week 6

This week I got my test back. It was generally not bad but I made some stupid mistakes on the test. I didn't know that I need to describe the function of (require picturing-programs) as well, so I left it blank.  I lost mark for this. Also, I was confused about how to calculate fibonacci5. Now I know them so hopefully I won't make the same mistake since this time.

 This week was really hard for me because I had my German and Economic test on thursday and friday. During the classes I learnt some new functions on Dr.Racket. I learnt how to group values in to lists and structs, and the function of map. For example, to reverse the list of values and to extract the first item from the list and the the rest of the list as well. I also learnt how to create a struct consist of different of parts. For example, I could create a struct with the album name, the singer, and the time that is was published. Finally, I learnt how to transform the list into a new list using the function of map. I could transform a list of numbers into another list of numbers by using "add5" to them.

The quiz was all about these functions we learnt this week so it was easy. 

week 5

This week we have a midterm. It was all about reviewing the materials that we learnt from previous weeks, such as the history of computing devices, and the functions. I found that the most interesting part of this course is to use DrRacket to define functions that we learnt in class. It gives me a lot accomplishments when I actually can define a function correctly.

When I learning the history of computers, I found that some of the facts are really similar to each other. I am not very familiar with most of the content, so I needed to open many links on the website to get more information about those inventions. It's easier to understand the history than just memorizing it.

The test is not hard. Actually the binary part is what I didn't know before. But I realize it when I did the past test and I called my friend who took this course last year. He taught me about it and there is a question about that. So I was very glad that I learnt it before the test.

The week of getting harder

This week I actually didn't put much effort at the beginning cuz I thought that the history of computing machines were easy for me to memorize. I was too sleepy in class so I almost fell asleep during class. So I missed something about the handler. But when I went back home, I downloaded the document for tutorial 3 and I read the Picturing Program 6.1 and 6.2 carefully. So now I understand the concepts of handlers such as "on-tick" and "on-draw".

The  animation is interesting for me. I would like to try different time-intervals, different pictures and the different degrees of rotation by myself. It is kind of fascinating when you actually see an animation displayed in the window. But sometimes I forget the order of different functions and forget where to put a parenthesis.

However, it is a little bit hard for me to define "rotate-second" because I don't understand what it means. I just know the basic codes. I think I need to ask the TA about how to define more definitions by myself. I'm still a little bit confused of how to check-expect the definitions and the purpose of doing so.

I think for the upcoming test, I need to start memorizing the history about computing machines. I didn't read it at all so far. I will put more effort next week on this course.

Getting to know DrRacket

This is the second week of learning how to use DrRacket. Unlike the first week when I knew nothing about it, this week I started to understand how to use it to define functions. In this week of classes, I learnt that "pic: hacker" and "pic: calendar" are the names of two built-in images. I also learnt that how to make my own definitions, such as the definition of the function lolcatz. One "check-expect" is corresponding to one "define". I can define a picture using a simple expression rather than copying and pasting the image again and again. For example, I can define a picture of apple using "p1".

Also, throughout watching the videos of DrRacket, I learnt some codes for composing pictures and changing the scales of pictures.

In class, I enjoyed watching people doing demonstrations of expressing letters using seven digits of numbers. The activity was fun.

The quiz this week was not hard. But what frustrates me is the history of computer machines. I need to memorize too much information including the time period, the names of those machines. I think I'll take a look at the notes that are posted on our course website and try to understand those things.

Week 1

The first week of class was just very confusing for me because I've never learnt computer science before but it was still very interesting.  I think the basic idea for commanding computers is to use understandable and logical steps to solve problems   using computers instead of human brains. The new things that I learnt were algorithms , some basic codes for commanding, such as: flip- vertical, etc. 

Since I still feel unfamiliar and confused by some stuff in this course, I haven't find any thing that I enjoy doing. The most frustrated thing is to use the program DrRacket. I don't know how to define some of the commands. For example. I wrote "flip- vertical", and followed the steps in the videos but it always told me that the function "flip-vertical" is not defined. I think I need to ask for help for this. 

The codes are not hard for me to understand. They are really straightforward so I feel confident about them. One of my achievement this week is that I set up my CDF account and I downloaded the DrRacket for my OX system. 

I believe that in the following weeks I would get more involved in this course.