one last hurdle
I’m so close to being done with this semester; my last final is in 30 minutes. This is a doubtful one: it’s in EM, so all the stuff from earlier this semester is foggy in my mind. And I haven’t been able to bring myself to do practice problems– I’ve done them all before though, so I think I’m familiar enough with them. Of course that is rather lazy thinking of me though: if that is so true, then why would I need to study at all?
For the past couple of days, I’ve been visiting the library and checking out at least one book. The repression that I’ve undergone with respect to personal time is expressing itself with a vengeance: I have a backlog of projects to work on and books to read over the winter break. So much so that if I did everything I have vaguely in mind of doing, I would get very little sleep.
One of the books I picked up today is on automated graph layout. Unfortunately, it is one of those review of research software type books, instead of an actual introduction to the field; however, I should be able to glean some useful knowledge from the algorithmic sections of the chapters (each chapter is about a particular software package). I’m considering attempting an automated circuit layout program for my senior design project, but the more I think about it the more impossible that seems. I’ll attempt it anyhow, because I have nothing better to do. And who knows, maybe I’ll come up with a fantastic algorithm that actually gives reasonable results, without relying on a static library of common circuit configurations, or something equally inelegant and rigid.