Category Archives: Week-2

The White Belt

I have a very strong idea that there is always something new to learn or that there is always something to learn. This is how I can keep myself busy for hours at a time. I haven’t hit a point in my life in which my abilities of self-improvement has fallen short because I’m unable to acquire new skills because once again even If I know everything about a certain subject will always try to perfect what I know or dive into something else that hasn’t been explored yet. Like when I was 17, I played this videogame for almost 4,000 hours. I had been playing it since I was 10 and some people considered me good at the games because I put in the time to learn everything about. But while playing with people who also did the same, I realized that my game was flawed, and I still needed to work on some stuff. This is what I mean, being ‘good’ at programming isn’t good enough.

In this pattern, the author puts the reader in the context of them being quite good at the job. You are the go-to for any solution or situation that happens, and you are so good that you find it difficult to improve any more than what you already know.

What I find interesting about this pattern is that the author explains the problem as not being a problem. As I described in my first paragraph, it’s hard to know everything about a certain subject, because there is always something to learn. The author goes on to explain that having the mindset of not knowing enough should be the objective. Being ignorant about knowing everything, especially at such an early stage in your life, is only going to halt your abilities to improve more and to adapt. I’m not at this point in my programming journey yet, but I know that at some point I’ll get there, and so I feel that once I feel like I’m at this point of my career, it is best to come back to this pattern as a reminder of what I should do next in my journey.

Sources:

Hoover, Dave H., and Adewale Oshineye. Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman. O’Reilly, 2010.

From the blog CS@Worcester – FindKelvin by Kelvin Nina and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

week-2 from the book

 Hello, a blog for the second week; it seems nice and claims a little bit. I’m starting to read chapter 2 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Record What You Learn.” It is nice to look back at the progress from the start and end with some struggles for learning something every day to help keep track of things that progress to improve at working efficiently. There is another pattern I would like to disagree with my opinions is “Reflect as You Work”; because it made me have doubts like “why didn’t I do this earlier or how couldn’t I think of it.” regardless, it is nice to see what you have to learn, and done for this to work.

Has the practice caused you to change how you think about your intended profession or how you think you will work?

For developers of these practices, it helps for using the patterns from this book can have several benefits. One of the benefits was to advance their understanding and proficiency in software engineering, and lifelong learning helps keep up to date on software engineering trends and technologies. It was even helping to gain more self-assurance in their skills by offering developers a collection of best practices and productivity-boosting strategies.

Those who want to become experts in software development can prepare to devote themselves to continuous learning and practice because the industry is challenged and undergoing rapid change. In this process, focused practice and reflection are both essential steps. Reflection entails taking time to pause and think about one’s knowledge and practice, evaluating what one already knows and what one may do to improve on a crucial stage in acquiring mastery since it enables the person to assess their abilities and pinpoint areas for development.

Purposeful practice and reflection lay the groundwork for domination in software development since they both emphasize enhancing knowledge and skills over time. On the other hand, deliberate practice is setting aside time to practice and hone abilities, gradually increasing over time. To attain mastery, one must engage in this kind of exercise since it makes the person pay attention to their areas of weakness and invest the time to strengthen them.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

week-2 from the book

 Hello, a blog for the second week; it seems nice and claims a little bit. I’m starting to read chapter 2 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Record What You Learn.” It is nice to look back at the progress from the start and end with some struggles for learning something every day to help keep track of things that progress to improve at working efficiently. There is another pattern I would like to disagree with my opinions is “Reflect as You Work”; because it made me have doubts like “why didn’t I do this earlier or how couldn’t I think of it.” regardless, it is nice to see what you have to learn, and done for this to work.

Has the practice caused you to change how you think about your intended profession or how you think you will work?

For developers of these practices, it helps for using the patterns from this book can have several benefits. One of the benefits was to advance their understanding and proficiency in software engineering, and lifelong learning helps keep up to date on software engineering trends and technologies. It was even helping to gain more self-assurance in their skills by offering developers a collection of best practices and productivity-boosting strategies.

