C R E A T I V E   P R O G R A M M I N G

B 2.1

When I first started Creative Programming I underestimated it a bit. I had a little bit of experience with programming from high school, but only in css, html and php. I had an advantage when searching for little mistakes with misplaced semicolons for example, but I found the programming language itself difficult to learn. It is like being expected to be able to speak German as a Dutch person, because to foreigners, the two languages look and sound very similar. I do not speak German, just like I did not understand Processing when I started the course.

 

My ability to write code in processing and Arduino has increased massively during this course. I went from not knowing what they were to finishing the assignment. Since coding contains a lot of trial and error, I learned how to keep working on something which feels like it will never work. When it eventually worked, I was very happy and proud of myself. I feel like I was working outside of my comfort zone, usually I first research and think about what to do. While programming, I just had to try things out. Luckily, whenever I hit the play button, I know immediately whether what I did worked, and directly see result.

 

Even though it was difficult in the beginning to create something, I found it a lot easier once I had a start. It is much simpler to adjust written code than to write new code. Whenever I did not know how to do something, I asked someone for help or looked something up online. I then looked at the similar code and tried to take that into account when writing my own. Whenever I have an idea, I want to achieve that goal. For example, I wanted to create a game from the start, I just did not know how. I found it very difficult to start, but quickly found some things online which I completely adjusted to my likings. Eventually I was able to create something completely my own. I spent hours getting the buttons to work right, I found it very difficult. Nevertheless, I was destined to put it in my challenge because it would be the optimal combination of Arduino and processing. When the buttons finally worked, I was very pleased.

 

Once I had finished it and everything worked the way I wanted it to work, I was proud of myself. It felt good that something finally worked completely. It is frustrating whenever something does not work exactly how you want it to work, or when it does not work at all. It feels like making a puzzle and not being able to find the missing few pieces. I am not saying that my challenge could not be improved, because in programming, there is always room for improvement. I am saying that I feel like I finished a puzzle which was at my level.

 

I will definitely use my newly gained knowledge in the future, since the opportunities with Arduino and processing are endless. I could definitely keep gaining knowledge in this field and I plan to do so in the coming years.