CS373 Spring 2019 Final Entry

What did you like the least about the class?

The thing I liked least about the class is the fact that even though most people come into the class without knowing anything about web development, no aspect of the 4 part project is explained in class. Other than a quick initial AWS or GCP walkthrough, none of the tools are talked about in class.

What did you like the most about the class?

A lot of what we did learn in class was interesting though. From learning some of the intricacies of Python, to learning basic SQL, to the refactoring in class in Java.

What's the most significant thing you learned?

The biggest thing I learned was a lot of different things on what it takes to bring a website together from scratch. Since I mostly worked on the frontend, I didn't learn much of went into the backend, but from what I was a part of, I learned a lot.

How many hours a week did you spend coding/debugging/testing for this class?

It varied a lot between projects, but on the high end when we had procrastinated I spend upwards of fifteen hours in one week, and on the low end just a couple.

How many hours a week did you spend reading/studying for this class?

In regards to the reading assignments, I did them all in the beginning of the semester, but as the class went on, he started actually quizzing on that material less and less often, so I spent less time reading. With regards to studying, I did poorly on the first test because I did not know how to study for the kind of tests in this class, but I did for the second test, so for the week up to the last test I spend about 10 hours studying.

How many lines of code do you think you wrote?

Throughout all the projects, and not counting all the code writing I did while practicing for the tests, I think I wrote a couple thousand.

What required tool did you not know and now find very useful?

The Jest testing harness for React App. It was a lot nicer to use in my opinion than the other required testing harness it replaced, Mocha.

What's the most useful Web dev tool that your group used that was not required?

I don't think we used a tool that wasn't required.

If you could change one thing about the course, what would it be?

Go over more about the tools in class.

CS373 Week 14

What did you do this past week?

This past week was mostly spent finishing up the final projects in most of my classes. I finished the programming projects in both of my CS classes that had them and mostly finished my Chinese final project presentation. I also seriously started going over the Hackerrank exercises again and again until I can do them without looking for help. I've gotten decent at it so far, but I still have a little ways to go before I will feel prepared for the test.

What's in your way?

Currently in my way is worrying about the test for this class. I did not do well for the last one and am very worried about how well I will do now. Granted, now that I know how the tests work and can study for them properly, it shouldn't be too much of an issue, but nevertheless, I am worried.

What will you do next week?

Since next week is the last week of classes, I have a whole slew of things that need to be done before I can start studying for finals. I will keep practicing the Hackerrank exercises, even the old ones, and as time permits I will review the quizzes and notes so I don't miss a single thing. I will also finish preparing for the final presentation for Chinese, but since it is a video, once our group finishes recording, we will just have to watch it in class which will be torturous, but it needs to be done.

What did you think of the talk by Miriam?

It was very informative, and I especially liked that she allowed time in the end for a significant number of questions. It is always helpful to hear examples of how people make the transition from college to the work environment.

What's your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

Although most of this class probably already knows to do this, my tip of the week is still to do the Hackerrank exercises whenever you get the chance. Do them until you don't need outside help to complete them. Doing this will almost assure you don't get hung up on syntax or compile errors during the test, and will probably help you solve the actual problem as well.

CS373 Week 13

What did you do this past week?

This past week I spent most of my time studying for the two Chinese tests and a long quiz I had. It was very hectic since it was a lot of material to cover and review for each assignment. The rest of the time I spent working on my two programming projects, running into issues, and getting them fixed eventually. I also spent some time going over this class's Hackerrank exercises to get a head start on studying for the test.

What's in your way?

Currently in my way is a lot of projects due this week. I have my two programming classes' projects due this week, as well as a video presentation for Chinese. So once again I will be very busy. This worries me because I would really like a lot of time to study for the test in this class, but the closer we get to the test day, the busier I get.

What will you do next week?

Next week I will study for yet another Chinese test as well as two more quizzes. I will complete my two programming projects, hopefully with as little frustration as possible. I am already close with one of them, but as usual, I am stuck on a weird bug. Other than these things, I will repeatedly go over the exercises from this class to get comfortable with writing all that is needed.

What was your experience in learning about refactoring?

From doing the refactoring and listening to Professor Downing explain it, I understand why it is necessary, but it just makes it look less readable to me. When we first started the Shapes refactoring, the program was very readable, but after the latest refactoring, with all the abstractions, it is just harder to understand quickly than it needs to be in my opinion.

What's your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

Start practicing the exercises for this class as early as possible. I know most of my classmates probably already know this, but I still want to reiterate. I did poorly on the first exam and the main reason why was because I didn't go over the exercises as many times as I should have. My goal is to try and go over most of the exercises at least once per day up until the test. That way I can spend my time on the test actually solving the problem and not on fixing compile errors.

CS373 Week 12

What did you do this past week?

This past week was mainly spent finishing up the two programming projects that were due this week, and completing the final problem set for Algorithms. I also had an unusually high workload for Chinese last week since it is close to the end of the semester and all the hardest assignments and tests, and the final group project are coming up.

What's in your way?

Currently in my way are the last two projects for my programming classes, but neither seem especially difficult, so hopefully they shouldn't be in my way for much longer. I also have two tests for Chinese next week, so there are going to be a couple of long study sessions for those. The main thing I worry about and have worried about since shortly past the beginning of the semester is my Algorithms class. I have a hard time understanding the recent lectures in class, and I know the final will cover much more simplified versions of what we cover but I don't know by how much.

