WHERE DID YOU GROW UP? WHAT WAS YOUR PATH TO CAL?

WHERE DID YOU GROW UP? WHAT WAS YOUR PATH TO CAL?

I grew up in Beijing, the capital of China. The first time I came to Cal was in the year 2013, attending the summer school here. I really felt that I love this place and have tried my best to come back for my graduate study.

HOW MUCH PROGRAMMING HAVE YOU DONE (& WHAT LANGUAGES)?

In the top senior high schools in Beijing, students have to learn at least one programming language in order to graduate. We happened to get started with C language (I know students from other schools in Beijing are learning easier languages such as Java, VB, etc). To be honest it was not easy, but I am the kind of person that if something has to be done I’ll try my best to love it, and I made it. That’s how I started to love programming. Latter on when I was accepted by the EECS department of Peking University I found that they teach freshmen in C/C++, and I was one step ahead already. From then on I’ve been learning Javascript (together with HTML and CSS, I’ll count them as a whole), Python, and a little bit of Java. The way I learn those languages is basically lazy-load. It is hard to tell how much I’ve been coded so far, as I never count my code.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOBBIES?

Drawing, reading, playing Ping-Pong, eating.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR TALENTS & SKILLS?

Drawing, writing, playing Ping-Pong, eating, making Chinese-speakers laugh.

HAVE YOU DONE ANYTHING REMARKABLE? HAS ANYTHING MEMORABLE HAPPENED TO YOU?

Winning a gold medal in a worldwide drawing competetion when I was 6, and from then on at least one national first prize each year until I have to focus on my study and quit participating in those events.

WHAT COMMITMENTS WILL BE CONSUMING YOUR CYCLES THIS SEMESTER?

Doing my master research project, teaching CS10, taking some introductory New Media courses, learning Maya on my own, find some weekends to draw something (I have to, my paints are drying out!).