In software development, creating high-quality apps requires keeping code neat and effective. The blog “What is Code Smell & How to Avoid It” provides a thorough review of code smells, which are signs of more serious problems in a codebase that may hinder readability, performance, and maintainability despite the fact they are not errors. The blog carefully explains the definition of code smells, their most prevalent kinds, and practical solutions. It is a great resource for learning how to maintain high-quality code because of its structured approach.

Code smells are indicators of design flaws in a program, which might result in technical debt and vulnerabilities down the road. Tight timelines, inadequate evaluations, or insufficient experience are frequently the causes of them. Typical examples include excessive parameter lists, overly long functions, incorrect naming standards, and duplicate code, all of which make the codebase challenging to maintain. Along with highlighting smells like middle-man classes, data clumps, and primitive obsession, the site provides practical guidance on how to spot and address each. In order to prevent code smells, the blog highlights techniques such as using automated code review tools, implementing continuous integration/deployment (CI/CD) workflows, and regularly refactoring.

I chose this blog because it breaks down the concept of code smells into digestible pieces, discussing each type in depth while linking them to actual solutions. Additionally, the topic strongly reflects our course, Software Construction, Design, and Architecture, which stresses developing maintainable, scalable systems. This objective is directly supported by knowing code smells, which also serve to reinforce the fundamental ideas covered in the syllabus.

As I thought back on the blog and what we’ve learned in class, I realized how crucial it is to proactively find and fix code smells throughout the development process. The emphasis on techniques like refactoring caught my attention since it can be easy to overlook their wider importance beyond tackling immediate issues. Recognizing certain scents like “feature envy” and “primitive obsession,” brought to light how small problems may turn into big ones, affecting collaboration and a project’s ability to grow. For instance, I intend to use the strategy of condensing lengthy parameter lists into objects by grouping related data together. This will make the code in my upcoming projects cleaner, easier to maintain, and easier to read.

This blog improved my knowledge of software architecture and design by relating theory to real-world development issues and helped cement the content we went over in class. By putting the knowledge I’ve received to use, I hope to create software that is more reliable and maintainable, laying a solid basis for my future work in software engineering.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Live Laugh Code by Shamarah Ramirez and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

This week, I decided to discuss Application programming interface (API) documentation. API documentation is essential for developers to understand how to use the API, integrate it into their applications, and fix any issues that arise. The article “How to Write API Documentation: Best Practices and Examples” highlights the importance of API documentation and discusses practical insights into creating a better developer experience.

The article starts with an informative video discussing the API economy, what API documentation is, and how to write it. It also shows some examples. The article moves on to the common issues developers have with APIs, like being too long, too much technical jargon, un-updated, or inaccessible without registration. The author discusses several ways to remedy these issues by emphasizing that good API documentation needs to be user-friendly, clearly explained, and given examples with FAQs or tutorials. One of the strategies presented to accomplish this is called spec-driven development(SDD), where you generate the documentation while developing the API. We are also given several tools to help create and maintain API documentation, like Swagger and Postman.

I chose this article because APIs are discussed and used thoroughly in our course. The appropriate next step was understanding how developers make software accessible to users and, in doing so, become more accustomed to APIs.

Reading this article gave me several strategies to think over and included great explanations for why they are used. I was unaware of strategies like SDD and writing for entry-level users, but they made a lot of sense after reading the article. Creating the documentation after developing API can lead to errors and inconsistent documentation, frustrating developers. Having the documentation evolve with the creation of the API makes more sense. The explanation for writing with entry-level users in mind was great, too. You might think that all software developers understand API documentation, but each developer has their own experiences, specialty, and knowledge. Tailoring the documentation to everyone is impossible, so aiming for clarity at the entry-level will make it understandable for most developers. It is one thing to hear how to improve your documentation, but seeing data on the main features developers want and issues they get frustrated with makes me feel like the strategies will have a greater impact on the users.

In future projects, I plan to use spec-driven development to ensure my API documentation grows with my project, allowing developers to follow along without confusion. I will also aim my documentation at entry-level users so the resource is accessible to most developers.

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

In the ever-evolving landscape of cybersecurity, Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) are publicly disclosed security flaws that pose a significant risk to software systems. These vulnerabilities, if left unchecked, can be exploited by malicious actors. Developers, therefore, play a critical role in defending their code against known CVEs, ensuring secure software development from the very first commit. The article “Defending Your Commits from Known CVEs” explores a tool that developers can use to safeguard their work, integrating security seamlessly into the development lifecycle. This blog post reflects on the key insights from the resource, what I’ve learned, and how I plan to apply these practices in my future as a software professional.

