I share everyone else’s feelings about the group coding session last Thursday. I had quite the time working on the two problems with Aden. We were both slightly behind on our dailies, and so lacked the confidence to tackle the problem properly. However, this did not hamper our efforts, and we took time to workshop ideas, use the p5 reference page, and share our knowledge of java with each other. The biggest advantage of working with someone else is to learn that most people have similar experiences while learning code as noobs. After listening to someone else explain their difficulties, I try and relax and stop worrying so much about my own. I remind myself that our labs are more about engagement with code than mastery of it.

Although we weren’t able to successfully execute vectors, we certainly made some head-way in making our HUD time-counter appear on screen. The code scaffold that had been written out for us contained the clues, and by reading down the list of instructions simultaneously, we managed to articulate the relationship between the timer.js and sketch.js file. Having worked with the movable objects daily certainly helped, and knowing that there was a functional reason for two .js files being linked via index.html was crucial. We still need to start the clock and synchronize it with our ball movement, but seeing our broken timer string appear on screen felt exhilarating. Bully for us!

Aden and I also talked about how we could help one another be productive each week, by setting learning tasks and coming to lab after having practiced relevant dailies. Working independently on the same task, and then bringing our ideas to work on a daily could mean that we hold each other accountable, and have an easier time following along in lab. Time to take a deep breath and code…