I studied Elec. Eng. at UNSW starting in 1978. When I graduated I worked there as a Professional Officer for a couple of years.
I was a student in John's class - probably about 1979 or so - and I remember full-well most of us being thrown into the deep-end with the UNIX source code book and commentary. Few of us students knew C - we were taught in Pascal - and John said "Don't worry about that" and dived right into the UNIX kernel. We learnt fast.
It certainly was the biggest program any of us had ever read. I remember a colleague after several weeks of reading through the source code in lectures and tutorials turning to me and saying "Where does it (UNIX) ever get time to do anything !?" It took a lot of intense study before you got to the first context switch.
The books were certainly in hot demand on the black market and I think John was up on all the tricks. A colleague tried to get a copy for a friend who was not doing the course. John said, "You mean to say that they broke into your car and all they stole was your UNIX source code book ? Sorry, you will have to share with someone else this session".
I remember the following year lending my books to a colleague doing the course and regretting not getting them back. Eventually I got a photocopied version as a replacement.
I remember once staying up all night doing a tutorial. Next day, I go into John's lecture and he says, "If you haven't handed in your assignment it is too late now". After all that work I was pretty pissed off so I decided straight after the lecture I would go up to his office and slip it under his door. When I went up, there were already a whole bunch of other people's tutorials already marked sitting in an old line printer paper box. I was about to slip mine under the door when I decided I better knock just in case someone was there. I knocked and to my surprise John was in there (how did he beat me up the stairs out of the lecture ?) and he called "Come in". I was dumbfounded and decided to lie. "Ehhh... I just got my tutorial out of the box out front and it hadn't been marked...". John was most apologetic "Oh, I am sorry, I must have missed it. I'll do it right now. I am so sorry". He marked it on the spot and I got a good grade. For a young punk student versus the establishment my little lie seemed like a real coup and brought about much laughter in the student common room when I told them.
His course and those run by Graham Hellestrand also at UNSW were probably the most loved/hated depending on your perspective. The courses those guys ran were very practical and I really thrived on and appreciated them.
I enjoyed Rachel's story and it had an interesting perspective.
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I studied Elec. Eng. at UNSW starting
... I just got my tutorial out of ...".
in 1978. When I graduated I worked there
as a Professional Officer for a couple of years.
I was a student in John's class - probably about
1979 or so - and I remember full-well most of us
being thrown into the deep-end with the UNIX
source code book and commentary. Few of us students
knew C - we were taught in Pascal - and John said
"Don't worry about that" and dived right into the
UNIX kernel. We learnt fast.
It certainly was the biggest program any of us
had ever read. I remember a colleague
after several weeks of reading through the source
code in lectures and tutorials turning to me and
saying "Where does it (UNIX) ever get time to do
anything !?" It took a lot of intense study before you
got to the first context switch.
The books were certainly in hot demand on the black
market and I think John was up on all the tricks.
A colleague tried to get a copy for a friend
who was not doing the course. John said, "You mean
to say that they broke into your car and all they stole
was your UNIX source code book ? Sorry, you will
have to share with someone else this session".
I remember the following year lending my books to
a colleague doing the course and regretting not
getting them back. Eventually I got a photocopied
version as a replacement.
I remember once staying up all night doing a tutorial.
Next day, I go into John's lecture and he says, "If you
haven't handed in your assignment it is too late now".
After all that work I was pretty pissed off so I decided
straight after the lecture I would go up to his office
and slip it under his door. When I went up, there were
already a whole bunch of other people's tutorials
already marked sitting in an old line printer paper
box. I was about to slip mine under the door when I
decided I better knock just in case someone was there.
I knocked and to my surprise John was in there
(how did he beat me up the stairs out of the lecture ?)
and he called "Come in". I was dumbfounded and decided
to lie. "Ehhh
the box out front and it hadn't been marked
John was most apologetic "Oh, I am sorry, I must have
missed it. I'll do it right now. I am so sorry".
He marked it on the spot and I got a good grade.
For a young punk student versus the establishment
my little lie seemed like a real coup and brought
about much laughter in the student common room
when I told them.
His course and those run by Graham Hellestrand also
at UNSW were probably the most loved/hated depending on your
perspective. The courses those guys ran were very
practical and I really thrived on and appreciated them.
I enjoyed Rachel's story and it had an interesting
perspective.