Hi readers, the end of the semester is nearly hear, and I am safe to say that I've been bombarded with assignments and tests. These several weeks had been tough, although not as much so for csc165.
Assignment three was due the day before this entry is written, and the difference this time for me is that I've been left without a group. Things certainly had been very different, and I had to spend extra time on checking my work. Now having this aside, I feel pretty comfortable with the materials associated in assignment three. I have looked over many examples in the course notes, as well as on internet, so that I can get a firm grasp of the big O notation. The only thing that's still a little blurry to me is the big theta notation. I will spend more time on this during the exam week.
One of the more confusing concepts I learned over the last several weeks was the halting problem. During the lectures, I had no idea how things were supposed to work. The whole concept was very confusing at first, but my T.A helped me a lot on this material, and I have to thank her a lot for that. The notes also had been helpful to me when I tried to figure out the last question on the assignment. Overall, this assignment was definitely more time consuming than the last two, but I think the quality of work is not that much different.
With other exams coming just over a week, it is time for me to buckle down and focus on what's up ahead.
Thursday 4 April 2013
Tuesday 26 March 2013
CSC165 Chapter 4
Hi readers, it is almost the end of the semester, and here I am again writing about my past several weeks in csc165. Lots of progresses has been made and I'm confident to say that the effort I put into this course had been shown to be effective.
I did very well on the second midterm, which although a little shameless to say, was expected. I had put much more effort into studying for the test compared to the previous one. Having learned from my mistakes, I went over the past test several times, and also some additional problems. The reference sheet was very helpful as I was able to get majority of what I needed onto it. Now reflecting upon this test, I find that doing all of the aforementioned things were extremely helpful, and I am very pleased with the result. I will definitely use this type of studying method in the times to come.
Now let's talk about chapter four. I think this is where the more sophisticated matters come into play. By sophisticated, I mean not as straight forward as the previous subjects. To me, dealing with proofs in chapter three was manageable. There were some hard problems, but the logic behind it is still straight forward. However, I find that sometimes when I do the practice problems in chapter four, I am stepping into the 'no man's land'. I just can't seem to get a grasp of it! I find that the lack of knowledge from Mat137 and linear algebra is pulling me behind further and further. Some of the questions require complete understanding of the subjects in these to categories. I am feeling a bit lost in this chapter, and I plan to talk with my T.A sometimes later. So far, one thing I just can't seem to get is proving sigma and theta notations. Sure the basic problems are easy, but when the more difficult questions are introduced, I feel that my understanding of these two notations are insufficient. I definitely should, and plan on improving these ideas in the last several weeks on the course.
I did very well on the second midterm, which although a little shameless to say, was expected. I had put much more effort into studying for the test compared to the previous one. Having learned from my mistakes, I went over the past test several times, and also some additional problems. The reference sheet was very helpful as I was able to get majority of what I needed onto it. Now reflecting upon this test, I find that doing all of the aforementioned things were extremely helpful, and I am very pleased with the result. I will definitely use this type of studying method in the times to come.
Now let's talk about chapter four. I think this is where the more sophisticated matters come into play. By sophisticated, I mean not as straight forward as the previous subjects. To me, dealing with proofs in chapter three was manageable. There were some hard problems, but the logic behind it is still straight forward. However, I find that sometimes when I do the practice problems in chapter four, I am stepping into the 'no man's land'. I just can't seem to get a grasp of it! I find that the lack of knowledge from Mat137 and linear algebra is pulling me behind further and further. Some of the questions require complete understanding of the subjects in these to categories. I am feeling a bit lost in this chapter, and I plan to talk with my T.A sometimes later. So far, one thing I just can't seem to get is proving sigma and theta notations. Sure the basic problems are easy, but when the more difficult questions are introduced, I feel that my understanding of these two notations are insufficient. I definitely should, and plan on improving these ideas in the last several weeks on the course.
Monday 11 March 2013
Beginning of Chapter Four CSC165 Post
Hi readers, I am aware that both this and the previous post were written in the same day. That is because since the material in this post has no direct link the previous one. Also, I don't know when I will have the time to update this again in a while.
