Personal Blogs

So, Simon Reed was wondering what I meant with the log book comment in my blog on June 11th. I'll explain. When I studied at London South Bank University I had two Software Development modules in my first year. SD1 in the first semester and then SD2 in the second. Firstly, I will say that I copied my first program on my Commodore 64 when I was 9 years old. I then wrote my own programs in Basic. The earliest evidence I can find is one I wrote when I was 12. My interest in computing went in and out but I believe that learning so young means that programming is like learning French or Spanish to me. When I read things they just make sense to me. It's like logical English. It may not be my first language but if I slow down and read slowly I can always work out what the program is trying to say.

Anyway, I digress (pause for quick Google search to make sure I'm using that in the right context). So, I went to college and did some Java and VB. I went to Roehampton and moved onto SQL and C++. I went back to college as a mature student and it was VB.net and then at London South Bank it was Python. Now, as I said before, I feel I have quite a good understanding of programming to an extent but at college I failed my programming module. That was amazing to me! (There may have been other unethical factors; not mine) It was my strongest subject. So when I went to South Bank my confidence was a bit shaken. 

I did well in lessons and for assignments my mark for each was in the high 90% but I was always terrified about exams. From our first lesson we were encouraged to keep a log book. In lessons we would write down things that we learned or were unfamiliar with. How to declare a variable, how to call a function, the different types of loops. These were things that were easier for me but as I learned new things I would jot them in my book.

When it came time for exams I was like an English speaking student trying to write a dissertation on Ethics in French. I knew exactly what I wanted to say and I understood what I wanted the program to do but I couldn't get the language straight in my head. Sometimes I would mix up one language with another or just get a couple of words wrong from each language so the whole line would be wrong in any language. My log book was a life saver in those instances. 

I am hoping that we are able to take our own reference type document into the exam for M250. That's the only bit that worries me because my memory does get really muddled. The only good thing is that I get extra time to muddle along due to my dyslexia (I think the fact that word is so hard to spell is cruel. Like calling a lisp a lisp)

Simon, I hope that answered your question.