Sprint 3: 04/08/2020 – 05/04/2020

Sprint 3 preparation started on 04-08-2020. Since Sprint 3 was the final Sprint we were planning to get work done as much as possible. We proposed too many issues that were all appropriate, but we wouldn’t be able to finish them all on time, so we all agreed to keep the most important ones. Our top goal for this Sprint was to have the UpdateGuest service work as a whole.

These are the issues we came up within our Sprint 3 planning (we had more in our backlog):

• Create MongoDB database for UpdateGuestService
• Implement WebUI in Angular App
• Decided which type of Angular form to use for Web UI
• Learn about Angular Testing
• Create endpoints in backend
• Learn how to create tests for backend endpoints
• Learn Docker
• UpdateGuestWebUI: Create Docker Configuration
• UpdateGuestService: Create Docker Configuration
• Implement requested endpoints from registrar team
• Decide what needs to be tested in the frontend
• Implement endpoints in Frontend
• Implement Angular form in WebUI.

 During Sprint 3 I worked in multiple issues and supported the team with issues discussions and merge requests’ review:

1 – This issue was part of Sprint 2, but we had some minor changes that needed to be done before we merged the merge request.

2 – We had to decide which Angular Form we were going to use, and as a team, we decided to use Reactive Forms.

3 – This is issue was more about learning. The first thing learned was that the latest version of Docker cannot be installed in a Windows Home edition unless you are using it as an enterprise. Docker in Action was a great resource to learn Docker.

4 – I have reviewed, approved, and merged the merge request for this issue.

5 – I created the Docker configuration of the UpdateGuestWebUI using the NGINX proxy server, which by default will run at PORT 8080, using the Docker container IP.

6 – We had a couple of merge requests for this issue. I have reviewed the merge requests of my teammates and implemented the Age&Employment component.

What we needed to do less

We should not focus only on the issues we get ourselves assigned to. Reviewing each other’s work is very important.

What worked for us as a team:

• Reviewing each other’s work helped a lot with our progress because of the feedback we gave and received.
• Helping each other through Gitlab Discussions and during our class meetings.
• Checking GitLab constantly as we decided on our working policy helped us be on the same page.

What we need to improve 

There is always something that needs to be improved, especially when the team is determined to constantly make progress and succeed. In our case, we should improve the way we manage our time. 

Conclusion

I think we finished Sprint 3 successfully. We managed to work together even better than Sprint 1 & 2. The reason for that is because we were able to communicate, discuss, share, and collaborate with each other the whole time. In the end, we all feel satisfied and accomplished with the progress our team had.  

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

Many times the plan that people have laid out for their lives are almost never the same as what actually happens. In this pattern, A Different Road, the author discusses that sometimes it is okay to step away from The Long Road that you were taking to becoming a software developer. This simply means that its okay to step way from this, whether it be permanent or temporary, you should always carry the skills that you learned with you into whatever it is you do next. Then expanding from that, if you do return, you should keep those unique experiences and bring them back into your next job.

This pattern speaks to me personally because I have had many different jobs ranging from warehouses, Dunkin Donuts, meat shops, landscaping etc. The point being is that I have had the privilege to be able to experience this firsthand. Many of these jobs were basic minimum wage jobs that left me desiring for more, and to be able to actually use my brain. However, these jobs all were able to give me something back that I have been able to carry with me throughout my life. For example, most of these jobs gave me the motivation to constantly be trying to reach a better place in life and work. I know how it feels to be sitting in a job and feel like my brain is melting from boredom. Going through these times grants me the motivation to not have to return to them.

The pattern also discusses that often times with a desired job in the software field, HR will see the other jobs as simply lack of experience. However, through the many jobs that I have had it is very obvious to me that this does not constitute for lack of experience because all jobs tie together in different ways. Because I simply was not doing software strictly at the time, does not mean I am not capable of a software job. This is where it all ties back to the pattern. If you are able to take away good, beneficial lessons from where ever you are, you simply have to be able to prove these “skills” to whoever is doubting you.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Journey Through Technology by krothermich and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

The final Apprenticeship pattern I would like to discuss is titled “Draw Your Own Map.” This pattern is written for developers who feel that none of the career paths their employer provides is a good fit for them. It reminds us that it is up to ourselves, not our employers or anyone else, to determine what the next step in our careers should be. The pattern recommends that we develop possible career maps made up of small, specific steps we want to achieve. If our maps conflict with our employers’ expectations, we should simply seek out other opportunities that better fit. These maps are never set and can be altered as our circumstances change, but they will always help guide us towards the career we want.

As I’ve gotten closer to finishing college, I’ve become increasingly worried about my future. I don’t have any definite goals or plans for my career, and I don’t know how to create these plans or put them into action. I chose to read this pattern because it seemed like it might help me figure out a plan for myself. After reading the pattern, I at least think it provides some useful advice. I like that the pattern emphasizes the importance of achievable steps and advises against high-level goals. This makes me think differently about my lack of long-term goals, as I now understand that it is easier to succeed by planning short-term steps. Additionally, the pattern helped me realize the importance of following my own plan instead of one set by my employer. I have had miserable jobs in the past which I felt trapped in due to a sense of obligation towards my employer, but reading the pattern pattern assured me that I do not have this obligation.

