Category Archives: Technology

“Draw Your Own Map” Individual Apprenticeship Pattern

This week, I decided to focus on the “Draw Your Own Map” Individual Apprenticeship Pattern for CS448-Software Capstone. This is my final required apprenticeship pattern analysis post, and I chose this pattern because it feels applicable to me as I am about to graduate and enter the working environment, mapping out my intended career path from its starting point. 

The “Draw Your Own Map” individual apprenticeship pattern emphasizes the importance of taking control of one’s career development and learning journey. It encourages individuals to proactively chart their own course rather than relying solely on predefined paths or external guidance.

At its core, this pattern advocates for self-directed learning. It urges individuals to actively seek out opportunities to acquire new skills, knowledge, and experiences that align with their career aspirations. Setting personal goals is essential in this process, providing a roadmap for growth and development.

Identifying various learning opportunities, both formal and informal, is crucial for professional advancement. This could include attending workshops, pursuing certifications, participating in projects, or seeking mentorship. Adaptability and flexibility are also key, as career paths may require adaptation and adjustment over time.

Regular reflection on progress is encouraged to refine goals and adjust course as needed. By reflecting on past experiences and learning outcomes, individuals can iterate and improve their development strategies. Additionally, building a personal brand and reputation within the industry is essential for showcasing skills, expertise, and achievements.

In essence, the “Draw Your Own Map” pattern empowers individuals to navigate their professional journey with autonomy, self-reflection, and continuous learning. By embracing ownership of their career trajectories, individuals can pursue their long-term goals with purpose and resilience.

With such a competitive entry-level environment, it is possible that I may find myself (or at a later point in my career) choosing to take a position that may not fully align with my interests and career goals. Additionally, with all of the ongoing changes in the tech industry and world as a whole, what may have been a traditional and common career path is impractical today. So, it’s crucial that I can draw my own map to success and redraw it as necessary throughout my career. By following the strategies outlined in this apprenticeship pattern, it seems a lot more realistic to be able to take a starting position that may be less-than-ideal while still progressing toward my intended goal.

Sources: Hoover, Dave, and Adewale Oshineye. “Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman.” O’Reilly Media, 2009.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Tech. Worth Talking About by jelbirt and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Week 13

The next classes will be about Software technical review it would be great to get a step ahead by delving into the concept. We only started with the review section of the code but fully understood it before the class could skip the barriers of never implementing this idea. Whenever doing something new there is always a barrier which can be difficult at first but with practical knowledge, it can be implemented with a greater effect.  

This article first talks about why there is a technical review. There are technical reviews for the company’s higher-ups who may not be fully aware of the coding process and the difficulties that come with it. They have to understand the developer’s importance to the business because they are spending a lot of money with ineffective results. Many times deliveries aren’t are time and come in fault states having several bugs. This is where a technical review comes in handy it’s a deep dive that provides a suitable perspective. Their definition of a technical review is a deep dive assessment of your software that provides findings and recommendations that be later adapted or discussed amongst your team. Common finds inside a technical review include slow or late deliveries which are just not meeting the due date, random or persistent bugs an example would be fixing the same thing over and over again, and sleepless nights because of worrying too much. These aren’t the end be it all every technical review is different and should be focussed on your team’s goals. The main discussion should be of pain points the things that keep you up at night to make the software complete. Process and team review is another key ingredient that makes sure everyone is working on the right task or if there are changes that need to be made plus an idea to every team member’s contribution to the project. The last thing the team should do is an effective summary that can be graded with a brief description. Detailed findings and recommendations that can be read by people not in depth with coding so they can get an idea of what is being done behind the scenes and can tell the team what needs to change.

Reading this article gave me an idea as to why we do technical reviews because when doing mine I was stuck trying to figure out problems in the code. I didn’t want to nitpick and find small issues that would seem redundant because at times it is better to keep it clean and simple. But understanding that this needs to be done to prove to people on the other side of the business that work is being done is a great insight. It makes a lot of sense that other people in a company would want to know what is happening on other sides of the department.

Technical Review: A Trusted Look Under the Hood

From the blog CS@Worcester – DCO by dcastillo360 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Week 12

Considering that we have been working on the Mars rover for the past two weeks, I decided to find an article that correlated with this. I went straight to the source and found something about the actual Mars rover. I was able to find an article that piqued my interest. This article was specifically about the real rover and the people who worked on it. I chose this article to show the broad potential we all have inside the CS field that none of us even heard about. I hope to open your minds to all the possibilities you can do with code.

