Week 0: Grasping the Basics - Scratch and Log-ins

23 Jun 2025

The first lecture of almost 2 hours by Professor David J. Malan was fascinating. Took me some time to adjust to how fast the Prof. talks. I paused and replayed at a few places, to digest, for instance, “one can count up to 31 using a single hand’s fingers.” .The course’s aim is to teach one, Computational Thinking. That gave me a new mindset when looking at the course. I had several moments of refreshes to my knowledge of computer science topics like algorithms and functions. One huge takeaway was the concept of rubber ducking. Closing the lecture game playing on stage, was my namesake, Erick from Philadelphia. How coincidental!

Problem Set 0: Starting from Scratch

Problem set 0 was

to implement in Scratch, at scratch.mit.edu, any project of your choice

subject to some requirements. This caught me off guard a bit as I was expecting to solve a pre-determined problem. I eventually settled on an falling object avoidance game - Save Gobo.

Some takeaways I got from this challenge

• Not enough knowledge of the solution development environment (language) can be a barrier to a speed implementation of a solution.

I came to understand the need to read documentation to know what’s available and as to what a tool/ function does and what it is most useful for. Often I had to read-up/ review the lecture, to find out how to do achieve a particular objective.

• As you keep iterating the solution, the approach to a particular goal changes, often improves.

• Start with smaller blocks and then compound

The idea of working with smaller blocks/ simpler code had been brought up and recommended in the video lecture by Prof. Malan. As I progressed with my game development challenge, I saw my code grow and becoming a little complex each time.

A First Submission - Save Gobo

Although CS50 is introduced as an entry-level course and suitable for anyone without prior programming experience, it helped that I had a GitHub account. One is needed when submitting assignments and connecting with the learning platform EdX

Authorise for the course gradebook

Authorise for submission

On submitting My Scratch Program, it was a satisfying experience to get 8/8 on this first submission. Confirming that my program met all the requirements per the assignment.

Reflections

The greatest challenge this week has been to find enough time for this course. Though I did week 0 in one week! As a family man and working professional that is expected. Going forward I need a more strict study routine as I foresee greater depth into topics as I move into Week 1.