Problem Solving in Computer Science

In each of our daily lives we go about problem-solving an almost uncountable number of things. From deciding a career to deciding how to make a sandwich, each situation presents new decisions, and we must find the right path to take based on our needs and desires.

In context with computer science, everything, as I have seen it, changes. Computers require explicit commands and algorithms in order to perform tasks, and our ways of writing those codes down could be classified as problem solving. For someone like me, who is not really used to this interaction with computers, it is difficult to translate the way that I make decisions into this code.

-zk : out

The Internet

This week in computer programming, my class talked a lot about the internet and how it is constantly changing the world as we know it. Of course, communication and data storage have become more accessible for everyone, but in light of that, a whole new meta-world is being defined. According to one of the Ted talks that my class listened to, the internet is actually starting to change the physical world to a certain extent, since the world is being altered so that the inernet works in the best possible way. For example, new cables are being laid, towers built, etc. If found this aspect most interesting because I never imagined that the interenet could ever have this effect on  the world.

-zk : out

Web 2.0 is Cooleo

This week in computer programming I did some experimenting with web 2.0 applications. Each of these sites, I found, performed very specific functions (save a few, such as wikispaces, for example). While many were very creative, I wouldn't use most of them in my everyday activities, except for on rare occasions. As a student though, I found bibme to be the most practical of the bunch, since it can help on all of my research papers for school. I also found "quickforget" to be an especially interesting and creative app, as it allows you to create a url with a secret that disappears after a certain amount of time.  I might even use it someday just for the fun of it.

 -zk : out

Overdrive

Nowadays it seems as though new arrivals of phones, tablets, and other high tech gadgets are something of a daily occasion. With each new sunrise some new date is fulfilled, and I get to hear a new advertisement on the radio that eventually gets jumbled up with the rest of them.

It's not that this ferocious marketing competition is a completely terrible thing, its just that I don't have enough time in between to process these new gadgets and compare them to one another. With each new device, another is seemingly outdated and pressured to be obsolete, and I find myself awkardly wanting the "new one." 

I'm for the advancement of technology to a high degree, and I would like to see new technologies implemented into these devices. But some of the current marketing and innovating overemphasizes a certain characteristic or innovation, leaving other important aspects on the sidelines. So, if the cell phone and tablet industries, for example, can establish a steadier drive towards progress in their devices without rushing, consumers will be much more satisfied. 

-zk : out