I've never been much of a Computer person. I've never really been eager to learn about the differences between ultrabooks and chromebooks, or why a solid state drive is so great, or really anything else about computers. Yet there's no escaping the device; it has become a pivotal part of everyday life, and it will likely be a pivotal part of everyday life for a long time. It's definitely a pivotal part of my desired profession: Actuarial Science. For those of you that don't know what that is (it's apparently not very well known), An actuary applies mathematical and statistical knowledge and techniques in the field of risk analysis and limitation. Thus, an actuary spends a lot of time working with programming languages and tech, building models in order to make predictions and educated guesses. Therefore, it made sense to familiarize myself with computers a bit more. That's why I chose to do "computational thinking", CSC104, I simply hope to understand computers better and grow more comfortable working with them.
The class itself has been one of the highlights of my week. Since the semester began, every week has become full of lengthy readings, difficult problem sets and copious amounts of practice problems to work on. Yet after almost a month none of that has been because of CSC104. I don't know what I really expected from the course as it isn't a pre-requisite for anything and the name "Computational Thinking" is quite vague, but I have nothing negative to say so far. I wouldn't call the course easy or hard, but it has definitely been a comfort. The lecture notes are concise and convenient to read through while the weekly lab activity details what I need to know and serves as a great review of the week's work. I have not had to spend too much time on CSC104 to feel like I've performed well in quizzes. And while trying to balance sleep, a social life and 4 other courses, that has been a relief.
The programming has definitely been the most interesting aspect of the course so far. One of the great things about DrRacket is the feedback it gives; if it needs numbers, or a list, or an image to perform a function, it will always tell you. As someone just getting started on programming languages, this has been a great help. I was a bit worried that programming would be a bit too tasking, but using DrRacket has been a great experience so far. Working with it feels very interactive: I input something and I receive a response. It's also very convenient that the notes are all put on DrRacket, so if I'm not sure of something I simply pick it up and try it on the interactions tab.
I don't doubt that the course will grow and change as the semester goes by, but as far as things have gone so far, I feel up for anything that gets thrown my way.
The class itself has been one of the highlights of my week. Since the semester began, every week has become full of lengthy readings, difficult problem sets and copious amounts of practice problems to work on. Yet after almost a month none of that has been because of CSC104. I don't know what I really expected from the course as it isn't a pre-requisite for anything and the name "Computational Thinking" is quite vague, but I have nothing negative to say so far. I wouldn't call the course easy or hard, but it has definitely been a comfort. The lecture notes are concise and convenient to read through while the weekly lab activity details what I need to know and serves as a great review of the week's work. I have not had to spend too much time on CSC104 to feel like I've performed well in quizzes. And while trying to balance sleep, a social life and 4 other courses, that has been a relief.
The programming has definitely been the most interesting aspect of the course so far. One of the great things about DrRacket is the feedback it gives; if it needs numbers, or a list, or an image to perform a function, it will always tell you. As someone just getting started on programming languages, this has been a great help. I was a bit worried that programming would be a bit too tasking, but using DrRacket has been a great experience so far. Working with it feels very interactive: I input something and I receive a response. It's also very convenient that the notes are all put on DrRacket, so if I'm not sure of something I simply pick it up and try it on the interactions tab.
I don't doubt that the course will grow and change as the semester goes by, but as far as things have gone so far, I feel up for anything that gets thrown my way.
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