The list of overdue activities stands at the door to tomorrow like a sentry charged with my imprisonment. I take solace in the fact that I have no escape and can therefore welcome the imminent veil of slumber without reservation or evasion.
Good night…
Alaska: Day One
After the outbound trip to Alaska, we were all anxious to get our adventure underway. We started with a trip from our hotel to my Aunt Margaret’s house so we could go to the Anchorage open air market that’s held every Saturday during the summer months. After that we drove to Chugach State Park to do a little kayaking on Eklunta Lake.
Alaska: Outbound
At 11:00 am on Friday June 15 my mother, her sister and I arrived at JFK to begin our long journey to America’s 49th state – Alaska. Although this trip was prompted by a death in the family, I was still more excited than I’d been in quite some time. The idea of the raw wilderness had my soul salivating for adventure, but we had a lot of travelling to do first.
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.
-Thomas Jefferson
Playing the Political Slots
The sociological influence wielded by the Native American tribes in the United States is profound to say the least. From government programs and subsidies to political lobbying, these tribes create opportunities for themselves that are unavailable to almost every other minority group in America. Money affords a special few Native American tribes access to an elevated status in the American political system, allowing those tribes to succeed while others languish in poverty.
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People Like Us
The PBS documentary People Like Us illuminates a lot of interesting points about class in America. It explains how we organize ourselves into “tribes” based on similar interests and levels of income. These tribes do not remain static over the course of our lives. As we grow and change, the members of our tribe also change. We join new tribes and leave old ones. More often than not these tribes are based on race and income level. Interestingly, Americans, while living in this dynamic class structure, refuse to acknowledge that it exists; clinging hopelessly instead to the false ideal of “American Equality” endlessly perpetuated by socialization.
An important theme discussed throughout the video was whether or not a person could move from one class to another. This is the idea of moving between social stratifications. While I believe that anyone can move between different classes, because things are only impossible until they’re not, it is very difficult and often the exception to the rule. The social class in which you are raised is such an integral part of your early socialization, it makes it extremely difficult to change those ingrained habits and beliefs to match those of a person raised in a higher (or even lower) class.
I think the ultimate lesson to be learned from this movie is that class, like time and the truth, is relative. We see what we are taught to see. Through the glasses of socialization, formed during childhood, we are conditioned with a view of the world that will forever control how we fit into it.
Class is experienced relative to the person observing it.
Those Poor Poor People
The poor never get a break…