Those who want to become experts in software development can prepare to devote themselves to continuous learning and practice because the industry is challenged and undergoing rapid change. In this process, focused practice and reflection are both essential steps. Reflection entails taking time to pause and think about one’s knowledge and practice, evaluating what one already knows and what one may do to improve on a crucial stage in acquiring mastery since it enables the person to assess their abilities and pinpoint areas for development.

Purposeful practice and reflection lay the groundwork for domination in software development since they both emphasize enhancing knowledge and skills over time. On the other hand, deliberate practice is setting aside time to practice and hone abilities, gradually increasing over time. To attain mastery, one must engage in this kind of exercise since it makes the person pay attention to their areas of weakness and invest the time to strengthen them.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

week-2 from the book

 Hello, a blog for the second week; it seems nice and claims a little bit. I’m starting to read chapter 2 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Record What You Learn.” It is nice to look back at the progress from the start and end with some struggles for learning something every day to help keep track of things that progress to improve at working efficiently. There is another pattern I would like to disagree with my opinions is “Reflect as You Work”; because it made me have doubts like “why didn’t I do this earlier or how couldn’t I think of it.” regardless, it is nice to see what you have to learn, and done for this to work.

Has the practice caused you to change how you think about your intended profession or how you think you will work?

For developers of these practices, it helps for using the patterns from this book can have several benefits. One of the benefits was to advance their understanding and proficiency in software engineering, and lifelong learning helps keep up to date on software engineering trends and technologies. It was even helping to gain more self-assurance in their skills by offering developers a collection of best practices and productivity-boosting strategies.

Those who want to become experts in software development can prepare to devote themselves to continuous learning and practice because the industry is challenged and undergoing rapid change. In this process, focused practice and reflection are both essential steps. Reflection entails taking time to pause and think about one’s knowledge and practice, evaluating what one already knows and what one may do to improve on a crucial stage in acquiring mastery since it enables the person to assess their abilities and pinpoint areas for development.

Purposeful practice and reflection lay the groundwork for domination in software development since they both emphasize enhancing knowledge and skills over time. On the other hand, deliberate practice is setting aside time to practice and hone abilities, gradually increasing over time. To attain mastery, one must engage in this kind of exercise since it makes the person pay attention to their areas of weakness and invest the time to strengthen them.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

week-2 from the book

 Hello, a blog for the second week; it seems nice and claims a little bit. I’m starting to read chapter 2 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Record What You Learn.” It is nice to look back at the progress from the start and end with some struggles for learning something every day to help keep track of things that progress to improve at working efficiently. There is another pattern I would like to disagree with my opinions is “Reflect as You Work”; because it made me have doubts like “why didn’t I do this earlier or how couldn’t I think of it.” regardless, it is nice to see what you have to learn, and done for this to work.

Has the practice caused you to change how you think about your intended profession or how you think you will work?

For developers of these practices, it helps for using the patterns from this book can have several benefits. One of the benefits was to advance their understanding and proficiency in software engineering, and lifelong learning helps keep up to date on software engineering trends and technologies. It was even helping to gain more self-assurance in their skills by offering developers a collection of best practices and productivity-boosting strategies.

Those who want to become experts in software development can prepare to devote themselves to continuous learning and practice because the industry is challenged and undergoing rapid change. In this process, focused practice and reflection are both essential steps. Reflection entails taking time to pause and think about one’s knowledge and practice, evaluating what one already knows and what one may do to improve on a crucial stage in acquiring mastery since it enables the person to assess their abilities and pinpoint areas for development.

