C-A-S: Experience 19

    At school, we have the opportunity to select which term we would like to partake in outside of our curriculum to explore our interests. These 'terms' occur after our spring and winter breaks and last two weeks. This year, I decided to choose a spring term relating to my interests in computers and circuitry. The term itself was called 'Prototyping with PCBs and Microcontrollers.' Although as of now these terms have concluded, I learned a lot and desire to major in something of the sorts. At the beginning of the term I had a faint idea as to what I was getting myself into, and I found myself struggling with the majority of the required tasks. I had trouble with understanding the computer language necessary to configure microcontrollers, namely 'C++,' as our computer science class progressed with us learning python as well as some java, but our class was still initially getting the hang of these languages. Also, it was difficult to correctly place all of the wires and resistors in the correct location, and I faintly had an idea as to why they should be placed in a specific location––from following an example. However, even when it was rather difficult I pushed through. Doing so, I learned the significance of what code I was writing and how it grants access to the certain functions I needed the microcontroller to operate for my project, which was a stopwatch. I even included a variety of new features that weren't a part of the example I was following, such as a buzzer that would 'beep' when a button is pressed and a LCD display that included specific text that showed the stopwatch incrementing in time. Albeit strenuous and confusing, I took a lot away from this term and I now dreamed of majoring in something of the sorts.