Category Archives: Week 12

Clean code and reality.

 

The
article examines the question, “is clean code by Robert Martin still matters?” From
author’s 16-year coding experience, he writes about reality in writing clean
code and its criticism. He acknowledges that t in the end meeting the deadline
with functional and bug free code is more important then elegant code following
the principle of clean code. However, he argues in the end as a developer,
trying to integrate small aspects of clean code into your code base is going to
make your skill improve as an engineer in the long run even if many people will
not care about it.

I selected this
article as it addresses some uncertainty that I had with clean code. All the
code I have written feels like I got pressure to deliver functional code as
quickly as possible and now I’m supposed to write elegant, maintainable code so
I wanted to see the real live example from experience if clean code was that necessary.
The author’s real-world experience and practical approach toward the subject made
it an interesting topic to delve into deeper.

This article showed
that clean code is not something you have to write all the thing following to
it, it is about finding the right balance between quality code following the
clean code and functional code. I feel like clean code still matters in a bit
as we want to write a code in time but needs to make it modular to be abled to be
easily refactored for later uses. Not only that, this article advice to start
small feels realistic and something I can do to grow as a programmer.  The hierarchy of what matters in the software
part will be my checklist in the future as it is the basic outline of how the
code needs to be structured. When writing code, the working code always comes first,
then make it without bug and if there is bug, you should be able to be fixed
easily then I will try to add instance of small parts of clean code in. I want
to make the code a bit modular because I spent hours trying to refactor code sometimes
and finding which part of the code went wrong took a long time because my code
was always a mess. Therefore, I feel like idea of clean code by Robert martin
is not dead but only small part of it is still alive to become better
programmer. As the most important thing for programming is to make software
that is easy to maintain, adapt and scale.

 

Article
link :
https://tommcfarlin.com/who-cares-about-clean-code/

 

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.

Clean code and reality.

 

The
article examines the question, “is clean code by Robert Martin still matters?” From
author’s 16-year coding experience, he writes about reality in writing clean
code and its criticism. He acknowledges that t in the end meeting the deadline
with functional and bug free code is more important then elegant code following
the principle of clean code. However, he argues in the end as a developer,
trying to integrate small aspects of clean code into your code base is going to
make your skill improve as an engineer in the long run even if many people will
not care about it.

I selected this
article as it addresses some uncertainty that I had with clean code. All the
code I have written feels like I got pressure to deliver functional code as
quickly as possible and now I’m supposed to write elegant, maintainable code so
I wanted to see the real live example from experience if clean code was that necessary.
The author’s real-world experience and practical approach toward the subject made
it an interesting topic to delve into deeper.

This article showed
that clean code is not something you have to write all the thing following to
it, it is about finding the right balance between quality code following the
clean code and functional code. I feel like clean code still matters in a bit
as we want to write a code in time but needs to make it modular to be abled to be
easily refactored for later uses. Not only that, this article advice to start
small feels realistic and something I can do to grow as a programmer.  The hierarchy of what matters in the software
part will be my checklist in the future as it is the basic outline of how the
code needs to be structured. When writing code, the working code always comes first,
then make it without bug and if there is bug, you should be able to be fixed
easily then I will try to add instance of small parts of clean code in. I want
to make the code a bit modular because I spent hours trying to refactor code sometimes
and finding which part of the code went wrong took a long time because my code
was always a mess. Therefore, I feel like idea of clean code by Robert martin
is not dead but only small part of it is still alive to become better
programmer. As the most important thing for programming is to make software
that is easy to maintain, adapt and scale.

 

Article
link :
https://tommcfarlin.com/who-cares-about-clean-code/

 

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.

Clean code and reality.

 

The
article examines the question, “is clean code by Robert Martin still matters?” From
author’s 16-year coding experience, he writes about reality in writing clean
code and its criticism. He acknowledges that t in the end meeting the deadline
with functional and bug free code is more important then elegant code following
the principle of clean code. However, he argues in the end as a developer,
trying to integrate small aspects of clean code into your code base is going to
make your skill improve as an engineer in the long run even if many people will
not care about it.

I selected this
article as it addresses some uncertainty that I had with clean code. All the
code I have written feels like I got pressure to deliver functional code as
quickly as possible and now I’m supposed to write elegant, maintainable code so
I wanted to see the real live example from experience if clean code was that necessary.
The author’s real-world experience and practical approach toward the subject made
it an interesting topic to delve into deeper.

