W04 Learning Activity: Firm up your Foundation
Overview
Now that you have learned the first two principles of Programming with Classes, this week will help you reinforce these principles and Firm up your Foundation by by practicing each principle in small projects.
Your Programming Foundation
In Matthew Chapter 7, Jesus taught:
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
In a similar way, it is critical to make sure your programming skills are built upon a rock or a sure foundation, so that as you learn more advanced topics, you will have the proper foundation of core knowledge for it to stand upon.
In some courses, you learn about many independent ideas, and it's ok if you don't understand some of them deeply the first time you go through the material. In programming, however, each new topic builds directly on the previous concepts, so it's important to make sure you have a solid foundation of each one before moving on to the next.
With this in mind, rather than introducing a new topic, this lesson will help you practice and firm up the foundation of the previous lessons.
Getting Caught Up
If you have gotten behind, missed an assignment from the previous two weeks, or didn't understand a previous assignment as well as you would have liked, take the time this week to get caught up.
Make sure to submit any missing assignments or to fix and resubmit any that you didn't understand well enough.
Foundation Programming Assignments
This lesson will have two programs to complete. They are designed to be fairly concrete and will help you strengthen your understanding of the core principles and the mechanics of using them in programming.
These foundation programs are different than the standard projects in the course. They will be smaller than the standard projects, and likely require less time. They will not have a user interface component and there is not expectation for you to show creativity and go above and beyond the core requirements.
Learning Activity Instructions
There is no new material to study for this week. Instead, please review the learning activities from the previous weeks:
- Week 02 Learning Activity: Abstraction
- Week 03 Learning Activity: Encapsulation
When you feel comfortable with these topics, there is a quiz for this learning activity where you can demonstrate your understanding.
Submission
- Return to Canvas and take the associated quiz.