One problem I had with this pattern, which also applies to the other patterns I read, is that it assumes the reader is already employed as a developer. For this reason, the pattern doesn’t quite provide the help with actually creating goals that I was hoping for. Despite this, I think the pattern gives a crucial piece of advice in the second paragraph, where it emphasizes the importance of taking a first step. Even without a clear plan, taking a step is crucial for building momentum that can lead to success. Despite not having clear goals for my future, I already know I want to work on regaining my passion for programming in the short-term. After finishing college, I should focus on pushing myself to take this step. Hopefully, I will develop the motivation to keep programming and eventually be able to draw a map for myself to follow.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Computer Science with Kyle Q by kylequad and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I can not overstate how much a generous spirit contributes to good luck. Look at the luckiest people around you, the ones you envy, the ones who seem to have destiny falling habitually into their laps. What are they doing that singles them out? It isn’t dumb luck if it happens repeatedly. If they’re anything like the fortunate people I know, they’re prepared, they’re always working at their craft, they’re alert, they involve their friends in their work, and they tend to make others feel lucky to be around them.

—Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit

Sharing What You Learn pattern shows how important it is for an apprentice to share their knowledge so that the superiors know how far they have gone, and other apprentices can learn from them. An apprentice is a person who is constantly learning. The best part of being an apprentice is when you start knowing a lot of things, and people come to see you as a source of information. That is the moment when you start feeling somehow accomplished. Before an apprentice gets there, he/she must focus on improving his/her knowledge and learning to communicate effectively with the team. No one has ever said that the journey is going to be easy. On the contrary, it is very challenging at first.

What I found interesting in this pattern is that an apprentice is for sure not a master, but it’s very common that between a couple of apprentices working together, one of them could know a little bit more than the others. Just because an apprentice doesn’t know very much, doesn’t mean that they cannot share what they have learned. Precisely for that, their explanation could be very clear and concise. The best part of the apprenticeship is to learn and to share with another apprentice what you have learned so far. However, there is always a bad side, which is not appreciating what people share. It is important to note that there is an ethical aspect to education and that such experiences are not to be discussed. We need to think before we share something because it could be a secret, or it could hurt others. We should not exchange any lessons if any of our team members get harmed. Furthermore, it is not good if someone finds out that you are not modest enough in the way you share the information. As a conclusion, sharing what you learn is very important not only for people who are listening but for the person who is sharing as well.

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

• Summary of the pattern.

The pattern is about how you need to have concentrate skills that can actually contribute to a team. In addition to general knowledge and willingness to learn. It says how a lot of teams want someone who can help in some way at the beginning and don’t need to be taught everything before they can help the team at all.

• Your reaction to the pattern.
• What did you find interesting
• What did you find useful
• What did you find thought-provoking about the pattern
• Has the pattern caused you to change the way you think about your intended profession, or how you think you will work? 
• Do you disagree with something in the patterns And why?
• The tag for the in which the post was made, E.g. Week-1. (See the Schedule at the end of this syllabus for numbers.)
• 350-450 words.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Tim's WebSite by therbsty and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

In my last week of working on my CS-343 final project, I was focused on implementing the remaining features that I had planned to add in my original wireframe. This included creating a working puzzle game that the player could customize and developing my layout further to make it more appealing. While I was able to create a puzzle game and clean up my layout a little, I was unable to get everything to work the way I intended before I presented the project on Friday. My final version of my project, and the one that I presented, looks like this:

As you can see, I was able to create a simple grid-based puzzle game, which was my plan from the beginning. While working on my layout and data service over the past week, I finally came up with an idea for a basic game I would be able to implement in time for the presentation. I decided to use a puzzle I have seen before, in which the player interacts with tiles on a grid to change their color as well as the color of all adjacent tiles. The goal of the puzzle is to make all tiles the same color within the time limit. I was able to create a new Angular component to represent my tiles that alternate between gray and white when clicked. However, my attempts to make them change the colors of adjacent tiles let to many issues. I had the puzzle working in this way temporarily, but it would stop behaving correctly after the player reset the puzzle for the first time. I think this had something to do with how I was recreating my array of tiles in TypeScript and how that interacted with the HTML files. Clearly, I am still not an expert in TypeScript or HTML, even after a month of working on this project. Since I couldn’t get the puzzle to work the way I wanted, I ended up settling for a game where only the tile that was clicked would change colors. This makes the puzzle extremely easy, but at least it works consistently.

Aside from my troubles with the game mechanics, the rest of the development went pretty well. I was able to change the behavior of my width and height forms to alter the dimensions of the puzzle in tiles instead of the dimensions of a rectangle in pixels. I was also able to implement a timer that could have its time limit customized as well. If this timer runs out, a message displays saying that the game is lost. If all tiles are made white within the time limit, a victory message displays and the timer stops. You can see the application in action in the following screenshots:

Overall, I found this project to be an enjoyable experience that taught me a lot about creating web applications using the Angular framework. It not only taught me how to work with TypeScript, HTML, and CSS, but it also helped me figure out how to create GUI layouts in HTML using <mat-grid-list> and how to pass data between components using a data service. While my difficulties getting the game to work correctly prevented me from implementing everything I wanted to, such as a more appealing GUI or a back-end server to save player scores, I think the experience will definitely help me write better single-page applications in the future.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Computer Science with Kyle Q by kylequad and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.