(no subject)
Blast, a B+ in Data Structures. I knew that final would be the death of my nearly perfect run in that course. But it's a good grade, so I suppose I can't really complain. But what a horrible weight on the final, considering that the final only consisted of the stuff we were taught at the end of the course. Therefore, the final was hardly any more comprehensive than our two other tests we took, yet was given double weight (20% of the grade). I took the final not knowing about red-black trees and minimum binary heaps (I didn't realize those would be on the final, which was remarkably stupid and arrogant of me), so I got like a 75% on the final (I don't know what the actual grade is, but that's my estimation). I believe this and a homework I only did half of out of laziness were the only reasons my grade was bumped down to a B+. Bah, such trivial things, especially considering how well I know the material from the course.
I suppose I have long since trepassed into the realm of complaining. I guess I'm just miffed by what I perceive as an injustice. But whatever, I'd best stop blowing this out of proportion. Ventage complete.
Edit: Oh wait, I wasn't done venting.
Meanwhile, I got an A- in linear algebra. God knows how I managed that. The professor uses some sort of dark vodoo magic to compute his grades, the precise workings of which not even he himself knows. After around two weeks of an earnest effort in that class, I pretty much gave up and exerted my bare minimum for the remainder of the course.
Reflecting on linear algebra in hindsight, I would say I scarcely enjoyed the course while taking it, but when I look at the branch as a whole, it seems pretty damn spiffy since all of it seems to converge rather nicely towards the end. For some reason, however, I find the proofs involved in reaching those conclusions only mildly exciting. The problems themselves, of course, are boring like nothing else, being largely arithmetic algorithms (I found the algebra used to find eigenvalues to be the most exciting part of actually working problems, and that's not saying much). That is, the problems aren't actually problems, but rather are just busy work that is necessary to do to learn these algorithms. One of the main reasons I like math is that I like to sit around solving problems. I'm a problem solving kind of guy. That's probably the main reason why I find CS interesting. These uninteresting problems therefore leave me a tad annoyed. Another frustrating part of this course is that the professor went out of his way to avoid concrete, practical usages of the branch (he skipped sections to that effect in the textbook), giving only vague references to its use in other fields. I really would've preferred it if I wasn't left at the end of the day with one big abstraction. At least when I start taking quantum, I'll be grateful I've learned linear algebra, I suppose.
Oh well, hopefully I'll enjoy multivar more. Probably the biggest reason I didn't enjoy linear algebra was the aforementioned lack of interesting problems to solve, but I've never really felt that way about calculus related problems.
And as for my other two grades, I have yet to get them. A little frustrating, as physics and euro history have become the courses whose grades I care the most about.
Ok, that turned out rantier than I thought it would. Well, whatever, I feel better now.
I suppose I have long since trepassed into the realm of complaining. I guess I'm just miffed by what I perceive as an injustice. But whatever, I'd best stop blowing this out of proportion. Ventage complete.
Edit: Oh wait, I wasn't done venting.
Meanwhile, I got an A- in linear algebra. God knows how I managed that. The professor uses some sort of dark vodoo magic to compute his grades, the precise workings of which not even he himself knows. After around two weeks of an earnest effort in that class, I pretty much gave up and exerted my bare minimum for the remainder of the course.
Reflecting on linear algebra in hindsight, I would say I scarcely enjoyed the course while taking it, but when I look at the branch as a whole, it seems pretty damn spiffy since all of it seems to converge rather nicely towards the end. For some reason, however, I find the proofs involved in reaching those conclusions only mildly exciting. The problems themselves, of course, are boring like nothing else, being largely arithmetic algorithms (I found the algebra used to find eigenvalues to be the most exciting part of actually working problems, and that's not saying much). That is, the problems aren't actually problems, but rather are just busy work that is necessary to do to learn these algorithms. One of the main reasons I like math is that I like to sit around solving problems. I'm a problem solving kind of guy. That's probably the main reason why I find CS interesting. These uninteresting problems therefore leave me a tad annoyed. Another frustrating part of this course is that the professor went out of his way to avoid concrete, practical usages of the branch (he skipped sections to that effect in the textbook), giving only vague references to its use in other fields. I really would've preferred it if I wasn't left at the end of the day with one big abstraction. At least when I start taking quantum, I'll be grateful I've learned linear algebra, I suppose.
Oh well, hopefully I'll enjoy multivar more. Probably the biggest reason I didn't enjoy linear algebra was the aforementioned lack of interesting problems to solve, but I've never really felt that way about calculus related problems.
And as for my other two grades, I have yet to get them. A little frustrating, as physics and euro history have become the courses whose grades I care the most about.
Ok, that turned out rantier than I thought it would. Well, whatever, I feel better now.