Category Archives: Programming

Trying to use Rest API

In this blog post, I’ll share my thoughts on an article I read titled “What is a REST API?” from Cleo’s blog. This article dives into the concept of REST APIs (Representational State Transfer), and after reading it, I feel like I now have a much clearer understanding of how REST APIs work and why they’re so important in modern web development. This topic ties directly into our web development course, where we’re learning about web services and how to connect different systems.

The article explains what REST APIs are and why they are widely used. It starts by explaining the core principles of REST, such as statelessness and resource-based URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers). In simple terms, REST APIs allow different software systems to communicate over the internet by sending requests (like GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) to a server, where each request is independent and contains all the necessary information to be processed. The article also discusses the scalability and flexibility of REST APIs, which make them a popular choice for building web applications that need to handle a large number of users or integrate with other services.

I chose this article because I’ve heard the term “REST API” thrown around in class and in tech articles, but I never fully understood how they work. As a computer science beginner, I often find myself struggling to grasp concepts like APIs and how they fit into the bigger picture of web development. Since we’re covering APIs and web services in our course, I figured reading a simple, clear article would help me solidify my understanding of this important topic.

After reading the article, I feel much more confident about my understanding of REST APIs. Before, I knew APIs were used to transfer data between different applications, but I didn’t fully understand how REST APIs specifically work. The article’s explanation of statelessness was particularly eye-opening to me. I had no idea that each request in a REST API is self-contained, meaning it doesn’t rely on any prior interactions to be processed. This makes sense when you think about how web applications need to be scalable and efficient—keeping things stateless helps ensure the server isn’t overloaded with unnecessary data.

Another thing I found interesting was the explanation of how RESTful APIs use HTTP methods (like GET and POST) to interact with resources. It made me realize how intuitive and flexible REST is for creating services that can easily be integrated with other software systems. I now feel much more comfortable working with APIs.

I want to explore more advanced topics, like authentication and error handling, which the article briefly touched on. This will help me build more secure and reliable web applications.

Resource:

https://www.cleo.com/blog/blog-knowledge-base-what-is-rest-api

From the blog Computer Science From a Basketball Fan by Brandon Njuguna and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Introduction to Pattern Designing

Source: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/introduction-to-pattern-designing/

This article is titled “Introduction to Pattern Designing.” In regards to software development, “pattern designing refers to the application of design patterns, which are reusable and proven solutions to common problems encountered during the design and implementation of software systems.” These reusable design patterns showcase relationships that occur between classes or objects. They are language dependent, so they can be described as an idea that makes code flexible and overall speeds up the process of development. Their purpose is to solve common problems. There are three main kinds of design patterns, creational, structural, and behavioral. “Creational design patterns abstract the instantiation process.” Creational design patterns offer a sense of flexibility in regards to “what gets created, who creates it, how it gets created, and, when.” Knowledge about which concrete class is being used is encapsulated and the way instances of classes are created is hidden. “Structural design patterns are concerned with how classes and objects are composed to form larger structures.” Inheritance is used to create interfaces/implementations. Structural design patterns are good for when you want to make independent class libraries collaborate effectively with one another and offer flexibility regarding object composition. “Behavioral design patterns are concerned with algorithms and the assignment of responsibilities between objects.” Patterns of communication are being described here. Inheritance is used to divide behaviors between classes, object composition is used for behavioral object patterns, and the object patterns encapsulate behaviors in objects. Overall, the benefits of pattern designing are reusable solutions, scalability, and abstraction/communication. The downfall of it however is that there is a learning curve while you try to understand the patterns, there may be concerns with when you should apply the patterns in your code, and if patterns aren’t implemented consistently and in correlation with the advancement of the system, maintenance issues may occur. But regardless, they are a great way to solve common problems during the development process.

I chose this topic because the idea of design patterns was in the syllabus and it interested me. We learned about design patterns such as Factory, Strategy, and Singleton, but reading about the larger terms of creational, structural, and behavioral patterns offered deep insight into the topic. The supposed benefits of common methodologies in software development are always presented but it is also good to know about the downfalls, which I am glad this article showed about the design patterns. When I am working on a team or in the workforce, I will definitely reference these design patterns to improve the maintenance capability and scalability of my code, and do so in a way which I am able to avoid the downfalls of implementing them incorrectly. 

