overdue update

I haven't made an update in a long time but a lot has happened since I started this blog.
The two things that really stick out to me were the two assignments, on both I worked alone because I really enjoy the challenge of figuring out a problem.

The part of A1 that I had the most trouble with was tour.py, it took me a really long time to figure out a way to utilize the 4th stool for stacking the cheese. I eventually came to a conveyor-belt-like method where the program rotated through the spare stools and the destination stool. This method is much simpler than trying to store and logically find the answer as a human would because it utilizes the computer's strengths as opposed to a human's strengths: memory over problem solving.

A2 posed it's own challenges, I spent the longest time trying to figure out a 'smart' way of doing the second method by storing and processing the information in the strings. Eventually I gave up and erased the whole second method to come from a different approach. I decided to start out by putting the given requirements from the pdf into straight code. The only problem with this was the star-method, it took me the longest time to figure out how to do it. I was given a string and I had to determine if it was comprised of multiples of any number of other strings of unknown count and length. After over 5 hours of trial and error, I finally remembered how to use backtracking and the method was complete.

I really enjoy the Assignments and exercises in CSC148 because it allows me to try to think outside the box or try things in new ways while applying my past knowledge to what I learn in class.

Friday spet 26

This week we learned about exceptions. I have mixed feelings about using exceptions, it seems a bit tedious to make them all but it provides a lot of structure and makes your code feel more organized. There are times when I code on my own when I don't put in the effort to comment or organize my code properly. Exceptions are usually worth the effort in larger projects and I think I will be using them in the future.
I do a lot of coding in my spare time, most of the time I work on small projects or ideas that pop into my head like games but sometimes i do a few programming contest problems to test my problem solving.

I enjoy coding in python, java and c++. I plan on learning c# in the next few years.