Preface

This is the unedited, word-for-word Preface of my upcoming book “Fundamentals in Programming”. Also, all of this is true.

I was in my third year of high school when I first got my Playstation 1.

After obsessing for over a year about Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid, my dreams finally came true on my birthday that year. I cannot sleep the night before, and will not sleep the night after (Do not do this at home, kids.) The next year became a blur: I played a lot of role-playing games and strategy games, from Final Fantasy Tactics to Legend of Legaia to Valkyrie Profile. My grades did not suffer much- being a high school student, there weren't any challenging subjects, and my social life… well, I'm not exactly a people person. I have my gamer friends, and they are enough.

However, one game really got my interest: Final Fantasy 7. I obsessed over it for so long that the system timer of the game became red and got stuck on 99:99:99. My friends and I discussed for hours about which optimal characters, equipment and materia combinations to use, the side quests and unlockables, ways to solve the game differently, and so on. However, almost every argument came down to one rumor: How to make the heroine survive.

In the game, Aeris, the heroine, will die in the hands of Sephiroth, the main antagonist. However, several sites and forums in the internet hinted that there is a way to avoid it. That became our quest: our mission, THE mission, of my small group of friends. We scoured the web for information, big or small, about the said rumor. We posted in forums, we asked the chatrooms, we emailed everyone (even the creators of the game) to know more. We tried everything: opening specific treasure boxes, collecting specific items (in a specific order), going through the game with only one character, as fast as possible, etc., etc…

After I finished college, I realized: THIS is exactly what Programmers do.

No, not obsess over games. Programmers gather information, both right and wrong. We analyze the information, looking for clues and solutions. Then, after that, we will try every possible angle to solve the problem, and finish our mission. No matter how many dead ends, no matter what the odds are, or what manner of Sephiroth-of-an-algorithm you are facing, you will TRY everything to save Aeris.

In the end, we found out that it is impossible to stop Sephiroth from killing Aeris. Nevertheless, the journey to that conclusion was awfully fun, and well worth playing for 99:99:99 XD

Research Proposal, Part Deux

I was at a loss on what to describe at the "Scope and Structure" part of my research proposal, so I decided to skip and create my tentative table of contents and start from there.

After I composed the ToC (attached below), I immidiately realized that the book is a bit too complex. The beginning chapters was alright, but it progressed a bit too fast and finished with a couple of modules that the students wouldn't use until their undergraduate thesis (or in the industry, in the case of team programming). I thought about compressing it further, giving more breathing room in the first few modules, but then realized that I'm not writing the book just for the freshmen (first year students). If a student buys my book, then they'll use it until their last year in the colegio just because of multiple perspectives it presents to the reader.

So, the first draft of the proposal for my book "Fundamentals in Programming" looks like this:



I still have to iron out a few things before I pass it tomorrow, but I doubt it would be changed that much. Wish me luck, I hope this gets approved ^^ tommorow then~

Research Proposal, Part One

I’m currently typing up the research proposal for my book, “Fundamentals in Programming”. It’s fairly long (and boring), but I plan to post most of the juicy parts in this blog.

 

The first part of the proposal is the name of the worktext, and the name of the proponents. Unfortunately, I’m not the sole proponent of the book because I’m not yet a regular employee of the Colegio. Dr. Cory Rebong, however, is my boss (Institution Head) and agreed that she’ll be a proponent “in paper only” and left the whole project to me :D

 

The review of literature was focused on the lack of problem solving skills of freshmen students, as well as their difficulty in understanding abstract concepts such as Variables and Memory Addresses. My proposed solution to this problem is a brute force approach- from start to finish, all examples will be problem-solving. Also, the entire first chapter of the book is dedicated to modeling abstract concepts through the use of pseudocode and flowcharting.

 

I spent a great deal of time researching the literature for the proposal, and found that the book: Information and Beyond: Part I By Eli Cohen (the famous Book of Eli, yea?) contained a wealth of research, specifically I. Milizweska and G. Tan’s work (pg. 277) which they entitled “Befriending Computer Programming”. I also found that one of their references, E. Dunican’s Alternative Delivery Techniques for 1st Year Programming Courses, is very informative.

 

The needs analysis was straightforward, with a focus on the shortcomings of current programming books in the Colegio’s library. Most of the books are outdated with only one or two copies on the shelves.

 

I’ll discuss the proposed Scope & Structure of the book on part two~ I guess my self imposed 300-word limit is a bit too short :( Anyhow, see you tommorow, Oyasumi~!