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Putting in overtime in the computer labs
For most of my life, school and classes have come relatively easy for me. Even in college, once I put a bit more work and concentration into what I was doing I succeded in many of my classes. But that's not always the case - sometimes one class will have your number and it will take you longer than you could ever get used to to learn the subject matter. Well, that class for me is CS 139, Algorithm Development. Yesterday I spent quite a while in the computer lab working on one particular lab that I needed to hand in. What's incredible to me is that this class is not so much about learning the computer language and the processes with which a computer calculates, but more about your thought process on how you approach a problem you are forced to solve. For me this was the big problem yesterday.
Our computer assignment was to simulate our own account statement. We would input how much money we had on our previous balance and then input any added charges. Our program had to simulate what the interest and minimum payment would be for our simulated balances. This assignment literally took me about 6 hours to complete. Normally I wouldn't complain about that because I've worked MUCH longer than 6 hours on a number of assignments. The thing that was frutrating though was that many students in the class who are CS majors finished it in an hour or so. This boggled my mind, but I must admire how well they work in their field - it's honestly something to be envious of. Well thanks to my Professor Dr. Archer Harris, I was able to figure out how to construct a program. The way that I was attacking the algorithm wasn't the best way for me to solve the program it turned out, and with his help I was able to make a much easier solution in only 20 min! It was amazing how I felt like if I looked at the problem in a different light I would've been one of the students who finished the lab in an hour or so!
Well I'm actually starting on another lab right now so I have to go!
Talk to you all again real soon.
Posted by Simeon on September 29, 2005 01:44 PM | Link | Email Simeon
