Category Archives: Week 3

WEEK-3

Hello, a blog for the third week; it seems cluttered because I am almost done with school since this is the end of February. Anyway, I’m starting to read chapter 3 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Sustainable Motivations.” It has a set of motivations that can withstand the inevitable challenges and difficulties in pursuing a particular craft or profession. In the context of software development refers to a group of internal and external factors that keep software developers motivated and engaged in their work over the long term.

Sustainable motivations can vary from person to person. Still, some common examples include a passion for programming, a desire for mastery, a sense of purpose, financial stability, social recognition, and a positive work-life balance.

Even characteristics of sustainable motivations are resilient, flexible, and adaptive, allowing developers to overcome obstacles, stay committed to their craft, and continue to grow and develop their skills.

Creating motivations is crucial in software development (challenging and complex), requiring high technical adaptability. By cultivating sustainable bases, developers can avoid burnout, stay focused on their goals, and build fulfilling careers that bring personal and professional satisfaction.

However, I would like to disagree with some parts of the pattern as having different motivations for their work, such as personal fulfillment, without necessarily aspiring for mastery or long-term growth. Because the way is overly simplistic or idealistic, it assumes that motivations are static and can be easily categorized and controlled. However, the truth is motivations can be complex, dynamic, and influenced by various internal and external factors that are often beyond our control.

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

Sustainable Motivations can be a valuable framework for individuals who want to maintain their motivation and passion for their work over the long term. It emphasizes the importance of having a strong personal connection to my work and aligning my motivations with values and goals, which can help me overcome challenges and stay focused on long-term objectives. By adopting this mindset, individuals may be more likely to approach their work with a sense of purpose and commitment, leading to greater satisfaction and fulfillment in their careers.

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-3

Hello, a blog for the third week; it seems cluttered because I am almost done with school since this is the end of February. Anyway, I’m starting to read chapter 3 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Sustainable Motivations.” It has a set of motivations that can withstand the inevitable challenges and difficulties in pursuing a particular craft or profession. In the context of software development refers to a group of internal and external factors that keep software developers motivated and engaged in their work over the long term.

Sustainable motivations can vary from person to person. Still, some common examples include a passion for programming, a desire for mastery, a sense of purpose, financial stability, social recognition, and a positive work-life balance.

Even characteristics of sustainable motivations are resilient, flexible, and adaptive, allowing developers to overcome obstacles, stay committed to their craft, and continue to grow and develop their skills.

Creating motivations is crucial in software development (challenging and complex), requiring high technical adaptability. By cultivating sustainable bases, developers can avoid burnout, stay focused on their goals, and build fulfilling careers that bring personal and professional satisfaction.

However, I would like to disagree with some parts of the pattern as having different motivations for their work, such as personal fulfillment, without necessarily aspiring for mastery or long-term growth. Because the way is overly simplistic or idealistic, it assumes that motivations are static and can be easily categorized and controlled. However, the truth is motivations can be complex, dynamic, and influenced by various internal and external factors that are often beyond our control.

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

Sustainable Motivations can be a valuable framework for individuals who want to maintain their motivation and passion for their work over the long term. It emphasizes the importance of having a strong personal connection to my work and aligning my motivations with values and goals, which can help me overcome challenges and stay focused on long-term objectives. By adopting this mindset, individuals may be more likely to approach their work with a sense of purpose and commitment, leading to greater satisfaction and fulfillment in their careers.

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-3

Hello, a blog for the third week; it seems cluttered because I am almost done with school since this is the end of February. Anyway, I’m starting to read chapter 3 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Sustainable Motivations.” It has a set of motivations that can withstand the inevitable challenges and difficulties in pursuing a particular craft or profession. In the context of software development refers to a group of internal and external factors that keep software developers motivated and engaged in their work over the long term.

Sustainable motivations can vary from person to person. Still, some common examples include a passion for programming, a desire for mastery, a sense of purpose, financial stability, social recognition, and a positive work-life balance.

Even characteristics of sustainable motivations are resilient, flexible, and adaptive, allowing developers to overcome obstacles, stay committed to their craft, and continue to grow and develop their skills.

Creating motivations is crucial in software development (challenging and complex), requiring high technical adaptability. By cultivating sustainable bases, developers can avoid burnout, stay focused on their goals, and build fulfilling careers that bring personal and professional satisfaction.

However, I would like to disagree with some parts of the pattern as having different motivations for their work, such as personal fulfillment, without necessarily aspiring for mastery or long-term growth. Because the way is overly simplistic or idealistic, it assumes that motivations are static and can be easily categorized and controlled. However, the truth is motivations can be complex, dynamic, and influenced by various internal and external factors that are often beyond our control.

