Weekend
Quite uneventful. Spent most of the time working on homework for Coding Theory, Cryptology and Secure Software Design. Didn't make much progress regarding CT, remains frustrating and I'll be seeking assistance once more. Crypto was surprisingly approachable, and it was a huge relief to understand the homework and have a plan of attack. I'm also planning to meet up with a few classmates next weekend to continue work on the HW.
I intended to work on my SSD essay, and did make some progress. However, to my delight, the next lecture was on Role Based Access Control. It just so happens that my topic is Administrating Role Based Access Control. So it'll be nice to get a bit of an overview on the subject before I continue on my essay. For now I just need to have an overview and select some literature to use.
Monday
Got up late. It was pretty cold today, compared to what I'd been getting used to. It's interesting how my reactions to the weather change. If I was in Charleston and it was 20-30 degrees then I'd be whining something fierce about the cold. Here in Tartu, that weather has become commonplace. Needless to say, I don't think I'll have too many issues with the winter in Charleston anymore. (Yay perspective!)
Didn't do much of anything until I went to crypto. Today's lecture was regarding the security of block ciphers, electronic codebook mode, cipher block chaining (CBC) and the security of CBC. Interesting stuff as always, and I am pleased to understand everything. Though (as I've mentioned before) cryptology or cybersecurity is not a field that I wish to pursue, I'm still learning a lot.
Tuesday
It remained somewhat cold today, though marginally warmer than yesterday. It snowed again last night, so at this point there was a couple of inches on the ground. And, a bit of icy sidewalk here and there. (Very treacherous!)
My coding theory class today was...coding theory (frustrating, as I could follow along but not seem to come up with answers on my own.) The lecture was a continuation of primitive elements in finite fields, this time focusing more on lemmas, theorems and proofs.
The topic of discussion in Religion & Politics was religion and violence. The professor started off with showing us a video of Ashura in Lebanon. Then we began our discussion of the relationship between religion and violence, conflict, war and terrorism. One of the first things he asked us was to think of historic examples that we believed the escalation of conflict, the use of violence, terrorism or war had been justified.
It was difficult for me to come up with examples, as (to me) it's all based on perspective. Something is always justified for someone while appearing un-justified by another party. Nobody in the class could think of a justified example of terrorism. But some justified examples for war were WWII, when the US joined the conflict. The girl sitting next to me that I was discussing with also gave quite the relevant example for a justified conflict escalation: the situation between Ukraine and Russia. She believed that Ukraine would be justified in taking further action, as they wish to keep their independence.
The teacher always presents us with challenging questions, and constantly brings up points that I'd never considered before. His next query was: could we name a war that did no tinvolve any type of religions involvement? Nobody could. Though religion might not be a focus or reason in a war, there was usually some elements present.
Lastly he went over some literature on the topic of religious nationalism, religious terrorism, suicide terrorism, religion-related ethnic conflicts, and other similar subjects. One last thing worth note was a quote he gave us regarding the religious legitimization of violence.
Mark Juergensmeyer: "religion is not needed for us to know when killing is wrong. It is needed for us to know when killing is allowed..."
Cloud computing today had a guest lecture of sorts. The person lecturing was one of the lab instructors. The topic was Google AppEngine, and Platforms as a Service (PaaS). He told us how it eliminates the expense and complexity of selecting, purchasing, configuring and managing the hardware and software. Users are provided with tools to simplify creating and deploying applications. It's integrated with web services and databases. Users only pay for the service that they use.
He then went over types of PaaS such as stand alone application platforms (provides dev tools for designing and deploying software), social application development platforms (Facebook and Google+), open-computing platforms(not tied to a single IaaS provider, supports numerous applications). Google cloud is both IaaS and PaaS, utilizing Google's global network.
