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CS373 Fall 2022: Fernando Mercado: Final Entry

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  Intended long-term takeaways from this class: test first, test during, test after; test, test, test when designing algorithms, demand the weakest capabilities (e.g., iterable vs. indexable) when designing containers, provide the strongest capabilities (e.g., indexable vs. iterable) build decorators on top of containers, iterators, and functions utilize the benefits of being lazy (e.g., yield) always look for reuse and symmetry in your code collaboration is essential to the quality of your code and to your well-being in producing it refactor, refactor, refactor make your code beautiful How well do you think the course conveyed those takeaways? While there was a pretty significant disconnect between lecture materials and the content of the project, the principles we learned in class were absolutely applicable not only to the project but any coding I will be doing in the future. The best programmer is a lazy one and this class really helped hone my lazy skills. Were there any other ...
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CS 373 Fall 2022: Fernando Mercado - Week 13

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  What did you do this past week? My team finished up with some great work for the project and we set out a game plan that I think should lead us to success in the coming few weeks remaining of this semester. What's in your way? This last week was very stressful for me and the mounting pressure of the looming end of the semester is accumulating. I'm unfortunately behind schedule on my iOS app as well, so I'm stuck playing catch-up with that over break. What will you do next week? Next week I will enjoy my break to the maximum extent possible, but I will need to be working for most of it. It's my mom's birthday this week as well so I look forward to celebrating that with her. What did you think of Paper #13. What Happens to Us Does Not Happen to Most of You? This week's blog was a very good read, and I was honestly appalled at some of the stories shared in the blog. Male-dominated STEM careers can be a very harsh environment for women and I hope that I can contri...
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CS 373 Fall 2022: Fernando Mercado - Week 12

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  What did you do this past week? My group worked tirelessly to iron out our P2 implementation as well as the P3 things due this coming Monday. I also have grinded my app a lot more as I have the deadline for my beta coming up. What's in your way? The stress of the looming end of the semester is piling up due to my classes being largely project-based. There is a lot of work to be done in a relatively short amount of time. What will you do next week? I really need to hunker down and just work now. My top priority will be to get significant progress done on my final version of my app after I present my beta on Monday. I'm looking forward to working on P4 things with my group and finally being in the home stretch of this class. What did you think of Paper #12. Why extends is evil? I really appreciated the more human tone of this article, with some subtle humor blended in, which made it much easier to read than the previous few papers we've read. I see what the author is saying...
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CS 373 Fall 2022: Fernando Mercado - Week 11

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  What did you do this past week? This week I mostly worked on getting progress made on Queue, which felt kind of slow but we have done well for the week. I helped my friend move out of their apartment which was very chaotic but still fun.  What's in your way? This last week I've felt very unmotivated and I'm not quite sure why. I think it's just the pressure of the nearing end of the semester. What will you do next week? The coming week is a daunting one. I have a deadline for both of my major projects on the same day and a large amount of work to do for both. I want to also take time to just focus on my mental health but I worry I might not have much time to do that this week. What did you think of Paper #11. More on getters and setters? Having a Builder class was an interesting concept to me and it made a lot of sense, especially considering what last week's article said. What was your experience of the SQL, joins, and subqueries? I didn't really have any SQL...
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CS 373 Fall 2022: Fernando Mercado - Week 10

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  What did you do this past week? The beginning of this week was very hectic, with our team working very hard to get phase II turned in. After that, we took a short break in development but have continued doing great work and it's nice to see the project coming together. I helped a friend move into her new apartment as well which worked great to get my mind off school and work things. What's in your way? Our group is a bit behind I think in terms of the project and I'd really like to get back on track. What will you do next week? I will focus on working on the project and building more of my app. Really I would like to set myself up for easy weekends, as I am leaving town both of the coming weekends. What did you think of Paper #10: Why getter and setter methods are evil? This week's paper was a nice breath of fresh air, being a new article from a new author. It was getting a little difficult to read the previous few papers simply due to their similarity. I like that th...
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CS 373 Fall 2022: Fernando Mercado - Week 9

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  What did you do this past week? Team Queue made a lot of progress this week and I think we are set to finish on time for the phase II deadline. There's a lot of work yet to be done for the overall project's lifetime, but we are doing great work and I hope to continue on that track. I also did a lot of work on my iOS app WeGoGym, but after showing my alpha off I realized I need to redo a lot of the work which is unfortunate. What's in your way? This week I felt extremely unmotivated for no reason at all which put a major hamper on my productivity. What will you do next week? This coming week I will try to sustain the productivity streak I've been on these last few days for as long as I can. More applications and more developing of my app and website are in order. What did you think of Paper #9: The Dependency Inversion Principle? To be honest, the last few papers we've read by this author are very similar and a lot of the topics are so similar it's difficult to...
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CS 373 Fall 2022: Fernando Mercado - Week 8

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  What did you do this past week? Our group was able to set up a skeleton of our database and made great progress on the project as a whole this week. I have also been doing a lot of work on my iOS app, which the alpha release should be done this coming Monday!  What's in your way? Much like last week, my classes are all competing for my time and it seems there is too little time to go around. I think I need to be much more selective with what I devote my time to and even cut back on things I would usually do until this hump of work is done. What will you do next week? I will start building the beta build of my app, and finish out phase II of the project for this class. I will also be taking the Texas government UT test (to complete my AP government credit from HS). I have two essays due for classes and also of course, will be Leetcoding. What did you think of Paper #8: The Integration Segregation Principle? I like that the last few papers have all been somewhat continuations ...
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