At the first day of class, the instructor warned us that this is one of toughest classes. She told us it would take us more than a day for each assignment and encouraged us to start early. I was scared at the first assignment. It literally took me 20 hours to finish the first assignment and I still got minus 2 points for that assignment. It took me for a while to refresh myself of the basic syntax. I generally hesitate to buy any book besides required textbooks because of high prices. But I could not help buying Stroustup's book, as I was so frustrated with my poor knowledge on the basic syntax and on the standard library. But I confess that I still haven't finish reading even half of that book. I hope the book is a good book to keep in the shelf and ready for reference whenever I need it. From the second assignment, I could focus on the conceptual part of the assignment. It also was easier to do the assignment. It took me two days to finish that. I think I spent around 15 hours. I have my third assignment due on coming Monday. I barely started this morning and it is hard. T_T. The instructor mentioned us in the last class that this is kind of a crunching time for this class. God, I can see that I am not excellent on this kind of tasks. I should agree that I am a social science guy rather than being an engineer. I hope I can beat all those arrogant American and Chinese in the class. I guess I need more systematic approach to this topic and concentrate. But, I should agree that I am enjoying this class very much. I feel strongly that my skill and knowledge are being improved.