The article emphasizes the prevalence of open-source components in modern projects and warns about how these components can add vulnerabilities to your project. This article particularly stresses the use of the tool Git Guardian Software Composition Analysis to catch CVE’s before they are added in a commit. Git Guardian SCA is a vulnerability scanner made by Hacker News to catch risks early.

I selected this article because it connects directly to our course discussions on open-source development and using Git. Understanding how to mitigate CVE risks is essential in order for us to be modern developers, and this article provides a useful tool to enable us towards this goal. It also touches on the use of open-source software.

From this article I learned that the open-source movement has a profound place in current development. It blows my mind that 96% of current projects have open-source components and that anywhere from 70% to 90% of any given modern software is open-source components. I don’t know if I should be happy that the world is working together so much or sad that apparently a lot of software development is not as much coding as I initially thought. It also explained how you can automate the tool’s use with Git hooks which was a new resource that I was introduced to. It allows the developer to automatically trigger actions at different points of gits execution.

Going forward I will be much more vigilant in using any piece of open-source software since apparently a large number of those projects could be using CVE’s. I will also try to expand this vigilance to the rest of any future teams I am a part of. I will probably also look into making my own tools to integrate with git hooks.

link to the article :
https://thehackernews.com/2024/05/defending-your-commits-from-known-cves.html

From the blog CS@Worcester – Coder's First Steps by amoulton2 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

One of the earlier topics we went over in this course was Semantic Versioning and how many companies or groups will use it to keep track of their development. Sometimes shortened to “SemVer,” Semantic Versioning describes a versioning structure that will better communicate “implications of new versions, such as breaking changes, new features, or bug fixes” (Victor Pierre). It allows developers to have some comfort in knowing what changes will be made or have been made and whether there is some level of risk in moving to a new version. This risk lies mostly in software that have some sort of dependency, such as libraries or frameworks as updates to those can lead to dependent softwares having to update some part or most of their work, and the software not working otherwise. 

Semantic Versioning employs a three-part version number in the format, MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH, with each part signifying a different impact of the release.

• MAJOR: Incremented when making incompatible changes or introducing breaking API changes.
• MINOR: Incremented when adding new features or functionality in a backward-compatible manner.
• PATCH: Incremented for backward-compatible bug fixes or patches.

This is the basic structure for Semantic Versioning but there are many more rules to follow and other cases that will slightly change how the format will look (Victor Pierre). More details can be found on the official Semantic Versioning site (https://semver.org). 

When this topic was first introduced, I recognized it and was quite excited because it’s something I’ve seen quite often in the games I play or in other things related to games. The very first thing that came to mind was modding, especially in Bethesda Games. The Elder Scrolls Series and the Fallout Series are some of the most modded games ever, one of the reasons for this is the fact that Bethesda, some time after the release of a game, will implement modding support and tools. I connected Semantic Versioning to how Bethesda will rarely release a major update to Skyrim or Fallout 4, two of the most modded games ever despite how old they are now. These rare updates will cause the modding community to blow up as nearly every modder will have to update their mods in order to be compatible with the new version. After 10 or so years of these rare but destructive updates, many modders have simply stopped updating their mods, moving on to better things or just not caring enough to do so. It’s come to the point in which people have come together to make “downgraders” to play on an older version of the game to have access to a wider variety of working mods. 

That was a bit of a long story but overall, I think Semantic Versioning is simple but intriguing and most of all, extremely useful. I look forward to seeing changes, patches, updates for games and other software that I use and having access to an easy-to-follow log of just further cements my liking for Semantic Versioning. I’m not so familiar with other ways to keep track of development but this seems like a staple for developers and companies, and one that won’t be replaced so easily.

https://victorpierre.dev/blog/beginners-guide-semantic-versioning/

From the blog CS@Worcester – Kyler's Blog by kylerlai and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

    Since I use different
computers from home, class, and work, after learning from class about docker
and setting up the same environment for all the devices, I thought it was time
to look into docker more. The article is about what is docker, why it became
popular and comparing it with other tools. That is why I choose this article
because “Docker overview” by Marsdev gives comprehensive introduction about docker,
comparing to virtual machine, use cases and advantage over other tools over the
internet. It clearly explains these things easily and detailed make it ideal
choice to learn how docker works and its benefits.

    The article covers essential components of Docker including
Docker Engine, Images, Dockerfiles, Docker Hub, Volumes, Compose, and Desktop
and how they work. For example, Docker Engine serves as the backbone of the
platform, enabling the creation and management of containers, while Docker
Compose allows developers to manage multiple interconnected containers with
ease. Not only that, but it also compares other tools that have similar functions
like Jenkins, Kubernetes. Not only that this article summarizes how container are
“given resources that no other process can access and cannot access any
resources that have not been specifically allotted to them”. In the end, Docker
is a powerful tool that makes development processes faster and build, test and publish
apps faster and efficiently than before.