Purposeful practice and reflection lay the groundwork for domination in software development since they both emphasize enhancing knowledge and skills over time. On the other hand, deliberate practice is setting aside time to practice and hone abilities, gradually increasing over time. To attain mastery, one must engage in this kind of exercise since it makes the person pay attention to their areas of weakness and invest the time to strengthen them.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

week-2 from the book

 Hello, a blog for the second week; it seems nice and claims a little bit. I’m starting to read chapter 2 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Record What You Learn.” It is nice to look back at the progress from the start and end with some struggles for learning something every day to help keep track of things that progress to improve at working efficiently. There is another pattern I would like to disagree with my opinions is “Reflect as You Work”; because it made me have doubts like “why didn’t I do this earlier or how couldn’t I think of it.” regardless, it is nice to see what you have to learn, and done for this to work.

Has the practice caused you to change how you think about your intended profession or how you think you will work?

For developers of these practices, it helps for using the patterns from this book can have several benefits. One of the benefits was to advance their understanding and proficiency in software engineering, and lifelong learning helps keep up to date on software engineering trends and technologies. It was even helping to gain more self-assurance in their skills by offering developers a collection of best practices and productivity-boosting strategies.

Those who want to become experts in software development can prepare to devote themselves to continuous learning and practice because the industry is challenged and undergoing rapid change. In this process, focused practice and reflection are both essential steps. Reflection entails taking time to pause and think about one’s knowledge and practice, evaluating what one already knows and what one may do to improve on a crucial stage in acquiring mastery since it enables the person to assess their abilities and pinpoint areas for development.

Purposeful practice and reflection lay the groundwork for domination in software development since they both emphasize enhancing knowledge and skills over time. On the other hand, deliberate practice is setting aside time to practice and hone abilities, gradually increasing over time. To attain mastery, one must engage in this kind of exercise since it makes the person pay attention to their areas of weakness and invest the time to strengthen them.

From the blog Andrew Lam’s little blog by Andrew Lam and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Week 2 – Your First Language

In the chapter Emptying the Cup, I chose to write about the apprentice pattern Your First Language. This pattern discusses picking your first language and what practices to develop to enhance your understanding of it. This pattern stood out to me this week because I relate to the fact that I only really know one language, Java. I have dabbled in other languages like Python and Vue for other classes, but a majority of my college education was in Java. I have had worries looking at job applications where the employer requests that the individual that applies has knowledge of different languages such as C++. The section explains however that if an application calls for experience in a different language, then to create something in that language and learn, and build something that you can show off to employers.

The article explains that different languages have tools that can help individuals learn that specific language, such as Ruby having an interactive command-line tool irb. The pattern ensures that there are tools and help available for individuals in case they need a little extra push in learning a new language.

Another important point that the pattern points out is to ask an experienced individual in your life for help when struggling with a new language, but not to become completely dependent on that individual. Working through struggles on your own will ensure that you learn more throughout to process. I have had experiences like that through my education, where I have been stuck on an issue and I needed to lean on my professor to help out. Instead of just giving me the answer however, the professor would ask questions that would help guide me towards the solution. This is an effective mentorship trait.

This pattern really helped comfort me with the worries I had regarding job searching when I graduate. I want to be able to perform at my new job and become a helpful member of the team, and the worries of not being proficient in a certain language holding me back was hindering my confidence to achieve that. But the article reassured me that if a job asks for proficiency in a certain language, it’s just an excuse to mess around and learn in a new environment and adapt.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Noelan Chabot's Blog by nchabot1 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Retreat Into Competence

Greetings!

This week, I wanted to kick off with the pattern “Retreat Into Competence” from “Apprenticeship Patterns” by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye. 

Retreat Into Competence relates to scenarios when you realize how little you know or you’re facing a challenge that’s making you reflect back on your knowledge, and you feel overwhelmed. The solution to this is to give yourself a moment–or a little longer, and step back from the challenge you’re facing. Then, take some time to work on something you’re familiar with or know that you’re capable of doing. 

The pattern touches upon how you may feel the thrill of learning new technology along the way of your journey, and the satisfaction of delivering things to customers. And then, you meet more experienced people along the way who make you feel that you really know nothing, and you can also feel this way when there are fast-approaching deadlines and product issues. And sometimes, to deal with this, you need to go backwards to move forward again.

