CS371g Summer 2020: Hogan Tran Blog 3

What did you do this past week?

For this past week, I have been working on the Collatz project. The project took a little longer than expected because I was still trying to figure out some of the software, such as Git, Coverage, and Docker.

The optimization of my code also took a chunk of my time. The HackerRank test cases required faster implementation so I worked with two different caches that kept clashing with one another.

What’s in your way?

Project 2, Netflix Prize, is on my horizon and I have yet to start. I think I finally got the software down to work on it, so all I need is an idea of how to start.

What will you do next week?

For next week, I want to start on the Netflix Prize project as soon as possible. I will be mostly working on that and attending lectures to hopefully bring some more insight on how to approach the project.

What was your experience of exceptions, constants, and Boost serialization?

I have seen and worked with exceptions and consts before but I never understood their importance. Exceptions make it so much easier to catch user or input error, instead of using assertions or early returns. I have used combinations of early returns, extra parameters, and global variables in my methods whenever I want to force my code to acknowledge errors, but the implementation and writing always made my code looks messy and difficult to understand. However, the exception, try, and catch keywords look easier on the eyes and work beautifully with little nuances.

Global variables are usually also constant variables, so it was not difficult to understand that concept. However, it was really interesting that functions within a struct and pointers can also be constant.

How are you doing and holding up? What’s been most helpful for you in terms of support at this time?

I felt a little stressed when some acceptance tests and software would not work for my Collatz project. However, it felt very satisfying to turn in the project with everything in order. As of lately, I have been balancing this class with SWE as to not fall behind in either class. However, the amount of work is creeping up alongside the stress, so listening to music and taking breaks here and there helps to keep me motivated and refreshed.

What made you happy this week?

I recently picked up another foster named English Muffin. She is extremely playful, opting to play with my fingers over her toys sometimes. Hopefully, we can find her a good home, which will make me happiest.

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

For SWE, I have been learning how to use Flask, a micro web framework for Python, to help in creating the very basis of our website. Web design looks super interesting to me, so it has been fun to learn HTML and a new tool in easing the creation of a website.