Slog Update #3

Last class, we studied a new topic (at least to me), which was local, non local and global variables. And is the concept of accessing and changing variables in different locations of the code. Meaning either module-level variables or method-level variables. This seems like a  really useful feature as you might want to change a variable that is outside of a function from the current function.

Slog Update #2

I have already got back test #2, and the results weren't surprising, as they pretty much were what I expected. I'm glad I got the part marks I deserved for the question I knew I had messed up. I also already got the marks for assignment, and I'm proud to say that I got a 100%. That will definitely help my grade to compensate for my result on test #1.

Test 2 Aftermath

For test 2, I expected to see some big-oh notation stuff; to my surprise, there wasn't any. I did also expect recursion, which was pretty much the whole test. I think was over thinking the questions, but at the end, I ended up with something that made sense to me, meaning it should work. I did recognize a mistake afterwards on the last question. I used a break outside of a loop as i thought it would just skip the execution. Still hoping to get part marks for that question.

Searches, Sorts and Linked lists

The past few weeks, we've been doing a lot of recursion that makes code more efficient. For example, Binary Search V.s Linear Search, where binary search is much faster than linear, well, when you are dealing with sufficiently larger list sizes. I get why CSC 165 is taken along with CSC 148, since at the moment we are studying big-oh notation, which explains breaking points and such.

I had done some Sort algorithms in High School, so the concept of bubble sort and such wasn't new, although much clearer now. I found it interesting how there are so many different ways to achieve the same task, but all having different efficiency. Linked Lists was a concept that was quite abstract at the beginning, since I was so used to being able to reference anything on a list, but now I feel much more comfortable with the concept. With Test #2 coming up, I think the topics that I have to focus on the most are Linked Lists and Sorts.

Slog Update

This an update on my thoughts on this course, and my level of comfort with the current subject. I just got back my Test 1 and I got the mark I thought I was going to get, as I realized how to solve the question on the test after I handed it. Although I did receive a lot of part marks, which I expected. One thing that I could point out is that I lost 2 full marks on question number 3 for not stating the return type, which seemed pretty harsh for such a small error; might think it would have been just 1 mark off... Oh well. In regards to the current content, there is not much I can say about it as we did not get much into it yet, but I am sure it will be a new kind of thinking for me.

Object-Oriented Programming and Recursion

For me, Object-Oriented Programming is a way of showing and naming classes as objects that can be assigned methods and instances; creating a structure for a program. By considering the aspects of this kind of programming as objects, I think it makes it a less abstract concept, and therefore easier to understand.

I would say recursion is the task of finding smaller, solvable problems, from a bigger problem and breaking it down to achieve the solution of such problem. Recursion allows us to make code simpler and more efficient although it is a more abstract way of solving a problem. I, personally, have trouble with some recursion as I sometimes find it hard to wrap my head around the task to be solved, but I know that recursion is an aspect that once it is understood, can be very useful for the efficiency of a program.

First Blog

In my first blog, I will be talking about some of the struggles I have encountered since I started this course. My first struggle probably was getting back into programming as I was quite rusty; I had forgotten how to inherit classes and such. But then I went over some of the review slides, it all started coming back to me. After all, I had used Python in high school for my computer science class so I was familiar with the language. My second struggle was recursion. I had done it in high school but even then I found it to be such an abstract concept. Now I feel like I get its purpose and how useful it can be. I've had some other smaller struggles which were easy to overcome with a quick Google search. But other than that, I've felt comfortable with the content of this course.