Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.
This is the first post on my new blog. I’m just getting this new blog going, so stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.
CS371p Final Entry
- What did you like the least about the class?
Honestly, I didn’t hate anything about the class. If I had to choose one thing, it would be the overhead on the projects. In this class, whenever you submit a project, you have to ensure that you have documentation, pipelines, gitlab, acceptance tests and just in general a lot more than other classes required. However this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Having this overhead preps us for the amount of work we have to do in work. I just dislike doing it and I’m pretty sure everyone dislikes it too. - What did you like the most about the class?
The very good structure of the class. Everything is extremely organized. The website, information, in class notes and structure all explained very well. Information about any of the class work or tests are explained very well on piazza and the website. - What’s the most significant thing you learned?
Understanding C++ and the semantics of everything in the language. Many of the companies I interviewed for used C++ and without this class, I probably would’ve completely botched most of the interviews. Downing goes into detail about all of the standard information about C++ and compares it to concepts we’ve learned. - How many hours a week did you spend coding/debugging/testing for this class?
8. However, it was often 16 hours 1 week, 0 hours another. This is because I like to complete projects in large sessions to keep my head wrapped around 1 topic for a while. - How many hours a week did you spend reading/studying for this class?
On average 2. I don’t think the class requires much studying since there’s only 2 tests. However this number may jump up significantly when it’s test time. - How many lines of code do you think you wrote?
Maybe around 8k? It’s probably less than around 2k per project, however I don’t tend to count my lines when I’m counting code. Sometimes there are projects that require more and there are some that require less. - What required tool did you not know and now find very useful?
Probably Gitlab. I used Azure in my internship and this reminded me about it. - How did you feel about the two-stage quizzes and tests?
Very good. It tended to take off a lot of pressure during the tests and quizzes. We never really have to worry about our grade, while still forcing us to understand the material. It’s kind of like starting at a 40. You will still fail if you don’t know anything, but you don’t have to worry a lot about it. - How did you feel about the cold calling, in the end?
So much better near the end. Originally I thought cold calls were just simply to make sure everyone was paying attention, but in the end, cold calls were pretty relaxing. Downing helps guide you to the answer if you don’t know it.
CS371p Week 14 Blog
- What did you do this past week?
I began working on Life and studying for the upcoming tests. Luckily I don’t have any finals during finals week, but conversely that means every single one of my last tests are happening next week. As a result, having to prep starting this week that will be very hectic. However, this is the home stretch and I just have to grin and bear it. - What’s in your way?
Tests. Having to split my time among tests, project, homework, and daily duties has been stressful. Finding time to work on anything has been difficult to do which has led to be behind more than I’d like. But this just means I need to manage time better and work a bit more. - What will you do next week?
Hopefully early in the week finish Life and then begin studying for all the tests I have coming up. And then after all the tests are over, having a nice relaxing weekend to celebrate the end of the semester for me. Probably will end up playing a whole lot of video games. - What was your experience of virtual, pure virtual, and smart pointers? (this question will vary, week to week)
Abstract classes are definitely different than Java’s, however virtual and pure virtual methods definitely help relate it back to the things that I know. Smart pointers are something that I’m still have a little trouble grasping, however I’ll get to know it a bit better when I start using it. - What made you happy this week?
Unfortunately, I don’t think I can say anything made me particularly happy this week. This week and next week will probably be the toughest I had all semester. However, I don’t think there’s much point lamenting this fact. Tough weeks come and go. Although I am bummed that there’s a lot of difficulty these weeks, I know its contained to these weeks. - What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
Don’t forget to take breaks in the upcoming weeks. I know for many of us there will be a lot of tests coming up. Just make sure to balance regular life and work at the same time.
CS371p Week 13 Blog
- What did you do this past week?
I had a more relaxing week that allowed me to catch up on my sleep. I had a few assignments and projects that were due in other classes, but they were short ones that I ended up completely quickly. Now I am just prepping for the end of the year and class registration. - What’s in your way?
Well recently I had some unexpected personal issues. This took up time that I was planning on allotting for homework and projects. While this did put me back a little bit, it has not affected me to the point where I would have trouble turning in anything. - What will you do next week?
Next week I will be prepping for tests that will appear on the last week of school and finishing the Life project. Luckily I essentially do not have finals during finals, but that is also balanced out that I have all my final tests on the last few days of class. - What was your experience of allocator? (this question will vary, week to week)
Since we’ve covered allocators in other classes and project 3, the core concepts of an allocator wasn’t difficult to grasp. However seeing their implementation in classes does help illustrate how to use allocators in C++. Beforehand, we created an allocator but never actually used it. It was good to see the usage of it. - What made you happy this week?
