Final Reflection: Until Next Year

An Analysis of Computer Science AP course
Frank F.

My year in Computer Science AP has been a really good learning experience for me in many different ways. I learned about coding in Java of course, but I also learned other things like how computers work and how to manage my time and not fall behind. I have my regrets about things I should or shouldn’t have done in Computer Science, but that’s all behind me.
90% of CompSci AP was learning Java and getting ready for the AP. Java was something I’d always been interested in but never actually took the time to learn it. As a kid, I would go to the library, get one of those huge books on a programming language, go home, and open the book – only to discover I had no idea what it was talking about and immediately give up. This class gave me an opportunity to actually take my time and learn a language.
I didn’t take full advantage of this opportunity. I spent a majority of the beginning of the year goofing off and not doing work (choosing instead to play QWOP or some other flash based web game). I regret this decision sincerely. I fell behind immediately and struggled with tests and quizzes. Labs were seldom completed, and worksheets would get done at the last second if I was luck. I fell more and more behind trying to learn the last concept before the next.
This finally got solved when I sat down and studied for a week or two for the AP exam. I knew I had to learn everything, so I used the study guide book to learn the concepts one by one up to the day of the exam. I feel like I did well on the exam, I definitely passed. I was relieved to know many of the answers on the test, but some still confused me.
I learned a valuable lesson from this class: that falling behind can be a morbid mistake to make. With that, I know that I can proceed with my studies at LASA with much more success. I was luckily given a chance at a new start when the class learning to program in C#. I am making sure to take extra steps and stay on top of, if not ahead of, my work.
With that being said, I do think there are some improvements that could be made to the class. The beginning was kind of slow, and I felt like we had to rush at the end to finish all of the topics before the AP exam. At the beginning of the year, no grades were taken for labs, they all went in as 100’s. This was one of the factors that helped me fall behind, as I didn’t feel it was necessary to do the labs because it was not actually a grade. The lenient late work policies helped me get back on track tremendously and I appreciated that policy more than I could possibly explain.
Computer Science II is the class I am looking forward to the most next year. I really enjoy working in XNA and using Intellisense is a blast. I took a lot away from CompSci AP, and I’m certain that the programming and the time management skills will help me in whatever career path I decide to pursue.

One Last Share

This will be the last share entry of the year. The next reflection blog will be the very last reflection.

Microsoft recently bought Skype, one of the largest video chatting service companies on the market today. A majority of Skype's features are free, but there is a paid option, allowing the user access to Computer-to-Phone and group video chat. Microsoft means a couple things for the future of Skype: a lot of media attention and maybe more paid features. This may drive away users who love it because it's so simple and free. I have used Skype on occasion and was surprised on how flexible it was depending on the user's internet connection. the video quality changes based on how much lag is being caused by the current resolution. More about this event can be found here.

Blog 05152011 - Reflect

This week we worked on a program that had the user using the keyboard to raise the red, green, and blue in the background. I went another step and made a key to lower the value too. We also worked on a program that sensed when a value was over 255 (the max value for colors) and then said "YOU LOSE". I made a pop-out error message that said this, which was not required. I went even farther so that once you get the "YOU LOSE" screen, there's a button that you can click to see your score, and then it tells you what value each of the colors were at.

Blog 05082011 - Share

Pendulum- one of my favorite bands - is coming out with a new album. Pendulum is a hard rock/ Drum n Bass band which makes some music that is straight up awesome. Their song "Slam" is popular on YouTube because of the video of a heavy man dancing shirtless to it in public. That song was more when they played DnB, but recently they have moved to playing hard rock with a Drum n Bass beat, or slower techno.

Blog 05082011 - Reflect

This week we worked on having the screen color change using int values for the red, green, and blue parameters. The colors scale all the way up to 250 and then go back down, making a cool looking moodlight. I would have liked to have changed it so that every time it would start with a random RGB and go from there, but I just had them start at certain values and then change from there. XNA is a blast, and I'm going to do my best to stay on top of my work and not fall behind with C# like I did with Java. Douglas and I are also working on a side project which is a shooter. This game will be controlled by an Xbox controller, and already looks cool and has music.

Blog 04242011 - Share

WikiWars is a game where two people go to Wikipedia and hit "random article". They then decide on a page to find only by clicking links inside the articles they navigate to. I bring this up because I just went 2/0 with Douglas Cheong at this game, with the help of my main man Stephen. the first time we were searching for Monarch Butterflies and the second time we were looking for Instant Noodles. This game is really entertaining and you can play this with your friends too.

Here's a link to a website that makes it easy:

http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Wiki-Wars

Blog 04242011 - Reflect

Recently we've changed from Java coding to XNA. XNA is used for Microsoft applications, and in this class we will be using it specifically for Windows Games. At first we just learned how to change the color of the background. This is done by

GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color);

The default color for Windows Game is 'Cornflower Blue'. Intellisense is really cool, It's a feature inside Windows Visual Studio 2010 that completes the code for you, saving a lot of time and helping you in case you forget what you needed to type next.