sLog Week 1 + 2: Some Challenges

         What I found particularly interesting about this week's lectures was learning about logical implications and their restrictive meanings. I believe this is an extremely important concept to understand because it shows how careful one needs to be when working with logic problems (and in turn, with solving coding problems). It's easy to say "if you get a job in the field of computer science, then you'll be rich", but "if you're rich, then you must have a job in the field of computer science" is a false statement (counter example: Justin Bieber). Although this is a fairly simple sentence, it very accurately demonstrates the need for clear and meaningful statements. However, I quickly learned that it was significantly easier for me to understand these concepts when presented in easy English rather than symbols. I struggled quite a bit to keep up with the actual meaning of some of the expressions, as direct translations of the symbols seemed to make no sense. Realizing this, I knew I would have to spend much more time learning and reviewing the material than the time just spent in the lectures.

         My first step was to spend time daily reviewing Prof. Heap's annotated slides and making additional notes to the ones I had written, which was very helpful in reviewing and ensuring that I understood the class material. Additionally, I found that diagrams and other visual representations of the problems helped me solidify concepts and (quite literally) created a much clearer picture of the concepts for me. I also opted to go into Prof. Heap's office hours and seek further help. Prof. Heap not only clarified concepts but also made observations and gave me advice with my learning styles. He encouraged me to continue using diagrams and visuals to understand concepts, but to also focus on phrases and symbols to make sure I am clear on all levels. Finally, the class notes uploaded by Prof. Heap on CDF proved to be very detailed and helpful as well.

         Much of the material in CSC165 so far (universal/existential sets and quantifiers, logical implications, symbols using for denoting sets/phrases) has overlapped with material from MAT137 which I am also taking this term. Therefore, I'm glad I have a sufficient amount of resources and the learning skills to tackle the important concepts taught this week and last in CSC165.