Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Hello and welcome back to another week of my blog. This week, I looked through chapter 5 of the book Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover named “Perpetual Learning.” I was quite interested in the apprenticeship pattern called “Reflect as you work” once I read it. This pattern talks about how important it is to reflect on your own work and what you have learned in order to improve and progress as a computer science apprentice. All computer science apprentices should plan for a time to regularly review their work and see what areas they can improve in. It is also important to see what you accomplished and identify where you succeeded. You should always cherish those successes. “Reflect as you work” recommends you as an aspiring computer science major to draw a personal map for your own working habits and focus on the habits that have not changed in a while. Figure out if changing one habit would make you more productive and adopt that change.

To apply “Reflect as you work” to myself, I am going to make an analogy to playing video games again. No matter what video game I play, I always reflect on my actions, both when I succeed and fail. If one strategy fails, then I look back and try to identify points of failure and see how I can correct those mistakes. If my strategy succeeds, I celebrate that I’ve won (mentally in my head) and then look back and see if I can make the strategy better or make it more efficient. This is just a habit I’ve developed over years and years of playing video games. The same can be applied to being a software apprentice. If I fail to write working code, then I will try to identify the errors and try to correct them. If the code does work, then I will analyze it to see where it can be more efficient. In the future, I will always reflect as I work. As an example, look at this code:

int count;

count = 0;

while (count < 3){

System.out.println(count);

count = count + 1;

}

This code can be condensed down into:

int count = 0;

while (count < 3) {

    System.out.println(count++);

}

Which can be further condensed down to: 

for (int count = 0; count < 3; count++) {

    System.out.println(count);

}

From the blog Comfy Blog by Angus Cheng and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

The pattern I read for this week was “Craft over Art”. It was about how you should value the usefulness of an object you are creating over the beauty of it as the program can be beautiful, but it needs to be useful. I found this pattern very interesting to read as it is something that I really agree with. I have always seen usefulness as the true beauty, and have always valued something working over it looking the best. Would it be cool if the program was also nice to look at? Yeah, there is a sort of professional feeling to making a program that looks good and works, but you should never try to make code look better if it decreases its usefulness. There is always room for beauty, but not if it comes to the cost of the program itself.

The pattern did not cause me to change my way of thinking, but it did strengthen it, as I have always agreed with what is said in the pattern. To me, I always looked at the beauty of a program as something that can be worried about in the end, when the crafting of it is done first. When it is finished, then I can focus on making it look as neat and clean as possible without ruining its purpose. I have always been someone that wanted the better equipment no matter how it looked, so I think that has rubbed off on my programming.

Looking back at the pattern, it is hard for me to find something that I disagreed with. I agree with everything said in the pattern, and see it as common sense to me. I would rather make that 50 line game that is simple yet fun over the groundbreakingly beautiful unplayable game. I can see how some people can disagree with this though as some people value beauty over usability. An example of this is with kids, as some kids would rather have the worst Superman toy over the better Batman toy just because of looks. Other than those moments though, most people would agree that craft is over art.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Anesti Blog&#039;s by Anesti Lara and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

The blog I reviewed this week delves deeper on the topic of design smells and the classifications of some of them in different situations, some of which we had discussed in previous classes and some new ones that prove to be important to know in the long run. this article focus on design smells in the UI/UX side of programming and more specific to this side but still very much important.

The first discussed is “Documentation for Power users” which is the separate documentation used on portals to different sights when users click hyperlinks, or the different section on a Website or application. the issue comes from the formating and the flow of said website many look very cluttered and the flow of information is jumbled up. One specific example that is used for this smell is the Use of Microsoft Excel, the main focus being that it is a universally used application and thus has universal tools that the users disposal, the issue with such a great tool as without distinct tools being separated from the ones a user might not use in order to optimize the users experience it overwhelms them. this goes for all users as there is no case by case optimization, one solution brought up would be to dissect the application into separate products in order to better organize the UI for consumers in different situations, such as one made for educational use and one for corporate.

Another Smell that is discussed and closely relates to the previous is “Excessive Iconography”, this smell focuses on the use of unclear icons to display information in large loads, if we look at the example used in the blog of Xcode on Mac with many of the icons and labels out all on the same display to overwhelm the developer, making the tasks more difficult. the issue isn’t that the Labels or the Icons are not clear, but there are to many options and features present on the same screen. one way to combat this is to structure the application into smaller instances including all features that are connected together, allowing for clearer labeling and better overall experience for users. one personal example of this kind of structure I found was on Jira which structured its features according to what the user needed, allowing for a seemless UI and better experience. it did this but hiding features entirely that were not necessary and clearly labeling its tools.

Yodaiken, Aaron. “Ux Smells.” Medium, UX Collective, 7 Feb. 2017, https://medium.com/user-experience-design-1/ux-smells-fa971feef820.

From the blog cs@worcester – Marels Blog by mbeqo and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.