CS373 Fall 2020 Week 3: Caitlin O’Callaghan
- What did you do this past week?
This past week I started the project doing basic steps in the workflow like the basic implementation and started to optimize the project using meta cache and lazy cache. I must admit I started the project quite last minute after having lots of technical issues with my computer (a surface pro from 2017 haha) but I just switched to a Macbook Pro and I’m finding things much much easier, especially with using the terminal!
2. What’s in your way?
This week technological issues were in my way because my version of windows wasn’t late enough to use docker with WSL 2. Then I wanted to SSH, but my SSH key from last year was not working anymore (I did not figure out why) and I am in Dallas, so I needed to connect to the UT VPN and I struggled to set that up. I ended up waiting for my new laptop to come in and things were much more straightforward from then on luckily. I think I am also still struggling with my time management with things being online. It’s harder for me to mostly study alone and have less contact with friends/classmates as last year we would regularly meet up and be working individually but oftentimes on the same project, so we could discuss high-level questions about homework or projects.
3. What will you do next week?
Next week I really want to start blocking out a consistent chunk of time each day for SWE, that way I force myself to start early on things, review notes, etc. I also want to sleep earlier because I find being sleep deprived really messes with my productivity and my focus in class.
4. What was your experience of Collatz, the starter code, the makefile, its optimizations, and exceptions?
Starting so late definitely made my experience of Collatz a lot more stressful, but I feel that the project is very straightforward and easy to understand, I just wish I would’ve given myself more time to get familiar with the project. The starter code and makefile were also straightforward, and I found implementing the optimizations (lazy cache and meta cache) to be really interesting! My experience with exceptions is that they are necessary for user testing and I needed to change some assertions I used for preconditions to exceptions.
5. What made you happy this week?
This week trying to study over Zoom, Discord, or Google Meet with friends made me happy. It was really helpful at times and sometimes more distracting, so I think it’s important to know what friends I study well with.
6. What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
My tip of the week is if you’re on a Mac to use Spectacle: https://www.spectacleapp.com/ to easily resize your windows which is great for working on projects when you want to have 2+ windows open. That way you don’t have to manually resize!