From the blog CS@Worcester – Shawn In Tech by Shawn Budzinski and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Smelly and Debt

I recently read an article on Opsera titled What Is Code Smell? that explores the concept of code smells and how they relate to technical debt. The article explains that code smells are indicators of deeper issues in software design, like redundant code, overly complex functions, or lack of proper documentation. While these smells don’t necessarily cause bugs, they can make the code harder to maintain or extend in the future. Technical debt, on the other hand, refers to the trade-off between short-term efficiency and long-term code quality. It’s like borrowing from the future to meet deadlines now, but it eventually has to be repaid with interest—usually in the form of extra work to fix the issues caused by the shortcuts taken.

I chose this resource because it gives a practical explanation of two topics that I’ve encountered in my software engineering classes: design smells and technical debt. These are concepts that seemed theoretical at first, but this article helped me understand how they show up in real-world projects. As I start working on my own coding assignments, I can see how these issues might impact my projects if I don’t pay attention to them early on.

The article made me realize just how crucial it is to identify and address code smells early in the development process. For example, the article points out that long methods and duplicated code can be a sign of poor design that will slow down future changes. At first, I thought that refactoring or improving code design was something only necessary when a project was nearing completion. But now I understand that addressing these problems early can save a lot of time and effort in the long run.

What really stood out to me was the connection between technical debt and long-term project maintenance. As a student, it’s easy to think that as long as the code works, it’s good enough. But this article emphasized that taking shortcuts to meet deadlines may create technical debt that leads to problems later, such as bugs or a codebase that’s difficult to work with. I’ve already seen this in my own projects—trying to push through a solution quickly, only to realize later that the code is harder to manage than I expected.

In the future, I plan to pay more attention to clean code practices. I’ll aim to refactor code regularly and avoid taking shortcuts that might seem like a quick fix but could lead to bigger problems. This approach will not only improve my coding skills but also make my future projects more maintainable.

Resource:

What Is Code Smell? – Opsera Blog

From the blog Computer Science From a Basketball Fan by Brandon Njuguna and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Understanding SOLID Principles: A Guide

As a student learning software design, I’ve heard about the SOLID principles in class, but I wanted to dive deeper to understand how to actually use them. I came across a blog post called “SOLID Principles — The Definitive Guide” by Midhun Vincent on Medium, which breaks down each of the five principles in a way that makes sense for someone new to object-oriented design. The guide was really helpful and lined up well with what we’re covering in my course, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to see how these principles could improve my coding now and in the future.

The article explains the SOLID principles, which are five important guidelines for creating object-oriented software that’s easier to understand, maintain, and extend. The first principle, the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP), says that each class should do only one thing, making it easier to maintain and modify. The Open/Closed Principle (OCP) suggests that classes should be open for extension but closed for modification, meaning you can add features without changing the original code. The Liskov Substitution Principle (LSP) ensures that subclasses can replace their parent class without breaking the system. The Interface Segregation Principle (ISP) advises creating small, specific interfaces rather than large, general ones. Finally, the Dependency Inversion Principle (DIP) suggests that high-level modules should depend on abstractions, not low-level modules, which makes the code more flexible. These principles help make code cleaner, more modular, and easier to adapt over time.

I picked this article because, while the SOLID principles are useful, they can seem pretty abstract at first. The post explains them in a way that feels practical, with examples that make it easier to apply the principles to real-world coding problems. Plus, the examples connected well with the projects I’ve worked on in my course, especially when it comes to organizing code and making it easier to debug. Seeing how these principles prevent code from becoming too messy gave me a new way of thinking about my own assignments.

My Takeaways and Reflection

Before reading this post, I knew the basic ideas behind SOLID, but I wasn’t sure how to apply them in my own code. Now, I get why each principle is important and how they can save time by reducing debugging and refactoring. For example, the Single Responsibility Principle made me realize that I often give classes too many responsibilities, which complicates fixing bugs. By applying SRP, I can keep things simpler and reduce errors.

Looking ahead, I plan to use these principles in my projects, especially the Open/Closed Principle and Interface Segregation Principle. I can see how they’ll help me write code that’s easier to update and adapt. Understanding SOLID will definitely give me a strong foundation as I take on more complex projects in the future.

