This weekend I did a bit of everything which was a good well-rounded approach. I did some reading of "Introduction to 3d Game Programming with DirectX" which brings me about up to the same point as "3D Game Programming using DirectX10 and OpenGL" in terms of the subject matter covered - mostly covered the cartesian maths including matrices, vectors and linear transformations and then the 3D rendering pipeline including the basics of creating a DirectX application along with creating a basic Win32 App to house it in.
So, I'm pretty much covered in terms of the fundamentals and moving forward are more advanced and practical matters like the actual rendering including shading and other advanced methods. It's a good place to be, having covered most of the theoretical aspects allows me to start thinking about applying them. It also represents a good pausing point while I prepare for my upcoming exam on Digital Forensics.
With respects to the Digital forensics, I spent a little bit of time revising some of the fundamental from the notes I've taken throughout the year. I also had a look at a past paper to give me an idea of what kinds of things I'll need to focus on. I've yet to revise one of the bigger topics in the course which is law. Thankfully, I enjoyed studying law and made a good set of notes. Now, I just need to focus on the outline and then detail the revision so I can be articulate in the exams.
I'm not too concerned about the technical aspects of the course now having done a full practical investigation, though like the law part, the theory needs to be accounted for and as such, I'll be including all the relevant material in my revision strategy - which I'm probably going to really enjoy!
Apart from that, I have my mock-cross-examination interview coming up in about a week or so along with my induction to my game programming course so those are two things to look forward to 1) because I've not done a live interview before but I'm confident that I'll be fine and 2) I'll be starting my new gaming course!
I've also decided, rather boldly, to also take a course of Network Security which will run in parallel to my game programming course - this will cover the CCNA Security curriculum which is, after having read through it - very interesting! It will cover concepts like setting up routers, firewalls, VPNs, encryption and endpoint security. I'll also have access to the world-class Cisco online resources including network and device simulation software.
I was a bit nervous about taking on in addition, though it looks really interesting and will go a long way in increasing/validating my networking experience and progresses me a little further in my studies and of course - fortune favours the brave!
I also had a haircut this weekend and managed to find a relatively cheap place to have it cut in West-Ruislip. I spotted it while on the bus and decided to jump out and try it. Worked out well. Not as expensive as in town and not as cheap out of town - but appropriately in the middle in both respects.
So a pretty good and productive weekend.