Despite not knowing much about programming at the beginning of the course, I have seen significant improvements over the past few weeks. Completing the WODs and Assignment 1 has been an excellent experience for me. I can say that I have improved my problem-solving skills and gained a lot of knowledge. Using HTML and Java, I can quickly think about what I need to accomplish and evaluate different options. I have become more comfortable reading and writing HTML and Java. In addition to understanding and reading code, I am incredibly critical when examining my code for errors. As I have learned to recognize my coding style and have adapted to it, I feel more confident about my abilities in coding.
I’d like to get comfortable with CSS, so I can move things around and arrange them how I want. At the moment, I feel like I know the basics, which is fine. In the future, I would prefer to be able to do more styles and layouts. As well, I would like to develop my understanding of dynamically sharing data between web pages. I have so far used the query string method and I am confident that I can improve. I know that Assignment 2 will challenge me to gain a deeper understanding of this method. As we have learned so much content, I feel that I have neglected the basics of coding, such as CSS and HTML formatting. I feel that it keeps getting more and more complicated. It will be easier for me to complete the assignments if I can brush up on so much. By watching the screencasts one more time, I will be able to see alternative paths I can take in order to accomplish my tasks efficiently.
The WODs have taught me many strategies to use in my assignments. My goal is not to mimic the screencasts, but rather to use them to learn how I work. Watching the solution makes me more aware of what I need to work on. Additionally, I can solve any problem quickly when I get stuck, but I always start doing the WODs without watching the screencasts first to work on algorithmic thinking. After completing a WOD, I constantly repeat it a few times to make sure I fully understand the steps and aim to achieve RX time.
Since there is always more content that requires deeper thinking than what the screencasts provide, the labs are definitely challenging for me. However, I think the labs are really valuable. Although I have struggled with a few labs, I have gained a thorough understanding of what the lab focuses on by watching the screencasts. The majority of them have also been completed through my own research. However, I am not always confident when it comes to the labs, but I always look forward to gaining understanding by working through them and interpreting the questions and instructions as I see fit.
In this WOD, we were tasked to modify our Invoice1 to determine the shipping cost. Surprisingly, I could do the tasks quickly compared to Invoice1, but then as I re-read the prompt, it asked us not to hard-code the values. Because of this, I took a lot of time to complete the WOD as I had to find a way to write an algorithm to avoid hard coding. Also, I had trouble at the end as the table didn’t properly format the totals at the bottom. I did a few practices for this WOD. I referred to my notes from the lecture and reading assignments under the Module. To do better for the next WOD, I decided to do some examples from the lecture screencast and assigned readings to become more familiar with the tasks that need to be performed during the WOD.
With both WODs and labs, the class is well-structured. The labs provide you with strategies that can be applied to other assignments, whereas the WOD allows you to put them all together. Though the class is structured well, you must do more research outside of class, which is where I spent the majority of my time. Upon gaining a basic understanding of what the course offers, you can begin researching on your own.
To improve the class, I think labs should be shorter and a sample file should be provided to all students. In this way, students can get back on track if they fall behind in certain labs or if they just do things differently that may cause problems in future labs.
In my opinion, W3 skills provide useful reading since they illustrate how various factors contribute to the final outcome. Researching online can only get you so far when you have code that is different from what the internet would suggest. When such a situation arises, you will have to use critical thinking and apply your knowledge to solve the problem.
I find that workouts, labs, and all the links and readings on our class website are the most helpful. It is possible to see how the strategies are used by reviewing the labs and WODs, but by visiting only one example I must conduct my own research to discover how the strategies are applied in other scenarios. During the lab, I was able to learn how to use the strategy for the first time. Furthermore, I have the opportunity to fully utilize that strategy when I am doing the WODs and for Assignment 1.