How it is to code for the first time?
All’s Well That Ends Well.
I have finally written my_first_program! An application that can talk with users. A chatbot that helps in locating a faculty!
Mark my words, being a non-coder and coding your first program that works successfully gives you the utmost happiness. The class “Programming as a Prototyping Tool” helped me to overcome my fear of coding!
Let me admit the class was not easy for me initially. It was hectic and rigorous. In my previous assignments, I made the mistake of not coding our program by myself, which made me realize that I still don’t know how to apply the functions in the code. Towards the end of the course, I realized there was no point in taking this course if I eventually failed to code our chatbot. So, it was not easy for me to start writing the code from scratch. After referring to multiple YouTube videos, referring to the class notes, and reviewing points from the overall discussions that happened during the class, I learned slowly and gradually. From not knowing the basics of coding if I can write a basic code for our chatbot, it is a great achievement for me.
Learning from failures:
The main failure for me was not writing the code initially. We did contribute to its functioning. We have mapped different scenarios, but maybe we were not able to execute them in our previous assignments through our code. But finally, with trial and error, I finally have given my 100% to writing something that works. A major challenge for me was to write code that is more human-like. Since our chatbot is addressing a specific function, it was difficult for us to break the pattern of traditional user conversation. We tried our best to make it human-like. I have written a few lines on every faculty to make the conversation more interesting and less boring.
Indent error, please kill me!
Once we understood all the functions, it is necessary for us to apply them to our code. To begin with, we used basic functions like print, if, else, if and elif, etc. We managed to write a code only for two facilitators initially, and it worked perfectly, but as soon as the size of the code increased, we made a horrible indent error that we were unable to resolve. But, after a series of trials and errors, we were able to write a perfect code. I agree that in the end, we might not have used many functions in our code, but the output for us was satisfactory, and the struggle was a great lesson.
The satisfaction of writing code by myself was priceless for me. I am look forward to taking more programming courses in the future.
