CS371g Summer #4 — Matt Lang
What did you do this past week
Lots of work on Project #2, but it did not completely feel like work. I partnered up on this project, and I am extremely glad I did. Do you ever feel fairly confident in the work you put in your code before compiling, but still suspect plenty of errors? I related to this much more in the first project compared to the second. Things overall were smoother, and I greatly enjoyed working with my partner.
What’s in your way?
Nothing really. After this week, I feel pretty confident. I did do pretty badly on one quiz and exercise, but these things happen. I do not expect to be perfect and expect to have some slip-ups. My schedule feels a little more cemented after experiencing the first few weeks of this class. As long as I keep up, I predict things will remain great.
What will you do next week?
I assume I’ll be starting on Project #3. I look forward to working with my new partner. Other than that, I will be scratching my head during lectures and making time to relax and have fun.
If you read it, what did you think of the Paper #: Twice as Good?
I am glad Professor Downing assigned this paper and was quite happy to read it. I admittedly had a terrible understanding in the past about biases and the fact that I likely had plenty. I used to have thoughts that these discussions intended to guilt people like me who were born in privileged circumstances. It’s been years since I left this toxic, shitty mindset. However, I still have a lot to learn about my own biases that may be negatively affecting myself and others. I hope we have plenty of future papers on this subject, as I find this a very important (and often neglected) part of a computer science education.
What was your experience of exceptions, consts, algorithms, and iterators? (this question will vary, week to week)
I learned in Scott Meyer’s Effective Modern C++ the importance of using const (and constexpr) whenever possible, and this week’s lectures reminded and added to this. There are a hundred ways to write a single piece of code, but some ways are more right than others. Expressing intent through code (i.e. use of const, writing code that explains itself, etc.) usually is in the “more right” category, and I think Professor Downing does a wonderful job in teaching this. There is rarely an application for some of the lines of code in Downing’s notes, but you cannot know why that is without understanding what it does. I greatly appreciate Professor Downing’s exhaustive examples, and I can see myself perusing through these notes years in the future.
What made you happy this week?
I have been content with keeping busy. Although I miss being able to sleep all day, I hardly knew what to do with myself before summer classes started. There will probably be a point in the semester where I will be kicking myself in the teeth from an agonizing workload, but right now it feels good to get things done.
What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
Perhaps check out the C++ subreddit /r/cpp. I am not one who does an extensive amount of extracurricular programming, but learning C++ has been an exception (haha). I was at one point spending quite a few hours on it, but have since been fairly casual to avoid burnout. Occasionally, I will read an article or two posted here. C++ is ever-changing and has its fair share of proposals that become concrete. I find it pretty useful to keep up to date with this.