This article showed
that clean code is not something you have to write all the thing following to
it, it is about finding the right balance between quality code following the
clean code and functional code. I feel like clean code still matters in a bit
as we want to write a code in time but needs to make it modular to be abled to be
easily refactored for later uses. Not only that, this article advice to start
small feels realistic and something I can do to grow as a programmer.  The hierarchy of what matters in the software
part will be my checklist in the future as it is the basic outline of how the
code needs to be structured. When writing code, the working code always comes first,
then make it without bug and if there is bug, you should be able to be fixed
easily then I will try to add instance of small parts of clean code in. I want
to make the code a bit modular because I spent hours trying to refactor code sometimes
and finding which part of the code went wrong took a long time because my code
was always a mess. Therefore, I feel like idea of clean code by Robert martin
is not dead but only small part of it is still alive to become better
programmer. As the most important thing for programming is to make software
that is easy to maintain, adapt and scale.

 

Article
link :
https://tommcfarlin.com/who-cares-about-clean-code/

 

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.

Clean code and reality.

 

The
article examines the question, “is clean code by Robert Martin still matters?” From
author’s 16-year coding experience, he writes about reality in writing clean
code and its criticism. He acknowledges that t in the end meeting the deadline
with functional and bug free code is more important then elegant code following
the principle of clean code. However, he argues in the end as a developer,
trying to integrate small aspects of clean code into your code base is going to
make your skill improve as an engineer in the long run even if many people will
not care about it.

I selected this
article as it addresses some uncertainty that I had with clean code. All the
code I have written feels like I got pressure to deliver functional code as
quickly as possible and now I’m supposed to write elegant, maintainable code so
I wanted to see the real live example from experience if clean code was that necessary.
The author’s real-world experience and practical approach toward the subject made
it an interesting topic to delve into deeper.

This article showed
that clean code is not something you have to write all the thing following to
it, it is about finding the right balance between quality code following the
clean code and functional code. I feel like clean code still matters in a bit
as we want to write a code in time but needs to make it modular to be abled to be
easily refactored for later uses. Not only that, this article advice to start
small feels realistic and something I can do to grow as a programmer.  The hierarchy of what matters in the software
part will be my checklist in the future as it is the basic outline of how the
code needs to be structured. When writing code, the working code always comes first,
then make it without bug and if there is bug, you should be able to be fixed
easily then I will try to add instance of small parts of clean code in. I want
to make the code a bit modular because I spent hours trying to refactor code sometimes
and finding which part of the code went wrong took a long time because my code
was always a mess. Therefore, I feel like idea of clean code by Robert martin
is not dead but only small part of it is still alive to become better
programmer. As the most important thing for programming is to make software
that is easy to maintain, adapt and scale.

 

Article
link :
https://tommcfarlin.com/who-cares-about-clean-code/

 

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.

Clean code and reality.

 

The
article examines the question, “is clean code by Robert Martin still matters?” From
author’s 16-year coding experience, he writes about reality in writing clean
code and its criticism. He acknowledges that t in the end meeting the deadline
with functional and bug free code is more important then elegant code following
the principle of clean code. However, he argues in the end as a developer,
trying to integrate small aspects of clean code into your code base is going to
make your skill improve as an engineer in the long run even if many people will
not care about it.

I selected this
article as it addresses some uncertainty that I had with clean code. All the
code I have written feels like I got pressure to deliver functional code as
quickly as possible and now I’m supposed to write elegant, maintainable code so
I wanted to see the real live example from experience if clean code was that necessary.
The author’s real-world experience and practical approach toward the subject made
it an interesting topic to delve into deeper.

This article showed
that clean code is not something you have to write all the thing following to
it, it is about finding the right balance between quality code following the
clean code and functional code. I feel like clean code still matters in a bit
as we want to write a code in time but needs to make it modular to be abled to be
easily refactored for later uses. Not only that, this article advice to start
small feels realistic and something I can do to grow as a programmer.  The hierarchy of what matters in the software
part will be my checklist in the future as it is the basic outline of how the
code needs to be structured. When writing code, the working code always comes first,
then make it without bug and if there is bug, you should be able to be fixed
easily then I will try to add instance of small parts of clean code in. I want
to make the code a bit modular because I spent hours trying to refactor code sometimes
and finding which part of the code went wrong took a long time because my code
was always a mess. Therefore, I feel like idea of clean code by Robert martin
is not dead but only small part of it is still alive to become better
programmer. As the most important thing for programming is to make software
that is easy to maintain, adapt and scale.

 

Article
link :
https://tommcfarlin.com/who-cares-about-clean-code/

 

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.

Workflow for a Developer


This week, I came across an post titled “Improving Developer Workflow” on Vercel’s blog, and it caught my attention because I’ve been trying to figure out how developers stay productive while coding. The article dives into different ways to make workflows more efficient, focusing on tools and practices that help developers ship better code faster. Since I’m new to computer science and still figuring out how to work effectively, this post felt super relevant to my learning journey.

