What was your biggest “aha” moment?
Learning about transport layer protocols like TCP and UDP was my biggest “aha” moment of the year. It was something I never quite understood, and wasn’t expecting to learn in class. Once I understood this topic, my knowledge of configuring SSL certificates and DNS records made sense. I not only knew how to set such things up, but I also understood why it worked.
Which topic or concept was most challenging and how did you overcome it?
Public and private key encryption was the most challenging topic of the year. I overcame it through extra study outside of school. In addition, it was a topic I allocated more time to when studying for the AP exam in May. Additional review of this topic greatly helped me.
How did your understanding of computer science change throughout the course?
My understanding of computer science changed from knowing how to make things work to knowing why they work in such a way. Knowing why your actions bring results in a field such as this one is extremely important for troubleshooting and future professions. Understanding the base functionality gives you more freedom in creating without having to rely on the work of others. Before this class, I knew how to use and configure very specific functions, but would have to rely on external sources if a problem arose or I deviated from what I was capable of. With knowledge gained from this class,
What are your future goals in technology or beyond?
My future goals are to be able to utilize the technology in a way that will provide benefit to me, either in personal projects or in a future profession. While I don’t want to be in the field of computer science, it is a very applicable field that has uses in all professions. Because of this, I want to continue to learn new technology and understand existing technology to better serve me in life.