CST334 - Week 1 Reflection


Week 1 Learning Reflection
        
        It is safe to say that Operating Systems has come on strong and fast with myriad moving pieces. Week 1 has seen me revisiting binary and hexadecimal number systems, C syntax, computer architecture (in a simultaneously and confoundingly more granular and universal way than the class that goes by that name), PowerShell, Docker, WSL, Linux, and surely more to be revealed. This is what I wanted! By way of lectures, Professor Ogden provided a profound lore dump on the history of operating systems and why C is such a vastly powerful language that lives within all major computer systems. This was a great diving board moment into the pool where Linus Torvalds concocted Linux from a guy who concocted a book on making an OS from Unix which is its own series of inspirations and concoctions eventually leading all the way back to Alan Turing. Other memorable moments from lectures included discussing memory hierarchy, where Prof Ogden calculated in real time that the magnetic disk is "a million times bigger and ten million times slower" than the registers as higher layers are faster but costlier per bit. I also found calling the CPU "a very stupid thing that needs very clear instructions" highly entertaining. The reading is dense but compelling in its own way as discussing concurrency, virtualization, and how operating systems function and are designed is proving to hold quite a bit of mystique and wonder in its own right. This week's assignments commanded hands-on attention to C programming, Docker commands, PowerShell commands, and understanding of the textbook material. Simultaneously employing code and commands while maintaining acknowledgement of computer resources is a welcomed next step in the Computer Science journey.

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