The book warns to not retreat too far back into what you’re comfortable with if you’re afraid of failure, because what you’re comfortable with may no longer be used in the future and the extent of what you know is very limited and you may need to face the consequences of that. Therefore, the book says to use this pattern only as a little pick-me-up, and not to use it for too long because it can be a double edged sword. For action, it’s suggested to pick up something you are well acquainted with and work with it once again. 

I find it interesting that I have utilized this pattern with my internship. When given a new task to code for something in a report, I often change the report template and form corresponding to that report. My biggest challenges come from changing the code in the report, so I sometimes find myself taking a break from that and moving to the template or changing the report form–tasks I find more simple that I have a better grasp on. I agree with the book that it is a short-term fix and should eventually move forward. I’ve recently realized how much I’ve learned from my internship when I took a step back to work on the form and template. It had been something that I had no idea how to handle not too long ago, and now it’s something I’m most comfortable changing. And that’s what made me feel so accomplished and happier to move onto the report code, knowing that I’ll eventually be able to consider the report code something not too difficult to handle. There wasn’t anything I disagreed with.

From the blog CS@Worcester – CS With Sarah by Sarah T and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Code, Test, Refactor!

In my last post discussing testing and QA development, I went into depth about a project I was working on last year. I was developing an app that was supposed to track one’s financial history. It was the first project I had ever worked on that gave me free liberty to do whatever I wanted. I explained that it took a lot of my time and I ran into a lot of issues regarding the organization of the code, for the most part, I was most concerned about making something that worked rather than making something that worked effectively. Recently, I read a blog from Thesoftarch discussing how to write object-orientated code effectively.

The blog “Simple & Effective Way to Write Object Oriented Code” basically explains that most developers, like me, will only look to write code to reach functional requirements and not advocate for the technical quality of the code. The blog post explains that writing code to be functional can be acceptable during initial releases but can slowly turn complex if not managed correctly. So, it is important to maintain quality so that in the long term we can avoid struggling with maintaining the application. Different ways of writing effective, approachable code include making it simple to read, easy to test/verify, and having a low cost of change. The blogger goes by explaining the three basic steps of writing effective and well-designed code.

First, they go on to say that writing is easy but writing effective code is not easy, especially when you don’t have an approach. There are many design principles that developers go through in order to design good code. This includes SOLID, DRY, Design to Interface, and many more.

The second step is Unit Testing, as explained in my last blog post, it’s important to ensure that the code written works as intended. it’s best to write unit tests every time a method or class is created instead of writing the unit tests all at once.

The third and final step is to refactor. Refactoring is an activity to improve the quality of code without affecting its behavior. Making this a habit will help “maintain the code in the long run without adding much effort or risk.” As the blogger puts it, the coder should be able to identify “smells” in the code, refactor code to remove the smell and fix unit tests. Smells are certain structures that indicate violations of fundamental principles and negatively impact quality.

While reading this blog I’ve been able to keep note of what I need to do and look out for when it comes to developing a program. If I had read these steps last year, I think I would have had a better time developing my phone application. Reading this over I realized that there is a lot that goes into the development process and simply writing the code isn’t enough. It’s like baking a cake, everyone can follow the instructions to bake one but if key details are left out then it might not taste good, software development is the same way. It’s important that the code is designed in a way so that it can last. In my next project, I want to focus on refactoring for the most part. Code quality is very important and being able to make quality code will save me time and prevent any struggle.

Link to “Simple & Effective Way to Write Object Oriented Code”:

Simple & Effective Way to Write Object Oriented Code

From the blog CS@Worcester – FindKelvin by Kelvin Nina and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Third time’s the charm… (or not?)

My previous two attempts at getting my blog aggregated to the CS@Worcester blog have failed for one reason or another! (I assume). I must, however attempt posting once more and hope that through divine intervention, the aggregator decides to pick it up this time.

This situation reminds me of a quote by the famous pirate war-lord Vaas Montenegro: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.