A New Experience
30 Aug 2022
Background with JavaScript
Coming into this class I had very little experience with JavaScript, however, it did not feel as if I was starting from scratch like when I learned my first coding language. Throughout the first few years of college we mostly worked with C, C++, and Python. Learning the JavaScript basics seemed to be much easier than learning C as it seems to be much more user-friendly. With JavaScript, we are able to declare variables without worrying about the data type, making it much easier to work with. I liked that JavaScript allows you to return different data types in a function unlike in C which makes working with functions to solve problems much easier. I think that JavaScript is a very good language to learn as it has more flexibility with functions compared to other languages.
Experience in JavaScript tutorials
Throughout this module we did the FreeCodeCamp JavaScript and ES6 tutorials which really helped me to get a grasp on the basics of JavaScript. Having an introduction to JavaScript through these tutorials really helped me to get a better understanding of it before diving deeper into the course, whereas other courses would tend to just throw problems at you from the start. Instead, being eased in and getting a firm understanding of the basics will help greatly in this course. The FreeCodeCamp tutorial gave short simple problems with a small attached reading over the basic topics. The problems were very helpful and if you ever got stuck they also had hints and solutions that you could look at to help understand the process and how to solve the problems.
Is Athletic Software Engineering helpful?
Throughout the semester for ICS 314 we will be doing WODs which are also known as workout of the day. These exercises are timed and have to be completed in a certain amount of time. This style of learning will greatly improve my software engineering skills as it gives me a sense of pressure and makes you have to piece together a solution and write it up and test it before the time is up. This style is definitely stressful as this is the first time I will be given a set time to work and write up a solution. However, after time the stress will be relieved as I have gotten used to working under pressure and finishing a problem in a set time. These WODs are enjoyable as they present me with a challenge of finishing them within the time limit. Unlike many other assignments where you can work on them for hours, these are timed problems, and that challenge motivates me to complete all of the WODs within the time limits. I think that having these WODs will be very helpful for me in the future as it teaches me how to work with time constraints and working under pressure.