January Update

Wow that month went by really fast and now I’m a little bit late posting this. I have been really busy this month with lots of things happening so I won’t hang about let’s just get stuck in.

University

MU123

This month I started MU123 which is a entry level maths module, I have made even better progress with this than I thought. Long story short the module is broken down fortnightly not weekly like my other modules so in effect I have been doing two week’s worth in a week. Part of MU123 is submitting tutor mark assignment so I’ve had to learn LaTeX (so that my assignment looks presentable), fortunately OverLeaf do this wonderful guide which helped me get comfortable with it in no time at all. They also have an online editor which is ideal for composing documents on the fly. I have installed Tex maker on my machine but I have to say I do prefer the online version. I have managed to do the first computer marked assignment and have nearly finished the first tutor marked assignment as well so it’s fair to say I’m making good progress with it.

TM111

So I spent my time completing TMA02 and submitting it, I have to say the programming section has be an absolute joy to do even if I was only allowed to use a modified version of Scratch. The feedback I got from this assignment was really positive and it has been suggested I should look at Object-oriented Java programming (M250) & Algorithms, data structures and computability (M269) in the future. This has lead me to changing my degree I’m working towards, as these modules aren’t on Cyber Security degree. I have started block 3 now and this is the final one for this module and it’s covering networking, I’m still about a week ahead with this one so, I should have my final tutor marked assignment done before the end of the month.

One video that I found particularly interesting was Warriors of the Net. Even if you not really into the networking side of things it does acts as a good introduction to how the internet Warriors of the net

Anything else…

So after making the decision that I wouldn’t be pursuing a degree in cyber security my time has been spent a little differently. I’ve not been doing any Try Hack Me challenges or CTF’s in general. Instead I have been doing a bit of coding using Godot, Unity and the Löve2D framework making some small projects my wife and daughter can play. I have used Unity and Godot before but I only recently came across the Löve2D framework which uses the Lua programming language. I have gotta say the Lua programming language is excellent and a lot of fun to use, Löve2D also looks like a better fit for the simple games I have in mind that really don’t require a complete game engine. I can already see why Harvard’s CS50’s Introduction to Game Development uses it for aspiring game developers.

I found this really interesting essay by Matthew Ball called “Apple, Its Control Over the iPhone, The Internet, And The Metaverse”. It’s a long read but I would say it’s a must read to get some insight to how Apple is operating at the moment and implications it could have in the future.

I did say it was a busy month but I think I have covered everything for now and I really do need to get back to studying, speak to you all next month.