SFU: Fall 2012
So… It’s near the end of another school semester… Since I’ve got a bit of time now, I thought I might do my reflections a bit earlier. It’s been a great semester, it really has. I think I’m really starting to get into the grove of enjoying school rather than just seeing it as a… necessity. I suppose the courses definitely help as well. But none the less, here’s the look back on my SFU Fall 2012 semester.
CMPT 275: Software Engineering I
Instructor: Herbert Tsang
This course was definitely my most anticipated course, even before this semester started. Being a FOUR CREDIT HOUR COURSE (inside joke), it is the first CMPT class that’s dedicated to working on a project, start to end. I really felt like I learned a lot from this course. Most important, I learned what Software Engineering really is. It’s not as simple as just the basic programming aspect of things. This course brought a lot of insight to me and of course, there was also the iPhone application development. Our topic for this semester was to design an app that assists with someone with accessibility issue(s). My group (Team X.I.S.) designed an application for people with Down syndrome. This course had its rough times, especially dependent on what kind of teammates you got. Thankfully, I got some really reliable teammates as well as some… not so reliable ones. I worked pretty hard on this project, especially given that I didn’t own a Mac and all the coding had to be done on a Mac. I’m actually really proud of the product that we produced, especially the way it evolved over the stages of development. To me, it looks like a really polished app compared to the plain and basic app I first envisioned it to be. But back to the course… One of the more… “annoying” aspect of this course is the exams. It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of exams, but this course’s exams were all based on in class notes, and the stuff we do for the big semester assignment isn’t really that related to the content. This makes the exam a bit more difficult…
CMPT 354: Database Systems I
Instructor: Jim Delgrande
I really liked the content of this course. At first, I thought it was going to be really basic and simple because of the way Professor Delgrande explained it. But in the end, it was challenging and also new knowledge at the same time. I like it enough that I feel like I’d want to take Database Systems II. That being said, the assignments in this course (maybe not this course, but the prof specifically) are HORRIBLE. They’re really poorly organized. There’s mistakes in the assignment documents provided which leads to there being a dozen emails with corrections, and they aren’t even chained together in one organized spot. It’s so annoying having to do an assignment, and then look through all my emails to see any changes or errors that I might need to fix. I think it’s the first time I’ve actually gotten frustrated with a course.
CMPT 376W: Tech. Writing and Group Dynamic
Instructor: Art Liestman
Aha. This was definitely a course which took me by surprise. This being a mandatory writing course, I registered into it without a second thought. However, I quite rather enjoyed it. The contents of the course was actually really insightful, especially for someone who doesn’t read often and therefore have poor writing skills like me. It could also be the way Professor Liestman projects the information in class. He’s humorous and tries to make the best of things… I really liked him as a prof. That being said, there’s a lot of writing to be done in this course, but with a lot of diversity. The assignments are designed to give students practice writing in different scenarios, and how the way you write may be different because of it. But in the end, it’s really writing and Gary definitely still isn’t a big fan of writing… The course though, I loved.