Programming MOOC: Week 2

[ganimede]

Week 2 of the programming course focuses on looking at variables, data types and operators. I started going through it on Wednesday and got about half of it done but then I wasn't well and not able to do any until this morning. It's been a mad rush to get it finished off today before next week's starts

Comments

[ellierachael]

Maths has never been my thing. I think that would make me feel like my brain was going to implode!

[ganimede]

I'm pretty sure my brain almost did implode. I didn't think there'd be maths involved!

[momentsmusicaux]

Yay! Looks like you're getting the hang of it!

(Next thing you'll want is version control, so when you fuck something up that was working a minute ago you're not having to bounce on CTRL-Z hoping you'll spot what the problem was.)

[ganimede]

Nothing has been said about version control and I've not seen any of the other students mention it so I don't know if it's going to be included or not. We've been given different versions of the actual game code though, one for each week of the course, and I presume the intention is that it builds up step by step. So if anything gets too badly fucked up, I can always go back to the clean code for the corresponding week. It doesn't seem ideal though, I've changed some of the graphics and the file names accordingly so it means I've got to make those changes again every week.

[momentsmusicaux]

Definitely use version control, for your own sanity!

[ganimede]

Too late now. I got most of this week's code added in but then managed to fuck it up and couldn't work out how so I'm going to have to go back to the clean code given for the start of this week and do it all again. GRRRR.

[ftmichael]

Yay, fun! That looks a lot like the stuff Little D did in his programming class last year. And it's always a good feeling to realise that something's not as hard as it first seemed and that you feel a bit more like you can handle it, especially after that initial panic of 'omgcan'tdothis'. :)

If you want maths help to fill in some of the gaps in your knowledge, I can't remember whether you've tried Khan Academy before but it covers basic arithmetic - including long division - all the way to basic calculus and has exercises as well as videos, and might be v useful for you.