CS at Mass Academy works with many different applications of computer science. At the start of the year, we learned web development with HTML and CSS, which is how you’re seeing this website right now! Afterward, we started our Java unit, which is similar to the AP Computer Science A curriculum. Next, we will be working on creating apps for good!
A major group of assignments in this class is labs. In labs, we are given one tough coding program that we have a few days to solve. One of our labs was the Sieve of Eratosthenes, where we made a program that could find all prime numbers up to a certain range. To do this, I represented all the numbers up to the given number in a boolean array, and used the rule that defines the Sieve of Eratosthenes to modify that array accordingly. The code I made for the program is on the right.
We are also often given general coding exercises to work on. These are generally hard coding questions that require strong knowledge of the topics taught in class. This set of exercises was completed after we learned about ArrayLists in Java. There are problems where I had to do general operations with ArrayLists, but in others I had to do more scenario-based coding, such as performing a Bulgarian Solitaire on a randomized deck of cards. You can find the code on the left.