Computer science, and Practicals

Before you get started on me about physics, listen to this: Physics was totally predictable. No point creating a blog post for chapters we had months of experience in. Anyway, computer science appears to be a a more dangerous subject, so let's get to business.

The standard approach to CS would be: Mug up all theory QA and Practice all programs. Although the latter would be a tad more difficult for insincere lab students, having an understanding in the former can help a lot. Be sure to expect the following types of questions (as usual) and keep in mind:

• Theory questions: This is easy. I mean, most questions are the obvious type, the basic theory questions anyone can answer. A revision helps, though. Oh, and if you don't know an answer, just take a minute to cough up some fancy vocabulary, and you're good in no time.
• Debug: This is pretty easy. The mistakes aren't hard to find, and over-corrections are generally not  penalized. If you're doubtful something's a mistake, don't waste time debating about it.
• Record the output: This is the tough nut. Be extremely careful with this, and for security, do the outputs again at the end of the exam. This can be a bit confusing at times, but we'll be getting standard questions in the annual paper. Also see Random Functions below.
• Rewrite: This is a cross between Write Programs and Record the Output.  Be acquainted with all the standard conversions like for-while-dowhile, matrix-array, string.h-nostring.h, etc.
• Write programs:  This too is a toughie. Correction isn't exactly, well-- lenient, so be a careful. Practice notebook questions, and especially record questions. And if you have time at the end, debug your programs.. heh heh.
• Random functions: I don't think this is gonna come, but if it does come in a record-the-output question, remember: There can be repetitions. If you generate 3 random numbers, for instance, they may be 3,3,3 or 4,5,5 or 5,6,5. The randomize() function does not prevent repetitions. It prevents the generation of the same set of random numbers. It's like this-- without the randomize() function, suppose you execute a program, the numbers 3,7,7 are generated. When you close the program and run it again, the numbers 3,7,7 are generated again. Basically, this means that the first time you generate random numbers, they are stored in memory, and they appear the next time you execute the program too. Randomize() prevents this.

Computer science looks easy in front of what's next-- practicals. Physics isn't all that hard, but chemistry sends shivers down my spine. And by the way, we have a full day on Tuesday. That doesn't leave out a lot of time for record-writing and studying, so you'd better do it now.

Oh, and IMPORTANT: If you need any program, just comment. Or post on facebook. I'll reply in minutes.