Feb. 15, entry #5

Today I received the very good news of holding my programming test and congratulating myself on a job-well-done! I struggle with the course and sometimes make simple sequencing errors or miscalculate operations, but this mark was proof that I know more than I think I know. This has provided me the (much needed) motivation to keep pushing through the material no matter the trouble I might be experiencing throughout the process. I like the idea of being able to answer the questions in many different formats (drawing, describing, code, etc) because I feel I learn better with guidance in the question, but nothing to rigid in the answer. I tend to think more flexibly and this test accommodated just that. I found this weeks material to be more trickier than previous weeks particularly the maps and structures. I could not understand completely how to group values with lists and structs or how to map functions over lists on my first pass through the videos, but I will certainly spend some more time working through it in DrRacket and I'm sure to figure something out. Danny explained to me at office hours that brackets are to be unpacked from the deepest most inner layer and worked all the way outwards when solving a multi-bracketed problem. That was good to know because brackets have always been an obstacle on my way to realizing my-true-programmer-genius-self. After reading other SLOGs I realized I am not alone in the agony of commuting to tutorial for my only class consisting of a 10 minute quiz. I noticed someone proposed they be online or (I say) at the end of class on Tuesday or Thursday or some other alternative, but I know this won't happen, I'll just have to keep on slogging my way down. I wish everyone a fabulous reading (sleeping) week! :P