Last post

So this is officially my last blog for this course. Overall it was a rewarding experience, I finally understand the concepts of program correctness - loop invariants, termination, recursive functions, Finite State Automata, recursive definitions, ... I think everything boils down to this, I had a great instructor for the course, one of the best instructors I've ever had at uoft. And the material seemed easier than I thought it would be, I actually had this course easier than 165 (btw I did 165 in the summer, with a graduate student), and it contains more material and depth. Well I thank God and Danny for a wonderful course and semester. And I'm kinda glad I no longer have to write blogs involuntarily and yes, I now know how to foretell domino fates, to an extent at least. Success on ur exams - if it applies - and have a lovely Christmas break.

Weeks 10, 11

Whew! What a relief, I finally have a break of 4 days before the next test. I seem to be drifting farther away from the course notes (and topics) but I know sometime last week Danny treated DFSAs. Brings back memories from 148 in the summer. We had to do substring searching using a DFA, took me over 2 days to understand the example in the textbook (using DNA strings, A, C, G, T). I find that the textbook for this course is probably the most useful textbook I've ever had, it seems to wrap up everything you need to know nicely and in an easy-to-understand manner. Don't have much to say, gotta study for tests and exams so I gtg. Laterz.

Term Test 2

Classes seem to be somewhat dragging now, besides I haven't been going for a while as a result of the fact that I often sleep very late since thats apparently the only way I'm gonna meet the deadlines for my courses and prepare for tests at the same time. Test 2 was fine, at least from what I experienced during the test (I haven't gotten my test back and I realize it may have been handed back in class yesterday). I was about 15 minutes late for the test but I actually finished it, surprisingly. Here's to hoping the result will be good, and hoping ps4 was also good.
I find it interesting that we now deal with strings in class, quite unexpected. But I guess that's my fault, afterall the course is introduction to the theory of computation, we make use of strings in programming (the only "computation" we do now) almost as much as we make use of numbers (integers, doubles, floats, ...). Now I have to go study the course notes and start ps5 and later hit the sheets. Later daiz.

Weeks 6, 7, Assignment 2

Lost a mark in the midterm for not assuming n > 8 in the proof of the question that had to do with Fibonacci numbers, guess I'll have to be more careful when proving (especially by induction). Turns out the proof of the recBinSearch(A, f, l, x) in class was really helpful for problem set 4. Proving program correctness and runtime seems much easier than it was CSC165, I think it's actually easier. Seems like we'll be dealing a lot with floors and ceilings, especially with sorting and searching algorithms (I think). Glad to finally have ps4 and a2 off my neck, an exercise and part of a project due in 207, ps4 and a2 in 236, all in one day, plus two midterms and another assignment within 3 days, seems like school only gets more stressful as the weeks and years pass by. In the meanwhile, I have to go prepare for the tests that seem to never stop coming (thankfully there are only 2 left - I think - for the semester after the ones I have next week). Thats all for now, till my next post, ciao.

Week 5 and Term test

Treated more of the golden ratio, turns out it has an unexpected connection to fibonacci numbers. I honestly wonder how people sit down to figure this stuff out and come up with endless theor(ies/rems) and formulas. Well the numbers make a whole lot more sense, or do they? There was more on unwinding recursions, not really much to say about that. It seems somewhat straightforward in most cases (actually in all the cases I've seen). Then there was the term test, it was way better than I thot it would be, given that the first assignment was tough. And thankfully it turned out better than my advanced calculus quiz earlier last week. I think the only "surprise" is each question was worth 8 marks, instead of 5 marks as in the case of the past tests. Makes no difference tho since every question is worth a third of the total mark. The first question was the toughest for me, even tho it was more straightforward than the last. The solution to the last hit me less than five minutes to the end of the test. Thankfully I had written the base case and everything in the inductive step except the line that proves it. Overall the test was good and now I have to go work on the third problem set. Later daiz.

Week 4

Treated recursive definitions last week, I must confess the whole thing's a little confusing, but thank God for the textbook, at least I get to read it and understand the text. I still hope not much of it is on the test though. The golden ratio seems very useful in many mathematical applications, I have a feeling I'll be seeing more of it throughout the semester.
That seems to be all that's happened so far, there'll probably be more to tell in my next blog. Laterz.

Weeks 2 and 3

I'm sorry for not posting anything for week 2, was a bit overwhelmed by the rush of assignments in almost all my courses, while preparing for a quiz.
The course is now what I thought it would be, a not-so-easy course. Exercises seem a bit trickier and the assignment was tricky (glad the deadline for the last question was extended). I'm learning to sorta read between the lines to determine whether or not a proof is right, using the principle of well-ordering and developing true claims from false ones. I realized that a base case is the most important part of a simple induction proof cos if you're given a false claim, you can assume it's right for 0, 1, ...., n and show that it's true for n + 1. So to prove this claim wrong you have to show it's false for your chosen base case. I also noticed when proving claims for sets of natural numbers, it almost always helps to break down the sets into 2 (or more) smaller sets, the size of each depending on the claim you're trying to prove. And for some other proofs, you just have to use tactics - which are not necessarily employed or taught in class - to prove them.
Have to go now, before quizzes and more assignments come knocking. Later daiz.

First Blog

Glad to be back at school after an interesting summer, well kinda. First week of classes and I find that I really like some courses I'm taking - mostly because they seem straightforward enough, and they have some interesting ideas.
First class of the session (which also happens to be CSC236), the lecture hall seems overcrowded, this is s challenge that will probably take care of itself cos I'm guessing just like last session many people will stop coming for classes regularly. The course material seems similar to 165 material, so I'm hoping it won't be much tougher. Three days into the session and I really like the course. We've been through induction, case by case proofs, and the first problem set is posted. It seems straightforward, hopefully I won't take this for granted and get a less than good grade on it.
Danny's use of the projector and tablet definitely makes things look more interesting than 165 (a black chalkboard and white chalk). Pretty nice course I'd say, my expectations are high, and they'll probably remain that way just as long as I don't lose interest in the course later on.
I think that's all I have to say for now, not really much has been going on in the course (except for the fact that I was right, the class population did seem to reduce after the first class!); I should have more to say about the course as the days go by (and become weeks, which then become months, ...). Till I write again, ciao.