Resource:

View at Medium.com

View at Medium.com

From the blog Computer Science From a Basketball Fan by Brandon Njuguna and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Version Control

Source: https://www.spiceworks.com/tech/devops/articles/what-is-version-control/

This article is titled “What Is Version Control? Meaning, Tools, and Advantages.” The main purpose of version control is to “track the progress of code across development and iterations and also aids in managing changes during the life cycle.” Records are kept of all changes with names, timestamps, and other important information. So, the process by which software code is monitored and the way in which changes are made is called version control. A huge benefit of version control is being able to look at the revision history and determine where problems originated from, and who caused them to happen. This allows for increased efficiency regarding workflow considering that the time required to locate problems is greatly reduced. Another benefit of version control is branching. “Branching is a distinct approach to version control where development programs are duplicated for parallel versions of development while keeping the original and working on the branch or making separate modifications to each.” This allows for enhanced collaboration where development is increased, issues are resolved, and code remains organized. A couple very popular version control tools are Git and GitHub. The creator of Linux, Linus Torvalds, created Git. The memory footprint of Git isn’t vast and is able to follow changes in any files. It is a very simple version control system and as a result is used by top companies such as Google. GitHub is a service that enables development teams to collaborate and keep track of all their code changes in a cloud environment. GitHub is secure and reliable, and as a result is also widely used. Through the use of a version control system the following can be achieved: “streamline merging and branching, examination/experimentation with code, the ability to operate offline, creation of regular/automated backups, communication through open channels.” Overall version control aids in the maintenance of reliable code bases and enforces accountability for effective collaborative development. 

I selected this article because we are actively learning about version control in class right now so I figured it’d be the perfect time to read up on it more. Reading the GitKit chapters has exposed me to different git commands and GitHub usage. It was interesting to read in this article about all of the in-depth benefits that version control offers and clearly showcases why even top companies such as Google use it to optimize their workflow. In future practice, whether it be at a job or while working on an individual project, I will use version control to improve collaboration and the ease of maintenance of my code.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Shawn In Tech by Shawn Budzinski and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Anti-Patterns

Source: https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/antipatterns-to-avoid-in-code/

This article is titled “Anti-patterns You Should Avoid in Your Code.” It specifically mentions six of them, being: Spaghetti Code, Golden Hammer, Boat Anchor, Dead Code, Proliferation of Code, and the God Object. An anti-pattern, in regards to software development, is an example of how not to solve a problem in a codebase. They are not a positive thing, they are examples of practices to avoid in the development process. Anti-patterns lead to technical debt, code that you have to eventually come back to and properly fix later. Spaghetti Code is the most common, it is code that doesn’t have much structure. It is called Spaghetti Code because everything is difficult to follow, files are located in random places, and when visualized in a diagram, it appears to be a jumbled mess, much like spaghetti. Golden Hammer references a scenario where you follow a certain process that doesn’t necessarily align perfectly with the project but still works well enough. This may not seem like a large issue, but is obviously not the best practice to follow because it’ll cause performance issues in the long run. You should always use a process that is the best fit for your project, even if you need to teach yourself or learn something new. Boat Anchor is when developers leave code in the codebase that isn’t actively being used in the hopes of it being needed later and thus not requiring much effort to implement when it is eventually needed. The main problem with this is when it comes to maintaining the code. It leads to the question of what code in the codebase is unused and what is being actively used. Trying to fix a bug in the system on code that isn’t even being used is a time waster. Dead code is code that doesn’t look like it’s really doing anything, but it is being called from many different places. This leads to problems when trying to modify the code because no one is unsure what is actually dead. Proliferation of Code is about objects that have the purpose of invoking a more important object, meaning it doesn’t really do anything on its own. The action of invoking the more important object should be set to the calling object. Lastly, the God Object is an example of an object that does too much. Objects should only be responsible for doing one thing, referencing the Single Responsibility principle in SOLID. 