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

Sustainable Motivations can be a valuable framework for individuals who want to maintain their motivation and passion for their work over the long term. It emphasizes the importance of having a strong personal connection to my work and aligning my motivations with values and goals, which can help me overcome challenges and stay focused on long-term objectives. By adopting this mindset, individuals may be more likely to approach their work with a sense of purpose and commitment, leading to greater satisfaction and fulfillment in their careers.

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-3

Hello, a blog for the third week; it seems cluttered because I am almost done with school since this is the end of February. Anyway, I’m starting to read chapter 3 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Sustainable Motivations.” It has a set of motivations that can withstand the inevitable challenges and difficulties in pursuing a particular craft or profession. In the context of software development refers to a group of internal and external factors that keep software developers motivated and engaged in their work over the long term.

Sustainable motivations can vary from person to person. Still, some common examples include a passion for programming, a desire for mastery, a sense of purpose, financial stability, social recognition, and a positive work-life balance.

Even characteristics of sustainable motivations are resilient, flexible, and adaptive, allowing developers to overcome obstacles, stay committed to their craft, and continue to grow and develop their skills.

Creating motivations is crucial in software development (challenging and complex), requiring high technical adaptability. By cultivating sustainable bases, developers can avoid burnout, stay focused on their goals, and build fulfilling careers that bring personal and professional satisfaction.

However, I would like to disagree with some parts of the pattern as having different motivations for their work, such as personal fulfillment, without necessarily aspiring for mastery or long-term growth. Because the way is overly simplistic or idealistic, it assumes that motivations are static and can be easily categorized and controlled. However, the truth is motivations can be complex, dynamic, and influenced by various internal and external factors that are often beyond our control.

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

Sustainable Motivations can be a valuable framework for individuals who want to maintain their motivation and passion for their work over the long term. It emphasizes the importance of having a strong personal connection to my work and aligning my motivations with values and goals, which can help me overcome challenges and stay focused on long-term objectives. By adopting this mindset, individuals may be more likely to approach their work with a sense of purpose and commitment, leading to greater satisfaction and fulfillment in their careers.

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-3

Hello, a blog for the third week; it seems cluttered because I am almost done with school since this is the end of February. Anyway, I’m starting to read chapter 3 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Sustainable Motivations.” It has a set of motivations that can withstand the inevitable challenges and difficulties in pursuing a particular craft or profession. In the context of software development refers to a group of internal and external factors that keep software developers motivated and engaged in their work over the long term.

Sustainable motivations can vary from person to person. Still, some common examples include a passion for programming, a desire for mastery, a sense of purpose, financial stability, social recognition, and a positive work-life balance.

Even characteristics of sustainable motivations are resilient, flexible, and adaptive, allowing developers to overcome obstacles, stay committed to their craft, and continue to grow and develop their skills.

Creating motivations is crucial in software development (challenging and complex), requiring high technical adaptability. By cultivating sustainable bases, developers can avoid burnout, stay focused on their goals, and build fulfilling careers that bring personal and professional satisfaction.

However, I would like to disagree with some parts of the pattern as having different motivations for their work, such as personal fulfillment, without necessarily aspiring for mastery or long-term growth. Because the way is overly simplistic or idealistic, it assumes that motivations are static and can be easily categorized and controlled. However, the truth is motivations can be complex, dynamic, and influenced by various internal and external factors that are often beyond our control.

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

Sustainable Motivations can be a valuable framework for individuals who want to maintain their motivation and passion for their work over the long term. It emphasizes the importance of having a strong personal connection to my work and aligning my motivations with values and goals, which can help me overcome challenges and stay focused on long-term objectives. By adopting this mindset, individuals may be more likely to approach their work with a sense of purpose and commitment, leading to greater satisfaction and fulfillment in their careers.

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-3

Hello, a blog for the third week; it seems cluttered because I am almost done with school since this is the end of February. Anyway, I’m starting to read chapter 3 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Sustainable Motivations.” It has a set of motivations that can withstand the inevitable challenges and difficulties in pursuing a particular craft or profession. In the context of software development refers to a group of internal and external factors that keep software developers motivated and engaged in their work over the long term.

Sustainable motivations can vary from person to person. Still, some common examples include a passion for programming, a desire for mastery, a sense of purpose, financial stability, social recognition, and a positive work-life balance.

Even characteristics of sustainable motivations are resilient, flexible, and adaptive, allowing developers to overcome obstacles, stay committed to their craft, and continue to grow and develop their skills.

