Week Fourteen

            This is the fourteenth week of class as well as the last required post for this blog. With only one week left all that remains is to finish presentations and a test, but this means that most aspects of the class are concluded, because other than organizing the presentation there is no more group work, no more programming, pair programming or standard programming, and no more lessons from Professor Downing or any more guest speakers. Speaking of guest speakers, we had our final one this week, whom discussed start-ups and of the need for programmers as well as the possibility of future internships. Overall it was about as informative as the others, in that it showed how Professor Downing wants his students to be successful so he wishes to show of the many possible job avenues available to those with computer science experience, by having companies come in to discuss just that as well as the importance of internships, which just reinforces what Professor Downing already repeated tells us. So he seems very fond of the brute force, beat the idea into his students’ heads approach to get his point across, which is not necessarily a bad approach, but it can be a bit heavy handed at times because typically those who would listen already know or realize this after the first time and those who resist the idea typically will continue to resist the idea regardless of how many times the professor tries to convey the importance of these ideas to succeed in the job market, computer science or otherwise.

            The only other think of note that occurred this week was that the professor talked about the final test and what types of things would be on it, as well as some example problems. This is much appreciative, because it helps with studying for the final test. Oh and once again, the professor is recommending group studying as the best means to study. This is a fair point, but as with most forms of learning and studying, everyone has their own style of studying so for some group studying does not help and for some it does. Hopefully by the end of the class most have a good idea of what works best for them.