Unlocking Creativity and Logic: A journey into Coding
By: Gaudencia Seraphine Ongko, Grade 10
In the world of technological advancement, we can see a lot of applications of it in our day-to-day life. Starting when you open your eyes and your alarm set off or when your watching Home Alone from a smart TV. One of the things required for it to work is coding!
Coding or computer programming is basically translating the human language to one where the computer understands. With such, we can command and give instructions to the computer. For instance, we can’t just ask the computer to ‘add 1 to x’, but we’ll have to translate it so it becomes ‘a=+1’
With such urgency and importance, I’m glad to say that Stella Maris School Gading Serpong provides coding class in collaboration with Koding Next. We have a 40 minute class each week and in a span of 6 months, we have learned a lot about coding, from variables, arrays, function and even GUI (Graphical User Interface)!
By the end of each term, we are asked to create a personal project from all the knowledge we have gained. On the first term, I created a quiz about the rate of reaction, using my knowledge of the conditions if and then, as well as the use of variables. The following term, I added GUI to it, allowing users to interact with it through fields and buttons.
Our teacher for grade 10, Mr Alvin, was very welcoming in the beginning and is able to teach the class in a fun yet informative way. He encourages us to be curious and ask questions whenever needed. Not to mention, Mr Alvin is also very patient with us, beginners. I have no doubt that the other teachers are just like him.
One funny memory that I had during coding class was when I was working with the GUI. I have tried it multiple times and it kept on not working, but when I called Mr. Alvin, it suddenly worked. As soon as he went back, it stopped working again. I was very frustrated and called him back. After a few times of him going back and forth, it turns out it was just a matter of space! The GUI was space sensitive and will not work with a space at the end. This experience taught me to be persistent and enhance my problem solving skills.
Learning coding has not only taught me to think logically, but it allows me to be more creative and think outside the box. It stimulates me to imagine the endless possibilities that can be done. I love learning coding and wish that it can be longer, nevertheless it has been such a wonderful experience!
