The Second Three Weeks 9/29/13

The second half of the six weeks has been a lot more challenging for me than the first was. We've moved beyond simple data types like int and double and the basic syntactical structure of java to slightly more advanced topics like methods. What has been most challenging is the fairly fast pace the class moves at. Missing the first day methods were explained also proved itself to be the reason for many of my issues this six weeks. I never really made up the lesson and thought that I would be ok if I simply trudged onward, skipping the lesson entirely and hoping to learn it as I went along. This proved to be a mistake because, as you described at the beginning of the year, computer science really is a cumulative class. Almost all of the knowledge we learn is building on top of previous things we learned, and missing one thing, especially something as integral to what we're doing in the class as methods, really got me behind. I ended up, through a combination of reading back through power points and getting Weston to explain concepts to me, catching up to the class and I now feel like I'm in a much better spot as far as my grasp of the material than I was a week ago. However I will definitely need to study before the first exam to make sure I really understand everything fully. The labs are very effective in helping me to understand what we do in the class. The worksheets and power points are helpful when learning, but what really teaches me the material is the experience of actually doing it in labs. I think in my experience the labs we do are the most important part of the class. I have trouble visualizing something from just hearing or reading about it, but the ability to actually use the methods we learn really solidifies the knowledge in my head.