From where I last left off, I was intently listening to Week 0’s lecture on Scratch and the introduction to computer languages (think binary & bits). Following that, I dove straight into my first problem set and created a basic game in Scratch.
Scratch is interesting.
Essentially it was a program developed to expose beginners to code through a visual experience. In effect teaching learners what a loop is, what a string is, how to stop loops etc. You then drag and drop the puzzle pieces together to make a visual code that accomplishes your desired task.
I managed to hack together a “Frogger” style game in which the user has to cross a few lanes of traffic that increases in speed in order to become victorious.
From there I moved onto Week 1 with C, and wow what a step up that was. It’s funny now that I’ve moved a bit further ahead in my CS50 journey, I can look back at how challenging the Week 1 Mario PSET was and be proud of how far I have come. As I’m writing this I am now on Week 3, and confidently using functions such as specific loops, utilizing ints, strings, floats, incorporating arrays, returning error codes and actively debugging.. It’s only been two weeks, and if I went back to PSET1 now, I honestly don’t think it would take me more than 5 to 10 minutes to complete.
That’s how great this course is. It’s challenging.. But that’s why you learn.
Personally, as an active learner, the only way I can absorb concepts is by solving problems first-hand. Being told an answer to a problem in order to regurgitate it isn’t going to help me. So pushing myself into a course that will challenge me the entire way through is perfect. I really encourage anyone interested in programming to give CS50 a shot.
I actually saw a few final projects posted on Reddit and I’m amazed.. I have no idea how people learn that much more over the coming weeks to complete them, however, seeing how much I have already learnt gives me faith!
Anyway everyone, the lectures are getting quite long and dense in content so I’m going to keep to end this post here.. - I really want to use my excess free time to continue CS50.
Wish me luck!
