Week Six

This is the end of the sixth week of class. My feelings on the class thus far are pretty much the same as they have been in the last few weeks. Professor Downing is a very passionate educator and his cursing for emphasis still amuses me for no real reason other than his ability to punctuate his sentences with them at just the right time to get a point across. Anyways, as a follow up from last week, he did go more in depth into XML schemas and did introduce how SQL works through a comparison to Python, both of which were very informative.

We have started to group up for the group project to come, but, and this is not a reflection on Professor Downing as it is on the students, it seems the class is having difficulty in getting into groups or staying organized. This is not that surprising in retrospect since it seems like a lot of people are either skipping or dropping the class which makes organizing that much more difficult, for both the professor and students. Granted the professor does usually try to call on students who are absent and even talk to them, so he does seem to genuinely care about attendance and making sure people understand the subject. So we will see how the group set-up works out, because thus far it seems like a slow going process even before we start working on the project.

 

I guess I now need to find out what to say for a hundred more words. This would be easier if I had something to complain about, but once you get into the groove on things and the GitHub hurdle is overcome it seems like the class mellows out in terms of complexity. Though that is not to say it is not a difficult class, but easy to know what you need to do. Granted the first test is coming up and for all I know I could be completely unprepared for it, but here is to hoping the study guide provided helps and that attendance and understanding the material is what is needed to pass the test with flying colors.

Week five

This marks five weeks down, and ten more to go for the school year. So this is post is after the due date of the assignment which required pair programming and here are my thoughts on it. It is effective in coming up with ideas and problem solving, but I still feel more comfortable programming on my own. Again, I’m not opposed to working as a group or pair, but I just enjoy working on my own more often than not even if I am in a group. Especially as a studio art major whose classes often times requires well studio time to get projects done, working on my own schedule gives me more freedom to get everything I need to do completed.

            Anyways the newest topic we’ve ventured into, xml is not too bad and the professor does teach it well. So no real complaints there, though the xml schema method of defining the xml does seem a bit overwhelming with its many layers of tags. Granted we only touched on it near the end of class on Friday so he may go into more detail on it on Monday. I hope he does, because if we need to use it in the next assignment, I’d rather have more information on it prior to diving into it. But other than these details the class as a whole does not seem to be too bad, I am not going to say it is easy, but thus far the material is not incredibly overwhelming though it does require quite a bit of time and effort to get through. So right not it seems as though the class will be worth the work in terms of what it teaches and at the same time does not seem like it will become a bad class to take for the Elements of Computing credit needed.
            As a whole I would recommend this class if you either want the certificate or if you are just interested in Computer Science but do not want to major in it. It is not a bad thing to try the pair programming, at least once just to see if it improves you work or not. In my case it can be helpful, but I burn out a lot quicker than working alone, so it is a double-edged sword.

Week Four

Four weeks down, eleven to go till the end of the semester. This week focusing on a new aspect of Professor Downing’s teaching style, pair programming. The idea of working in groups or pairs on a project is not something he only does, there are other professors, including computer science professors who believe being able to work together. The difference between simply working together and pair programming, is that pair programming involves working at the same computer together. This fact alone really puts me on edge. I do not mind working in groups, but I typically do so solo. In other words, I help the group but I do so at my own pace and usually in my own private space and not next to someone else. So my first taste of this style of group working came Saturday. It was not as bad as I thought it would be and it was helpful to figure out how we wanted to set up our program, so in that respect it can be beneficial. However, I am very much an introvert and my ability to interact with people for extended periods is severely lacking. I work more comfortably on my own, which is not to say I do not like my partner or that pair programming is bad, on the contrary I think my partner is very insightful at programming and I think pair programming can be beneficial, to an extent for certain kinds of people. For more extroverted people it can be a great way to work, especially when they gain energy from being around others, but for an introvert it can be very draining to do so in large doses, and with the requirement being pair programming 75% of the time and there being little time to do short bursts I foresee a very tiring work while working on this assignment. My worry is that when the group work starts next that we will be required to do 75% of the work all together, because trying to match schedules with one person is tough enough, doing so for three more would be killer. So we will see how this pair programming fairs.

Week 3

So now it is the end of the third week, and to be honest not a lot other than actual class work came up. The only two things about the class are more about the professor’s teaching style, which in all honesty are what really define a class. Otherwise it would not matter who taught the class, if everyone taught in the same way. One thing I’ve said before and, if we are supposed to talk about our experiences in the class rather than the actual course work, will probably say often is that Professor Downing is very passionate about teaching this class and having his students be successful. As an aside to the passionate comment, he does swear a bit in class and not in a negative way, but in a “he seems very excitable way and when he wants to get his point across he uses swears to emphasize his message.” I only mention it because a lot of professors like to present them self as extremely proper or stiff, so it’s nice to have a professor talk like an average person. Plus it just amuses for no real reason other than his energy and excitement are contagious. Anyways, as for why he seems to care about his students, he was very adamant and pushed for us to visit the career fair both for an internship and or simply for experience. He kept talking about throughout the class to emphasize his point. There is also the fact he makes us use GitHub, which he says is used by both professionals and by open source groups, groups he keeps recommending we help so we can build our resume. This shows that he is not only concerned about how his students do within the confines of his class or even the university, but he tries to help guide us towards a path to help in the future in the job market. The final thing that shows his care for his students is how he patiently deals with students when he asks for a question. He tries to ask people so that the same people aren’t the only ones answering and if they are having difficulty he patiently tries to guide them to the answer or to think hard about it so that they learn the material and remember it.