CS373 Fall 2022: Dhruv Sethi -Week 6

What did you do this past week?

This past week I spent a large chunk of time working with my group on phase 1 of the project while also learning about different frameworks to get phase 1 of our project up and running. Specifically, I spent time learning about API documentation with Postman while also thinking about how we want to design our API for our site.

What’s in your way?

There are currently not too many obstacles in my way except for time. By the time I mean spending time to learn about API design and the tools and frameworks required to complete Phase 1 of the project as well as corresponding portions of the project.

What will you do next week?

This next week I plan on putting the finishing touches on phase 1 of our project. I also have a programming assignment due for other classes that I plan on working on. My group will likely also begin planning on how to tackle the objective for phase 2 of the SWE project. I also have some technical interviews that I need to prepare for.

What did you think of Paper #6: The Open-Closed Principle?

I enjoyed reading Paper #6 about the open-closed principle. I thought the topic itself was very interesting. The concept of being able to modify the use cases of programs without actually adjusting the source code is a niche but very practical programming idea. I also think the practicality of this idea becomes more applicable as the size of programs that we work on as developers become larger and larger — the effects of changes can cascade on programs of larger sizes.

What was your experience of operators, iterators, and generators? (this question will vary, week to week)

I liked learning about operators, iterators, and generators. Specificially, I found the ability to call the “__iter__” function on an object of type iterator that returns itself to be a fascinating feature of python. It seems confusing at first, but it ultimately is a powerful simplicity that makes python such an expressive object-oriented programming language.

What made you happy this week?

At the end of this week, I traveled back home to Dallas for my dad’s 50th birthday. We surprised him by getting him a boat party with all of his close friends. It was nice to see him smiling and in a great mood as we surprised him with all of his friends. He did not expect me to travel back home in the middle of the week and I was glad I could spend the weekend with my family.

What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

Make sure you are able to prioritize the objectives and activities that you need to do. As the semester progresses, more and more things are going to take up your time (planned or unplanned). So, its important to prioritize the tasks you need to complete for class and for yourself so you can make sure you are putting yourself in the best position for success.