I also started sniffing every morning somehow. Don't really think I'm sick, but I think it's because it's cooler these few days, so my nose isn't very good. I've also started working for CS3217 ^^
But anyway, Merry Christmas to all! Happy Boxing Day! I'm not so ^^ about results but well, they were better than expected? Didn't expect the grade for CS3216. I'm also glad that I put in effort for MA3229 and MA4247. MA3220 didn't go well for me, but I think it's mainly because I have no interest in it at all. SSD2210 went okay, considering that I only studied 3 hrs before the paper (open-book), but I'll exercise my S/U on it, since it's the only chance that I get to do so. >.< (Okay, enough of the honeymoon after SEP; I'll work harder for grades next semester.)
Also, I got my feedback from CS2103. I didn't manage to guide them as much as I wanted to, so my comments ranged from average to good. But hopefully, next semester (with CS3217) will be better! I'll do my best in giving feedback!
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Anyway, I'll just go through my thoughts of CS3216. I think a few things went well. We got along okay, although sometimes we encounter scenarios of getting stuff that we didn't expect. (It can go better or worse to be honest.) I think poster session-wise, I was having more fun introducing the application rather than thinking about grades. xD But I think there's a certain joy you get from talking to random people and hearing their opinions about it. After hearing their feedback, I realised we have a lot of stuff to improve on! (resizing all the graphics for once =.= Having graphics that were too high-res is indeed a problem) We also had freebies which I am proud of! (thanks to Kai and Benjamin for making them!)
In all, we did a great job!
To go through my initial hopes for CS3216 (okay, now that I read it, it sounds a bit childish xD), I did fiddle with various APIs. I didn't really do much for HTML5 so I can't really speak for that. I was hoping for more weekend tutorials and I vaguely recall Su Yuen doing a Flash tutorial for the rest when I was in Y1. Wish we could have more tutorials but that would have resulted in more time spent on CS3216, and this semester was really quite tiring for me.
I had a good time working with different people, e.g. Jim from Assignment 2, Kai and Benjamin from Final Assignment etc. (listing these people because they're from vastly different backgrounds.) I had an interesting time "filling in the gaps" because there were times where I didn't really like doing certain stuff but I kind of forced myself to do it.
I didn't really manage my time well, if I were to judge it based on my final exam results (my results for the semester with CS3217 is better) but I took higher level modules this semester, so it's understandable that my CAP went down a bit. I didn't stay in school every weekend to code, like in CS3217! But for the final project, our last week was really spent in the SDE lab. Also, if I had managed my time better, I wouldn't have finished my Maths paper so late. :S
With regards to writing better, I don't think my writing has improved, because not enough criticism I guess? And really, this is not a writing module. A bit of personal history, my writing really sucks as compared to my peers and I'm used to just obtaining a pass grade for English and Literature. But what I learnt in JC while doing GP was that you don't really have to be really good at English (but sure, the vocabulary does help) but you have to make sure your ideas are clear. So I did considerably better in GP in JC.
(Also, I founded this new theory recently on why I don't do well in literature - mainly because a) my English isn't good and b) my MBTI type is a P and not a J. >.< So whenever questions like "what does the following excerpt show about Snowball's character?" appear, I tend not to answer them well. On the other hand, if the question was less open-ended, like "Snowball was scheming. Do you agree?", it's easier for me to answer, because I notice all the clues that would point towards it/against it. So while I'm bad at literature, I'm actually surprisingly okay with critical reading.)
But anyway, writing well doesn't mean you use terribly complicated words to discombobulate people (sorry, couldn't resist), but it's also a matter of how you express yourself. In any case, I think lots of people don't really express themselves well (they don't seem to think through what they are trying to convey), so I'm always confused when they talk. :S (okay, sorry for slight rant.)
With regards to the usefulness of the stuff that I created, I think most of my assignments were meant to be useful. In the end, the usefulness level may have dropped due to poor execution. Of course, there could be stuff that I thought were useful but the world doesn't really think it's useful etc. >.< In the end, there are certainly improvements to be made for each assignment, but gah, no time.
With regards to gastric problems, I didn't actually suffer as much, but during assignment 1, I had heartburn. So I gave up on fast food for the rest of the assignments, which really helped. Anyway, I personally think nutrition is very interesting, but it's pretty much a grey area. There are many types of diets around (vegetarian, vegan, raw food diet, low-carbs etc.) and different sayings ("tofu is good vs. soy is bad" and "butter/coconut oil is good vs vegetable oils"). I think the best way to approach this is by trying out the diets and see which is most suitable for yourself. By trial and error, I found out that eating too much rice/carbs made my gastric problems worsen, so I ended up with a no-carbs diet during the period when I had gastric pain. To make myself full, I ate more meat and vegetables. The most important part though, is to be aware of these diets and try them out, especially if you have problems with your current one (in a way, your body can only worsen if you keep eating the wrong diet.)
My last thought about CS3216 is the idea of first impressions. I don't think the problem with first impressions are that "you should always leave a good first impression", but rather, it must actually show your real personality. I don't really see a point in having a good first impression if your personality is crap, and it's really sad if you have a bad first impression, even if you're really nice. (Well, it could have been a crappy day for you.) I believe that (First impression == What your real personality is), and that's okay/better in the long run. On a second note, I know we're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I really do hope to get better at telling someone's personality from the first impression that I get. >.< (because I am often nice to the people who are not nice and not nice to the people who eventually turn out to be nice. :( ) I think I need better judging power. >.<
And that ends my CS3216 reflections.
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Two interesting videos that I've watched recently. First up, it's on babies and moral. You can watch for the sheer cuteness of everything though (cute puppets and cute babies!). :D But I think it's really interesting how people are naturally bias (so we aren't that moral after all.) On a side note, I think it'll be interesting to see how pets (dogs/cats) fare with the puppet show morality test though. ^^
Another one on propaganda here. This one is a bit more mmm, conspiracy-theorist-esque. Most of what the video says might or might not be the truth, so it's interesting to see how grey things can be. The most important point I guess is that everything is propaganda, including the video itself.
That's all! Congrats on surviving the long post and CS3216! See you in CS3217! :D If you're wondering, no, I am not going to continue writing here, so no need to keep a lookout here anymore. This is really the last post I am going to make on this blog. :)
