SLOG #2

Slog #2 Oct 27^th

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It’s surprising that it’s been almost two months since school started📋, we’ve learned quite a few more things that are more complicated, but I found the new functions and skills we learned can be connected to a lot more things that we see on the computer daily, such as the “condition function”. Often time, depend on what we click (either yes or no, allow or not-allow), the computer responds differently by opening new windows, directing to new sites, or just staying in the current page. In the condition function, depend on the input, the computer can produce two outputs.

Something that was quite challenging for the classes is having a “local definition”, which later I tried interpreting it as something that needs two definitions, while one of them can not be defined outside of the function. This function comes to be really helpful for extracting certain elements from a list that satisfies some criteria, especially with list or even documents that have tens of thousands of words in them. One thing I did to overcome the difficulty of understanding this “local definition” was keep trying what I thought would produce the same results. For example, I couldn’t quite understand why both of the functions have to be inside, instead of outside, so I tried moving one of the definition outside, and looked at the error shown to understand them.

What I did to prepare myself for tests involve three aspects: one was having the computer to step over the functions in the practices, which really helped me to understand the order and what each function do; second method I used was creating my own functions base on the examples provided in class and practices; and the third method was writing down some steps in the simplified version, and then check with the interaction section to see if I am correct. Other than these three, I’ve reached out to TAs during office hour and instructor after class, and they’ve all been very helpful and approachable, which I really appreciate!

For the past classes, one picture in particular that was quite magnificent was the Sierpinski triangle, which was something that was even more amusing when we get to draw them by hand. At every level, the shape is composed of many equilateral triangle, this shape resembles such a uniformity and order, that I was really amazed by how much we can do with the some of the simplest function call in the computer.

Overall, the materials have been challenging but really interesting!

SLOG_1

Oct.6th.2017

First Reflection --- Taking CSC104 for One Month   

     1.Why did you choose CSC104?📚

Because we interact with computation every single day of our life, and it has become more and more crucial in the working field, I’d like to learn the basics of it, in order to be more aware and active in the constantly changing era of technology.
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2. What do you hope to get out of the course?

I hope to enhance my knowledge of technology and prepare myself for learning other languages in the near future.

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3. What did you expect programming to be like. And how does it compare with your experience in the course so far?

Formerly, programming does sound quite intimidating to me.

Before taking the course, I expected programming for beginners with more complex terminology, but it turns out that the quite a few functions used in Dr. Racket are straight-forward, which I really appreciate. But I do expect the functions we will learn to be much more sophisticated and challenging. 

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4. What do you find interesting so far?

Defining a new function is one of the most exciting aspects in the curriculum so far, because it allows us to combine what we’ve learned in a logical way, and to produce something in our mind.

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5. What do you find hard so far? Is the course easier or harder than you expected?

One of the hardest part, in my opinion, is the placement of bracket sometimes. This might be quite intuitive to many other students, but for “functions” like map and range, I often added bracket in front of the number or second function accidentally. Overall, I think I like the structure of the course, it’s a bit easier than I anticipated.

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6. How did you study for the quizzes? Are you satisfied with your performance on them; if not, what do you plan to change?

For quizzes, I do the practices given by the instructors online, which are really relevant and helpful. For concepts that I am not completely familiar with, I just referred back to the class notes and kept trying. I think I am satisfied with my performance on quizzes.

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7. Are there any specific CS topics you are interested in?

Web development.