The past 2 weeks of this course have been pretty rough. The second assignment was quite challenging and the second term test took place the day after the assignment was due. The material however has been fairly straightforward, mostly about Big O of polynomials and non-polynomials. We have learned how to prove and disprove the above, which draws upon knowledge learned from last chapter.
The assignment was challenging, mainly due to the use of the floor function and doing proofs using it. Questions 1.2 and 1.3 were particularly troublesome, requiring me to make use of office hours to attempt to solve it. The term test was pretty fair in terms of difficulty, however I feel I could've done better if I didn't have another midterm to study for that took place half an hour after this test.
The material on this chapter isn't too confusing, as methods for proving and disproving polynomials in Big O aren't too hard to grasp. Big O of non-polynomials is slightly more difficult, making use of limits and such. I never would have thought that I would be using calculus outside of that class like this. Overall I feel I have a nice grasp on this material and am ready for what is on the final assignment of this course.
Jimmy
Thursday 13 November 2014
Monday 27 October 2014
CSC165 - Week 6&7
The last 2 weeks in CSC165 were rather ordinary. The Thanksgiving holiday was on week 6, so there were only 2 hours of lecture that week, followed by the regular 3 hours in week 7. Those lectures covered the rest of the material involving proofs and introduced algorithms and runtime. The tutorial for week 7 consisted of completing the proofs introduced in week 5's tutorial.
The material covered in the last 2 weeks of lecture were fairly straightforward, although a lot of thinking is still required to apply the material to practice problems.The finishing of proof material coincided with the release of assignment 2, which is all about proving and disproving statements. The assignment is fairly confusing in terms of difficulty, but should be doable with a little bit of help. The next section of the course, algorithm analysis, is the main "computer science-y" part of the course, which makes it slightly more interesting.
The material covered in the tutorial was also straightforward. It involved completing the 3 proofs, 2 of which were set up during last tutorial. The tutorial quiz was based on the same concepts that were applied in tutorial. Although I was confused and blanked out during the quiz, I figured it out the minute I left tutorial, which is frustrating but am still happy I understanding the material. I will work harder to make sure things go more smoothly next time, especially with the assignment being due soon and with the new chapter being taught.
Jimmy
The material covered in the last 2 weeks of lecture were fairly straightforward, although a lot of thinking is still required to apply the material to practice problems.The finishing of proof material coincided with the release of assignment 2, which is all about proving and disproving statements. The assignment is fairly confusing in terms of difficulty, but should be doable with a little bit of help. The next section of the course, algorithm analysis, is the main "computer science-y" part of the course, which makes it slightly more interesting.
The material covered in the tutorial was also straightforward. It involved completing the 3 proofs, 2 of which were set up during last tutorial. The tutorial quiz was based on the same concepts that were applied in tutorial. Although I was confused and blanked out during the quiz, I figured it out the minute I left tutorial, which is frustrating but am still happy I understanding the material. I will work harder to make sure things go more smoothly next time, especially with the assignment being due soon and with the new chapter being taught.
Jimmy
Sunday 12 October 2014
CSC165 - Week 5
This week was a rather important one in CSC165, as the first term test took place during the first hour of lecture. Along with the term test, the lecture covered topics in Chapter 3 of the lecture notes. The material in this chapter is rather confusing, although that is mainly due to lack of practice on the material. The material will probably be more clear after taking up the exercises and upcoming assignment.
The term test was pretty fair in terms of difficulty. The practice test was helpful, as the material was similar and knowing the concepts covered on it made me more confident going into the test. Although this first test has gone fairly well, I know that the course only gets harder from here, so I hope to be able to keep up with the material and do well throughout the semester.
The material in Chapter 3 of the course notes is proofs. So far we have covered proof structure and proofs of universally quantified and existence, sequences and methods of proving them. The tutorial did well in covering proof structures, but the rest of the material is still confusing to me, at least for now. I will continue working hard to keep up with the current and future material.
Jimmy
The term test was pretty fair in terms of difficulty. The practice test was helpful, as the material was similar and knowing the concepts covered on it made me more confident going into the test. Although this first test has gone fairly well, I know that the course only gets harder from here, so I hope to be able to keep up with the material and do well throughout the semester.
The material in Chapter 3 of the course notes is proofs. So far we have covered proof structure and proofs of universally quantified and existence, sequences and methods of proving them. The tutorial did well in covering proof structures, but the rest of the material is still confusing to me, at least for now. I will continue working hard to keep up with the current and future material.