I chose this particular source because I appreciated the way examples were clearly given along with the 6 examples of anti-patterns, and upon reviewing the syllabus the topic “anti-patterns” seemed interesting. When you’re learning computer science a lot of the time you’re learning about things that you should do and not about things that you shouldn’t do. I really enjoyed reading about these 6 examples of common mistakes that developers make in industry. It’s important to both recognize good and bad practices to ensure that your projects are properly optimized. I can definitely see myself referencing anti-patterns when designing code in the future so my code can easily be maintained. 

From the blog CS@Worcester – Shawn In Tech by Shawn Budzinski and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Was it really all about frameworks?

What’s a Framework? All About Software Frameworks is an article written by Luke Stahl. I found it on dev.to, but it can also be found on the Contentful Blog. Links to both blogs are available in this post. The reason I chose this article is that I’ve heard a lot about frameworks since I started exploring web application development, and they always confused me. I used to struggle to understand what they were and what they were built for. Luke Stahl’s article answered both of these questions for me, though it also left me with a few more.

The article provides a general overview of frameworks for software development, web development, and working with APIs. However, it then pivots toward web development frameworks, which left me wondering about the differences between them. While it clearly explains the distinctions between backend and frontend frameworks, it misses covering some other differences I initially expected.

The author also includes a fairly extensive list of the benefits that frameworks bring to development, along with a brief list of challenges. For me, it’s always a bit concerning when something presents itself with so many benefits and so few downsides. Still, the benefits outlined are appealing and useful for developers.

Frameworks, as explained by Luke Stahl, are essentially blueprints or templates for a particular final product. They provide the essential building blocks and materials required to create your software or web application. A framework offers a skeleton for your application, allowing you to build functionality on top of it.

Halfway through reading the article, I began to wonder about the difference between a framework and a code library. Thankfully, and to my surprise, it seems Luke anticipated this question. He includes an explanation from two outside sources, David Fateh and Alvin Bryan. Both summarize that frameworks act as templates, while code libraries serve as tools you can use to build on top of that template.

One point that caught my attention—and that I believe is very important—is that most frameworks are FOSS (Free and Open Source Software). Being free and open source brings many advantages. Such products undergo extensive testing by a diverse group of programmers, across various applications, which increases the test sample size. This added testing leads to greater reliability, as it helps ensure that any new functionality works as intended. Another benefit of free and open-source products is the large community that often forms around them. This means that if you encounter questions or difficulties, it’s likely that someone else has already addressed them.

From the blog CS@Worcester – CS Today by Guilherme Salazar Almeida Nazareth and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

GRASP

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcqTrlL_Htw

This video from YouTube is titled “Design Patterns GRASP // Object Oriented Analysis and Design (ICS).” As stated in the title, it goes over the design patterns of GRASP, or General Responsibility Assignment Software Patterns. GRASP is a set of 9 principles that relate to object-oriented design that help developers/engineers assign certain responsibilities to certain variables, classes, objects, etc. in software. The overall purpose of GRASP isn’t to create “fancy” code, but rather to create maintainable and reusable code/software. The 9 principles are information expert, creator, controller, low coupling, high cohesion, polymorphism, pure fabrication, indirection, and protected variations. “Information expert” places responsibility on classes that have the required information to complete it, wanted behaviors and data are put together. “Creator” places responsibility for the creation of instances of classes to classes that would use it. “Controller” places responsibility for handling system events to a class that describes the event, known as the controller. “Low coupling” states that classes should be as independent as they can be from other classes. “High cohesion” states that classes should have clear purposes with responsibilities that relate to it. “Polymorphism” is implemented so new behaviors can be added without changing preexisting code. “Pure fabrication” states that new classes should be created if there isn’t an already existing one that fulfills a desired requirement. “Indirection” states that dependencies among classes should be minimized so changes can be made without having an impact on other parts of the system. Lastly, “protected variations” encourages developers to design the system in a way that variations in behaviors are negated through encapsulation. 

I chose this particular source because we haven’t covered this topic in class yet and it seemed interesting, I found the topic from the syllabus. This video had a low amount of views and I wanted to give it a chance. After watching the video, I appreciated the fact that the information was presented in a straightforward manner and offered visual examples for each of the 9 principles of GRASP. After learning about Agile methodologies, it was interesting to learn about GRASP, because in my opinion it seems as though instead of being a set of principles of workplace improvement, GRASP seems to be a set of principles for actual work improvement. Overall, the material impacted me in a positive way because I appreciate the idea of everything in a system/software having a certain responsibility, and can definitely see how this will benefit me in the future when I work on more projects related to software development. I will certainly keep GRASP in mind for these future projects. 

