SLOG Entry#3

     Here's another SLOG entry. This week, we talked about the Tower of Hanoi, and learned about scopes and namespaces. The Tower of Hanoi is a classical math puzzle that entails moving a stack of disks from one spot to another, one disk at a time. This is a puzzle as bigger disks can't be placed on top of smaller disks. We discussed this classical problem as we must do something similar for Assignment #1. We also talked about scopes. When values are created and referenced to memory addresses, they exist locally, non-locally, or globally. Depending on where the variable is created, it can be overwritten by another variable with the same name, but in a more focused scope. An interesting tidbit, which can be avoided by just giving the variables different name in the first place. That's all for this week. Tune in next week for more computer science!

SLOG Entry#2

     Well here's my weekly SLOG entry. This week, in the wonderful world of computer science, we learned about recursive functions. In layman terms, a recursive function is a function that calls upon itself to accomplish its task. Sounds simple enough, but its an important computer science tool with a wide variety of uses. From the examples we did in class about counting the depth of lists, to complex fractals, recursive programming is a common occurrence in many of the programs we use and love. Or use and hate. I particularly enjoyed the turtle example we were given as watching a recursive animation of lines being drawn is oddly relaxing. Anyway, that's all for this week. Tune in next week for more computer science!

SLOG Entry#1

     I haven't done much computer programming before I took CSC108, but I don't regret my decision to take it. It was a fun course that covered an important skill in the modern world, computer programming. And after three weeks of taking CSC148, I'm still confident I made the right choice in learning how to program. I was taught many interesting concepts in computer science so far, but one of the most interesting would have to be Object-oriented programming. Object-oriented programming is a programming paradigm that utilizes objects with associated methods. It's a different style of programming that threw me off my game for a while. It was only after I looked up examples of object-oriented projects that I understood the flexibility and diversity this style of programming offered. It is far more efficient when it comes to larger projects then procedural programming. However, I'm left wondering what other programming paradigms are being used in the industry today?