Hi from Canberra, Australia

[Ty]

Just thought I’d say hi   I’m starting my journey and will probably ask a bunch of questions before I’m through.  I expect this will be a pretty tough course since I have very little experience with hardware development.  However, I’m excited to learn about it.

I am a software engineer by education and a professional solution architect by employment; so I know my way around code and the tools for creating modern software.  Getting under the hood has been an aspiration for a little while and this course seems like a great starting point.

When I have questions, and I’m sure I will, I’ll try and be as clear and concise as I can.

[WBahn]

Welcome aboard.

If you have a strong programming background you are in a lot better position than the vast majority of students, who are only expected to have the equivalent of one semester using a high-level, preferably object-oriented, language. There is no expectation of any exposure to digital logic or low-level hardware.

A problem that you might have is reading too much into what is being asked. With your background, you are going to want to fill in gaps that the authors have intentionally steered clear of. For example, you will likely have a natural tendency to validate inputs and try to identify and handle errors in reasonable ways. The authors leave all of that off the table because this course is just too jam-packed that anything that isn't absolutely essential to completing the course objectives has to go. So they tell you to just assume that all of the input files are correct and move on.

Now, if you WANT to take on the extra stuff, that's all well and good. Just don't let it get in your way of making progress on what's important.

[Ty]

Excellent advice.  Thanks.

[Lozminda]

I'm just a fellow student (with probably much less computing experience than both of you).

Just to add to WBahn's advice (which is excellent and esp. pertinent to the start of the course), the course starts slow, but soon ramps up.

I'm on chapter 9 (still, been doing other things) it's a great course, I'd go as far as to say Magic. If it wasn't science, it'd be magic !

Enough waffle !

Lozminda