We have started to look at chapter four, which I believe is either the last, or the second last chapter of this course. Just like chapter three, I have a feeling that I am not fully understanding this material. I am able to do some of the examples from the lecture, however, the harder ones I was not able to get. I have looked at the course notes, and they were helpful indeed, but the hard problems are often extensions of knowledge on the course notes. As of now, I have not yet done any of the extra practice problems on the website. I think it might be beneficial to practice on those problems in order to get better grasp of this material.
After several months of logic and proofs, I can finally see why this course is categorized under computer science. The logic and proofs are useful tools that provide us ways to analyze the run time, and procedure of a program. I think this is necessary to determine the efficiency of our codes.
We have started to look at chapter four, which I believe is either the last, or the second last chapter of this course. Just like chapter three, I have a feeling that I am not fully understanding this material. I am able to do some of the examples from the lecture, however, the harder ones I was not able to get. I have looked at the course notes, and they were helpful indeed, but the hard problems are often extensions of knowledge on the course notes. As of now, I have not yet done any of the extra practice problems on the website. I think it might be beneficial to practice on those problems in order to get better grasp of this material.
After several months of logic and proofs, I can finally see why this course is categorized under computer science. The logic and proofs are useful tools that provide us ways to analyze the run time, and procedure of a program. I think this is necessary to determine the efficiency of our codes.
Feb - Mar CSC165 Report
Hi readers, after a month of inactivity, I am back to update this blog once again. After numerous hideous tests and assignments from last months, things have settled down for me a bit. This post is going to be quite long, so please bare with me.
I was unable to retrieve my test 1 due to some timing issues. I still have not asked for Prof. Heap for my test, and I admit that it is a mistake on my part. I did absolutely horrible on the first test, and the one to blame is me. Prof. Heap had pointed out that 'list comprehensions' were important for that test, yet I failed to fully understand them. This is the reason why majority of the marks were taken off from the first question. I am aware that there is no crying over spilled milk, but looking back from now, I came to knowledge how naive I was when I studied the test.
Proofs were the main topic over the last month. At first, I had absolutely no idea what was going on during the lectures. However, after several tutorial sections, I was able to do most of the problems. My T.A definitely helped me a lot during they labs. I have to give big thanks to her. Also, my partner from my previous assignment also taught me how to do some more complicated proofs. This is the reason why I was able to catch up from a slow start. The assignment was not a huge problem for me and my group. I was able to complete the assignment within one day, although the last problem was controversial among us. Overall, I am confident that I can, and will do better on the next test.
Also, just on a side note, I have not received any replies from my T.A yet. I'm not sure if that's the way it works, or there's something wrong with my submission. I guess talking to my T.A about this is necessary next time...
I was unable to retrieve my test 1 due to some timing issues. I still have not asked for Prof. Heap for my test, and I admit that it is a mistake on my part. I did absolutely horrible on the first test, and the one to blame is me. Prof. Heap had pointed out that 'list comprehensions' were important for that test, yet I failed to fully understand them. This is the reason why majority of the marks were taken off from the first question. I am aware that there is no crying over spilled milk, but looking back from now, I came to knowledge how naive I was when I studied the test.
Proofs were the main topic over the last month. At first, I had absolutely no idea what was going on during the lectures. However, after several tutorial sections, I was able to do most of the problems. My T.A definitely helped me a lot during they labs. I have to give big thanks to her. Also, my partner from my previous assignment also taught me how to do some more complicated proofs. This is the reason why I was able to catch up from a slow start. The assignment was not a huge problem for me and my group. I was able to complete the assignment within one day, although the last problem was controversial among us. Overall, I am confident that I can, and will do better on the next test.
Also, just on a side note, I have not received any replies from my T.A yet. I'm not sure if that's the way it works, or there's something wrong with my submission. I guess talking to my T.A about this is necessary next time...
Monday 11 February 2013
CSC165 Week 5
Hi readers, this is Kim with another journal for csc165.
Last week was the test, and I was surprised that it took place in the regular classroom. I had spent a lot of time creating the reference sheet prior to the test. I found that it was very helpful, not only during the test, but before as well. I was able to memorize a lot of the material easily, and it helped me save some time. The test only had three questions, and they weren't terribly difficult. However, I did do relatively badly on the first question, which also was the one that worth the most. I can say that it was due to my over-confidence prior to the test, that I did not look at the past test carefully. I should have thoroughly studied the practice test, and maybe copy some of the questions onto the reference sheet. I regret the decision of not doing so, and it came to haunt me during the test. The good news to me was that if I do badly on this test, it can potentially worth only 6%. However, I knew that these mistakes were due to the fact that I have not prepared enough. This would be a valuable lesson to me, as I will try to improve my study habit in the future.
