SLOG 1
Having never programmed before, I was thrilled when I joined
the University of Toronto in order to study Computer Science. The manner in
which we can manipulate computers to do what we want has always been very
exciting for me. So far, Computer science is a course that has never
disheartened me. CSC108 was a fun course
where we learned the basics of programming in an interesting manner. I enjoyed the videos. However, the moment I
was told that CSC148 will not be having video lectures, I began to worry. Knowing
that I had videos to go back to, always gave me confidence. However, the moment
Professor Heap began his lecture, I knew that not having videos was no
disadvantage in this class as every concept was made crystal clear within the
classroom.
Coming to the content of CSC148, so far, it has been
challenging yet interesting. Within the last few weeks, we focused on Object
Oriented programming. This caught my
attention as it taught me how we as programmers can write code that help both
us and other programmers, as it acts as building blocks to create other
programs. This is code that could be reused in order to save time and is
written using Classes (working towards the lazy aspect of programming talked
about in class). This helped me as it made me fluent in using Classes. Then we
were taught about Abstract Data types, in which we focused on the class Stack.
Stack was another ADT that impressed me. I thought about the various
applications this could have in my life, which made me even more excited to learn
about it. Hence, I learned how to write code for creating a class: Stack,
making it Push, Pop and finding out if it is_empty. I also played around with
it, to increase my fluency. During the
lab, the tasks were very helpful, as it removed any knowledge gap that was present
in my understanding. I enjoyed writing
code to create a Queue as well and testing the time the code took.
Overall, I enjoyed the content taught during the last few week.
Its real world applications make me curious to find out what we will learn
next. This SLOG, I believe is an ideal method by which I can portray my
thoughts regarding the content being taught. It will also tell me if my thought
process is correct or whether I misinterpreted some concept taught in class.
This week, my biggest achievement was mastering the code behind this ADT and
experimenting with it.
Siddharth Gautam
CSC148
Professor- Danny Heap