The post highlights key aspects of improving developer workflows. It starts by discussing the importance of having fast feedback loops, meaning developers should quickly see the results of their code changes. This post introduces tools like Vercel’s platform, which makes it easy to preview, test, and deploy changes almost instantly. Another focus is on collaboration, emphasizing how tools like GitHub help teams share work and review code seamlessly. It wraps up by stressing the value of automation, like setting up CI/CD pipelines, to reduce repetitive tasks and ensure consistent quality in the codebase.

I chose this post because workflow optimization feels like an essential skill for any developer, even beginners. Sometimes I get stuck on repetitive tasks or wait too long to test my code changes, which can be frustrating. This post seemed like a good way to learn how experienced developers streamline their processes. Also, tools like GitHub and CI/CD were mentioned in class, so I wanted to understand them better.

The main thing I learned is how fast feedback loops can save a lot of time and frustration. For example, using tools like Vercel lets developers instantly preview their changes in a live environment, so they don’t have to guess if their code works. I also learned how CI/CD pipelines automate testing and deployment, which not only saves time but also reduces the risk of errors. I realized that these tools make a developer’s life easier, but they also require some setup and understanding, which I’m excited to learn more about. Another cool takeaway was how much collaboration matters in a developer’s workflow. I’ve used GitHub for simple projects, but the blog post made me realize how powerful it can be when teams use it for pull requests, code reviews, and tracking changes.

This blog post made me want to improve my own workflow by setting up faster feedback systems, even for small projects. I also plan to explore tools like GitHub Actions to try basic automation for testing. In the future, I hope to use these techniques to work more effectively on team projects and avoid common frustrations like repetitive tasks.

Resource:

https://vercel.com/blog/improving-developer-workflow

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.

A Microservice

A General Dive

This week, I looked into the topic of something called microservice architecture. It’s a way of designing software systems that breaks them into smaller, independent services that work together. To better understand it, I read the article “MicroserviceArchitecture”, which gave me a beginner-friendly explanation of how it works, its benefits, and some challenges. Since I’m new to computer science, I thought this topic was interesting because it seems like something I might use if I ever work on big software projects.

The article explains that instead of building one big application (a monolith), microservices split the application into smaller pieces. Each piece, or “service,” can do a specific job, like managing user accounts or processing payments. These services talk to each other using APIs, and they’re independent, so you can change or fix one without messing up the others. The article also talks about the pros and cons. On the good side, microservices make apps easier to scale and maintain. But on the downside, they can get pretty complicated to set up and manage.

I picked this article because microservices came up during class discussions, and I didn’t really get it at first. I wanted to find a resource that explained the basics without assuming too much prior knowledge. This article seemed perfect for a beginner because it explains things step by step. I also chose it because I’ve always wondered how big companies like Netflix or Amazon manage their systems, and it turns out they use microservices.

The biggest thing I learned is how microservices make scaling easier. For example, if one part of an app is getting more traffic—like a checkout service for an online store—you can scale just that service without touching the rest of the app. I thought that was really cool because it makes so much sense for big companies. Another thing I learned is how microservices make it easier for teams to work on different parts of a project at the same time. On the flip side, I also realized that microservices can be tricky because you have to make sure all the services work together smoothly. This made me think about how important it is to plan ahead when designing software.

I think this knowledge will be useful later when I work on group projects. If we ever build something complex, I might suggest using microservices to keep things organized. I also want to learn more about tools like Docker, which the article mentioned, because they help manage microservices.

Resource:

microservices-architecture

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.

A Strategic Approach to Code Review

A blog that recently caught my attention was GitHub Engineer Sarah Vessels, “How to review code effectively: A GitHub staff engineer’s philosophy”. Vessels focuses on code review every single day which has brought her to create her own strategies for successful code review to ensure we are building good software. Though code review can be done in different ways I selected this blog because it directly involves code review via pull request reviews on GitHub which aligns perfectly with our classwork over the past couple of weeks learning to manage Git properly.  

One large part of Vessels job as a code reviewer is having an open discussion with the author of the code posing questions that may have not yet been considered. The phrase two sets of eyes are better than one comes to mind here as we can very frequently catch other’s coding mishaps, but we might miss our own. The writer stresses that acting as a reviewer for another teammate benefits both parties as the reviewer is constantly seeing someone else’s logic and new code, while the author of the code is gaining a new perspective – this exchange of knowledge is extremely valuable. 

This blog also provides tips and tricks of how to manage a queue of pull requests properly providing simple Slack queries to organize new requests by team or outstanding requests that require attention. Another tip from the writer is ensuring the reviewer team stays small – this benefits the development team overall as there is clear accountability for who is to review the changes. Vessels also commented on the benefit of specifying code review requirements/frameworks to ensure a seamless, consistent review process amongst teams.  

