Algorithms/Lectures Rant

I must apologize in advance, as I suspect these posts are becomes increasingly tedious and poorly written.

The new car smell on CSC236 is wearing off, and it is revealing itself as what it really as: a course about algorithms! Who saw that coming. And I'd be lying if I claimed to be on top of things at the moment. So far, a combination of the knowledge I acquired in the lectures, a review of the annotated slides, and a review of the Course Notes got me through any topic. But times are changing. I cannot follow the lectures completely, because at some point, they all become dialogues between Prof. Heap and a couple of students who grasp the material. It is totally and absolutely my fault for not voicing this in lectures, but hey, I have an image to maintain! As a result, I think I am going to make use of Prof. Heap's office hours a lot more in the coming weeks. The annotated slides are only useful if you have a good pre-existing understanding of the material from the corresponding lecture, which is not always the case anymore. And the lecture material seems to be beginning to diverge from the Course Notes. Understanding everything in the lecture is become more and more key, and at the same time, harder and harder. At least for me.

In other less depressing news, I spoke to Prof. Heap about the structure of my proofs on the term tests (see Week 2), and he told me that they seemed valid to him!! That was such a sigh of relief for me. At least two extra marks, here I come!