CS3216: Objectives.

Or: what I hope to learn from/get out of this class.

But first, a minor diversion. (Sorry!)

The first time I heard about CS3216 was at the start of last summer. I looked over the description, briefly discussed it with some friends, and decided not to take it.

There were two reasons I made that choice back then. I was concerned about the amount of time the module would take (bearing in mind I was also going to be taking the stock Software Engineering class then), and I also wasn’t particularly interested in what seemed (to me) to be a key part of the course: web development. I didn’t quite believe the course description claiming that it really wasn’t.

However, taking CS3217 (the “iPad module”) made it pretty clear that it would be pretty silly to not take 3216 this time around. CS3217 was also a course which focused on a platform I wasn’t interested in, but by that point I’d learnt enough to not make the same mistake again: none of these modules are about the platform. The platform is just a means through which you can learn more general and important lessons, and isn’t actually the point of focus. (Yet even if it was, it can’t be all that bad to learn more about an area you wouldn’t take up otherwise.)

I didn’t really make the connection at the time, but the goals I had going in to CS3217 are the same goals I have for this class as well.

I’d like to get more experience building things, especially in a team. Simple enough — this is something that’ll definitely be useful in the future.

Perhaps more importantly, I’d like to get more experience learning about new things. The end result (becoming familiar with something new) is useful, but taking the steps needed to get there is even more helpful; to reuse the words of the course website: “learning how to learn.”

And finally, I’d like to take the opportunity to learn more about the topic I dismissed the first time around — web development. It certainly wouldn’t hurt.