Last week was the test, and I was surprised that it took place in the regular classroom. I had spent a lot of time creating the reference sheet prior to the test. I found that it was very helpful, not only during the test, but before as well. I was able to memorize a lot of the material easily, and it helped me save some time. The test only had three questions, and they weren't terribly difficult. However, I did do relatively badly on the first question, which also was the one that worth the most. I can say that it was due to my over-confidence prior to the test, that I did not look at the past test carefully. I should have thoroughly studied the practice test, and maybe copy some of the questions onto the reference sheet. I regret the decision of not doing so, and it came to haunt me during the test. The good news to me was that if I do badly on this test, it can potentially worth only 6%. However, I knew that these mistakes were due to the fact that I have not prepared enough. This would be a valuable lesson to me, as I will try to improve my study habit in the future.
Monday 4 February 2013
CSC165 Week 4
Hi readers, this will be another post about my progress in csc165.
The materials from last two weeks were overall quite reasonable. There wasn't anything that bothered me too much. Again, the online notes were especially helpful to me. The lecture from last friday bothered me a bit. Delta and Epsilon were used in examples, and I'm not familiar with these topics. Since I did not take Mat137, I wasn't introduced to these topics. I planned to spend more time on these two problems.
First assignment of this course was due last week, and me and my group managed to hand in the assignment barely on time. We had finished early, but didn't hand in the assignment right away. The mark-us system was especially slow on the due date, and we were pretty nervous before we managed to hand in. Material wise, this assignment was not difficult by any means. By communicating with my group members, we were able to work out all of the problems with ease.
With the term test being this friday, I will try my best, and will update after the test is over.
The materials from last two weeks were overall quite reasonable. There wasn't anything that bothered me too much. Again, the online notes were especially helpful to me. The lecture from last friday bothered me a bit. Delta and Epsilon were used in examples, and I'm not familiar with these topics. Since I did not take Mat137, I wasn't introduced to these topics. I planned to spend more time on these two problems.
First assignment of this course was due last week, and me and my group managed to hand in the assignment barely on time. We had finished early, but didn't hand in the assignment right away. The mark-us system was especially slow on the due date, and we were pretty nervous before we managed to hand in. Material wise, this assignment was not difficult by any means. By communicating with my group members, we were able to work out all of the problems with ease.
With the term test being this friday, I will try my best, and will update after the test is over.
Monday 28 January 2013
Week 2 and 3 of CSC165
Hi readers, sorry for the delayed post of the journal. Due to the heavy course load this semester, I was unable to update last week. I'm back on schedule now and this blog should be updated regularly in the future.
For the past two weeks, the main focus of this course from what I've perceived was on symbols. Numerous ways of writing an English sentence in symbolic ways has been introduced. At first, I was not familiar with this type of language. I had some problems understanding, and translating the statements proposed at first. I have looked over the course notes on the website, and have found them particularly useful for figuring out many small details about a statement. Also, I have found that by doing group work, and discussing the problems with my peers, I was able to learn a lot faster. One of the methods I'm tempted to try is to go to the office hours, since there are still some specific details I'm unsure about. Overall, this course is definitely rougher in terms of difficulty, and the hours required. I plan on spending more time on this course to get a firm grasp of the materials.
For the past two weeks, the main focus of this course from what I've perceived was on symbols. Numerous ways of writing an English sentence in symbolic ways has been introduced. At first, I was not familiar with this type of language. I had some problems understanding, and translating the statements proposed at first. I have looked over the course notes on the website, and have found them particularly useful for figuring out many small details about a statement. Also, I have found that by doing group work, and discussing the problems with my peers, I was able to learn a lot faster. One of the methods I'm tempted to try is to go to the office hours, since there are still some specific details I'm unsure about. Overall, this course is definitely rougher in terms of difficulty, and the hours required. I plan on spending more time on this course to get a firm grasp of the materials.
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