The writer also provides samples of good code review feedback and poor code review feedback to highlight the main differences between them. Good feedback should include specific details, references to specific issues/lines, provides a possible solution, and provides reasoning. This blog post also offers vital information related to how to give a good code review. Some of the tips seem like common sense like offering affirmations and asking questions, but an important tip Vessels shares is to be aware of biases and assumptions. The writer highlights that even the most-senior programmers can make mistakes so only you (as the reviewer) have the opportunity to validate the work and catch any issues before deployment.  

GitHub Engineer Sarah Vessels shares her invaluable experience with code review through this blog post which discusses fine-tuning the review process, good vs bad reviews, how to give good reviews, and how to get the most out of a review. As a student, it is often my own code that I must turn back to and review to enhance, but after this reading I am feeling encouraged to seek opportunities to study others code with a focus on the exchange of knowledge and getting experience on my own for how to review code for a development team in the future. 

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

Implementing Design Patterns in Java

This week I found a great blog titled, “Mastering Design Patterns in Java”, that delves deep into design patterns specifically in Java. This piece of work aligns with our course topics and focuses on a programming language that many of us are most comfortable with. The writer, Dharshi Balasubramaniyam, discusses six notable design patterns in software engineering: 

  1. Singleton 
  1. Factory 
  1. Builder 
  1. Adaptor 
  1. Decorator 
  1. Observer 

The focus of the discussion is how to implement these patterns using detailed examples and how they can be used to deal with common coding scenarios like creating objects, managing inter-class relationships, and optimizing object behavior. 

Our work in our course has focused on some of the design patterns that are discussed in this blog, but the rich examples provided here are incredibly valuable when trying to gain a complete understanding of the patterns and learning when to use them. A great example of this is the mention of the Singleton pattern – I am already familiar with this one, but the example being used made the concept easy to remember and understand. The example references the simple idea of the clipboard. If we had more than one instance of the clipboard being accessed by the user of a device, it would be very likely to have conflicting data saved – to avoid this issue we can apply the Singleton pattern to ensure that there is only ever going to be one clipboard instance at any given time. The writer provides the code which enables this example and shows the value of using this design pattern. 

One new pattern I learned about was the Builder pattern which focuses on simplifying object construction with required and optional properties. The pattern works to manage the parameters by using a constructor with the required properties and different setter methods with optional properties by using an object class and an objectBuilder class. This pattern provides flexibility for the object being created – the given example creates a user with required properties of name and email and optional properties of phone and city. In the case of the example, we can note that the properties will have their own functions for setter methods which return an objectBuilder object – if the function does not get called to set a new value all optional parameters will contain the string “unknown”. This technique makes the code easy to understand and ensures we are not getting errors due to missing parameters as they will always contain some string.  

Using this blog to practice and learn from new examples is extremely helpful and will contribute to the enhancement of my skills as I continue to learn and get more comfortable with writing good, clean code the first time. By implementing the examples shown in the article, I can start noticing opportunities to apply these design patterns in my own work avoiding hours of refactoring code later.  

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

Software Licenses

Hello WSU blog! In this post I am going to talk about what I learnt in class in regards to software licenses. We watched an informative video on it in class, and then we worked in groups to practice with the information from the video. I actually learnt a lot of simple things about copyright that I never noticed until this class. One thing I learnt was that there is actually an automatic copyright for things that you don’t license. This means that if you want someone to be able to legally use your code, you HAVE to license it, and pick the permissions that they have to use your code. When you license your code, you do not in fact give up your copyright. The copyright will always belong to you, however licensing it lets other people use your code in certain ways.

In this activity we also compared two different licenses. We compared the MIT License, and the GNU General Public License. The MIT License is simple and permissive, meaning that it allows the users of the code to do more things with it. On the other hand, the GNU General Public License has a few more conditions, such as disclose source, same license, and state changes. An extra permission for the GNU license is Patent use. We also briefly looked into non-software licenses as well.

The blog post I researched for this week’s blog is linked here: What is a Software Copyright?

I chose this blog to research because it was pretty simple and easy to understand, while also being very informative. This article mentioned HOW exactly your software is protected due to copyright licenses. It talked about points we covered in class, such as the automatic copyright, which is put into play as soon as the software “is created and saved in some way.” The way the software is written is protected by copyright law, and the owners of the software can give other people access/permission to use their code with the use of licenses. The article also concluded by emphasizing the importance of software licensing and how essential it is for people who want to create or use shared software.

Overall, I think that learning about this stuff while we are still in college is important, and I am glad my professor took the time to include this in the content of this course. Copyright and Licensing is important, and it prepares us a little bit more for the future and real-world applications.

From the blog cs@worcester – Akshay's Blog by Akshay Ganesh and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.