Week 4

This is already the 4th week of CSC148’s learning. We kept focusing on the study of class, which has already been mentioned in CSC108. Compared with CSC108, CSC148 is so much different, such as the depth and breadth of the content, and some brand-new approaches to address the problem. However, CSC148 is still closely tied to and inherits plenty of basic knowledge from CSC108. I need to review the list, dictionary methods, etc. in CSC108 time to time, and “update” these old methods of superior ones with what I learnt in CSC148. It is an interesting process because I not only master a deeper understanding on previous knowledge, but also be more capable of applying them precisely and flexibly.

Naturally, I encountered the hardship of the transformation from CSC108 to CSC148. Unlike the assignment in CSC108, CSC148’s assignment is more abstract and general. In CSC108, the assignment always told or prompted us what kind of built-in-functions we should write. And I always had a clear map after I read the handout. Whereas, CSC148’s assignment only introduced the background, and barely had the specific guide step by step. (Just told us to write five classes and what those classes about) I even do not know what I should except to write a game (subtract square). Therefore, I looked through it again and again, discussed it with my friends, and also consulted ambiguous parts to my professor. By the way, piazza is extremely helpful because it labeled the key points we should pay attention, and collected various kinds of students’ problem as well. I did have a number of tips from it through others’ questions and figured out some of my confusion. I have to say this assignment was challenging, my teammates and I spent nearly 4 days to finish it. We corrected it through relearning the lectures, discussing on piazza and asking help from TA. I could not think that I successfully made and run a game myself. I am very proud of myself! \ ( > < ) /

I think now I know more about how to sort of methods in different classes and call methods over several classes, and how to inherit, override and extend subclass from superclass. I got a valuable practice chance from this assignment and made a great progress.

Week 3: Why Geeks Should Write?

The first slog in CSC148 focuses on the topic ”why geeks should write”. Maybe I would find this question was abstract and ambiguous 4 months ago. However, after I wrote the whole learning process of CSC165 on the slog last semester, I realized that writing slogs benefited me a lot, and I had a better understanding on why our professor asked us to do this.

Firstly, slogs can help us recall what we have done and we will improve on this. When I studied CSC165, I went back frequently to see my old slogs. I could figure out the reason why I got confused at that time, and shortcoming of the inappropriate study method or the immature thinking mode. Similarly for programmers, reading old slogs can be perfect and even correct them the way of writing code in a large extent, and sometimes can inspire them new ideas.

Another advantage of writing slogs is to build a bridge to communication. Last semester, I always looked through others’ CSC165 slogs. I became not that frustrated because I found I shared the common problems with other classmates. Furthermore, I explored different ways to solve the problem and brand-new angles to look at it. For programmers, it is also critically important to communicate efficiently. Though writing articles, like slogs, they can share their advanced knowledge and research achievements, and also gain the feedbacks in time. This process stimulates wider cooperation and speeds up constructing the new field of computer science as well.

Moreover, slogs help us to make our codes more organized. Like my classmate, XIAOTIAN FENG said, “writing can help people organize their thoughts and sort out their emotions and feelings.”(From http://xiaotiancsc148slog.blogspot.ca) When we write down what lead to this code and how can we get it, we will obtain a deeper understanding and a clearer map of it. And writing slogs training us to be more capable to fully explain our thoughts, and make the explanation readable and reasonable for others.

Overall, writing slogs improve programmers’ self-performance and stimulate them communicate and collaborate with others.