CS371p Spring 2021: Kushal Pachchigar: Final Entry

I hope that the following are long-term takeaways from this class:

• test first, test during, test after; test, test, test
• when designing algorithms, demand the weakest iterators (e.g. bidirectional vs. random access)
• when designing containers, provide the strongest iterators (e.g. random access vs bidirectional)
• build adapters on top of containers
• always look for reuse and symmetry in your code
• collaboration is essential to the quality of your code and to your well-being in producing it
• refactor, refactor, refactor
• make your code beautiful

How well do you think the course conveyed those takeaways?

The workflow for each project reflects these takeaways. Especially the project 4: Darwin, you’ll actually see the power of having a good Object-Oriented design. Having the continuous integration on GitLab takes care of testing your code every time you push so that you’ll immediately know if the new code isn’t following the correct behavior. Overall, its class will make you a better programmer!

How did you feel about cold calling?

Unpopular opinion: I actually like the quizzes at the beginning of every class and cold calling. It makes me want to be on top of the material and the way cold calling works is that you’ll have a conversation about the material being taught during that class. You will have a chance to layout your thought process about the new topic and actually get to see the thought process of Professor Downing. It’s a pretty cool way of learning.

How did you feel about office hours?

Office hours are really helpful to make sure you understand the material and can ask anything related/unrelated to the class. You can get to know Professor Downing and it’s a way he can get to know you!

How did you feel about lab sessions?

Lab sessions were really helpful with the project implementation bugs or ideas to get started in the first place.