Week #11: Revisiting my previous SLOG posts

I cannot believe that my CS first year is almost done at U of T. Studying CSC 148 developed me as a better software developer although the only language I know is Python. I am planning to study C by myself during summer vacation to prepare for my second year as CS undergraduate at U of T.

Looking at my posts, I am proud that at least I kept writing my SLOG posts weekly which shows my dedication and passion towards this course. I believe that writing SLOG post is very helpful as it allows me to review the course material. Not only that, reading others' SLOG posts enables me to view the course materials in different aspects. Writing about why computer scientists should write on my first post allowed me to reflect on the importance of writing even in subjects like computer science. Computer science is not all about code-writing. Computer science is essential in our daily lives. I am glad that I study computer science at U of T.

I also agree with my previous posts that using office hours wisely is one of the best learning methods. Instead of struggling over one question for 2-3 hours, asking a question to Professor Heap after some attempts saves my time and teaches me more than any other method. What I was confused about at first was recursion, so I visited Professor Heap to talk about it. With his help, I am now confident in my recursion skills. I also attempted another method. As shown on my week 7 post, when my partner and I had problems with lab 05, we attempted a new method where the first one writes code and the next one tries to debug it. That was also a success although it took us some time. I guess there are many ways of learning in computer science. I believe that these two methods suit me the most as these assisted me to learn CSC148 in depth.

Tracing recursion was the easiest as I was able to see the pattern clearly. I got perfect on that quiz. Interestingly, I've revisited my week 5 post when I was learning recursion more in depth during week 6-8 to re-enforce the basic concepts of recursion. Likewise, revisiting  my previous posts always helped me to review the course materials throughout the term.

Writing SLOG posts helped me reflect on the course materials and myself. Whenever I wrote my posts, I always tried my best to demonstrate my understanding so that I can revisit later during the final exam preparation period and other students might find my posts useful.

It was a challenge for me to actually find SLOG posts which was updated weekly. Most of the SLOG blog were inactive. I wonder why students gave up on writing SLOG posts weekly. Is it because they don't have time? I believe that writing SLOG post does not take too much time. Even writing just a bit is fine if one is so busy.

I am glad that TA strike is finally over. I would like to thank both TA and U of T as they have decided to settle the strike. The final exam period is also approaching. I hope that CSC 148 final exam is easy. It's time for me to study! You can do it, Julian!

I also found these SLOG blogs fascinating as the writers kept writing weekly just like me. Not only that, their explanation on the course materials was great. I also commented on how great works they have done. Here are the links below.
http://csc148sonny.blogspot.ca/
http://aquaticliving.blog.com/   <- I wasn't able to comment on it since the comment option was not
                                                  available, but I want to say "don't give up!" to the writer. I am sure                                                     that the writer can overcome the challenge he or she is facing currently.
http://csc148eunn.blogspot.ca/

Their postson CSC 148 course materials are very impressive. They have demonstrated their approaches to problems in depth and how they interpret problems differently. Not only that, their summaries are in detail and well-organized. I also agree with most of their posts and I want to say great work to those who constantly wrote his or her SLOG posts.