Samuel Liew’s Blog

I haven’t been blogging because I have been busy lately with end-of-semester assignments and studying for upcoming exams. Anyway, I have posted my progress on my website.

I have been spending a lot of time doing my SETM assignment, and I’m making good progress because I found a similar program that I could use to help check my code logic. Now I got one more part left – to decode the hex code to instructions, so that I can program the metrics part. I’m trying to finish it by today, so I have time for the other three assignments.

This morning the lecturer was unhappy at everyone in the lab because nobody did his favourite question from the previous lab, even though we had one month to do it. Only me and another guy did it. The lecturer said he will put that lab question in the final exam.

Yesterday I submitted my SS assignment. Also got back the results of the FCS test during the lecture =/ didn’t do too well or too badly >.< above average but was lower than my expectations. Actually everyone’s expectations – the average score was 53/100 in the class, fourteen out of forty people failed. Guess the lecturer was a bit too strict on the marking, and the questions were almost all open-ended – completely NO multiple-choice questions.

I stayed up all night trying to understand and do today’s HF lab, and only went to sleep at 4:30am. Woke up ten minutes before the lecture and was almost late. Luckily I’m staying near uni… Anyway, the lab was really hard, only managed to get to halfway in the two hours. My lab mate and I decided to attend the make-up lab lesson at the end of the semester to complete the other half.

Today I got back my SETM assignment… didn’t do that well, but I passed!

In this assignment, I have to program a software that uses the Simple-DES (Data Encryption Standard) algorithm to encrypt and decrypt plain text file.

I just completed it. Have spent the past few days cramming to complete it, as I encountered several problems that were very difficult to fix.

More about the assignment, my report and program sources are available on the newly-created school page.

I have added a new page for my uni projects, so you can see what I’m doing (reports, programs, etc.)

It is accessible from the navigation bar on the left.
http://www.samliew.com/school.php

SETM assignment due tomorrow. Actually today already. Managed to complete the report on time (phew!). Lucky got an extension and last minute I got inspiration   Later can relax and go town for shopping and R&R.

The next two weeks are term break, however I still have the software security assignment deadline coming up, and I haven’t started =/

Oh yea, just found out today that although my prepaid card don’t have any credit left, I still can receive incoming calls/smses, and I can send out sms from the telco’s website. That means I can save money hahas…

Wow, at O-Day today, I managed to get a lot of free stuff and went for free food handouts. The stuff I got includes instant noodle packs, bottles drinks, pens, highlighters, notepads, files, discount coupons, which came in semi-cloth bags (I got 5 of those). I went around the place a few times, getting the freebies from the different booths, before stuffing them into my bag. I also signed up for student guild membership, tennis social sessions, and ComSSA.

I was in school for the computing workshop and orientation today. Mostly learnt the basics on how to navigate the unix environment, and a bit on intro to the binary system. Didn’t have much time for lunch, so I grabbed a chicken pie.

I went to buy some groceries after the class today, and got bread eggs butter cheese and instant noodles; just the basics. I was given change in coins, which are VERY heavy! Just AUD$4 in coins weighs about a kilogram!

The past few days has been hectic and stressful but thank God they are now sorted out.

Firstly, I had cancelled my on-campus housing and now I am sharing a house with a few others. This is because the on-campus housing had to pay additional for use of facilities and services like washing clothes, internet connection, etc. Now I’m paying the same rent for the off-campus rental, and getting a much better deal. It is better furnished, has internet connection, nearer to the grocery shop, and the people that I’m sharing the house with are also friendly, and are Chinese/asians. Luckily was able to get back the deposit I paid for the on-campus housing without any trouble too. This place is about 10 mins walk to the school, which is slightly further than the on-campus housing.

Secondly, as I have credits from my poly diploma, my schedule is not as straightforward. I found that out when I tried to enrol for my course. I had to spend lots of time discussing with the course coordinator about the units that I am exempted from doing, and plan what I need to take, and only managed to enrol for my course on the second day as there were several changes made. After that, when I have to go online and choose slots for the classes (can pick when I want the lessons if there are more than one available timing), there was a clash in a lecture and a lab lesson. The lecture only had one slot, so it is compulsory, and other slots for the lab lesson were completely full. This was because I was taking modules from the first, second and third year of the course. If I didn’t get exempted and did the full three years course, this wouldn’t have happened. I talked with the class coordinator for the lab lessons, and she made arrangements for me to attend an another already full class.

Thirdly, while doing the above two, I went to do other misc. stuff for my studies. I had to arrange with another person to take a lift to the shopping centre and get supplies. This took up quite some time too. I couldn’t do any shopping after 5pm here as all the shops close around 5pm. I also opened a bank account, attend some of the orientation events and explored the campus.

Links to keep updated on what I am doing:
My Google Calendar (I have put my school timetable on it)
My Google Map (of my uni, house location, places of interests)
My Blog
Photo of where I’m staying at now (courtesy of Google Maps)

I didn’t have much time to take photos, but will post them on facebook when I take any.