From the blog CS@Worcester – Shawn In Tech by Shawn Budzinski and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

The Troubles Of Learning Codebases

Often when joining a new job, you won’t be writing a new codebase from the ground up. Often we’ll have to familiarize ourselves with the preexisting codebase. Sometimes this codebase is old and needs to be updated or refactored. But how should we go about doing this? It is challenging enough to try to learn a new codebase, let alone trying to change or add to it. That’s what the question the article “Reducing The Learning Curve For Supporting Aging Codebases” by Scott Fitzpatrick aims to answer. The articles offer some dos and don’ts when it comes to trying to make it easier to learn a code base.

One of the first don’ts is to not rely on face-to face conversations and messages/email conversations. While these conversations can be helpful for developers in the moment, they offer little for someone trying to learn the codebase. Plus they can be hard to find and subject to deletion. I think the main point to take away from this article is the importance of good documentation and other resources. When it comes to making a codebase easier to understand, not just for newcomers. Having multiple avenues to try to learn from is important. Beyond just looking at the code, things like data flow and entity-relationship graphs. 

Other aspects beyond code are important too. Like good documentation on local environment set-up and system requirements/dependencies. Making these clear not only makes it easier from the newcomer, but also it helps learn about the frameworks and why they were chosen for the project. Knowing why an application uses certain frameworks and projects can help a new developer understand the reasoning and choices of the team.

Learning a new codebase is very challenging for anyone. I think this article offers good insights as to why certain practices are good and why some are bad. This also once again highlights why I think communication is the most important skill for a software developer. Being able to communicate with other developers not only through code, but through documentation is a very important skill. Making the lives of fellow developers easier by finding as many ways to communicate design and ideas. Although most developers hate writing documentation, it is a necessary evil that must be done.

I will definitely keep this in mind when writing code. Of course writing code that is readable takes precedence. But keeping up to date documentation is also vital to keep projects on track. I personally haven’t worked on a large project involving a large codebase before. So I haven’t had to write documentation for something that I didn’t write. Most of the time I don’t feel the need to write what the function or class does because I made it, so I already know. I think that’s a habit a lot of programmers have, that leads to a lot of lack or bad documentation. It’s something that I don’t have a lot of practice in, so its a skill I’ll have to start honing.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Code Craft by Kyle Tucker and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Speed Over Design

The following blog I would like to talk about is called “The Hidden Cost of Speed” by Brayden H. Hord. He begins with a quick story about a project he worked on. In this story he describes how he, in an attempt to impress his bosses and meet his co-workers needs, pushed out a product as fast as possible. This worked for the moment. His bosses were happy and he continued his work. However months later, bugs and issues are arriving daily. The software he quickly developed was being used on a daily basis, something he had not anticipated. Now all the shortcuts he had taken earlier had come back to bite him. Now he had something that was being used extensively that was built poorly. 

Now he and his team had to work laboriously to try to fix these fundamental issues. Fixing the problems but also trying to interface between management and stakeholders. The truth is that these problems could have been avoided. If he had better planned and took more time to access the needs and requirements of the project. The moral of the story is that taking time to build right saves headaches down the line. The rest of the blog goes into more detail about why planning and communication are fundamental for all software developers. 

The reason I choose this blog is because I think it highlights one of the most important factors when it comes to software development, Communication. Most software is not built by one person, but rather a team of people. What makes a good team is communication, making sure everyone is on the same page. I think this is important to remember because building without a plan is a recipe for failure. It’s easy to get excited and try to push something that works. But something built on shoddy foundations is always destined to fall. 

Sure your code may work at the moment, but somewhere down the line issues will arise. As needs and more complex architecture is needed, the holes in the code will rear their ugly head. That’s why building code that takes into account not only the needs of now, but also the needs of the future. Building architecture that makes life easier in the future, not harder. I think that this is an important lesson for any software developer to know. Because building something right not only makes your life easier, but everyone else on the team’s lives easier as well.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Code Craft by Kyle Tucker and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.