What to do in my spare class time?

[Stephenk53]

I am now in computer programming 2 at my school and in computer programming 1 I often had a lot of time to spare since I usually finish the class way ahead of time. So I am wondering what you guys think I should do in my spare class time. It does not need to be programming based but I would like it to be STEM based, preferably engineering related. By the way the teacher is overly relaxed about what I do, so if it involves bringing in tools that is likely fine, except tools that are very messy

 

[jedishrfu]

You could explore the Open Source Physics website and Java-based library and examples of physical simulations.

www.compadre.org/osp

You'd learn Java doing computer simulations of physical systems.

Alternatively, you could play with Freemat or some other clone of Matlab to learn Matlab coding. Matlab is used extensively at many universities in their Engineering disciplines.

 

[berkeman]

I am now in computer programming 2 at my school and in computer programming 1 I often had a lot of time to spare since I usually finish the class way ahead of time. So I am wondering what you guys think I should do in my spare class time. It does not need to be programming based but I would like it to be STEM based, preferably engineering related. By the way the teacher is overly relaxed about what I do, so if it involves bringing in tools that is likely fine, except tools that are very messy

Good for you on both counts. It's great that you are doing so well and enjoying school and STEM, and it's also very good that you are looking for interesting school-related things to do when you finish assignments early.

What subjects are you covering in your programming class right now? When I was learning my first structured programming language in undergrad (it was Pascal at the time, I would teach myself C later on), I found most of the assignments straightforward, so I started adding features to my code that were not required, but added value to the finished programs. I think several of our assignments involved reading in a text file to parse it and sort names, addresses, etc. So to add value and make it more interesting for me, I linked to a database engine and imported the data that way instead of just from the text file. I then could maintain the database and do more extensive reports and sorting. The professor was okay with the extensions that I added in, although she made it clear that I would not get any extra credit for it, since it was not part of the assignment.

So depending on what you are learning right now, you might start learning more about database programs, compilers, data structures, etc. They are important concepts that you will use at some point in your programming learning. If you already have experience with data structures and some basic parsing of input, you might consider writing a simple compiler for some target hardware (either a Widows PC or a microcontroller, for example). You might also look into programming microcontrollers to do different fun projects. So many fun things to do!

 

[phinds]

I agree w/ berkeman ... extend the features of your current assignment and explore otherwise unexplored language features in what you are currently studying. Getting REALLY solid in any given programming language will stand you in good stead in the future since the basic concepts of programming are pretty much the same in all languages (with the fairly obvious exception of OOP vs sequential programming)

 

[Stephenk53]

Currently I am working on scratch, which I do not intend on learning more about since it is simple and I've already learned it before, but once we start python I will do that. The class does not have lectures, or even tests. It is nothing but a series of projects we have to figure out ourselves so your ideas should fit that nicely

 

[jedishrfu]

One step above Scratch would be Processing.org which uses Java as a base mode. Processing also has a downloadable Python mode (actually Jython).

You can do a lot of cool graphics with Processing and with its numerous third party libraries.

For comparative language study checkout

www.rosettacode.org where many problems are implemented in many languages. Not always the best solution but it show you what can be done with a particular language.

 

[Dipti]

I am now in computer programming 2 at my school and in computer programming 1 I often had a lot of time to spare since I usually finish the class way ahead of time. So I am wondering what you guys think I should do in my spare class time. It does not need to be programming based but I would like it to be STEM based, preferably engineering related. By the way the teacher is overly relaxed about what I do, so if it involves bringing in tools that is likely fine, except tools that are very messy

Since you are already in a programming class and you seem to have a pretty good hang of which ever language you might be learning, I am going to assume that you have more than enough knowledge on coding.
I would suggest that you try out advanced java. For example, if you try to learn java applets, you can build full fledged independent platforms.
In the same way you code using java and you can eventually learn to develop android apps if you get a hang of it.
You can also get into web development using javascript.
There are countless options to explore if you are into coding and many languages that you can learn. Since you are a beginner, I suggested Java. Contrary to popular belief, I think Java has a smooth interface with a lot of in built libraries and feature for the coder to explore!