News so far......

I know it has been a long time since the first post but that’s because I was preparing some cool program Danny had challenged us to do but since I am still not done yet (have not started actually J, it has been a busy week) and haven’t posted anything new, I figured it is time for me to post something before I actually tell you about the cool mental experiment we did in class (probably, I will have enough time by the reading weak). So wait for that, but for now, here is what has been happening in csc165 so far:

we have had our 3^rd tutorial this week and OUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT. I can’t describe the assignment as hard but I can’t describe it as easy either. Well, that’s the weird thing about this course. You might think your answer is right just because it makes sense to you and turns out it is completely wrong. That is why you must read what you have written from many different angles and try to prove yourself wrong (which is a common thing between all sciences). I hope I did well on the assignment.

As for the lectures, I really loved the part when we try to prove that one statement is equivalent to another statement (since now, you can actually know if your answer is right or wrong). We are starting proofs so I guess that should be fun and I am looking forward to it.

what is computer science really about?

What is Computer science really about?

    Since we are almost two weeks into the second semester, I can probably provide a somewhat accurate answer for this question and hopefully, as I proceed through this semester, I will get to discover more about csc165 and about computer science in general.

    First off, I have to mention that I was not originally considering computer science as a major. I decided to take csc108 in the first semester to get an idea about what computer science is really about. And now, as a computer science student, I am really glad I tried it out. 

    

    Now, I have to mention the purpose behind this quick biography; through studying computer science, I have found that lots of comments concerning computer science are totally untrue. Here are the top 3 'computer science myths' :

I have to state that these are not facts, it is just my own personal opinion and if you have different views, please share. 

MYTH 1:

computer science is all about programming/computers/codes.……etc

This may seem as a very reasonable claim but I think computer science is more than just using a programming language to write codes.

Computer science is not only about implementing a code, but also about making the code work and proving that it will do what it is supposed to do.

In other words, it is about logic and reasoning and I can find no better proof than the fact that we have to take csc165 in our first year of studying computer science, a course about logic and mathematical reasoning.

In csc165, we have barely used computers and most of the work is happening on paper (and in our brains).

MYTH 2:

  If you want to take computer science in university, you must have a programming experience.

This was of a huge concern for me since I had no programming experience  whatsoever and although I admit people with past programming experience had some sort of an advantage over me (They got to skip csc108). What I notice now is it does not matter since computer science is also about logic and implementing is only one part of it and thus I think that anyone who is eager to learn computer science has the potential to do great.

MYTH 3:

csc is all about human machine interactions (you don’t get to talk to other people)

Totally wrong! I think by far, my computer science courses are where I got to talk to many people. In all lab/tutorial sections, we are always encouraged to work together in pairs. group programming (I think that is the correct term ) is always stressed and supported in all labs. And in csc165 lectures, we always get time to talk to other people about our reasoning for a certain problem, which really helps.