[Pdx-pm] Lisp class, L2 acquisition, Prolog, etc.

[Phil Tomson]

On Mon, 2 May 2005, Rafael Almeria wrote:

> > If you want to learn Robotics AND Lisp, Dr. Perkowski teaches a 
> > Robotics
> > class (Usually in the Winter & Spring terms in the PSU ECE dept) in 
> > which
> > he uses a good amount of Lisp (he's a big fan of Lisp).  A class
> > like that might either be a lot more than you bargained for or it might
> > actually be a great way of learning Lisp by applying it to an 
> > interesting
> > topic right away.
> 
> When I took that class many years ago he required Prolog and there 
> wasn't
> a lot of programming involved.  Most of the work was in studying various
> AI techniques.  About 30% of the students who signed up were still 
> around
> for the final so it's not a class for the faint of heart.

Indeed.  That's why I said it could be more than you bargained for.  
However, if you can keep up with him and if you can adjust to his (for 
lack of a better term, I don't mean it negatively) ADD style you're going 
to learn a lot.  He does 
tend to jump around a lot and has a lot of ideas that he wants you to try 
out and sometimes he's passing out these new ideas on-the-fly, off the 
top of his head - the man is an idea machine and a very good source of 
research topics.  The great thing is that he tends to be very passionate 
about the topics he's teaching/researching so you won't likely get bored.
Just make sure you get good and rested up before you take one of his 
classes ;-)

I took his Logic Synthesis Algorithms class back in '92 and it totally 
changed my career direction from hardware design to EDA software.  That 
class was a _lot_ more than I bargained for, but sometimes that's a very 
positive thing.

I attended a talk he gave on Robotics a few weeks ago and he mentioned 
that they have some Lisp projects going.  I'm sure if you took the class 
and expressed an interest in using and learning Lisp that he would be more 
than eager to oblige.  

Phil