Post Test Feelings

Coming out of that term test I feel somewhat confident. The first question, in my opinion, was worth way too many marks based on the amount of information we were given, there was no way I could write a 5 mark answer when given a sentence or two in the notes and lecture. Overall I feel like the mark I receive should be fairly good. However, the last question posed a few problems when I first attempted it.
A definition of a function was given and for the first part we were asked to describe what happened in each line. The smartest way to go about doing was to read each line, one at a time, and then describe what that specific line was doing. The following steps are the process I used in answering the question:

Read line 1 and described the function and the placeholder.
Read line 2 and explained the first condition.
Read line 3 and stopped because there were so many functions within the second condition that I couldn't figure out what to write in the first instance.
After realizing I couldn't figure it out I backtracked to the beginning of the definition and read each step over, if I still couldn't describe the second condition I returned to the beginning again.
Eventually I decided to go to bit more in depth and describe each function within the second condition and that is when I was able to understand it in full and describe it properly. Well I hope I described it properly.

Also, because it is coming to the end of the semester I feel that a lot of work is due such as the second project, the Wikipedia project, the term test which just passed, the SLOG and obviously the final exam. I'm trying to manage my time to complete all of these on time but the Wikipedia project has me a bit nervous. Hopefully I am not the only one in this position.

Preparation for Term-Test 2 & Project 1

The previous test turned out better than I expected and I scored pretty high to my surprise. For the upcoming test I believe it should be a bit easier but my beliefs have been wrong before, so plenty of studying this weekend. Also, the project 1 is due tomorrow at 11:59 p.m. and there is 1 part that has me completely stumped. A DrRacket program was given to us that consisted of a clock with a second, minute and hour hand. In it were approximately 12 errors which we had to fix.
Most of the errors were simple, for example there were a couple check-expects that we had to write or simply fix a definition. However the one part that stumped me was the check-key. Professor Danny mentioned in class this week that it was the hardest part of the project so it has me feeling a bit better about my DrRacket skills but I still feel somewhat disappointed that I could not get it to work 100% correctly.
To try to solve the problem I have gone back to chapter 15 of the Picturing Programs text and tried many different things but it simply will not work perfectly. Currently I am waiting for a hint of some sort he promised to put on the website to maybe have it working perfectly, but if not I will simply submit it the way it is and hope for the best. I think its good to mention that of all the people I know in the course, I was the only one who could get that far, let alone without any help.

Preparation for Term-Test

The upcoming term-test is of utmost importance. I had no idea what to expect until recently when I received an email with an attached test from a previous year. To be honest, I was in complete shock. Most of the material that was on the test looked like gibberish to me and immediately I felt pressured. Upon closer examination of the test I was able to decipher some of the questions due to the fact that the solutions were included but some of the questions still remained unclear to me. One in particular was a question about algorithms which I have never encountered in my life. So I decided to conduct a bit of research to help gain an understanding of this course material. Relatively quickly I found a site which helped me to understand what an every day algorithm looks like and how to write one if asked.

http://www.cs.pitt.edu/~jmisurda/teaching/cs4/2064/cs0004-2064-algorithm.htm

After studying the site for a bit and creating an example of my own I can now appreciate what an algorithm is and how it functions. Some of the other questions were fairly straightforward such as adding and multiplying binary but there were some that I was still lost with. I decided to move on and focus on something else, like a different subject and come back to this later.

I believed that I was covering the course material well and retaining the knowledge but after seeing the test from a previous year I feel like not enough effort is being put in on my part. My fingers are still crossed that my test is somewhat different and perhaps closer to what I have learnt since the one sent to me was from over 5 years ago. Trying to keep a focused mind and being positive about this situation.

MY experience so far

I knew nothing about computer science and always shied away from classes or discussions which dealt with the topic. After the second class I wasn't so nervous about the course. I learnt about the simple functions of manipulating images and numbers and grasped the concepts fairly quickly. The third week came and the tasks became a bit more daunting since I had to remember much more complex functions and tasks. Scoring 1/2 on the second quiz didn't help my mentality toward the subject in any way and to be honest I had thoughts of dropping the course, but I continued. I've watched and re-watched all of the doctor racket tutorial videos, while making notes, in an attempt to score higher in the quizzes and to remember some of the particular functions which, for the love of God, will not stick in my head. After the fourth week I am feeling significantly better about the course material, I feel like I can retain it better by reading the book "Picturing Programs" and I am praying to do well on the term-test.