Elaine Benes

September 19-25, 2004

Sorry this is a day late, my computer has a virus and my e-mail is not working. This week in lab I learned a lot. I became more comfortable with the program and more confident in writing programs. I do feel that I have a grasp on what programming is about and how it works. On Friday, we learned about debugging and as usual when we learn new things in the class, I was very confused. I think that once I run more practice programs and spend some time actually debugging that I will be more confident with it. I have found that when something confuses me in class, that the concepts become much clearer when we run them in lab. The hands on time really helps give me a feel and a better sense of what we are doing. The analogies made in class and the examples we do on the board help to make abstract concepts more understandable. The lab is also interesting because it is interactive and it helps to make me want to learn more. I also feel a sense of accomplishment when I am faced with a problem and I am able to overcome it because I can actually see how I am improving and learning. Having pretty much no prior knowledge of what programming entailed it is nice to see and feel how I am improving because I have a greater appreciation for the class. I am also really interested by the subject and so that helps to ease the frustration because even when I am having trouble, I am still enjoying the time spent in the lab and learning. I think that with enough hands on time I will be able to understand more and pick up things more quickly. I've had a lot of fun so far, and hope that there will be more in the future.