What will you do next week?

Next week I will continue working on the last two programming projects for the semester, and hopefully finish them before the end of the week so I can go watch Avengers: Endgame this Sunday with a clear head. I will also be studying for the two Chinese tests I mentioned previously as well as two quizzes for the same class. In my spare time, I will try to slowly better understand what we are discussing in Algorithms to prepare ahead of time for the final.

What was your experience of Project #4: IDB3?

It was an interesting experience adding features to an already existing dynamic website. Seeing the site slowly grow with more information and features was a satisfying process. Though, by the end, it does feel like some refactoring should be done with our patchwork code.

What's your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

Just this week I learned about utcatalyst.org which can show previous semesters' grade distributions for classes. While in the end, it might not affect my final class selection, it is interesting to know that this semester I apparently chose all difficult classes according to the grade distributions.

CS373 Week 10

What did you do this past week?

This past week was a nice reprieve from the previous week. I didn't have to rush to finish two projects, and we only had attendance quizzes this week, which was nice. I started work on the current project and made a little bit of progress. I also had a Chinese test at the end of the week.

What's in your way?

I currently have two projects due in a little over a week, so I need to get both of them mostly finished this week. These projects concern me a little, but I think I can do both of them without the amount of trouble I encountered the last project. I am also having trouble understanding the recent Algorithms lectures, so I need to spend a lot more time studying the new content than I usually do.

What will you do next week?

Next week I will be doing some heavy coding trying to finish two projects as soon as possible. As I don't have a partner for one of them, a lot of that time will be spent coding alone, so there are sure to be a lot of things to debug. I will also finish another Algorithms problem set and start studying for the next Chinese test.

What did you think of the talk by Dr. Rich and Dr. Cline?

I thought the talk was very informative and interesting, if a little over the top. I understand and appreciate that we need to try to consider all consequences, intended or otherwise, of our choices, but applying this behavior to formulas seems a little overboard. Like they said in their talk, if we were to use this kind of process on every choice we make, we would never make any choices.

What's your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

This week's tip is to take breaks when you can. The week after spring break was such a hectic week that I was glad I didn't have too much to do the following week so I could relax and cool down from the craziness. Whenever you are overwhelmed with schoolwork, as long as you can spare the time, you should take breaks whenever you can. Otherwise, you will eventually burn out and be even less productive.

CS373 Week 9

What did you do this past week?

Last week was so very hectic. It was the first week back from spring break and I had two projects I due Thursday, one of which my group had barely started, and another I had to wait until I got back from spring break to make any progress because I needed a lot of help from the TAs. I also had a test for Algorithms the day before those projects were due, and I didn't do too well on that. So overall a pretty bad week.

What's in your way?

Currently in my way is starting the two new projects for the classes whos' projects just ended. One project is just a continuation of what our group has already been doing, so it shouldn't be too hard to get started, but the other is a completely new kind of project. I haven't done anything like it before, so I am nervous to get started. 

What will you do next week?

Next week I will start on the new projects. I will go to TA office hours and Lab hours so I can get a good foundation on these projects and hopefully not have to wait until the last minute like I did with the last ones. I will also be preparing for a Chinese test at the end of the week that is supposed to be harder than the ones we have taken before, so I should definitely study for it.

What was your experience of Project #3: IDB2?

While I did not think the content or the timeframe of this project was unfair, our group was plagued with so many small and large issues in getting the website actually displaying and loading correctly, the stress may have actually made me get mildly sick. I know it is probably untrue, but the timing is so perfect, if I had to blame something, I would blame the stress.

What's your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

My tip of the week is that even if you have a group project and some of the time to do it is over spring break, some of your group just won't be in contact during that time, so you can not reliably progress any significant amount during spring break. If at all possible you want to do as much of it as you can before spring break, and if the project is assigned right before the break starts, and due the week you get back, well, you better be good at whatever the project is about.

CS373 Week 8

What did you do this past week?

Last week I took a torrent of tests starting on Tuesday and ending on Thursday, totaling four tests in the end. Two of them were for Chinese, and I feel that I did well enough on them. The other two were for Software Engineering and Object-Oriented Programming, both having the same format and both taking place on the same night. I was not properly prepared for these last two.

What's in your way?

Currently in my way is the fact that while I have been doing well in this class so far, I was not prepared for kind of test that took place, and so I did not do very well at all. The grade I make on it probably won't make me change this class to a pass-fail one, but it will be a close thing.

What will you do next week?

While next week is spring break, I still have a lot of work to do. I have two programming projects to make decent progress on, a test to study for the Wednesday after spring break, a problem set to do to study for that test, and an assignment for Chinese.

What was your experience of Test #1?

Prior to the test, I had no experience with competitive programming, and that was exactly the format the test was in. In hindsight, I should have known better and studied correctly by doing the in-class exercises a lot, but I didn't think to do that and did poorly on the test as a result. I am a very Google oriented programming. I am constantly googling problems I run into because I am never experienced enough. Having to program with no help was an awful experience, but for the next test, I need to. I do think the time was a little short though. I remembered that somewhere said the test would go for 1 hour 45 minutes, but I can't remember where, so I was expecting to have a little longer.

What's your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

My tip of the semester is to go over the in-class exercises every chance you get, and do as best you can without help from the internet or the answers. It will help you immensely compared to just studying the answers to the exercises.