I haven't made an update in a long time but a lot has happened since I started this blog.
The two things that really stick out to me were the two assignments, on both I worked alone because I really enjoy the challenge of figuring out a problem.
The part of A1 that I had the most trouble with was tour.py, it took me a really long time to figure out a way to utilize the 4th stool for stacking the cheese. I eventually came to a conveyor-belt-like method where the program rotated through the spare stools and the destination stool. This method is much simpler than trying to store and logically find the answer as a human would because it utilizes the computer's strengths as opposed to a human's strengths: memory over problem solving.
A2 posed it's own challenges, I spent the longest time trying to figure out a 'smart' way of doing the second method by storing and processing the information in the strings. Eventually I gave up and erased the whole second method to come from a different approach. I decided to start out by putting the given requirements from the pdf into straight code. The only problem with this was the star-method, it took me the longest time to figure out how to do it. I was given a string and I had to determine if it was comprised of multiples of any number of other strings of unknown count and length. After over 5 hours of trial and error, I finally remembered how to use backtracking and the method was complete.
I really enjoy the Assignments and exercises in CSC148 because it allows me to try to think outside the box or try things in new ways while applying my past knowledge to what I learn in class.
