"Hey, Dr. Gordon, wake up!"

"I'm awake." Eric forced his eyes open wide and regarded the student in front of him. "What's up, Kyle?" He scanned the computer lab where his senior-level students were busily working away on their final projects. It was later than he'd thought. He guessed maybe he had dozed off.

"You look like you pulled an all-nighter, man," the sarcastic twenty-two-year-old told him. Kyle was only a junior, but he was already a terrific programmer. In ...