Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Share Post
I found out just how important sleep is yesterday. Apparently, not getting enough sleep will harm you in every single way. Every way. I read an article (and some subsequent books cause I was interested), and not getting enough sleep makes you physically slower and less agile and strong. In addition, it effects motivation, memory retention, mental processing, ability to be creative and problem solve, and skill in absorbing information. I am beginning to think that my problems this year have been more than a little effected by how much sleep I get. Article was in the NY times.
Monday, May 23, 2011
Share Post
Philosophy
No, I am not turning into Cameron and writing about deep BS. I found an interesting factoid online: Save for a few particular corner cases, virtually ever page on Wikipedia will lead to philosophy in a reasonable amount of time (in my tests, all under about 2-3 minutes). I wonder what it is about these sort of chains that lead back to philosophy. One of the things that I discovered as a shortcut, however, was that I knew science would lead to philosophy, so once I hit science, I was there. But then, everything was just leading to science. Do all things in life lead to science? To philosophy? We just don't know.
No, I am not turning into Cameron and writing about deep BS. I found an interesting factoid online: Save for a few particular corner cases, virtually ever page on Wikipedia will lead to philosophy in a reasonable amount of time (in my tests, all under about 2-3 minutes). I wonder what it is about these sort of chains that lead back to philosophy. One of the things that I discovered as a shortcut, however, was that I knew science would lead to philosophy, so once I hit science, I was there. But then, everything was just leading to science. Do all things in life lead to science? To philosophy? We just don't know.
Share Post
THE RAPTURE
So, the rapture didn't happen. Well shucks. I was counting on a lot of things so that I would be in hell. Which would be better than doing my HW. I just wonder how those people who were so invested in the rapture happening feel now? I read this story in the NY Times about this family who's parents honestly believed in it. They didn't plan for anything, didn't keep track of how their lives were going, all because they really thought the rapture would happen. I have never been so invested in something that it might be possible for it to collapse like that, so I have no connection to how they might feel. This essential part of their belief system has been proven wrong, shown that, to the best of their abilities, they were wrong about it. I doubt I will ever have the chance to talk to someone about it, so I will just have to keep on wondering.
So, the rapture didn't happen. Well shucks. I was counting on a lot of things so that I would be in hell. Which would be better than doing my HW. I just wonder how those people who were so invested in the rapture happening feel now? I read this story in the NY Times about this family who's parents honestly believed in it. They didn't plan for anything, didn't keep track of how their lives were going, all because they really thought the rapture would happen. I have never been so invested in something that it might be possible for it to collapse like that, so I have no connection to how they might feel. This essential part of their belief system has been proven wrong, shown that, to the best of their abilities, they were wrong about it. I doubt I will ever have the chance to talk to someone about it, so I will just have to keep on wondering.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
FINAL Blog Post
If I have any one piece of commentary, or any one thing I would change about the class, it would be about blogs. I don't think that having consistent blogs did much for me. I found that my suggestions or thoughts changed little, and was only repeating my self, which does very little both for me and the class. I didn't have very much to share that I felt was worth while looking at, and was more scrambling for a grade than anything else. That said, I do think that large blog posts like these at key points in the year serve as a solid and effective means for feedback. Essentially, I think the glut of posts we have to do could be tuned down.
Now, through the year. I think Scratch was an excellent place to start, no comments there. It worked well for what it was supposed to do, and transitioned well into most everything.
Alice, on the other hand, I did not like so much. I think that the amount of time necessary to really be come accustomed to the program out weighs the value it gives you as a transitional tool. I think Alice's purpose should be redefined, or Alice should be removed.
Jeroo was, I think, the best transitional program. It was intuitive, gave a sense for basic programming, and was similar enough to Scratch while still acting in some ways that Java/other programs do. It was also simply fun to program in it, even if its material was a bit narrow.
I found that, once we were through with Jeroo, and moved into Java, Python, etc, that my productivity, I am sorry to admit, dropped a little bit.
I think that the open practice with the programming labs has its pros and its cons. For someone like Mason, and to a lesser extent someone like my self who is easily distracted by what the person next to me is doing, it can be hard to get work done. However, for someone like Cameron, who (when he wasn't looking up strange philosophy material or writing up nonsensical proofs) has solid focus, it can be a great boon to work at your own pace. Over all, considering how I think and work and the environment I was in, got about as much work done as I would have in a more iron-fisted class approach. I think that the real thing to do would be to identify who works best in which situation, and then try to place them in that. The only issue I can see is that this may lead to levels of perceived unfairness.
