Use the Source is about the importance of reading other people’s code. Reading code is important because it is the only way to truly understand a system. Without studying and emulating examples of good code, you may never realize the bad habits that you have. A good practice is to read the code of the applications and tools that you use every day. By doing this you will learn good programming practices and start to understand the systems that surround you. It is also important to have other people read your code. Taking feedback from others will help you become a better programmer. Thanks to the large amount of open source projects available, it’s possible to read or contribute to a wide variety of projects built by the global community of software developers.

I enjoyed reading this pattern and found it to be extremely relevant. It is true that the only way to really understand code is to read it. I found it interesting how the author said that working programmers spend far more time reading code than writing it. If your only experience coding is what you’ve done in school, that might be hard to believe. But it makes sense for a number of reasons. Professional developers work on projects much larger than those that students work on, and all of that code must be read in order to understand it. Developers also don’t want to reinvent the wheel for every project, so a lot of time is probably spent reading implementations that others have created. Being able to quickly understand what a piece of code does by reading it is an important skill that isn’t taught in school. To become a great developer, you have to spend a lot of time reading other people’s code. This will introduce you to new ideas and better coding practices.

I thought that this pattern was very useful. When I have wanted to improve my coding skills in the past I have always tried writing new programs. I never realized that reading code is just as important. This is a great pattern that I will definitely try to implement in my life.

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

The Rubbing Elbows pattern is a solution to the problem of productivity reaching a plateau. If you always develop software by yourself, you may eventually get the feeling that there are superior techniques that you don’t know about. In order to fix this, you must rub elbows with another software developer. This means you must work on a hands-on task, side-by-side. This is necessary because there are some things that can only be learned when you are sitting with another software developer working to accomplish something.  There are many little techniques that can only be picked up when collaborating closely with somebody. The author uses pair programming as an example of this pattern. Apprentices should always look for opportunities to work on teams that use the technique of pair programming. However, pair programming isn’t the only application of this pattern. You can collaborate on a number of things such as a presentation, academic paper, or an open source project’s sprint. The goal of this pattern is to find ways to expose yourself to the working habits of other skilled people so that you can pick up on those habits and refine your skills.

I think that this pattern makes a lot of sense. If you are programming by yourself all the time, you will almost certainly reach a plateau because you aren’t being exposed to new ideas and techniques. Reading this pattern made me realize how important it is to work side-by-side with other people. It is true that by doing this you will pick up on the small techniques that the other person uses, and will learn things that can’t be taught in a book or classroom. I really liked the Richard Sennett quote about the ideal craft workshop. It captures the idea that gaining knowledge isn’t just about listening to words, but absorbing the thousands of little techniques that make up a skill. After reading this pattern I have a greater appreciation for pair programming, as I now realize the benefits of working on a task right next to somebody. Overall I found this pattern very useful and it has inspired me to rub elbows with fellow software developers.

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

Hello again! For this week’s blog I have chosen to write about the chapter from our textbook entitled “Practice, Practice, Practice”! The reason I chose this is because I saw it in the table of contents and it looked like something relateable and interesting to read. So without further ado, let’s jump on in to the chapter “Practice, Practice, Practice”.  The problem set up by this chapter is that you are always switched “ON” which never gives you a chance to learn from your daily programming mistakes. The book says its almost as if you’re always on stage. I feel that this can happen easily especially in a fast paced work environment like software development. Things in this field are always growing and changing and twisting and turning. Monday you might get assigned a project with requirements ABC and by Wednesday those requirements have changed form ABC to XYZ and the project now no longer holds any resemblence to the original project. In this case it is quite easy to get lost because you don’t have time to learn from your daily mistakes if you’re always trying to play catch up. The solution set forth by the book is interesting, however quite elementary and almost common sense. The main objective of the solution is to practice coding in an environment with zero pressure and in a place that you are comfortable and it is okay to break things. In other words, make a personal project at home or someplace other than work where the end objective does not matter, there is no customer or end user on the other side, and you can be free to break things and learn why they broke, then fix them at your own pace, allowing you to learn more so than if you were to be pressured and rushed to fix breakages in the field. There are many different ways to practice without interruption at your own pace where the actual environment does not matter. I think that it is one of the strongest ways to learn. Not only because you are teaching yourself (because you know how you learn best!) but because the environment in which you’re learning is truly stress free and problem free. Did it break while you were working? Who cares! It isn’t effecting anyone other than you. So take your time, work through the breakage, and fix it at your own pace and learn why it broke and how it was fixed!

