2D Arrays

Today was the last CS filled day before spring break and it definitely was worthwhile that I showed up to class. We learned about multidimensional arrays and how to apply them to our code. Being good with for loop is essential in applying 2D arrays. In the book almost all of the examples given had at least one nested for loop and all of the examples shown in class had that same format as well. However, during the lab I was not performing at my optimum level because I was quite tired because of studying for my Physics exam. While in the lab my partner and I had several questions, but the lab TAs were able to effectively help us with our problems and we successfully got through three of the five problems. The readings for next class seem pretty lightweight, but I'll still attempt to read it and understand it before class on Thursday.

Program #2...Success!

After meeting up yesterday, me and my partner thought hard about this assignment and how we were going to complete it. We planned to incorporate an ArrayList that contains the elements for the match array and an ArrayList that contains all the differences generated by putting the pattern array against the data array. To determine these elements for the ArrayLists we used several for loops. After about two hours of hard work and drawing out the problem, we got out program to work correctly and after using our test cases to test the program it worked perfectly every time! We knew going into this that there would be no easy way to complete the program, so we broke the program down into easier steps and that strategy ensured success in writing the program.

Let's get er' done!

I'm not known for being a person who procrastinates a lot, but for this programming assignment my partner and I have held off from starting this assignment until today. In our assignment we know that we have to use for loops and we have set up those and we also have to create variables for the lowest difference and the temporary difference. Our program is still somewhat in the embryonic stages, but we are going to meet up tomorrow morning in the lab to work with it a bit more for obvious reasons. We have pretty much gotten up to the point where we can create an ArrayList inside our method then convert it back to an array then print it out by using the main method, but we still have quite a bit more work to do before we can check off this assignment.

Maps?...No Problemo!

Going into class on Tuesday I knew that it was going to be an easy lecture because after reading the section on maps I completely understood it. The whole concept of maps is quite simple, but when Dr. Poplawski drew out the whole map drawing on the board with the references it was a bit confusing. However, I'm sure with some more practice the whole map drawing will make more sense to me. The stressful part about this week is definitely going to be getting the programming assignment done. My partner and I have not met much regarding the programming assignment because we have been busy this week, but we are going to meet in the next day or so and start the assignment and possibly come close to completing it.

Upcoming Week

As I approach this new week I have a lot of work ahead of me. Not only are we going to be learning new things like HashCode and whatnot that I am not familiar with, but I have the challenge of completing the programming assignment. I completed the test cases for the code earlier today and now I am faced with the challenge of organizing the assignment into code. The use of ArrayLists are definitely going to be essential because they are definitely a lot more helpful and programmer-friendly than arrays are. There will definitely be some for loops as well and I am getting better with those since we are working more with those in the lab and using them in concurrence with methods and arrays. It will be a challenge to complete the code by this next Sunday, but it will definitely get done.

ArrayLists > arrays

Before attending class on Thursday I had read the ArrayLists document the night before and I quickly realized that ArrayLists are a lot more convenient than arrays. Arrays do not have the ease of modification that ArrayLists do plus one does not have to define a size of the ArrayList once it is created. By learning these ArrayLists and having Dr. Poplawski show us some ArrayLists in loops it will definitely make writing the code for our next homework assignment a lot easier. It will still take quite some time to think about the problem and develop a general idea for how to code it, but with the ability to work with a partner it will make the assignment easier because I have another mind to consult with to try and solve the problem.

CS Tuesday

After a nice winter carnival it was that time of the week again to experience my Tuesday CS day. Before heading into class on Tuesday I was unsure on several topics regarding arrays and whatnot. After going through several examples and receiving more information it really made more sense to me. This was evident in my lab Tuesday night as well because my partner and I flew through the exercises that included methods and arrays with hardly any issues. During the lab I also received my program score back and felt disappointed as I had only received an 82 out of 100. When I turned in the program a couple weeks ago I thought for sure that I would receive a perfect score, but the test cases proved otherwise. Next time I create a homework program I have to be sure that it works for test cases similar to the ones used in the first programming assignment. 

Lab Quiz/Lecture

My Tuesday was basically a CS1121-filled day because of the lecture this afternoon and the lab during the evening. The lecture was about arrays and after I read the material the previous night I had somewhat of an understanding of arrays, but when Dr. Poplawski went through some examples on how to use arrays it seemed a bit more clear to me. I also experienced my first lab quiz this evening. The first lab quiz and actually all of the lab quizzes are worth 10% of my grade each so the pressure definitely was on. I walked into the lab with a pretty confident mindset and as the lab quiz started I completed the first three questions within about 20 minutes, but was stuck on the last question. All in all I ended up with a 90% on the quiz and I'll take that any day.

Back To Reality

 After witnessing an intense Super Bowl 46 I'm ready to get back into the groove of things for CS 1121 and all of my other classes. I have yet to read the text for the next CS 1121 lecture, but I have gone over some lab problems to study for the lab quiz on Tuesday evening. Basically what I would do is take the lab problems I have completed and comment them so I know exactly what is going on in every step of the code. For the problems that I have not completed I would use the lab problem answers posted on the CS 1121 website and comment those programs to understand the process. With all of this studying under my belt, I feel pretty confident about the lab quiz on Tuesday.

DONE!!!

Following another CS 1121 lecture on Thursday, I made my way over to the CS learning center to see if they could fix my program. However, when I got to the learning center it was packed full. I found myself trying to work on my code for about an hour or so in the lab until I became frustrated enough to just walk away from it for a while. Later that evening I tried going to the learning center again, but once again it was full so I had to fend for myself. I knew that since there was no learning center help available to me, I had to finish up the code myself. While in the lab on Thursday night I was playing around with my program to try and fix the errors and eventually I got it to work perfectly! I commented the code up and everything so I expect nothing less than a perfect grade on this program!

Uhhh ohhhh......

I spent a good portion of this past weekend going over the homework program and trying to complete it. There were some initial troubles, so I took a trip up to the CS learning center and they got me started. I finished the program Monday evening and tested it and the program looked all good...or so I thought. Before the lecture on Tuesday I went over to Rehki 112 to submit my program, but I tested it out to be sure it was good and some of the outputs were incorrect. The input text that was found on the homework page yielded the correct output when I tested it using those values, but I used other values when I tested the program and out came the wrong output. I will most likely visit the CS learning center once more to see if they can correct this problem.