Guidelines to Submit a Completed Programming Assignment at Your College
Undertaking a programming assignment is not an easy task for many learners. It is therefore paramount that a student gives their A-game when handling programming to ensure that they score the most from the same. Programming assignments play a vital role in course of a student learning coding. This is so because the assignment helps to test a student’s understanding of a particular concept within programming. To score therefore a student should have the right mindset and effort to cope with the assignment. Outlined below are guidelines that you can follow to help in submitting a completed programming assignment and score highly.
Learn the basics of programming
For you to tackle a programming assignment you must finetune or know the basics of programming as a course. These basics are the programming techniques that come in handy when handling your assignments. Learning these techniques requires your effort and time. The faster you learn and are able to apply the techniques, the faster you are able to undertake the programming assignment and score highly in it.
The basic programming concepts that you should be familiar with may include but are not limited to:
- Algorithm-This is a group of instructions used to achieve specific tasks. As a programmer, you should therefore be in a position to design your algorithm to achieve the desired output or as directed in the assignment.
- Source code-This is the authentic text that is used to come up with the program in the coding language you are using in the assignment.
- Complier-It is software used in changing a source code to a binary code. It, therefore, becomes easier for the computer to understand and is used to run a program.
- Loop-it is used to execute a series of codes until the condition is true. When using Java language for instance you could have a loop like:
for(intI =0; i& amp;lt;10; i++) {System.out.println(i); }
Understand the assignment given.
Once given a programming assignment, it is important to go over it and comprehend what the professor is testing. Reading the given instruction helps identify the important information that is required in tackling the assignment. You should split the assignment into various parts guided by the main ideas being tested. To better find out whether you have comprehended, you can try to describe the assignment to your fellow students. By so doing you are able to gauge your level of understanding of the assignment before even starting. It is also crucial to note that in case you do not understand any part of the assignment always reach out to your tutor for clarification.
Planning for your assignment.
After understanding your assignment, it becomes easier to handle. Before starting the assignment, it is important to come up with a plan on how to handle the same. The most important step when planning is to identify how much time would be taken to complete each particular task in the assignment. This should be guided by the available time required to submit the assignment. By so doing you are sure that time will not run out on you in the course of writing your programming assignment. Planning for your assignment also helps prevent procrastination since each task has been allocated a specific time frame by which it should be completed. Planning helps also in prioritizing tasks in your assignment. For instance, you may decide to deal with the complex part of your assignment first e.g., coding and working on the easier parts last. Failing to submit a programming assignment on time can cost you valuable marks in the task.
Start working on the programming assignment.
After planning on how to work on the assignment, the actual work begins. It is advisable that you carry out enough research to enable you to handle the assignment easily. For a programming assignment, you can start by creating an algorithm that aims at creating the basis of the program. This will be helpful in having a solution to your assignment. At this point do not worry about the correctness of the code you have created since this will waste a lot of your time. Always have comments next to your codes. The comments help yourself and even those reading the assignment like your professor to better understand the code you have used in the assignment. The code created in your assignment should be tested manually to see whether they give the correct results. The test running phase also helps see if the code has any logical errors. This also helps in making the necessary changes that your code may require. After test runs, you can then go ahead and remove all the semantic and syntax errors from your code.
Stay focused on the assignment by avoiding distractions.
Programming assignments are demanding both physically and mentally. They require a lot of time and attention especially when creating the codes and debugging. It is therefore advisable to avoid any form of disturbance when handling your assignment. This increases the speed at which you perform the task at hand and also the accuracy. It is therefore wise to avoid distractions either from the TV or even mobile phones in order to achieve maximumly from the assignment.
It is also advisable to take periodic breaks from the assignment. Working for long hours slows you and clogs your ability to think clearly. The breaks are meant to help relax your body hence improving your clarity. During the breaks you can stretch a bit or even take a brief walk this re-energizes you and places you in a better form to continue. Breaks also ease tension and pressure as a result of working on the assignment for long hours.
Check out for errors in your assignment
Always go through your assignment checking out for errors. This applies to the code especially the core code that is in your assignment. Debugging should also be done to help in identifying and correcting errors in the code. The core code should also be bug-free and should be working perfectly hence it is advisable that you test it before submitting the assignment. In case you find errors, you are not able to handle, you can always check for solutions online or seek your professional helpers.
Work on the assignment in groups.
It is always advisable to have a partner when working on coding tasks. This helps when researching for the assignment as in groups you are able to research more. The assignment also becomes easier since it’s a combined effort of the team. Errors are also easier to identify when in groups as compared to when working alone. It is, therefore, true to say that many hands make the work easier.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is evident that programming assignments are no mean feat. To achieve good grades, you require sheer will and determination. A confident attitude is also key in completing and performing in the programming assignment. You should also realize that completing these assignments is a major milestone to being a great developer The pointers discussed above are a sure ticket to helping you if they are applied to the latter. Key also is to always remember that you can always reach out for help at any stage of your Programming assignment.