I apologize to my dedicated viewers. I realize that lately I've neglected you and I hope I haven't lost your interest. This week I've felt somewhat anxious about the happenings in my computer science courses and also the work load of everything else. Really the only thing that troubled me in 148 specifically this week was the lab. Though I ended figuring everything out, I felt discouraged through the lab, but really I was just thinking about the problem in the wrong way. On the other hand I think I have genuine concerns about by current ability for solving proofs in 165 but that is not the focus of this blog.
Initially I was slightly confused about LinkedLists but I think I have a firm grasp on the concept now, although I don't see how useful they are in comparison to other concepts we've learned this year. Something I am still somewhat confused about is the LinkedLists with a wrapper but I think this is because I've been to busy to take the time to really learn it.
Although I'm having some difficulties in certain respects I've realized that I'd like to focus more on computer science through my university education. I really like the fact that computer science is intellectually challenging but that I'm learning an actual practical skill.
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Recursion
This week we've been asked to discuss recursion. This was one of the earliest new concepts we have been introduced to in csc148. Essentially recursion is an efficient way to process information that is built up from small information of the same structure as the whole. In a recursive function we define a base case which is the smallest structure of information the function will process and this is where the actual use of the function takes place. If we have information that can be considered as being made up of a the base structure of information the function will call itself with a reduced version of the initial information (say by one base case). If this reduced version of the original information is still built up of the smallest structure of information the function will then call itself again. This will repeat recursively until all of the information can be processed in terms of the base case.
I have found recursion to be the most compelling and exciting in computer science so far. I sort of stumbled on this notion during last semesters csc108 but could not really make proper use of it. After learning the proper technique of recursive functions in csc148, I've realized how useful this concept really is. In theory, this very simple concept can allow for the processing of information of infinite depth. Although writing recursive functions can be tricky to wrap your mind around at times this incredibly powerful idea can be implemented in Python function is such surprisingly simple way. The power along with the simple form a recursive function can take is really extraordinary.
I have found recursion to be the most compelling and exciting in computer science so far. I sort of stumbled on this notion during last semesters csc108 but could not really make proper use of it. After learning the proper technique of recursive functions in csc148, I've realized how useful this concept really is. In theory, this very simple concept can allow for the processing of information of infinite depth. Although writing recursive functions can be tricky to wrap your mind around at times this incredibly powerful idea can be implemented in Python function is such surprisingly simple way. The power along with the simple form a recursive function can take is really extraordinary.
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