CSUMB Computer Science Learning Journal

     The topics that were extensively covered this week were rendezvous synchronization, semaphores as signaling mechanisms, and as locks, counting threads in a shared state, barrier synchronization problem, differences between semaphores and condition locks, and practical debugging using the topics mentioned earlier.       Rendezvous synchronization is when two threads do not continue any further until both of the threads are at the meeting point. Semaphores as signaling mechanisms work by using a numerical signal, waiting until the other threads see the signal before continuing. Using a semaphore as a lock, or mutexes, set to a numerical 1, only lets a single thread inside at a time. Counting threads in a shared state means sharing a count variable, counting how many threads are at the barrier. This will be using a mutex in order to protect the hookup. The synchronization barrier problem is a generalization of rendezvous synchronization, where it wor...

The primary focus of this week's study was the detailed examination of virtual and physical memory addressing, including an in-depth analysis of VPN (Virtual Page Number) bits, PFN (Page Frame Number) bits, and the process of translating virtual addresses to physical addresses, as well as converting physical addresses back to virtual addresses. I have been approaching the problem from several angles, with each attempt making me more confident in my ability to convert addresses. Additionally, we explored the methods for distinguishing VPN bits from offset bits within a virtual address space. The process of calculating the Page Table Entry (PTE) from the VPN and offset involves utilizing binary operations, specifically developing an understanding of how the PTE contains indexing information. From the retrieved PTE, the next step is to extract the PFN by applying a binary mask to isolate the relevant bits, typically through a bitwise AND operation (PTE & mask). This operation effe...

Some important differences between the two is the integrity of the data. In a spreadsheet, it is manually implemented using formulas, while in a database, there are rules, constraints, and relationships between tables that keep data clean, reliable, and consistent. Another important difference is that databases are easily scaled to handle large datasets, whereas using a spreadsheet is very slow and inefficient. Learning SQL querying, how to design and analyze databases are a couple of important reasons to learning. Using and learning relational databases is a good experience that helps prepare one to handle real-world technical problems that a computer scientist would come across. I am unsure what else I would like to see within this course to better prepare myself for my future career.

 1. I worked with the entire team, reviewing each of their codes and discussing our solutions to the problem at hand. These people would be Mariah, Claudia, and Cody. 2. My personal strategy for solving the Markov assignment was simple: read the prompt carefully, glance over the unit tests, and begin writing the code accordingly. 3. Mariah's strategy was to stub out the code and follow the prompts until the code compiled. Claudia & Cody's strategy was most similar to mine, which was to read the prompt and go on about coding with minimal planning.  4. I would not change my strategy at this time, as it has been working. In fact, the next project I'll try incorporating paper planning, as it will be much more beneficial when the scale of the projects continues to grow. 5. My classmates claim that I follow the Google Java Style Guide with near perfection, though I doubt it. I automated some of the style guide rules and used common sense to determine what looks good, in conju...

 1. I worked with Cody, Claudia, and Mariah.  2. My strategy was simple: read the prompt and Unit Tests to get a better idea of what needed to be implemented. 3. Mariah and Claudia's strategy was to stub out the code and fill in the blanks via compiler errors and from the prompt. Cody's strategy was similar to mine: read the prompt and study the Unit Tests.  4. I would not have changed my strategy, as it worked out for me in a rather easy manner. 5. My classmates follow the Google formatting, and all have the automatic application of the style. 6. The most challenging part was writing the game logic. 7. The most interesting was also writing the game logic. 8. I am most proud of finishing the project with the least amount of issues possible. 9. I celebrated by playing video games and having some victory drinks with friends.

    This week, it is not over yet. I spend hours every day refining my Java skills and getting back up to speed. It's been mostly smooth, despite some hiccups in learning about loops and parsing strings with them. I am still studying to ensure I fully understand the topics. We used codingbat.com/java for this week's homework, and I first started with the warmup, which I fully completed. Then, I began working on the assigned homework, which included beginner string manipulation, array, and logical problems. The process starts off by dissecting what the text is asking and working the solution carefully around the prompt. I heavily limited the usage of AI unless it was simply used to explain, or if I was incredibly stuck and I couldn't figure out what exactly to do next. I don't really plan out my code, well, I do at least a little in my head before I throw code at the issue. Reading references and API about strings and arrays, watching tutorials and given sources, it sign...