    The article begins by introducing the reader to Melody Ho a full-stack developer for the Nasa Mars website. She has a multitude of responsibilities she has to publish information about every mission and create data pipelines to be accessible to the public. Her journey began by working on a basic HTML book and playing computer games. She gives her reflection on her journey to inspire the next generation of women in space and technology. She most enjoys programming code that is efficient and adapting it to the best version of code possible. When she was growing up she was considering a career in computer games because she hadn’t yet seen the opportunities available for programming. She leaves the article by advising the next generation. She says to embrace new things and don’t be scared because these are opportunities that are needed to succeed. Technology is constantly changing don’t be discouraged if all doesn’t click it will take time.

   Reading this article gave me more of an introspective view of someone’s life in coding. This article doesn’t have much connection to the code we do in class but I think it’s very interesting to see the whole perspective of a coding journey. This article touches upon aspects that you may not think about every day but it gives much attention to what is important. Melody trying to inspire the next generation is very touching. She didn’t have to do this but she did. For me, it gave me a broader view of programming because sometimes you may have a tunnel vision of what you can do with your code but the possibilities are endless. There are a lot of connections that you may not see on an everyday basis. She mentioned how she double majored in business and I didn’t even see the correlation of coding in a management setting but it’s there. There are a lot of connections in programming with other skills there are some I haven’t thought about.

https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/coding-brings-mars-data-down-earth

From the blog CS@Worcester – DCO by dcastillo360 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Week 8 blog Post

For this week I found an article about writing code considering we have been writing classes for the past few classes. The article I found stuck out to me because of its title “Writing Code an Art Form”. People always use the analogy of code being like learning a new language but I never heard anyone consider it as art. From the countless articles I could have chosen without this title, I may have never chosen it to begin with.

This article first starts with a background of how the idea of this article came to be. The setup was that the author was working as a junior developer who had to get a recently hired senior developer with 10 years of experience acquainted with their program. I can only imagine how that interaction was set up and whoever was leading the group should have probably reconsidered who should help the new employee. Even though the senior developer had far advanced experience his code was not easily readable. The author was even taken aback because the senior developer commented how the author likes to write pretty code. The author goes into detail on how poor documentation must be taken into account because other flaws can arise from bad naming conventions for variables/functions, spacing, and having the mindset to problem-solve. Keep the code easy to maintain, read, and debug don’t write spaghetti code.

Now reading this article gave me insight into the inner workings of the tech field. I would have never assumed that a new employee would be getting trained by the second recently hired. I would have assumed that someone with more experience with the project would have filled in the new person but maybe it could be that there both coming from similar places. Both of them are the newest employees and could be easier to help another person adapt to the environment. Reading this article has also reinforced ideas that keep your code simple and clean. My main takeaway was whenever you write code don’t just write it for yourself to understand but for everyone. Let’s say you are working on a project on your own you might just get enclosed in how you understand code nobody but you will be able to update it. Even if you don’t care that someone else will update it in the future your code can be so unreadable that future you may have no idea what you created. In a way, code is like writing notes and there is an art to writing good notes.  

https://hinchman-amanda.mehttps://hinchman-amanda.medium.com/writing-code-an-art-form-e41e459bd2f6dium.com/writing-code-an-art-form-e41e459bd2f6

From the blog CS@Worcester – DCO by dcastillo360 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Breakable Toys Individual Apprenticeship Pattern

This week for CS448 – Capstone, I read about the “Breakable Toys” Individual Apprenticeship Pattern; while I did not know it when I selected this pattern, it relates back to two other patterns I analyzed earlier in the semester: “The White Belt” and “Confront Your Ignorance”.

The “Breakable Toys” pattern encourages craftsmen working in high-risk environments intolerant of failure to create personal projects, referred to as ‘Breakable Toys’. These projects are typically smaller in scope but similar in toolset to work systems, providing a safe space for experimentation and learning through failure. The pattern advises building tools like wikis, calendars, or address books, which may be overengineered but allow for trying new ideas without significant consequences. Given the book’s original publishing in 2009 and the progression and advancement of technology/platforms since then, other tools and platforms may be more applicable and resources like Git make tracking and controlling versions easy.

The focus is on personal growth, skill development, and enjoying the learning process, ultimately fostering a deeper understanding of tools and encouraging continuous improvement. In this way, this pattern is similar to “The White Belt” and “Confront Your Ignorance”, but focuses on building off of prior knowledge in a low-stress environment rather than ignoring it.

I really enjoyed reading about this pattern and its benefits as it is one of my favorites to implement – actually, while reading it I realized how many skills I have picked up using this method. As an individual, when I learn new skills/tools I naturally want to practice them and their non-instructed limitations as well as just generally play around. While a lot of what I learn may not be directly related to my initial task, I usually pick up a few things that are unbelievably useful later on and give me an advantage in addressing challenges.

