That last minute struggle

After creeping and commenting on people's SLOGs over the course of this semester, I have to say that it's remarkable how people have gone from 2 posts all semester long (and this was the case for most people's SLOGs even 2 weeks ago!!!), to walls of texts. Oh, University, how is it that you are able to bring out the procrastinator that lies deep within all of our hearts.

 Overall, I feel that the SLOGs are an excellent way of proving to yourself that you know what you're talking about. It's one thing to understand a concept, and another to demonstrate that you actually do understand the concept that you claim to understand. Was that statement extremely convoluted? Yes. But you know what I mean.

 Throughout this semester, I've often gone from assuming that I understood a concept-- to realizing that I didn't. This was helped in part by reading SLOGs. I found it helpful to utilize other student's SLOGs to gain a better understanding of certain concepts. You often learn more from people who are also learning the material themselves. Good times.

Another thing that I have noticed is that I have spent a disproportionate amount of time in this course convincing others to realize why their proofs are insufficient or wrong. I'm not normally a confrontational person, but it can be a little exasperating at times when you're arguing with group members. You cannot prove a statement by restating it -- and you also cannot prove a statement by cleverly manipulating your proof so that it proves your statement, but only in certain cases. I'm not telling you that my answer is correct, but I'm most certainly pointing out why your proof cannot be correct.

After spending a semester taking CSC165, I have come to the realization that, although I have difficulty actually proving proofs, I have a strong foundation -- I can almost always tell when a proof is insufficient or wrong. I have also done enough practice proofs and studying to ensure that I am able to write proofs for the vast majority of proofs I should encounter in the exam. Hopefully this statement holds true for the actual exam. I also hope that, in the future, I will be able to devise proofs to problems with which I have not had prior experience with. Perhaps hone my intuition and induction skills?

Overall, it's been a great run. I can honestly say that this is most probably the only kind of course in which I would hear two students arguing over office hours with interjections of "BUT MY PROOF IS MORE ELEGANT" <-- legitimately, this was screamed aloud during Larry's office hours. Oh, UofT, you really, truly amaze me sometimes.

Anyways, I would 10/10 take this course again, and I would highly recommend it to any student - regardless of their major. Informative, educational, and enjoyable. Unfortunately, this SLOG will be seeing its imminent demise after the due date tomorrow, but it's been a great run.

 Adieu!