For my first semester at OSU, the Autumn 2015 Semester, I was part of a project group run through the MMC Scholars that was oriented towards those with little to no coding experience and taught basic coding language in Microsoft Visual Basic. As part of a final project for the group, we had to produce our own functioning string of code utilizing the skills we learned. The guidelines were simple in that we could produce almost any type of program we wanted as long as it used the structures we learned in the project group. For my final project, I created a GPA calculator (based off of normal, OSU GPA standards) that additionally gives the minimum percentage required in a single class to raise one’s current GPA up to a user-selected, desired GPA. An example of the resulting sheet created by the program can be seen below. The program allows the user to input up to ten classes and to give the name and grade (in percent) of each class. Finally the program asks the user for his or her desired GPA. The program then calculates the user’s current GPA and displays the minimum GPA required in any course to raise the GPA up to the given desired GPA. The program furthermore does not allow this required GPA to be higher than the possible 4.0 and will instead put “NA” if the required percentage in a class exceeds what is possible (this can be observed in the picture below for the class labeled “MATH”).
The most immediate development from this project I gained is the ability to read and write code at around a novice level and, while my level of skill may be quite trivial, this greatly increases my knowledge on computers and how they function. This, in turn, has positively affected my ability to use computers and has given me much insight into how computers process information. Additionally, the ability to code is not one to be taken lightly for, as an actuarial science and mathematics major, I could create code to solve complex problems for me that would take me too much time to do myself. The final project also had to be presented in front of a large group of peers, and I was able to utilize this to further my presentation skills. Below is the full code for the final project, exemplifying the skills we learned in the project class.