The clearest example of this which comes to mind immediately is learning Apache POI and PDFBox early in my Computer Science degree/education. I had a lot of experience with basic Microsoft Office applications and was beginning to understand the power of OOP through my Java learning, so the summer after my first semester I decided to learn how to connect the two. By the end of my project, I was confident in reading/manipulating data from Excel, generating new files or report generation, format text and images in PDF documents, and more. All of this was possible because I took it upon myself to research and create my own “breakable toy” environment to learn in.

Sources: Hoover, Dave, and Adewale Oshineye. “Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman.” O’Reilly Media, 2009.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Tech. Worth Talking About by jelbirt and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Black Box vs White Box Testing

In the ever changing and dynamic field that is Software development, understanding the nuances of different testing methodologies is crucial for ensuring quality and reliability. I would like to say that I stumbled upon the blog “Black vs White vs Grey Box Testing” on Shakebugs.com however, the truth is I was still a little confused after our last class and needed further clarification not only on the difference of the two testing methods but just what they do and when they are used. And well this article did just that it resonated with what we were learning and sparked several insights that I believe will impact future practices.

The article navigates through the concept of black, white and grey box testing (I did not even know grey was a thing.) Black box testing, as it explains, is an approach where the tester assesses the functionality without knowledge of the internal workings of the application. White box testing, on the other hand, requires a deep understanding of the code, as tester need to verify the internal processes and pathways. Grey box emerges as a hybrid approach, combining elements of both black and white box testing. It allows testers to apply their partial knowledge of the internal structures while examining the software’s external functionality.

As I mentioned before I chose this resource because it matched the topics we were discussing in class and further helped develop my understanding of the practical applications of the different testing methodologies. The clear and concise explanations paired with practical examples and visuals, provide a framework to differentiate and appreciate the unique attributes and applications

Reading this article was more delightful than I initially anticipated as when I saw a 13 minute read time I almost closed the tab however, I am glad I did not. I learned that while black box testing is excellent for validating user requirements and functionalities, white box testing is indispensable for internal code optimization and security assessments. Grey box testing , with its balanced approach, offers a valuable perspective for comprehensive testing.

Going forward, I intend to integrate these insights into my approach to software testing. In future projects, I will not only consider the functional requirements but also the internal code structure and security aspects when deciding on a testing strategy.

The blog post is a must-read for anyone in the field of software development testing. It offers clear and practical understanding of the different methods, guiding how to apply them effectively. You can read the full article here . This resource not only enhanced my understanding but has also equipped me with practical knowledge I am eager to apply in the future.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Josies Notes by josielrivas and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Week 14 – Token #2 – CS-343

For this blog, I specifically wanted to look into how this class relates to the preferred field I want to go into, which is Game Design. I wanted to see what kind of languages would be used, what kind of design elements are implemented, and even in the case of frontend vs. backend, how online games employ servers.

However, it seems like I had a misunderstanding that these two positions were similar omewere, as I find many sources that say software design vs. game design are a completely different beast, which only made me more interested. I did some more research, and this lead me to end up reading this article below:

Software Engineer vs Game Developer – Which one is for you?

Specifically I noticed that software development has more rigidity when it comes to designing and delivering a product. Software engineers are usually employed to design a software to meet consumers demands, which usually entails specific features and options they’d want in the software you’re developing. Whereas with game design, you have a much more flexible development cycle, as theres a lot more creativity involved. You’re less focused on making sure specific features are available and more focused on delivering a product that is unique and interesting for consumers, and keeps them engaged.

Game developers also rarely work with programming languages when it comes to development of products. Game developers mainly use engines, which are interfaces that employ programming languages to create building blocks to build off of to create a video game. Software engineers mainly work with the code directly at almost all times, making sre each line is properly written. That’s not to say some game devs don’t work with code directly, some do, and many Triple A companies actually write their own engines using their own code, like in the case of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine, which is used to power their famous game Fortnite.

Something this article notes is that software developers may not need to worry about performance compared to game developers, and I can understand why they might say that. Games rel on having a fluid and enjoyable experience, and that is dependant on the performance of a game, making sure theres no glitches, bugs, or lag. However, I would argue that performance is still a factor within software design too, because what if a simple calculation process in a program takes multiple minutes? Consumers will still have an issue with that. While I do think it’s definitely a lot more important in game development, that’s not to say it’s not unimportant in software design.

And that’s all my blogs for this semester! I’ll be taking another of Professor Wursts classes next semester, so I’ll likely be writing again then. See all you readers come January!

From the blog CS@Worcester – You're Telling Me A Shrimp Wrote This Code?! by tempurashrimple and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Week 14 – Token #1 – CS343

For this blog I’ll be using one of my tokens for this class so I can hit the 6 blog minimum before the semester is over.

