The MOOC and Me: Game On!

I submitted another homework assignment to the Harvard CS50 intro programming on-line class yesterday. They're becoming more fun and, seemingly at least, getting easier as we go along although that impression may be because I might actually be learning something.

This last assignment was to complete building a version of the game "Breakout." This was our introduction to graphical objects and it seemed much more intuitive and commonsensical. Maybe it's because I'm getting used to C programming but the grammar and syntax of the Stanford Portable Library just makes perfect sense to me. With one exception, I didn't have any of the screeching-halt, head-against-the-wall, days-long roadblocks I've encountered with the other assignments. (The minor exception was a simple case of a stray return command that prevented the game from restarting with the next life after losing one. Delete line. Fixed. Two days.)

So far I've received perfect scores on all my submissions. Now, we're getting into forensics (manipulating bitmaps and restoring jpegs). I'm beginning to feel the time pressure of the end of year deadline as the assignments become more technical and complex since I also have to leave enough time for an original end-of-class final project.

At least I know, whenever I get frustrated, now I can break out the old "Breakout" and waste a few minutes. It's like building your own therapy.