This summer is very different to me. I finally stepped out of my comfort zone and began to learn coding. The process of coding definitely includes a lot of ups and downs. Sometimes I felt frustrated because I was stuck for a little problem for quite a long time. But once I solved this, I felt a great sense of achievement for myself .

Although I have completed each assignment on time, I definitely have to work on my time management skills. Since I’m also taking the business course from Kenan-Flagler School in the morning every day, I have to take use of every afternoon and the weekends to learn and writing code. Whenever I code, I cannot believe how fast time flies. I always feel like there isn’t enough time for me.

For me, creating the ideas of what to code takes me a lot of time. I think I’ve spent a lot of time thinking the subject and trying to make my coding more interesting. But it turned out that spending a lot of time on planning is not necessary. The reason is that I always changed my minds when coding. Take my tutlehack’s assignment for example.

Kevin’s TurtleHack Initially, I was trying to make turtle move according to certain number. But I feel like it might be a little boring. Why not try to use random function? Then I went back to the materials, and reviewed it again to make sure that I understand how to use it. I implemented this random function to make the user feel unexpected.

The place I felt confused was the loop assignment. Here’s the sample run:

Enter a number: 4
Enter a number: 5
Enter a number: bad data
Invalid input
Enter a number: 7
Enter a number: done
16 3 5.333333333333333

I was able to print out the total, count, and the average of the numbers. But I was not sure about how to avoid being printed out those every time when I enter a number.

It turned out like that:

Enter a number:  4
1
4
4.0
Enter a number:  5
2
9
4.5
Enter a number:  bad idea
Invalid input
Enter a number:  7
3
16
5.333333333333333

Only when I was in class listening to other classmates’ sharing did I understand that I should not put if: and else: function on the same level as try: and except: function. Like this:

count = 0
total = 0

while True:
  a_number = input("Enter a number: ")
  if a_number == "done":
    break
  try:
    a_number = int(a_number)
    count = count + 1
    total = total + a_number
    print(count)
    print(total)
    print(total/count)
  except:
    print("Invalid input")

Putting if and try function on the same level means every time when the user entered a number, the computer would start to do the calculations on the numbers and make an output each time. I also learn how to make an empty list before starting to create a loop. By doing so, I can reduce much work to make the code easier to understand. Creating a list beforehand is definitely a great idea that I have never thought about. It was really great that I can learn many things from other classmates.

To be honest, what I am still fuzzy is that I am not sure about terminology such as parameter, argument, iteration, and so on. As a non-native speaker, English is not my first language, so I usually forgot what it means. Initially, I thought that jargon is not that important as long as I could write the code without errors. But right now I realize that it’s still important because people in the computer science field use a lot. It is the good way to communicate with people to make them understand what my code means. Therefore, I will keep working on memorizing terminology.

Lastly, my problem-solving strategy is to take some notes while studying the materials. This is really important because I have to make sure that I understand what the materials cover and translate them into my own words. Therefore, every time when I was stuck for a problem, I can refer it to my notes and also read the materials again to truly understand the concept and the use.

In my opinion, coding requires a lot of determination and perseverance. Sometimes, I feel frustrated and have some negative thoughts like I was not born for a programmer. But once I overcame it, I felt like I might be able to do it! Therefore, I will keep looking on the bright side when coding.