Competency Activity

Depending on the discussions you had with your small group during week 11, some of this may be very familiar and others of it may seem confusing still or even brand new. You are welcome (and encouraged) to research anything in this Competency Activity that is still confusing to you. You do not need to treat this like a test. This is a research questionnaire and you are allowed to do what it takes to get yourself ready to answer the questions.

 

  1. When we talk about "good code" we often talk about the appropriate use of white space.  What do we mean by that?  In your discussion please make sure to discuss (or give an example) of a good use of white space and also a bad use of white space.

    2.  

  2. When we talk about "good code" we often talk about the use of functions to provide abstraction and/or modularization.  What do we mean by those terms?  In your discussion please make sure to give some examples (either in a description or in actual code) of how using functions addresses these ideas.

    3.  

  3. One of the things that new programmers struggle with is when and how to use a loop in order to reduce/eliminate duplicate code.  Discuss an example program that you could use with students where they might be inclined to write a long block of code when a simple loop could solve the same problem.  [Note, please do NOT pick an example that we have already used in the last couple of weeks such as the Super Bowl or the Farkle programs.  Identify something new.]

    4.  

  4. Why would this be considered "bad" code?  How could you "fix" it?

    5.  

  5. Why would this be considered "bad" code?  How could you "fix" it?

    6.  

  6. When we teach computer science, we sometimes talk about the Goldilocks Principal – "Too many.  Too  few.  JUST right"  In particular, this is often used when we talk about
    1. Horizontal Whitespace
    2. Vertical Whitespace
    3. Comments

    For each of these items discuss BOTH what "too many" and "too few" might look like.  Where is the balance in your (still forming) opinion?

     

  7. One of the things that new programmers struggle with is when and how to use functions.  Discuss an example program that you could use with students to help them understand the appropriate use of functions [Note, please do NOT pick an example that we have already used in the last couple of weeks such as the Super Bowl or the Farkle programs.  Identify something new.]

 

Submission

This counts as a competency demo in the course. In other words, each question will be assigned a score of 0-4 and an overall grade for the activity will be assigned.

While these questions are somewhat a matter of opinion - that is, they have multiple "right answers" - they can still be graded for competence based on how well you explain and defend your answer(s). Recognize that the degree to which you do so will have an impact on your grade.

Please submit this via Blackboard by the end of the week.