Computer Networks Test...

Today, I attended college right from 10.30 am to 5.00 pm, like an accha baccha....like an asli engineer. So, I'm going to write about today's test so that my worldwide readers (if there are any....work up some magic, FEEDJIT!!!) get a sneek-peek at my Pyaara college, GECU.

The subject was Computer Networks, taught by my favourite teacher in college, by some distance. The test was from 3 pm...was feeling very sleepy before it, so went to the electrical department and washed my face with the coolest water in the college, for the umpteenth time......the heat is really getting to me with every passing day.

My classmates had decided to give the test in room F9 where the benches and desks are quite close to each other...so that rampant cheating can take place. But, the Prof had other tricks up his sleeve...He went to F10 - the engineering graphics class, which was soul-less, literally and promptly ordered us to sit in that class...he was standing just outside the class as we entered inside in a military-like line, wishing a good afternoon for him...and for us too. FINGERS CROSSED!!!

See, the students here are highly adaptable to any situation, as they mention it in their resumes. In this case, the situation was the change in seating arrangement, to which they adapted like newborn turtles adapt to water. Here was the time when having more pockets in your college bag turned out to be life-saving, or rather marks-earning strategy. Kudos to the guys who publish Shivani, this little gem of a book is so compact that it can get in anywhere -

1. in the pocket for waterbottle : all rolled up
2. in the pocket of your pants : just that its location can be clearly found out by....no, not a GPS, but by the bulge in your otherwise mal-fed thigh
3. in the drawer of the monstrous, slanting ED table (I never liked them!!) : but that is the place being used since 10000 BC (yes, that's true!!) and so all Profs have one eye fixated there, somewhat like MadEye Moody (our Profs are Aurors in their own little ways!!)
4. etc etc etc...

So, the test started...one 5 mark question and five 3 mark questions....all from Unit1....was unit1 really that big??...I asked myself.....but, did my opinion matter now?.....It was the time of reckoning, the make-or-break time....(see how I glorify a harmless, 20 marks test!!)

Let me tell you the questions

1. Distinguish between data and signal??
2. Distinguish between bit rate and bit interval??
3. Define a periodic signal??
4. Mention steps in Data communication by circuit switching??
5. Mention basic differences between datagram approach and virtual circuit approach to packet switching?
6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of circuit switching?
   

Well, to cut a long story short, I finished the test quickly and was satisfied by my performance.

p.s. - Got "Parallel Processing and Distributed Computing" tomorrow. Wish me luck!!
BYE

Formula for life

A very dear friend of mine has given a formula for life.

Life = Luck (Effort)
You might say..."So what?? This is not some great gyaan for me. Everyone knows luck and effort are important."
Jus wait, guys and galz, for there's a mathematical specification :
Luck is the independent quantity, you don't control it, it is controlled in laboratories Up There!!
Effort in the bracket, is the dependent quantity, the thing which you control, which is entirely in your hands.
So even if you put in a world of efforts, if the quantity outside the bracket is zero, you are a gone case. If luck = 0.5, you will get only half of the results expected, and so on....
Well, That much for his formula and the logic behind it.
Now, let's sit down and analyse it.

1. Do random formulae like this tell you about the state of mind of the theorists behind them??? Well, not in the case of the above given formula, since he has maintained this formula in good and bad times. But generally, I think people are different in different phases of their life - success, failure, youth, old age, bachpan etc. And that's partly because, the response which you get from people changes according to circumstances. As they say, "duniya ugte suraj ko hi salaam karti hai, dhalte suraj ko nahi!" I know some people who have stopped considering the luck factor, once they get success, which to me, is foresight of the shortest range.
For example, there was a popular sms doing the rounds some time back - "In life, add friends, subtract sorrows......multiply....divide......and success will be yours!"
Well, most of us, forward sms's just for the sake of forwarding. But try sending this sms after thinking about it, days after a dear friend has backstabbed you... or in Raghu Ram's words - "when you have been given a dose of your own medicine."
What I mean to say is that your perception of non-material things like luck, effort, success, failure changes as you encounter different situations and reach different stages in life. So, let common sense prevail, and give such formulae only after lots of deliberation and thinking....and not while you indulge in arbit talk with your friends!! Otherwise, you may have to add a new quantity later. (Have I taken this topic too seriously???? Well, never mind!)

2. Secondly, what is the relation between luck and effort? Are they really independent and dependent respectively? Or, the saying, "Fortune favours the brave." holds true? Is luck a manifestation of The Highest Authority or is it just a placebo?
This is where the debate of Atheism vs. Religion steps in....and for me, that is banned territory. I'll leave it for my readers to decide.

3. What is the importance and respect given to such formulae?? Is it directly proportional to the social status that one has??
My friend claimed this formula to be accurate and remarked that this formula can command the world's respect if some iconic personality gives it. Is that true? If it is, it would strengthen my belief that at the end of the day, we all are philosophers, though of the Murphy genre.....most of us!
You can relate it to the comparative definitions of knowledge and wisdom also - philosophy is another name given to the general wisdom that your mind achieves at some point in time, after you accrue a lot of knowledge.
So, just analyse the course of events in your life and even you can come up with your formula or theory.
Readers, please let me know about your perspectives....
Ciao

p.s. - Watched the 2006 hit "Blood Diamond" yesterday. Another movie which makes you think.
I will post about it soon. Got microprocessor test tomorrow. Wish me luck!