Five Minutes with... James Heliotis
You knew you were headed for a career in Computer Science when...
I got two degrees in Electrical Engineering, but everyone wanted to hire
me as a programmer.
What is your favorite class and why?
Really, I don.t have any one favorite. Any class in which I get to talk about
programming languages or design techniques is a lot of fun for me.
One piece of advice I have for 1st year students is...
Visit and speak with your teachers!
If you could have dinner with a famous computer
scientist, living or dead, who would you choose?
Probably
Noam Chomsky.
He was a computer scientist, a linguist (a field
which I also find fascinating), and a political hot head!
What is the most interesting project you have worked on,
either in a course or on the job?
When we started teaching objects in CS1 and CS2 (using Eiffel) in 1994,
I, with help from other faculty, developed a framework for card games that
we used in lots of assignments. It is not that impressive by today's standards,
but I was discovering on my own several designs that would be called common
"patterns" in a book that came out the next year.
I also often remember fondly the project a few years ago in which I supervised
a handful of honors students. The goal was difficult -- hooking together
incompatible calendar and mail programs -- but the enthusiasm and knowledge
of the students made it quite rewarding.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I hope to still be at RIT, but starting to wind down towards retirement,
thinking up great pearls of wisdom that I can pass on to the young'uns
who are just starting. I also may be looking for software projects to
start on once I do retire!
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