FIN516

That's actually pretty incredible. I'm in school for Computer Engineering and I just started learning VHDL. The project I'm working on right now is to code a simple CPU that can preform 4 simple instructions. The fact their engineers were able to take the NES hardware, essentially reverse engineer it, then code it to an FPGA is crazy. And not only to recreate the original hardware, but make it better?! That's what blows my mind. I saw a lot of the YouTube comments were like "lol just emulate it", but that is not the same. Those emulators simply simulate the original hardware, this is the original hardware; arguably better.

Final score was 125/100. The professor let us decide what to do as a final project. We were required to include several features that we covered over the semester. I chose to make some mini-games. During the proposal, it was decided that I would create 2 fully functional games; any more would have been a bonus. I only ended up programming those two games, but he was pretty impressed by the wiring, so that might be a part of why it went above 100. I bought a nice kit of wires and used them throughout the semester for lab projects. Here's a picture from one of the projects.

When I started, I had a pretty good grasp on the basics. I never learned python, so I can't really say how helpful that might be, but it can't hurt. I'm not sure if your school will have you learn C, C++ or something else completely. My university had me take one course in C++ and another in C. Nevertheless, it would definitely be useful to learn either one. I learned C++ first which is considered easier of the two, but C wasn't too difficult either. This website was an amazing resource for helping me learn C. http://www.tutorialspoint.com/cprogramming/ Just as a note, the project above was done entirely in C.

I'm not sure what it's like at other schools, but I guess I can share a bit about what I've learned in the past two and a half years. At my university they lump computer and electrical engineering courses together, because the two majors have a lot of overlap; Commonly refereed to as ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering). At the very beginning, I didn't take many ECE courses, because they required a lot of math and some physics first. They also throw in a couple of programming courses that involve the basics up to data structures. Some of the earliest ECE classes I took covered things like basic logic design and circuit analysis. The following semesters covered more computer engineering specific topics like assembly, and computer organization. I made this project for a class called microprocessor based design. All of these courses involve a lot of programming. Two of the three ECE courses I am taking right now are more electrical engineering in nature. Things like non-linear electronics, and signal processing. To be honest, these topics don't interest me that much, but I know a bunch of people who love it. I enjoyed the topics I mentioned earlier a lot more, but I know a lot of people that hate it. That said, ECE is definitely not for everyone. A lot of friends that started ECE with me have since changed majors. The math courses at the beginning can get pretty difficult and the ECE courses are no easier. But, if you can get past that, there are some truly amazing things that you can learn along the way. P.S. If there is a specific topic I mentioned that you'd like to know more about, I'd be more than happy to give you more details about it.

Now that you mention it, I actually did carry it around in a briefcase...

Not a lot of posts here, so I thought I should post something just for fun. I'm currently a student studying computer engineering at UIC, and as a final project for a class last semester I made two LCD mini-games. I wired and programmed the whole thing myself over the course of a month or so.

I've had my iPhone 3GS for about 2 years now as my first smartphone. It's served me pretty well all things considered. It survived countless falls and drops on everything from carpet to concrete (without a case). Unfortunately, today, while I was on the toilet, my hands slipped and my phone hit the floor. I go to pick it up thinking nothing of it, but when I flipped it over, the entire top half of the screen had cracked. The phone itself is still functional, but I think it's time to move on. With Black Friday (and Cyber Monday) just around the corner, I cant think of a better time to get a new phone. And who better to ask then the fine people of this forum. I guess I should also include what I want in a phone. I put build quality as a top priority. What I mean by that is I want it to last drop after drop and still manage to work. I'm also not a big fan of putting phones in cases. The second would be battery life. My 3GS would last me about a whole day (8 am - 12 am) on a single charge with more than 50% to spare. It would also charge fairly quickly. If it can last a day, that would be great. If it can last longer, even better. One thing to note is that I'm not a heavy phone user. The majority of my use revolves around listening to music, reading e-mails, and replying to texts. It doesn't have to be most powerful thing in the world. Finally I should mention iOS vs Android (and Windows Phone I guess...). Like I've said, the 3GS is my first smartphone. That means I don't have much experience with anything else. From what I've seen, iOS works just fine for me, and I really wouldn't mind getting another iPhone. However, I would like to see my other options (and I really don't like iTunes). Anyway, I've rambled long enough. If I missed anything, just post it and i'll try to reply. I look forward to your suggestions.

Enter ALL THE GIVEAWAYS!!!!

What am I going to do with all that space?

Wonder if I should get a new board for this... https://twitter.com/516fin

Alright.... let's do this!