From the blog CS@Worcester – The Average CS Student by Nathan Posterro and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

While forms of craft and art may seem similar to one another, sometimes it is important to note the distinction. This is the exact distinction that Craft over Art outlines in Chapter 3. The point is that crafts have utility, and works of art are made for beauty and reflection. It’s important that, if you’re crafting something, that you treat it that as it is meant to be treated — because it is something that may be used in the future by someone else. Sure, there is room for artistic expression in your craft, but they shouldn’t be anything more than decorative or stylistic touches. As they point out in the book, craftsmanship is built on relationships. It’s about delivering value to a customer and using that to earn your living. Art is usually something that comes from a very personal, self-reflective place that others may connect with. “After all, there’s no such thing as a starving craftsman.”

I like this pattern because it encourages the reader to focus on doing something useful as opposed to something beautiful, as stated in the action paragraph. I feel as though this is important because as of late, I’ve been focusing on this a lot myself in anticipation for upcoming coding interviews. Although I may not be working on things I find myself feeling extremely passionate about, I do feel happy working on what is expanding my skill set. Practicing the language fundamentals of both Java and C, doing interview-style questions, and my independent study have been a blessing in terms of knowledge and learning. They’re all things that will allow me to push the boundaries of my skillset for my future projects.

I will disagree partially with one thing about this pattern, though. I feel as though with the degree that web development, specifically front end, revolves around design choices, that programmers with an artist’s mindset have become extremely valuable. With the amount of emphasis placed on good website and app design, there is absolutely a place for those programmers who seek to make beauty with code where there may have been less of a place for them in the past. Granted, these are UI/UX designers who are partaking in a craft themselves — their art has utility and is meant to be used by others.

Regardless, I found this pattern fairly interesting as a reflection of what programming is and what it is meant to be. Placing yourself in the mindset of a craftsman makes a world of a difference (at least, to my geeky brain) in terms of how you should conduct yourself in the work environment.

From the blog CS@Worcester – James Blash by jwblash and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

From the blog Sam Bryan by and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

          The “Sweep The Floor” pattern is described as a way be able find your place on a new team that is unsure of you. This pattern expresses how to find a way to earn your teams trust and contribute to their work without getting in their way. A good way to start is to volunteer to do simple tasks to show initiative and competence for small tasks to eventually work your way up to the big ones. An important fact to remember is to go for quality of work rather than quantity to ensure your teammates of how seriously you are taking this opportunity given by them. This may seem like a step back from all the studying and preparation you’ve done to get to the point, but you must also remember that now you are hired to be on this team. You must prove yourself before they can put any sort of trust in you and the best way to do that without causing any accidents are smaller tasks. This does not mean that you should let the team see you as the pack mule for meaningless tasks, but rather someone who can pick up the slack if needed.

         I found this pattern to be a great introduction to read before really starting out on a team. It allows an easier incorporation to the team dynamic and earn a teammates trust. It created a good sense of what to do and not to do so as to make sure that you are doing extra work for the good of the team while not becoming a pack mule. I want to start using these skills and think that they will definitely make working in a team easier. I think it will make the workload harder, but it seems to be a good trade off to earn the respect for other teammates. I agree with this pattern for that very reason because respect is a very big deal in teamwork. Every team member should prove their skills and respect for the good of the team. I want to continue this practice to make sure that my dedication and commitment to the team is seen to create a better bond with teammates.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Student To Scholar by kumarcomputerscience and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.