CS373 Fall 2018 Xi Jin, Week 1

What did you do this past week?
The beginning of a new semester is always exciting. There are 2 Computer Science classes on my schedule, and both are surprisingly interesting. I was happy to know some new people. Julia is the first one that I have talked with in my Software Engineering class, and I can tell that she has a great passion for CS just like me. I also met Andrei who was taking Artificial Intelligence with me last semester.
What’s in your way?
This week we learned Docker, so it is important for me to practice it and make sure that I am able to deploy it with my team in the future. There are a lot of frameworks and tools that I need to learn. For example, cloud services including AWS and GCP, frontend libraries like React and backend frameworks like Django and flask. Those are necessary tools in developing modern web apps.
What will you do next week?
I am currently working on 2 iOS projects. One is an AR app, and another is a note sharing app. I will spend some time figuring out how to add control panel so that user can move their AR object in the real world precisely. I am also planning to write my blog website using Django and React because I want to practice my web development skills before having trouble with the class project. Medium is a very well-designed blog website, so I want to dig into it and find out how to implement similar features.
What are your expectations for the class?
I heard that this class would teach us Python, but I have already known Python very well. Therefore, I will focus on how to become a real software engineer. Coding in real life is different from finishing the assignment. Writing code that is readable and easy for other people to maintain is an essential property for a software engineer.
Another thing that I am expecting is to cultivate a good habit of the standard workflow. To be honest, pair programming is still a very challenging task, although I have some experience in my OS class. I have already found two teammates, so I hope we will figure out the best way to cooperate.
What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
My pick-of-the-week is an article about React. The main feature of React is component that allows us to build complicated UI with relatively clear structure. Another great thing about React is JSX. We are allowed to use HTML in a JavaScript file, which makes it much more easier to make everything organized. . Developer no longer needs a complex HTML file. Instead, they can put elements inside JavaScript.
