Knowing your Tools

If you wanted to learn carpentry, you would start by studying the characteristics and capabilities of each of the common tools carpenters use, so you use the right tool at the right time for things that it does well. In programming, although you have editors, compilers, etc. to help, your main tool is your mind; accordingly, it makes sense to study the characteristics and capabilities of your mind. Indeed, it can be studied and measured just as scientifically as a bouncing ball in Physics class. By the end of the semester, you should have a much better idea (backed up with hard numbers) of how you work as a programmer, and hence the ability to accurately estimate how long you will need to complete a specified programming task. This allows you to plan ahead and complete assignments on time -- an invaluable skill for a professional programmer, and applicable to the (non-programming) rest of your life as well!