Jimmy
Saturday 4 October 2014
CSC165 - Week 4
This week in CSC165 was quite a hectic one. Along with lecture and tutorial, there was also an assignment to work on for the end of the week. The difficulty of the material this week wasn't too bad. We finished up Chapter 2 of the course notes, logical notation, and started on Chapter 3, which is on proofs. So far the material seems interesting and I look forward to learning more about this topic in the future.
The first assignment of the course was based on the first 2 chapters of the course notes, and made us apply everything we learned from those chapters, including Venn diagrams, symbolic notation and the uses and manipulation of that. The difficulty of the assignment wasn't too bad, and whatever was unclear was solved by looking through posts on the course Piazza page, which is really helpful since a lot of the common problems and misconceptions in the assignment are posted there by others with the same problem. Overall, I had a good understanding of the assignment and felt I did pretty well on it.
Next week will also be a hectic one, with the first term test happening in the first hour of lecture. I'm feeling pretty confident going into it, as the work done in the past few weeks have prepared me for it. I wish all my classmates good luck going into the next week with the term test coming up.
Jimmy
The first assignment of the course was based on the first 2 chapters of the course notes, and made us apply everything we learned from those chapters, including Venn diagrams, symbolic notation and the uses and manipulation of that. The difficulty of the assignment wasn't too bad, and whatever was unclear was solved by looking through posts on the course Piazza page, which is really helpful since a lot of the common problems and misconceptions in the assignment are posted there by others with the same problem. Overall, I had a good understanding of the assignment and felt I did pretty well on it.
Next week will also be a hectic one, with the first term test happening in the first hour of lecture. I'm feeling pretty confident going into it, as the work done in the past few weeks have prepared me for it. I wish all my classmates good luck going into the next week with the term test coming up.
Jimmy
Friday 26 September 2014
CSC165 - Week 3
The third week in this course had been pretty interesting. We learned more symbols and how to use them, namely conjunction, disjunction and negation. The material was interesting and really made me think more logically in real life. We combined this with knowledge from last week to express statements symbolically, which the assignment and tutorial quiz were based on.
The material was more confusing than last week's, mainly due to lack of examples shown in lecture and notes. I went to the CS help center for help on the tutorial exercise. They were really helpful, pushing you to think the problem through instead of giving answers directly. This was a positive experience for me, and I will go back if any more help is needed. Going over the exercise was really helpful for preparing for the tutorial quiz.
I really enjoyed what was covered in week 3. I look forward to week 4, preparing myself as the material gets more challenging.
Jimmy
The material was more confusing than last week's, mainly due to lack of examples shown in lecture and notes. I went to the CS help center for help on the tutorial exercise. They were really helpful, pushing you to think the problem through instead of giving answers directly. This was a positive experience for me, and I will go back if any more help is needed. Going over the exercise was really helpful for preparing for the tutorial quiz.
I really enjoyed what was covered in week 3. I look forward to week 4, preparing myself as the material gets more challenging.
Jimmy
Wednesday 17 September 2014
CSC165 - Week1&2
Greetings. My name is Jimmy and I am a student at the University of Toronto taking CSC165. I hope that my experience in this course will be a positive one that will result in me being able to express myself and communicate in ways that most good Computer Scientists do. The content in this SLOG and the process of writing it should help me in achieving that goal.
The first week of lecture was rather uneventful. It mainly consisted of standard course introductions, which was saying what we will be learning in this course and prerequisites for taking this course. Not much to say here.
The second week is much more interesting. We covered the first half of chapter 2 of the course notes, basics of logical notation. Some concepts were rather simple, such as the definition and properties of universal and existential quantification. Others were a bit more confusing in my opinion, mainly implications. I feel the everyday life examples used in lecture weren't too helpful, but with more practice and practical examples I can grasp the concept more easily.
That is basically it for weeks 1 and 2 of lecture. I feel that I am well prepared and am looking forward to week 3.
Jimmy
The first week of lecture was rather uneventful. It mainly consisted of standard course introductions, which was saying what we will be learning in this course and prerequisites for taking this course. Not much to say here.
The second week is much more interesting. We covered the first half of chapter 2 of the course notes, basics of logical notation. Some concepts were rather simple, such as the definition and properties of universal and existential quantification. Others were a bit more confusing in my opinion, mainly implications. I feel the everyday life examples used in lecture weren't too helpful, but with more practice and practical examples I can grasp the concept more easily.
That is basically it for weeks 1 and 2 of lecture. I feel that I am well prepared and am looking forward to week 3.
Jimmy
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