Bits of change Computer science is a changing landscape. The truths and limitations of today may not necessarily hold for the next. The rate at which new innovations in computer science are developed is dizzying, and this is an exciting yet somewhat humbling fact. The rapid advancements within computer science allow not only for computers […]
Category Archives: Academics
Lost in Boelter: External applications
Computer science, by itself, is irrelevant. Of course, you could generalize that argument to all fields of study, but at least when you study biology, even if you don’t apply it somewhere, you understand how cells and organisms, including yourself, function. However, with computer science, it does you no good to learn how to program […]
Lost in Boelter: The Hottest Network Security Trick
Contrary to conventional wisdom, you can’t burn yourself by touching a firewall. Most of our everyday encounters with firewalls usually don’t go beyond scouring Google for a way to bypass them so that we can stream our movies. But the truth about firewalls is that they are critical to keeping organizations – and individual users […]
Lost in Boelter: Computer science demands perseverance more than perfection
Computer science is not for the faint-hearted. I learned that fact the hard way last week. I had been working on a major project for my computer science class for the past two weeks. I had completed nearly everything the 56-page project specification required, but a single task managed to lay beyond my reach. After […]
Lost in Boelter: Packet passer
“404 Page Not Found.” “Unable to connect.” “Unable to join the network.” If you’ve ever tried accessing a website that didn’t exist or tried surfing the Internet while not connected to a network, you probably met a distant cousin of one of the above network error messages. In this day and age, where everything from […]
Lost in Boelter: Understanding coding languages
The world of computers revolves around code. Everything that we do with a computer, from booting it up to browsing the internet, is facilitated by collections of computer code files that are packaged into single, functioning units known as software applications – software, for short. Problems solved using computers are implemented algorithmically with computer code. […]
Lost in Boelter: Demystifying computer science
Editor’s note: Opinion columnist Keshav Tadimeti has a few words to say about computer science at UCLA. This is the first in a weekly blog series explaining the ins and outs of what’s taught in Boelter Hall. My name is Keshav Tadimeti. I am an American-born Asian Indian. I also happen to be a computer […]