I finally got to start a game that I’ve been meaning to play for a long time now, Fire Emblem: Three Houses. I used to play the Gameboy Fire Emblem games and the mobile Fire Emblem Game. I’ve been waiting for my brother to finish his play through. Now that cartridge is freed up, I can start my playthrough. All I can say is things have changed significantly. - What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
At the end of this month Texas is starting to reopen, but I guess it’s best to have a little caution in returning to our normal schedules. I know we are all eager to get out of quarantine; being cooped up is also driving me insane. However, we should we still exercise caution when leaving.
CS371 Week 11 Blog
- What did you do this past week?
Tests and projects. The last week was packed with homework and tests which put me on a somewhat tighter schedule. Other than those 2 things, I wasn’t able to do much school wise, however that seems pretty standard for how most of our weeks will go. - What’s in your way?
Right now I only have 1 thing to accomplish soon, the project. However, nothing has really been in my way. It is just my standard amount of procrastination and laziness that has prevented me from getting my work done. - What will you do next week?
Well as mentioned earlier, the project is the only thing for me to do next week, so I will be working on that for most of the week. Other than that, I will attempt to catch up on my sleep. Ever since spring break my sleep schedule has been slowly getting worse. - What was your experience of
vector? (this question will vary, week to week)
Pretty straight forward. Other than the copy constructors and a few cases I didn’t consider, vector seems pretty intuitive for me to implement. I guess this is because we’ve already learned about array lists in data structures and this is very similar. - What was your experience of the ethics material? (this question will vary, week to week)
Most of the overall ideas have been proposed to me in some form before. Mostly from class or news articles. However, the information about vacuums and muddles were informative. It is always better to have a more solid definition of ideas and issues than it is having a general description. Learning about that and other modes of philosophy expanded how I viewed the topic. - What made you happy this week?
Finally finishing the tests I had in other classes or just classes in general. I was stressing out slightly from all the different tests I would have to do when I got back from Spring Break. Now that it is over, I am relieved.
CS371p Seventh Blog Post
- Are you and your family safe and sound where you are?
Yep. I’m just back at my childhood home with my family. We limit basically all social interaction and we have enough supplies. - How do feel about your ability to finish the term completely online?
I don’t feel worried about the rest of the semester. It’s definitely going to feel weird being at home and being in class, but I think I’ll adjust. - What made you happy this week?
The pass fail notification. It takes a big load off my shoulders to not have to worry about my grades as much. Especially since being at home is significantly more distracting. - What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
There are plenty of games that are going free these weeks. I’ve recently gotten the somewhat new Tomb Raider for free. So just keep an eye out if you’re bored.
CS371p Sixth Blog Post
- What did you do this past week?
In the past week, my partner and I had finished up our project and submitted it. We were able to finish the code up early in the week and we were able to finish up the rest of the required files and polishing soon after. Afterwards, I took a break from looking at projects and code, but I plan to return working on work soon. Personally, I haven’t been able to find the time to look at the new project, but I plan to sometime later tonight. - What’s in your way?
Currently nothing external is in my way. After a hectic 2 weeks, I had to take a break due to feeling a bit worn. This is causing me to slack a bit in terms of my work, but I believe that having this break would be better than me rushing headfirst into a new project exhausted. - What will you do next week?
I plan on working on the next project and hopefully setting up all the necessary environments for it. In general, I hope to complete a majority of homework early in the week and will be able to continue a more lax week. - What was your experience of containers, container adapters and iterators? (this question will vary, week to week)
I can feel that the course is picking up in difficulty a bit more. The information about was easy to understand and quite straight-forward. However, the iterators are still giving me a bit of trouble as I had been used to only having one kind of iterator. - What made you happy this week?
I was notified I made it to the second round of interviews for one of the companies I applied for. I didn’t think that there were any companies left recruiting, so this was a pleasant surprise. - What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
People who play Pokemon Go, this next month has insane events. Weekly legendary weekends with new shinies, lots of safari events, and lots of regular in game events. Just in general, a really good time to play.
CS371p Fifth Blog Post
- What did you do this past week?
My partner and I worked on the voting program. At the beginning of the week, we set up the program and all the other required setup. On Thursday we were able to get the inputs working correctly and started the calculation portion of the program. However, we each had many tests this week, so we decided that we would hold off on the program till the tests were over. - What’s in your way?
Last week was test week for my partner and I, so that got in the way of our program’s progress. However, we have all finished our tests and we are ready to start finishing the program. The outlook for this week looks like smooth sailing, so fingers crossed. - What will you do next week?
I will be spending most of the week finishing programs that I have been procrastinating from all my classes. For the Voting program, I hope that we are able to finish the logic of the program in the next few days and finish up the program with the unit tests and acceptance tests. - What was your experience of arrays and iterators? (this question will vary, week to week)
Arrays and iterators were confusing compared to the simple ones we’ve learned about in Java. I never knew that there could be so many kinds of iterators and that they could have so many different operations. I am albeit still a bit confused about the specifics about each, but I don’t think that it will take long for me to figure it out. - What made you happy this week?
