For a fair amount of time, I have been interested in functional programming, especially because of Lean, theorem proving, and formal languages in general.
But I did not really get into it for a long time, and the reason was pretty simple.
As the winter quarter is about to wrap up, I feel the need to talk about one of my favorite classes this quarter — and honestly, one of my favorite classes overall: Computer Graphics.
It was Friday when my dear friend Gasser told me that he wanted my help cooking Iftar for tomorrow, Saturday.
I really like zero-calorie drinks, and I am not totally sure why. If I had to guess, it is because my parents banned them when I was younger because of the caffeine. That logic never fully made sense to me, since plenty of non-zero-calorie drinks also have caffeine. The ban just made them feel “special,” and now I clearly over-correct.
There is a good Arabic saying for this:
الممنوع مرغوب
What is banned is wanted
I keep thinking I will never be good at powerlifting.
Not in the fake-humble way. I mean it in the way where I watch someone move a weight like it is nothing, and I am still fighting the same rep I fought months ago. I still miss commands sometimes. I still doubt my technique mid-set. I still have days where the bar feels heavier than it should.
But I still do it.
I use Python with OCI because I want infra work to feel repeatable instead of “console clicking until it works.” The OCI console and CLI are fine, but Python is where I can package the boring parts: inventory, guardrails, and a clean summary.
If you know me personally, you might now that I work at University of Chicago Computer Science Instructional Laboratory (CSIL). Do I like working there? Absolutely. I feel like I did well, learnt a lot, accomplished more and made CSIL better for the staff and users. I play a huge role in almost all deployments, debugging any problem and try to help everyone, even if they don’t ask for it. I became the person people depend on a lot.
Why you might ask?