Evil Tom

Thus far my transition from freedom to servitude of Tom & Jill has been pretty smooth, thank G-d. I’ve managed to respond to my *name.* (Freshman year it would take me a few moments to realize my professors were calling on me since NO ONE calls me “Deborah”, especially when they took the liberty of calling me "Deb"...) Anyway, here are a few short Tom anecdotes to hold you over for time being:

Whilst reading over the syllabus…

Tom: So here are my office hours, but as you all know, my policy is as long as my door is open feel free to walk by.
Evan: Don’t you mean walk in?
Tom: Oh, yeah…Freudian slip…

Actually written on an assignment handed out…
Introduction: Semester Project
1. Networked variation of ``Clue.''

[Boring details italicized]
2. Numerous deliverables through several project phases:

1. Analysis: refined requirements specification; scenarios; primary class list; class diagrams; use case diagrams; structured walk through.
   
2. Product Design: object diagrams; refined class diagrams; user interface mock-ups; state machines.
3. Class Design: Collaboration diagrams; sequence diagrams; object diagrams; refined class diagrams; class skeletons; informal walk through.
4. Implementation: implementation plan; source code.
5. Testing: Test plan; test analysis report; system integration; system delivery and demo.
   

3. You: competing start-ups.
4. Me: ``pointy-haired manager.''

Oldies:

The the most difficult and most beloved CS professor, Tom is known for two things: marathon exams and uber-corny jokes. He is often referred to as “Evil Department Chair,” but this is in fact an affectionate accolade in disguise (yes, college kids are quite perplexing creatures…). We generally just refer to him as “Tom” or by his full name, “Evil Tom.”

Tom jokingly threatens to charge me rent for all the time I spend in the X-lab. He offered me a copy of his PhD thesis since he believes it’s a great cure for insomnia. Once he rushed into X-Lab on a Friday afternoon in late spring. “Deborah, there’s been a meteorological catastrophe. The sun will be setting hours earlier today so you must go home at once!” (In my defense, I wasn’t too thrilled about spending a beautiful sunny day holed up in the computer lab till a few hours before Shabbos trying to hammer out the kinks in the compiler I had to code up….) Yup, that's Tom.