Ben+Wiles



Intro to Prgramming Course Write-Up:

This was my first programming class ever. I’ve never looked at any code before (save for some rudimentary html about 10 years ago). This course was essentially an introduction to a new language, and it was rather challenging.

I spent about as much time as I could on this course, my other courses are challenging as well, and I will be taking this course over at the next school I go to, but it will be more engineering-specific.

I feel that I received a pretty thorough overview of the main concepts in C, however, I don’t feel that I’ve demonstrated great mastery of many of them. Though, I do feel that I am prepared to pick it up next semester and have a much better grasp of what I’m doing, and what I need to spend time on.

Specifically, I had a lot of trouble getting the arrays to work: pulling data from a file, putting it into an array, then manipulating the data once it’s in C. There are a lot of tools in C, and I think it just takes practice to realize when one tool (for vs. while; list vs. array, etc) is a better use than another. It’s not intuition to me yet.

Overall, I don’t feel intimidated by the language now, I learned what I’m going to need to get out of it (professionally speaking), and I learned where I’m going to need to concentrate my studies in the future.

My project went through basic math functions, pointers, looping and file reading /writing. I would have liked to go into greater detail with it, but I definitely learned that in programming: it can be a real time-hog, so pick your battles and move on, if that’s an option. I definitely spent a lot of time searching various books and online (which was actually the least helpful) trying to find solutions.

Programming is its own beast; it’s a mix of logic, art, and technical nuances. I think all lawyers should have to be proficient at programming as a pre-req to entering law school. Nuts to those logic games and choice elimination…. Programming can be a real test of will. Becoming proficient in programming is a lot like becoming proficient in math, in that a lot of people are intimidated by it, but like anything else, it requires patience and practice. (And breaks in between problems so you don’t go crazy).

Regarding the course’s structure, because this was my first look at programming, I felt that I was behind for the first few weeks, then after I had some practice at it I felt comfortable for a few weeks. Then, towards the end of the semester, I felt behind again. When we moved past file i/o, I was simply not ready to incorporate those concepts into my programmer’s toolbox. I mainly focused on becoming proficient with the rudimental concepts I needed to get by outside of class time.

For others in my situation, I would recommend defining a project at the beginning, getting it up and going, then sticking with it. It’s almost too time-consuming to switch projects half-way through. I was very happy with the main project idea for the course; I think it allows people to focus on their own interests and bull through things they might not otherwise have tackled unless it was forced on them.

In sum, I definitely learned a lot in this course, including learning what I don’t know. I know basic programming, and have the tools that will allow me to use the other concepts in the future. I definitely am not in love with programming, but it is something that I need to know to be successful in my profession, and this course has been a good, positive introduction to the C language for me.

Thanks for all your help this semester RJ, I had a good time and learned a lot.

~ Ben Wiles