He then did a small demonstration with Google app engine. He used python and a provided demo application. Did a few examples of altering the program and compiled it for us, showing it how it could work locally vs on the servers. Google AppEngine provides access to different libraries for Google services. The app is also not just emulated in the browser, but there is an actual (temporary) application on Google's servers. The app engine was created before Google Cloud became available for public use. He ended with telling us that persistent storage and asynchronous task requests are just a few characteristics of the Google AppEngine.
Wednesday
Was pretty productive today, in a non-academic sense. (Didn't do any hw, just busywork). Got my laundry done and sent out some emails to people. Mostly setting up everything so that I'm in the clear to sign up for my courses next semester. Needed permission to join a higher level geology class, and needed an override form so that I could take 20 hours (as opposed to the usual 18).
It also snowed again in the morning. By the afternoon it was frightfully cold, but it had stopped snowing. Somebody actually built a snowman just outside of Raatuse. Luckily I got a picture before it started melting, but by that time he was already drooping a bit. And, as all good things must come to an end, by the time I was finished with my laundry he had fallen over and started to melt.
Thursday
Secure Software Design was very interesting today. The topic of the lecture was Role Based Access Control (RBAC). The professor began with an overview on RBAC principles: the relationship between the user, session, role, subject and object. He then moved on to two modelling languages used for RBAC: SecureUML and UMLsec. Before he jumped into an explanation he inquired if anyone had taken/learned object oriented programming prior to this course. I was somewhat surprised that out of a class of 60, only 8 said they had knowledge of it. We've covered a lot of modelling languages so far, and I've moved away from disliking them to grudgingly admitting their usefulness. I've caught myself thinking about things in half-constructed UML diagrams at times.
After he finished discussing the modelling languages he talked about different security design perspectives and finally ended with model-driven security.
Once I finished class I headed back to the dorm for about an hour before meeting up with Ariail at Metro. Once we ate lunch we headed over to the population office to finish the last of our Estonian registration tasks. The building was right off the town square and the process was very simple. So now that I've done that I'm all set for the remainder of my stay here! (It's somewhat of a relief to be finished with all that kind of busywork.)
After another hour back at the dorm I headed off to Crypto. The professor announced that we were having a "Cryptography Competition" in class, which I had mixed feelings about. Thankfully we worked in groups, and it ended up being very fun. (I also learned some stuff, which I suppose is important.)
Friday
The weather was strange as it was ridiculously windy on the way to class, but already around 40 degrees. By the afternoon the temperature had reached the mid-50s but all the snow had melted, so there was water everywhere. It was also a bit overcast (and did rain later in the day). I would've been ecstatic if it had been sunny AND 50, but I'll take what I can get.
Cloud computing lab ended up being extremely enjoyable and very educational. I'm really brushing up on my python, which I'm pleased about. Got a few server errors, which stumped me until I realized it was just the python formatting being picky. We were tasked with creating an application with Google AppEngine that would allow the user to submit files and provide links to them. I'll link the full lab below, so that those who are so inclined can read all the details.
I didn't create the prettiest of apps, but I ran out of time before I could format it nicely. I might actually go back and play with it some more for fun. But all that mattered to me at the time was: it works!
Coding theory was coding theory, 'nuff said.
After class met with Sarah at Werner for obligatory weekly cake & coffee. After we ate and talked for a while I escorted her to the migration office to pick up her residence permit. (She didn't want to take the bus alone, as she hadn't taken them before. Understandable so I was happy to help.) On our way to the bus stop for our return trip a dog started barking at us through the fence. Absolutely scared us to death, the dog sounded very upset that he couldn't get to us.
It unfortunately started raining as soon as we got off the bus and headed to the dorm, so that was fun. Generally a successful excursion though: didn't get lost and there was no loss of limb or grievous injuries.
Saturday
Slept in a bit, as usual. Otherwise I spent most of the day working on homework. Finished my secure software design homework (small assignment, not the essay). After that I focused on Crypto, made a bit of progress but I'll still need to put some more time in.
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