CSC236H: Some final thoughts

CSC236H is coming to an end, as a result so is this slog. I might post one more entry regarding studying for the final, but I'm not going to make any promises. I'm currently finishing up antibiotics for strep throat. So, I guess a lot of things are coming to an end. I've been ill, and as a result suffering, for almost a month now and it had some severe effects on my performance in my classes. As a result, I spent about a solid week with antibiotics, tylenol flu and the course notes trying to figure out everything I needed to for the term test yesterday (Friday) morning.

I think it might have paid off. I had no trouble answering the first question about the Cartesian product. I skipped the second question to work on the third one after that, proving the equivalence of languages. The second question, the one I answered last, was about regular expressions. Although I'm happy with how I answered both of those questions, it dawned on me after I went home to nap that my proof for question three might have been a little weak, and my proof for question two might have been very week. I didn't quite follow the steps of what I hope were structural induction as well as I could have. Hopefully I still pull through. After all, it was a big struggle to get where I did. I'll be happy with a C.

Problem Set 6

I've spent a fair amount of time trying to do problem set 6. I've been reading chapter 7 over and over. It's not making any sense to me right now. I'm going to have to talk to Danny tomorrow.

CSC236H: Term Test 2

As much as I've tried to get on top of things in this course, I haven't. I need to be honest. It's only fair. There is no point in lying to myself. I do want to do well in this course. I just, haven't been scheduling the time that it deserves. All of my classes. I just, fell behind. I'm going to do what I need tonight, as much as I need to. And I'm going to get this together. Starting now, with the notes. I'm going to get caught up. Starting first with the 8 hours a week that we agreed to on the first day of class.

Progress?

I didn't do well on A1.
I don't know how I did on T1.
I didn't do PS3. Or PS4.
I didn't do A2.

I'm also doing equally as poorly in my other classes. But, the upside is, having accepted certain assignments as casualties to a lack of time, I might be able to turn my performance around. I hope.

Trying to keep up

I haven't talked about CSC236H for a while. It might be because I'm so embarrassed over my performance in the class. I didn't do nearly as well as I had originally thought I was going to on A1. I managed to feel my way through the first term test on Friday, but I don't know how well the result will be. I've also fallen very far behind in all of my other courses.

In today's class I sat through the example proof we were supposed to do, completely frustrated I couldn't even get the base case to work. Turns out I was doing it totally wrong. So, I submitted nothing and looked like a fool. 10:00 classes, not my forte.

Thoughts on Assignment 1

I'm really disappointed with my final product for assignment 1. I'm willing to bet big money this is reflected in the marks. It wasn't until today when I was going over it for good when I started to feel incredidbly uncomfortable with what I thought were originally good, solid proofs. I guess there's always next time.

A slog by any other name

As part of the slog requirement we're supposed to comment on other slogs that classmates are running. I understand the idea behind it: take someone else's viewpoint on a problem you might not have thought of. Make the slogs more interesting by encouraging conversation. Unfortunately finding slogs that are updated by students who have a little more than bare minimum interest in the project is a huge challenge.

I was going to watch Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and go through some other slogs, but the sound is completely off on the system I took from my parents (Thanks Dad), and I'm too lazy to switch the cables to a backup DVD player, especially considering that sometimes the backup doesn't read the discs properly. In retrospect, the solution to set up my computer to play it properly will end up taking more time.

My goal is to find slogs that are updated semi-regularly, with at least some sort of insight into the class that I missed, or at the very least, something amusing to read. I'll let you know how I do.