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Hacking linux boxes

Started by Schwinger Jun 21, 2007 at 2:22 PM 4 replies 600+ views
Original Post
Schwinger
Schwinger
Hi! This is not my first post, I've been browsing and posting on Gamedev for a number of years, but my old user name gave away my identity. Next year I will be entering MIT as a freshmen undergraduate to study Computer Science and Brain and Cognitive Sciences, with the intention to go into Computational Neuroscience research. Seeing as I'm going into CS and I want to excel, I recognize there is a lot of stuff I can do now. I already know quite a few programming languages in depth, but have had little experience with Linux. I thought I'd setup a dual boot with fedora core. Now that I've done that, I am thinking what kinds of stuff I should learn so I can eventually become a proficient linux hacker. I'm thinking to learn Emacs, already know TeX. What other kinds of stuff can I learn over the summer? Any advice on how to do well at the CS dept there?
Programmer One
Programmer One
That all depends on how you define "Linux hacker."

Hardware-level hacker?
Software hacker?
Kernel hacker?
Network hacker?
Security hacker?

Et al.
Schwinger
Schwinger
I mean mainly software. But I really mean I just want to be proficient with a lot of different tools, and utilities, not just for linux. Like right now I'm learning how to use Matlab. I learned how to use GNUPlot a while back (which is one damn good piece of software). So I'm trying to get acquainted with and learn the basics for a lot of useful stuff (so I don't get caught off guard when everyone else knows that stuff).
MDI
MDI
Quote:
Original post by Schwinger
Any advice on how to do well at the CS dept there?


I know this is an oft-repeated mantra here on GDnet, but this question and the rest of your post don't really follow.

It isn't necessary to have used Linux before to excel in a CS department, nor Matlab, nor TeX. If you really want to excel, I suggest you pick up a book on discrete mathematics, do some reading to familiarise yourself with what you'll be taught in the first year, then go out and enjoy your summer before your degree starts.

Too much work makes Jack a dull boy.
Schwinger
Schwinger
Quote:
Original post by MDI
Quote:
Original post by Schwinger
Any advice on how to do well at the CS dept there?


I know this is an oft-repeated mantra here on GDnet, but this question and the rest of your post don't really follow.

It isn't necessary to have used Linux before to excel in a CS department, nor Matlab, nor TeX. If you really want to excel, I suggest you pick up a book on discrete mathematics, do some reading to familiarise yourself with what you'll be taught in the first year, then go out and enjoy your summer before your degree starts.

Too much work makes Jack a dull boy.


I have self-studied their introductory CS course 6.001 (which is no longer being used) and have taken courses in graph theory and combinatorics. I've started browsing CLRS's Introduction to Algorithms.

Obviously I'm doing much more this summer, but the goal of all this is so that I can start doing some awesome research projects there. It won't help me excel in classes per say to learn this random stuff, but I do think that a lot of this stuff isn't the type of thing you learn in the classroom, and so far the stuff I've learned has increased my productivity quite a bit (especially TeX and GNUPlot).

Thanks for the guide Ravuya, I found it pretty funny.

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