CS373 Spring 2021: Shayan Maradia, Week 2 Blog

1. What did you do this past week?

This past week I went though some videos that I found online to brush up on Python skills that I haven’t practiced in a long time, and I went through the class notes and public code repo to review what the different files in the repo are for, since I have encountered most of them in OOP.

2. What’s in your way?

Other than brushing up on python, I think there isn’t anything that is preventing me from being on track.

3. What will you do next week?

Next week, I am going to get the Collatz project implemented, and I want to get all of the HackerRank tests passing. I am going to keep reviewing Python and learning about the JS versions of code we go through in class.

4. If you read it, what did you think of the makefile?

I think I am pretty familiar with makefiles especially because I used them in OOP. I had a few questions regarding what certain words mean, but I think I got most of my questions on Perusall answered. I think makefiles make life a lot easier, especially for running a lot of the tools we use.

5. What was your experience of Docker? (this question will vary, week to week)

I think Docker was pretty straightforward, and I am pretty comfortable using it because I used it last summer when I was interning and last fall in OOP. I think it is a useful tool, especially because we are taking SWE remotely, and it can be annoying to get the entire tool stack downloaded on our personal machines.

6. What was your experience of assertions? (this question will vary, week to week)

I think the review of what to use assertions for and what not to use them for was a good review from OOP, and I think it is really important to understand this because we should not be using assertions where we should be using unit tests.

7. What was your experience of unit tests? (this question will vary, week to week)

I think unit tests were easy to understand, and the need for them seems straightforward to me. I remember using Google Test in OOP, but I think the framework for python is different, so I think it’s a good idea to get used to the syntax.

8. What made you happy this week?

It made me happy this week to see the Rockets win a few games. It has been really rough as a Rockets fan to see James Harden get traded, but it made me happy to see the team be able to work together and put together a few good wins.

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

My tip is that if you are going to code in Python on VS Code, then it is really useful to go in the settings and enable a linter because it will help you identify syntax errors, especially if you are new to the language or haven’t used it in a while. I watched a YouTube tutorial on how to get that set up, and the linter he used was flake8.