The concept of universal and existential quantifiers was easily understood but the idea of expressing these statements using functions and list statements in Python was confusing at first. Luckily, Python syntax tends to relate to English very closely so very often simply reading the lines of code will explain what it does. The only problem with these functions is knowing which set goes where. Do we check for S1 in S2 or S2 in S1? In order to improve my understanding, I will start to use these statements more often and even force myself at times just to get used to the syntax. Being able to quickly recognize what the code does instead of having to go over it one piece at a time is very valuable when writing time constricted pieces such as the exam.
When it came to stating quantifiers as claims about sets, I was confused at first but going over the examples together proved to be very useful. After working on all four examples together, this concept is now clear. Hopefully the teaching method of going over examples together as a class continues to be used. Simply learning theory and not going over examples can lead to very confused students.
The tutorial this week was what I was looking forward to. I was interested in seeing how it is carried out and if it will be worth sticking around instead of simply writing the quiz. The tutorial problems are done in groups while the TA walks around to aid confused students. This tutorial went really well and ended with a very easy quiz. This quiz was closely related to the tutorial problems so it seems like if you work on these problems beforehand and clear up any confusion during the work time, the quizzes should all continue to be easy. At least that is my hope.
So far the class has been going very well but my only issue is the randomness of the availability of annotated slides. The lectures are very well done and seem more beneficial to listen to than potentially miss verbal information due to focus being put on taking notes. If the annotated slides were available for all lectures, there would never be the worry to quickly jot down notes and answers to the examples and would also help for missed lectures. However, this issue is not very serious as course notes are already available in a very well written format.
Another main event in the second week of CSC165 was assignment #1. At this point all of the questions are not very clear to me but this will hopefully change at the end of week 3. One reason for some questions seeming unclear is due to my absence during the Wednesday lecture due to medical reasons. As mentioned above, course notes are provided which should quickly allow for clarification on all unclear portions of this assignment. The tutorial is also coming up so any concerns may also be addressed at that point because of the assigned tutorial problems. Unfortunately, I have not been able to review all material covered in week 2 due to catch up required in other classes but I am aiming to be on schedule by the end of next week.
Being my first blog, I am worried about the quality of posts and am looking forward to comments providing feedback.
Hi Mohammad, the posts are great! Make sure you post any progress you make on the problems in section 1.4
ReplyDeleteAlso, if you need help with the assignments, or the lecture notes, you can always stop by at the help center. There are also 3 TA's who have office hours the week before the assignments are due!