CS371p Spring 2020: Zelin Cui

First Entry

• Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Shanghai, China. My family moved to Katy, Texas when I was 15 years old.

• What high school did you go to?

I went to Seven Lakes High School in Katy, Texas.

• What was your favorite extracurricular activity in high school?

My favorite extracurricular activity in high school was the computer science club. I also enjoyed being a member of the UIL team and choir.

• Why did you come to UT?

I came to UT because UT has a very good computer science department and the tuition is cheap. It’s also close to where my family lives.

• Why are you majoring in CS?

I’m majoring in CS because I’ve been interested in coding since I was a child and I truly enjoy programming. Also I love Black Mirror so much that I hope I will actually realize some of the technologies from Black Mirror.

• Why are you in this class?

I am in this class because I want a third CS upper division class this semester and this class was the only class I could get in. I also wanted to take a programming-intensive class so that I don’t forget how to write codes. I look forward to learning more about C++.

• What are your expectations of this class?

I am hoping to learn more about object-oriented programming and tools that are useful to software engineers from this class. I’m also hoping to be able to program in C++ proficiently after this class. I am trying to expand my skill set as a future software developer and be more professional.

• How much C/C++/Java programming do you already know?

I just took CS439 last semester so I think I’m still relatively familiar with C since we did tons of programming in C in that class. I learned some C++ during my senior year of high school in a computer science class but I think I already forgot most of it. I’ve been programming in Java since I was a sophomore in high school and I consider Java as my most proficient coding language.

• How did you like the first couple of lectures?

I enjoyed the first two lectures. I thought the Docker thing is pretty cool and helpful. I think Professor Downing is a great lecturer and I like how he leads his students step by step to make sure that they understand everything he says.

• How did you feel about the cold calling?

I have no problems with it. I don’t think Professor Downing is the first professor I know that does cold calling. I just hope Professor Downing will know that I actually go by Peter and not my legal name Zelin because people can barely pronounce it right.And yes I know Zelin sounds like a cool name.

• What made you happy this week?

Seeing my friends again in my classes.

• What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

My pick-of-the-week is tumble22. It’s the best fried chicken place in Austin and the best fried chicken I’ve ever had in my entire life. You are missing out if you haven’t been there.