In this blog post, I wanted to look more into JavaScript since I didn’t really know too much about it. I struggled with the backend homework we had because I never knew anything about the syntax or language at all. So, I want to learn a bit more about this language within this blog. For this, I consulted this website, and gave it a good hearty read:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript

This site gives an overview of JavaScript and the applications in which it is used in general, and what benefits and downsides it has compared to other languages.

What I found very interesting is that I originally knew that JavaScript was mainly used for website development and coding, but this site gave some examples of applications such as Node.js and Adobe Acrobat. I believe we’ve actually utilized Node.js before in our classes, but I can’t quite put my finger on what exactly we used it for, but I recgonize the name appearing in one or more of the repositories we’ve been working with.

It seems like JavaScript is much like Java in the sense that it can use object oriented code, but I think the similarities between the two end there. In the past, I always heard that JavaScript was a completely different beast from Java, and after look more into it, I see why. This site below describes the differences:

https://www.lighthouselabs.ca/en/blog/java-vs-javascript

JavaScript it object-orientedcode, whereas Java is object-based. That may sound the same as each other, but there is some very specific distinctions between them. Java relies on objects to function, whereas JavaScript has functionality for objects and suggests use of them with it’s language, it is not required. JavaScript is also a lot more fluid with it’s syntax, and has a lot more free-form and flexibility with it, which reminds me a lot of what I’ve heard about Python. Java is a lot more rigid, and requires specific pre-set uses of it’s syntax.

But back to JavaScript, it seems like its The language for web design, as a lot of it’s language is made with web design in mind. My future for this area of study is some form of design in technilogical areas, so it would be possible I go into Web Design. If I do, I’ll definitely have to teach myself more JavaScript. It seems like a really useful language to have on hand in that case.

I will be posting one other blog today, using another token, so stay tuned for another!

From the blog CS@Worcester – You're Telling Me A Shrimp Wrote This Code?! by tempurashrimple and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Suggested Standards for (basic) REST API Calls

In the past few weeks, we’ve finished the CS-343 semester focusing on designing/implementing REST API calls and interacting with back- and front-ends. During one of our classes, I recall a discussion about the fact that there are no unified across-industry “best practices” for writing API’s. Specific API structures and rules are common within teams but can vary from organization to organization, however there are some general habits and strategies. So I decided to do some searching and focused on a blog post on the website for Swagger, the REST API view/interaction software we’ve been using in class: Best Practices in API Design.

The post discusses some general best practices on creating consistent, well-designed API’s by focusing on three key characteristics: 

  1. Being easy to read, understand and work with
  2. Being hard to misuse, and in turn more intuitive for users
  3. Completeness and Conciseness – something which the post acknowledges frequently happens over time as developers build on top of existing APIs

Alongside some other basics on CRUD operations and how they correlate to standard REST API calls (get, post etc.), the post also dives into practices for writing effective call response messages. The codes for responses should follow the HTTP standards, where client-side errors return 400-level (4xx) codes versus server-side errors return 500-level and successful calls return 200-level. 

Arguably most important is providing thorough and clear explanations in response messages. For error responses, this entails providing detailed messages describing the error that occurred and suggestions/tips to address and debug it. As a part of this, it’s worth considering putting an example of a successful call to show proper syntax and passed parameters – handholding users will pay off with smoother API interactions long term. To reinforce this, the blog post recommends providing examples for all possible GET responses to demonstrate successful data access calls.

While specific implementations will vary by project/system, these are some good strategies and habits to keep in mind. The importance of providing examples for each individual GET response really sticks out and hits home for me. I can imagine with more complex systems and calls that may contain various request, query or other parameters it could quickly become confusing for users to navigate and access information they need. It seems worthwhile to also provide an example of a successful call in the error response for some specific situations, such as an Error 400 – Malformed Requested → providing an example successful request. 

Below, you’ll also find a link to a “glossary” of REST API parameters with explanations on their purpose and uses – a resource I also recently came across and have been finding valuable. If you have any other suggested “best practices” to keep in mind when designing REST API calls, please let me know in a reply or E-Mail.

  1. Blog Post: https://swagger.io/resources/articles/best-practices-in-api-design/
  2. Parameter Glossary: https://rapidapi.com/blog/api-glossary/parameters/

From the blog CS@Worcester – Tech. Worth Talking About by jelbirt and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Welcome to TWTA!

Welcome to Tech. Worth Talking About (TWTA), a blog discussing exciting and impactful tools and innovations in the technology world, as well as some ideas on how to implement them in real situations to solve problems. Stay tuned for these posts and more!

From the blog CS@Worcester – Tech. Worth Talking About by jelbirt and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.