The progress that my partner and I made on our project. I tend to procrastinate heavily, but I have little worries because we worked on the project so early. I also happened to get another interview which I am excited for. - What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
My tip is to be careful about getting sick. I recently came down with a sickness and with all of the panic coming from the Corona virus, just be aware of anything unsanitary.
CS371p Third Blog Post
- What did you do this past week?
I started getting the setup for the project finished and began working on the solutions. As of right now, I only have the basic implementation done and I’m currently working on optimizing it to finish the other test cases. - What’s in your way?
Mismanaging my time. I had underestimated the time that I need to work on this project and coupled with a few unexpected issues that came up. This made me much shorter on time than I had hoped, but nothing not manageable. The project information is coming along quite smoothly, so I hope I will be able to continue this progress. - What will you do next week?
Well for the beginning of the week, I’ll be finishing up the project. However for the later half of the week, I will be prepping for career fair, tests and assignments I have in my other classes. After that, I hope to be able to take a break since I’ve had a slightly hectic past week or so. - What was your experience of exceptions, references, and consts? (this question will vary, week to week)
In class, learning about exceptions, references, and consts was interesting to see how they functioned in C++. I’ve had experience with these concepts before, however it was nice to get a deeper understanding of the subject. It was especially funny to learn about consts due to the paintball analogies. Never knew how many different ways you could define const behavior. - What made you happy this week?
Finally being able to replace our TV. Recently our TV broke and getting it repaired and replaced has been a thorn in my roommate’s and I’s side. Took way more effort due to Best Buy giving us the good ol’ wild goose chase around the city. (Thanks) I’m just happy that we were finally able to get this done so I can begin resuming the project. - What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
A good endless phone game I used to play called Event Horizon is good at filling up the spaces in between classes. Pesky one hour blocks can be easily filled with this endless grinding ship game. Unfortunately, the game isn’t updated on a frequent basis and it has quite a beginners curve. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ZipasGames.EventHorizon&hl=en_US
CS371p Second Blog Post
- What did you do this past week?
This week I started looking over the requirements and the setup required for the Collatz project. Many of the concepts, especially Unit Testing, I am familiar with, however I need to familiarize myself with the specific implementations that we will be using. - What’s in your way?
Just for this week, I had big tournament this weekend and many guests, so I had very little time on hand. Hopefully next week I can get the project finished. Currently setting up the environments and workspace has been different but not entirely confusing. - What will you do next week?
I plan on attending all the classes, working and finishing the project, and finally finishing all of the other assignments given to us during the week. For the project, I hope to get the solution around Monday or Tuesday so I can get to work on optimizing the code. - What was your experience of assertions, unit tests, coverage, and continuous integration? (this question will vary, week to week)
I used these quite frequently in my internship. For the first couple of weeks, the interns were required to help with Unit Tests in order to get familiarized with the code base. Assertions however was used less frequently in the code I worked on, but we did use these frequently in OS. They were extremely helpful in figuring out how methods and portions of the code would break.
Furthermore, continuous integration was also prevalent inside my time at my internship. At first, I had difficulty grasping these concepts since a majority of the work I did was alone or with small groups of people working together at the same time. - What made you happy this week?
The amount of detail Downing went into the project. It helped flesh out many of the ideas I had in my head for this project and how to implement them in my code. Furthermore, the caches that Downing went into gave me several ideas that I am excited to try in this project. - What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
I’ve recently been finishing many of the old games that I had bought but never played; and, I recommend Octopath Traveler heavily to those who love JRPGs. The art is amazing, yet it still brings back the nostalgia of old games.
CS371p First Blog Post
- Where did grow up?
For all my life, I’ve lived somewhere in Houston, Texas. However, for most of my life I lived in the greater Houston suburb of Katy. - What high school did you go to?
I went to Seven Lakes High School. - Why did you come to UT?
After graduating high school, I didn’t really cared where I ended up going. UT just ended up being a sensible location for me as it was close to home and excellent in the majors that I wanted. - Why are you majoring in CS?
Through a majority of my life, I’ve spent most of my life on the computer (bad habit). So I thought, might as well make a living out of it. - Why are you in this class?
I heard that this class helps prepare you for the software engineering jobs we will be applying for out of college. - What are your expectations of this class?
I hope to learn a lot more about OOP obviously, and significantly more about C++. - How much C/C++/Java programming do you already know?
For C/C++/Java, my knowledge extends back to whatever we’ve learned previously in our other CS classes. Unfortunately my knowledge doesn’t extended much further. - How did you like the first couple of lectures?
Pretty satisfied, the class itself feels pretty laid back and informative. - How did you feel about the cold calling?
Originally I felt nervous, however as the question continued I am slowly easing into being more comfortable with them. - What made you happy this week?
Don’s reopened. - What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
Don’s line is long. Don’t go there the hour before class.