I really liked the class on the whole, and am particularly impressed that this was on a first run through. I feel I got a lot out of it, far more than I have out of some other programming classes I have been in, and amd really looking forward to taking CS2 next year or senior year.
Now, through the year. I think Scratch was an excellent place to start, no comments there. It worked well for what it was supposed to do, and transitioned well into most everything.
Alice, on the other hand, I did not like so much. I think that the amount of time necessary to really be come accustomed to the program out weighs the value it gives you as a transitional tool. I think Alice's purpose should be redefined, or Alice should be removed.
Jeroo was, I think, the best transitional program. It was intuitive, gave a sense for basic programming, and was similar enough to Scratch while still acting in some ways that Java/other programs do. It was also simply fun to program in it, even if its material was a bit narrow.
I found that, once we were through with Jeroo, and moved into Java, Python, etc, that my productivity, I am sorry to admit, dropped a little bit.
I think that the open practice with the programming labs has its pros and its cons. For someone like Mason, and to a lesser extent someone like my self who is easily distracted by what the person next to me is doing, it can be hard to get work done. However, for someone like Cameron, who (when he wasn't looking up strange philosophy material or writing up nonsensical proofs) has solid focus, it can be a great boon to work at your own pace. Over all, considering how I think and work and the environment I was in, got about as much work done as I would have in a more iron-fisted class approach. I think that the real thing to do would be to identify who works best in which situation, and then try to place them in that. The only issue I can see is that this may lead to levels of perceived unfairness.
I really liked the class on the whole, and am particularly impressed that this was on a first run through. I feel I got a lot out of it, far more than I have out of some other programming classes I have been in, and amd really looking forward to taking CS2 next year or senior year.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Year-long Reflection: Part 2
Second Month:
I noticed a rapid drop off in my posting quantity. Also, I see I wasn't doing share posts, for some reason I do not remember. I feel rather nostalgic for the early days of comp sci, back at the beginning of the year when everyone was so energetic, and not ready for summer. I notice that I was starting to have some trouble with Alice. I wonder how much time I spent doing blog posts as compared to doing programming work?
I noticed a rapid drop off in my posting quantity. Also, I see I wasn't doing share posts, for some reason I do not remember. I feel rather nostalgic for the early days of comp sci, back at the beginning of the year when everyone was so energetic, and not ready for summer. I notice that I was starting to have some trouble with Alice. I wonder how much time I spent doing blog posts as compared to doing programming work?
Year-long Reflection: Part 1
This series of blog posts will endeavor to be my compiled response and reflection of the entire year. I will be looking back on my older posts to really see what I was thinking.
First Month:
Reviewing my posts from very early in the year (last semester), I see my self being much more pumped than I turned out to be. Thinking back on it now, I do not see why I had so much hype for the blog posting idea. I remember going into Scratch with such a bright outlook (not that I have devolved into a cynical, angry person or anything), and do not feel quite the same hype now for posting my blogs. I notice I was surprisingly regular in my postings (something I wish I were now).
More to come.
First Month:
Reviewing my posts from very early in the year (last semester), I see my self being much more pumped than I turned out to be. Thinking back on it now, I do not see why I had so much hype for the blog posting idea. I remember going into Scratch with such a bright outlook (not that I have devolved into a cynical, angry person or anything), and do not feel quite the same hype now for posting my blogs. I notice I was surprisingly regular in my postings (something I wish I were now).
More to come.
Friday, April 8, 2011
make up reflect post
Looking at what everyone else is going over (namely app inventor), I am sorry to say I am not too hyped about it. Mason and I have gotten permission to continue on with Python; however, I am not entirely sure which direction we should move in. I will be quite honest: my programming interests are mainly in the realm of working on computer game programming. I have heard that Python may not be the best language for that, and I understand that. However, I have really begun to enjoy programming in python, and would like to expand into graphics. It is not something I think is best to do in python, but I like the language and feel comfortable enough with it that it seems the best place to break into graphics.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)