Creating motivations is crucial in software development (challenging and complex), requiring high technical adaptability. By cultivating sustainable bases, developers can avoid burnout, stay focused on their goals, and build fulfilling careers that bring personal and professional satisfaction.

However, I would like to disagree with some parts of the pattern as having different motivations for their work, such as personal fulfillment, without necessarily aspiring for mastery or long-term growth. Because the way is overly simplistic or idealistic, it assumes that motivations are static and can be easily categorized and controlled. However, the truth is motivations can be complex, dynamic, and influenced by various internal and external factors that are often beyond our control.

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

Sustainable Motivations can be a valuable framework for individuals who want to maintain their motivation and passion for their work over the long term. It emphasizes the importance of having a strong personal connection to my work and aligning my motivations with values and goals, which can help me overcome challenges and stay focused on long-term objectives. By adopting this mindset, individuals may be more likely to approach their work with a sense of purpose and commitment, leading to greater satisfaction and fulfillment in their careers.

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-3

Hello, a blog for the third week; it seems cluttered because I am almost done with school since this is the end of February. Anyway, I’m starting to read chapter 3 for apprenticeship patterns. While reading, I found one of the helpful patterns was “Sustainable Motivations.” It has a set of motivations that can withstand the inevitable challenges and difficulties in pursuing a particular craft or profession. In the context of software development refers to a group of internal and external factors that keep software developers motivated and engaged in their work over the long term.

Sustainable motivations can vary from person to person. Still, some common examples include a passion for programming, a desire for mastery, a sense of purpose, financial stability, social recognition, and a positive work-life balance.

Even characteristics of sustainable motivations are resilient, flexible, and adaptive, allowing developers to overcome obstacles, stay committed to their craft, and continue to grow and develop their skills.

Creating motivations is crucial in software development (challenging and complex), requiring high technical adaptability. By cultivating sustainable bases, developers can avoid burnout, stay focused on their goals, and build fulfilling careers that bring personal and professional satisfaction.

However, I would like to disagree with some parts of the pattern as having different motivations for their work, such as personal fulfillment, without necessarily aspiring for mastery or long-term growth. Because the way is overly simplistic or idealistic, it assumes that motivations are static and can be easily categorized and controlled. However, the truth is motivations can be complex, dynamic, and influenced by various internal and external factors that are often beyond our control.

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

Sustainable Motivations can be a valuable framework for individuals who want to maintain their motivation and passion for their work over the long term. It emphasizes the importance of having a strong personal connection to my work and aligning my motivations with values and goals, which can help me overcome challenges and stay focused on long-term objectives. By adopting this mindset, individuals may be more likely to approach their work with a sense of purpose and commitment, leading to greater satisfaction and fulfillment in their careers.

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.

The Deep End Pattern~

For this week, I wanted to read over and discuss the Deep End pattern from “Apprenticeship Patterns” by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye. 

The Deep End pattern can apply when you’ve only taken safe steps or have only worked with what you’re comfortable with, and you’re starting to feel that where you’re at is hurting you. You feel that you need to expand your knowledge and what you can work with. So, this means that you have to start working on more complex projects or tasks, maybe more high-stakes projects. You shouldn’t jump blindly into a complex project, but you should first prepare or gauge what you’d be able to do. If you take on something unprepared, it could just have a negative impact on you. The pattern gives a warning to make sure you don’t take on something that you may have no foothold in at first–with an example of Enrique Riepenhausen moving out of the country to act as a consultant for a client in Nigeria, but knows the language and someone who lives there.

To work on this issue, the pattern says to think of the projects you have worked on. Then, write about the scope of the project–complexity, how many lines of code, how many developers, etc. From these answers, you can give projects a rating or make a general scale of their complexity and compare new projects to the scale and use it as a tool to help you reach your career goals.

I thought that the pattern was useful in the way that it says you should measure/compare complexity of your past projects that you can use to then compare to future project opportunities. It would be a good way to see that it is complex enough to boost your skills instead of being something on the lower end of complexity that wouldn’t launch you forward. I do agree that we should take on something more difficult so we can learn more things–for example, I knew how to do little tasks for my internship, but I hadn’t written code for a report before and worked on a template nor a form–basically a bunch of aspects I had not touched before–and had the task of working on them. And I’m glad I did, because I learned so much from that complex project that I can now apply to so many more. I also did not step into it completely blind, because I had coworkers who could help me if I really needed, and a knowledge database available. I think it would be interesting to think about my portfolio this way moving on. I do not have any disagreements with the pattern.

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.