Reading this article
and idea of ‘container’ showed why docker became a powerful tool for environmental
consistency. Also, I learned that I could have the same development environment
in different devices and applications now after installing docker, I don’t have
to constantly upgrade and downgrade versions of angular, node.js and different
things between different computers, applications. It was a pain going back and
forth and just a single program solves that mess I had. This program gave me a
clear roadmap for implementing containerization in my own work.  This article decreased the time I had to use
for development workflow compared to before. Not only that, but I am also
trying to use different dockers extension mentioned in the blog and others in
the marketplace for future use. Extensions like Disk usage help me double check
resource usage during development too. In the end, docker will save me time
during development and expand my base as a programmer as it decrease level of
errors between different versions of my program and the time to find those
errors.

Link to article – https://www.marsdevs.com/blogs/what-is-docker-why-is-it-getting-popular

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

    Since I use different
computers from home, class, and work, after learning from class about docker
and setting up the same environment for all the devices, I thought it was time
to look into docker more. The article is about what is docker, why it became
popular and comparing it with other tools. That is why I choose this article
because “Docker overview” by Marsdev gives comprehensive introduction about docker,
comparing to virtual machine, use cases and advantage over other tools over the
internet. It clearly explains these things easily and detailed make it ideal
choice to learn how docker works and its benefits.

    The article covers essential components of Docker including
Docker Engine, Images, Dockerfiles, Docker Hub, Volumes, Compose, and Desktop
and how they work. For example, Docker Engine serves as the backbone of the
platform, enabling the creation and management of containers, while Docker
Compose allows developers to manage multiple interconnected containers with
ease. Not only that, but it also compares other tools that have similar functions
like Jenkins, Kubernetes. Not only that this article summarizes how container are
“given resources that no other process can access and cannot access any
resources that have not been specifically allotted to them”. In the end, Docker
is a powerful tool that makes development processes faster and build, test and publish
apps faster and efficiently than before.

Reading this article
and idea of ‘container’ showed why docker became a powerful tool for environmental
consistency. Also, I learned that I could have the same development environment
in different devices and applications now after installing docker, I don’t have
to constantly upgrade and downgrade versions of angular, node.js and different
things between different computers, applications. It was a pain going back and
forth and just a single program solves that mess I had. This program gave me a
clear roadmap for implementing containerization in my own work.  This article decreased the time I had to use
for development workflow compared to before. Not only that, but I am also
trying to use different dockers extension mentioned in the blog and others in
the marketplace for future use. Extensions like Disk usage help me double check
resource usage during development too. In the end, docker will save me time
during development and expand my base as a programmer as it decrease level of
errors between different versions of my program and the time to find those
errors.

Link to article – https://www.marsdevs.com/blogs/what-is-docker-why-is-it-getting-popular

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

    Since I use different
computers from home, class, and work, after learning from class about docker
and setting up the same environment for all the devices, I thought it was time
to look into docker more. The article is about what is docker, why it became
popular and comparing it with other tools. That is why I choose this article
because “Docker overview” by Marsdev gives comprehensive introduction about docker,
comparing to virtual machine, use cases and advantage over other tools over the
internet. It clearly explains these things easily and detailed make it ideal
choice to learn how docker works and its benefits.

    The article covers essential components of Docker including
Docker Engine, Images, Dockerfiles, Docker Hub, Volumes, Compose, and Desktop
and how they work. For example, Docker Engine serves as the backbone of the
platform, enabling the creation and management of containers, while Docker
Compose allows developers to manage multiple interconnected containers with
ease. Not only that, but it also compares other tools that have similar functions
like Jenkins, Kubernetes. Not only that this article summarizes how container are
“given resources that no other process can access and cannot access any
resources that have not been specifically allotted to them”. In the end, Docker
is a powerful tool that makes development processes faster and build, test and publish
apps faster and efficiently than before.

Reading this article
and idea of ‘container’ showed why docker became a powerful tool for environmental
consistency. Also, I learned that I could have the same development environment
in different devices and applications now after installing docker, I don’t have
to constantly upgrade and downgrade versions of angular, node.js and different
things between different computers, applications. It was a pain going back and
forth and just a single program solves that mess I had. This program gave me a
clear roadmap for implementing containerization in my own work.  This article decreased the time I had to use
for development workflow compared to before. Not only that, but I am also
trying to use different dockers extension mentioned in the blog and others in
the marketplace for future use. Extensions like Disk usage help me double check
resource usage during development too. In the end, docker will save me time
during development and expand my base as a programmer as it decrease level of
errors between different versions of my program and the time to find those
errors.

Link to article – https://www.marsdevs.com/blogs/what-is-docker-why-is-it-getting-popular

From the blog Sung Jin's CS Devlopemnt Blog by Unknown and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.