new sem plans

[Aastha Mehta]

Hey folks,

What's the plan for the new semester?

Aastha

--
Aastha Mehta
B.E. (Hons.) Computer Science
BITS Pilani
E-mail: aast...@gmail.com

[Ramakrishna Reddy Kunreddy]

Hi,

Now ASIG is an official group of CSA .. its no more an informal SIG :) . CSA has even introduced a post called SIG coordinator (Ambarisha) dedicated to handle the activities of ASIG. Once the CSA recruitment process is over we will definitely chalk out a plan and share the details soon.

In my opinion its better to include only 3rd and 4th yea-rites in ASIG . Because many of the first and second yearites had expressed that many of the things discussed in previous ASIG sessions were over and above their head during CSA Review meets. For first and second yearites any how CSA introduced mentoring sessions.

@Pranav , Ambarisha  whats your say on this ??

Thank you.

--
Ramakrishna Reddy K, 

M.E. Computer Science,

Android Mobile Computing Research Group Lead,

SDETU,BITS-Pilani,Rajasthan.

[Vineet Pandey]

All ears to what Mihir, Pranav and other psenti-semites have to say :)

Vineet

[Pranav Agarwal]

I'm not sure how much ASIG is going to help in the 1st semester. I personally feel ASIG was helpful to me in the 2nd Semester bcoz first of all, i had done Operating Systems and secondly, i did read the papers myself (which is a bigger factor). But in terms of ASIG, we need to be clear what all things needs to be done and what all we discuss because if we are having it in the 1st Semester and there are several 3rd year'ites, the discussion should start with basic OS ad not Advanced OS, otherwise, we can start with advanced OS, detailed topics like Scheduling, Virtual Memory etc.

What are your views?

Pranav

[Rishabh Mehrotra]

The point regarding Advanced topics for 2nd sem is valid because not much has changed for the nonactive -ASIG people,we still don't know OS. Having said that, we still can have sessions on basic OS this semester itself which, at bare minimum, makes transition into advanced topics in the 2nd semester a lot easier. 

Also I am thinking of the fact that Pranav bhaiya, Mihir & Ramakrishna bhaiya won't be there next semester. 

If new entrants are ready to devote time and effort this semester itself then we should have it. As a new entrant I am definitely in.

--
Rishabh Mehrotra
BITS Pilani.

[Vineet Pandey]

You start off with advanced stuff and no one joins you in first sem and as a result no one comes in second sem. You have to pace it out and have a good mix of normal concepts as well as some advanced ones from time to time. I mean, a psenti-semite can run through scheduling algorithms in one hour, something which takes a month in OS classes, and even provide resources from net and examples from unix kernel. 

And there have to be a lot of things out there which are neither simply basic or advanced, but just new for everyone involved which puts people at same footing. 

vineet

On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 12:08 PM, Pranav Agarwal <meetpr...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Vineet Pandey]

Just looking at the objectives of ASIG, it's not just to understand an OS inside out (everything goes down to a granularity for which no one has time) but also to keep up with all the interesting things that are happening in the field which might not be very advanced in the first place. This makes it very loose but I'll give two examples at extreme ends:

• What is a filesystem? When do you define a set of rules for organizing data into files as a filesystem? It's an almost meta-CS question I came across here: http://communities.netapp.com/community/netapp-blogs/dave/blog/2008/12/08/is-wafl-a-filesystem (Sorry for being NetApp centric here) One can have pseudo-intellectual discussion on this for fun and still come out learning something. All this best happens on mail. 
• Mergers and Acquisitions. Why does a particular technology company buy another one? What has been happening with regards to companies which work in the areas ASIG attacks. (This sounds stupid for a tech forum as such, but learning done in isolation from how the industry actually functions (what factors it decides on) is a little lonesome)

Both of them are topics anyone with an open mind (and no OS knowledge) can be interested in to hear and contribute to. 

vineet

P.S: Rishabh's 'having said that' reminded me of this clip from my almost-favourite show Curb your enthusiasm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pgd2w0SQEYI I am guilty of saying the same as well. :)

[Aastha Mehta]

Shall reply by EOD.

[Aastha Mehta]

[We means people on the ASIG mailing list in this mail.]

Well, I am not able to think of a direct solution for the do-not-know-basics problem. Here is some other idea.

The people who have finished their CDCs are now aware of the basics. Some of them have also been into ASIG and so have studied the concepts not taught in OS lecs. Maybe we could initiate some project. Either a short term or a long term one. Most of us have seen websites of faculty of foreign universities. They work on long term projects. People come and go. Each one contributes to the project a bit. The mentors are always available, although even they can change. So, the idea is that we pool in our brain cells, and try to design a project. We write down the project idea, prepare a design doc and stuff. Then, if required involve a faculty for guidance. And involve others for implementation purpose, or if we have time, divide it among ourselves. Even by getting involved in the coding, the freshers can get to learn about the project. And they will feel less intimidated by the lack of knowledge of basics.

We can keep most of the working on web itself, so that geography doesn't become a constraint. Also it might help to sustain the project.

RFC,

Aastha.

[Vineet Pandey]

Sounds too idealistic and long-drawn a process. It would have made more sense we did the brainstorming in the hols. For now, what might work is having a vague idea that: topic xyz is what we want to understand by the end of sem (alongside drinking chai and having fun and discussing seemingly irrelevant things as well). Too serious and people drop off (too little serious and the serious people find a way anyways).

vineet