The Importance of Concurrency

The computer has gone a long way compared to now. Modern computers have several CPU cores or CPUs. We utilize these cores to create high-volume applications. This week I read a blog discussing concurrency in programming. This blog, “Concurrent Programming – Introduction” by Gowthamy Vaseekaran, defines concurrency as the ability to run several programs or several parts of a program in parallel. Vaseekaran then goes further by saying that programs that take longer to perform certain tasks can benefit from using concurrency and that tasks can be done in parallel or asynchronously. This will, for the most part, upgrade the performance of the program. Vaseekaran also goes on to say that computers didn’t have operating systems back in the day, so single programs were executed from start to end. These programs had access to all the resources of the machine. Nowadays, executing a single program at a time is seen as an inefficient use of expensive and a waste of computer resources.

 Several factors led to the development of operating systems that allowed multiple programs to run, such as resource utilization, the author explains that programs must wait for external operations, so using that time to let another program run was way more efficient. Fairness would allow multiple users and programs to have equal claims on a machine’s resources. It is fairer to let them share the computer rather than having one program run from start to end and then another. Also having convenience is very neat, so that several programs can coordinate to perform a single task. It’s interesting while reading this because currently I’m taking a class on algorithms, and so in this class, we will discuss how some programs will take longer than others. There is the worst solution to how a problem or program in this case should be run, and the best solution. Concurrency could fit into making programs run more efficiently.

 The author then goes on to discuss computer threads which are a facility to allow multiple activities within a single process, a series of executed statements, a nested sequence of method calls, etc. We use threads to help perform background or asynchronous processing. The thread takes advantage of multiprocessor systems, and it simplifies program logic when there are multiple independent entities. Java will utilize threads very often. Every Java program creates at least one thread.

Threads can also pose risks; the main problem is the shared variable/resource problem. Solutions for this problem include not sharing any variables, making variables immutable which is the process of making variables unchangeable to their value or state, and using a lock. A lock is a thread synchronization mechanism in java. Another problem includes race condition which is the most common concurrency correctness problem, which pays attention to compound actions, which is when two threads access a shared variable at the same time. Vaseekaran also goes on to explain deadlocking which is a condition where two or more threads are blocked forever, waiting for each other. Deadlocks are caused by inconsistent lock ordering and limitation of resource capacity when a thread is waiting for another lock.

It’s very interesting to see how important concurrency is when it comes to making or even running programs, it brings a whole new understanding of how modern programs work. It’s also interesting to hear about terms such as “deadlock” because it’s a refresher of what it means and what role it plays when talking about concurrency. Reading about how computers used to run programs gives me a new perspective on how these programs run within a system and seeing how solutions were created so that we can run programs more efficiently. When making software I want to come back to this, knowing that one of these days’ problems such as deadlocking or shared variables will happen to me and so using the solutions Vaseekaran has listed in the post they wrote will help me a ton.

Link to “Concurrent Programming – Introduction”: https://gowthamy.medium.com/concurrent-programming-introduction-1b6eac31aa66

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

Object-Oriented Programming

Object Oriented Programming is a topic that I wanted to brush up on because it has been a long time since I have programmed with it or learned about it.

 I read a blog by Omar Elgar called “The Story of Object-Oriented Programming” which was a great help with relearning the terms and use of object-oriented programming. Omar goes over the major aspects of object-oriented programming which are objects, abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism. Omar explains objects in programming are meant to represent real-world objects like a car, phone, etc. When Omar gets to abstraction, he sums it up by saying it is focusing on common properties and behaviors of objects and getting rid of what is not important. For encapsulation, Omar explains it is breaking down a program into small mini-programs in the form of classes as well as hiding content that is not necessary to expose. Inheritance is when we take the common properties we created in an abstract class and apply them to the class that is more specific. The last topic Omar covered was polymorphism which is when an object takes the shape of many different forms. Omar even gives some code at the end of his post to show the readers a real example of object-oriented programming being used which is a nice touch and helps to see.

I chose this blog post to read because I wanted to get a clearer understanding of object-oriented programming and how it worked. I have coded using object-oriented programming in the past, but I do not think I had completely understood it and how useful it can be until now. Omar did a great job going over all the important pieces of object-oriented programming and explained them in an easy to understand way.  After reading his blog I feel like I got exactly what I was looking for out of his work. I will be able to apply what I learned from Omar’s blog to my programming and be able to effectively explain object-oriented programming to someone else if I needed to. I have a feeling that having a strong understanding of how object-oriented programming works is going to be important to have not only for my university classes but my future career as a software developer. I would highly recommend this blog post to someone who needs a straightforward and easy to understand overview of object-oriented programming.

Link: https://medium.com/omarelgabrys-blog/the-story-of-object-oriented-programming-12d1901a1825

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