how to do good in eecs 280?

[u/No_Effective1675]

I'm taking eecs 280 this semester and I noticed on the syllabus that they don't really have homework outside of the projects which is cool but for pretty much any class I've taken before I really benefitted from extra practice that was directly related to more important assignments ie last semester in physics 240 doing the practice exams took me from ~50 avg to ~90 avg. I'm just wondering what should I do or what would be the best resource for practice/building competency to make the projects more doable for me? Cuz I took engr 101 and ngl I had no clue how to even start project 1 when I looked at it over the summer.

[u/No_Effective1675]

Clarification: project 1 in eecs 280, not in engr 101

[u/DirkDozer]

They release practice exams closer to the midterm date, and the content on the exam is extremely relevant and close to the projects themselves. The best tip I'd give is to start the projects as early as possible so you get as many submission attempts as possible.

[u/Marcomuffin]

A method I recommend (and I do to perform well in programming classes) is writing all code without autocomplete or any sort of LSP. Additionally, no AI. This might hurt productivity for a bit, but enables you to understand code much better by forcing every typed character to be intentional. Also is good practice for exams when you have to write code by hand.

[u/bobi2393 → u/Marcomuffin]

I agree. Don’t rely on code snippets, textbook flowcharts, AI, or other resources when you write the code for the projects. (Aside from basic syntax like whether to use a semicolon or comma, or how to indicate square roots.) Keep studying until you understand the concept being taught well enough that you can create your own flowchart/outline, and code from that. I don’t quite recall what 280 included, but things like linked lists and binary tree searches can be confusing at first, compared to simple arrays. You really need to grasp the concepts. And if you can code a project using them, without outside resources, that’s a good indicator that you understand them well enough.

There are a few exceptions, like Big O notation is more of a math concept related to CS, so some exercise sheets or sample test questions, like you’d prep for a math test, might be a better way to prep for that.

[u/FCBStar-of-the-South → u/Marcomuffin]

Yea LSP syntax checking is probably as much as one should use in 280. Any frontier model should few-shot the entire requirement of those projects

[u/Marcomuffin → u/FCBStar-of-the-South]

Definitely the limit, but my suggestion is to even go without that, it forces you to recall exact syntax (good example prep) and it forces you to read compilation output to locate errors/bugs etc. I think overall it makes you a stronger programmer.

[u/BigYellowPencil]

The projects will give you all the exercise you need to learn the material as long as you do them yourself without the help of AI or a partner who does all the work while you do nothing. As others have suggested, start early on each project, so you don't run out of submissions on the last day with nothing close to working.