CS371p Spring 2019 Final Entry

What did you like the least about the class?

I really did not like the testing style for this class. I had never done competitive programming before and was not prepared for the first test. I was better prepared for the second one, but I did still not like it. I use Google a lot while programming, and not being able to is really awful.

What did you like the most about the class?

Most of the projects were very interesting. Most of them were had interesting premises and were engaging while not being too difficult, and if there were parts I got hung up on, I often went to the TAs' office hours and Lab hours.

What's the most significant thing you learned?

Just learning more of the intricacies of programming and C++.

How many hours a week did you spend coding/debugging/testing for this class?

It varied a lot between projects, but on the high end it was only about ten hours. Most of that time in the latter projects was spent trying to fix problems in the implementation of my code and trying to get it just fast enough to pass the Hackerrank tests.

How many hours a week did you spend reading/studying for this class?

In regards to the reading assignments, I did them all in the beginning of the semester, but as the class went on, he started actually quizzing on that material less and less often, so I spent less time reading. With regards to studying, I did poorly on the first test because I did not know how to study for the kind of tests in this class, but I did for the second test, so for the week up to the last test I spend about 10 hours studying.

How many lines of code do you think you wrote?

Throughout all the projects, and not counting all the code writing I did while practicing for the tests, I think I wrote a couple thousand.

What required tool did you not know and now find very useful?

Valgrind was very useful in finding memory leaks and errors in one of the projects.

What's the most useful Web dev tool that your group used that was not required?

I don't think we used a tool that wasn't required.

If you could change one thing about the course, what would it be?

Don't schedule a project to be due the week after spring break when it is assigned right before spring break starts.

CS371p Week 14

What did you do this past week?

This past week was mostly spent finishing up the final projects in most of my classes. I finished the programming projects in both of my CS classes that had them and mostly finished my Chinese final project presentation. I also seriously started going over the Hackerrank exercises again and again until I can do them without looking for help. I've gotten decent at it so far, but I still have a little ways to go before I will feel prepared for the test.

What's in your way?

Currently in my way is worrying about the test for this class. I did not do well for the last one and am very worried about how well I will do now. Granted, now that I know how the tests work and can study for them properly, it shouldn't be too much of an issue, but nevertheless, I am worried.

What will you do next week?

Since next week is the last week of classes, I have a whole slew of things that need to be done before I can start studying for finals. I will keep practicing the Hackerrank exercises, even the old ones, and as time permits I will review the quizzes and notes so I don't miss a single thing. I will also finish preparing for the final presentation for Chinese, but since it is a video, once our group finishes recording, we will just have to watch it in class which will be torturous, but it needs to be done.

What was your experience in learning about pure virtual functions?

It was very helpful to see how abstract methods and classes work all laid out clearly. While starting the Life project, the abstract and virtual aspects of the project were confusing, to say the least, and although I had mostly finished the project by the time we talked about the topic in class, I still didn't understand it very well until we went over it in class.

What's your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

Although most of this class probably already knows to do this, my tip of the week is still to do the Hackerrank exercises whenever you get the chance. Do them until you don't need outside help to complete them. Doing this will almost assure you don't get hung up on syntax or compile errors during the test, and will probably help you solve the actual problem as well.