CS373 Fall 2020: Abdul-Ghaffar Balogun
What did you do this past week?
This week Professor Downing gave us an introduction into the language of Python! He gave us a teaser of some of the intricacies with the language for us to note, for example, the difference between floor and true division. We also dived into the first project, where he gave a rundown of what is expected from us. We went through the workflow of the project and he expanded on the different steps, and finally, he gifted us with some tips to optimize our solutions.
I was also able to get started on the HackerRank side of the project and made some decent progress, but I will need to take some of his advice and apply them to my work.
What’s in your way?
I am a little intimidated about the workflow, so I am going to have to try my best to break it up into smaller pieces and take it one step at a time.
What will you do next week?
I will work more on the first project, and familiarize myself more with the development process required. I will also try to work on the optimizations and see if I can also make some progress there!
What was your experience of assertions, unit tests, and coverage?
I had some previous experience with some testing infrastructures, so some of the concepts and ideas were a refresher for me. However, I don’t have experience with testing in Python, so it was nice to learn more about these concepts within the Python framework. It was also cool to see the pros and cons asserts as well, because it provides context into how to go about testing my code.
How are you doing and holding up? What’s been most helpful for you in terms of support at this time?
It’s a little difficult to have everything be online and work remotely from home. There are a good amount of distractions at home, and it’s hard to stay motivated with current circumstances. However, being around my family is great and uplifting as we are truly able to spend some quality time together.
What made you happy this week?
I was able to connect with a lot of my friends who I haven’t seen in a long time. As organizations are starting to pick up on their events again, I have found it refreshing to be able to catch up with some friends.
What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
Your mental health is important, so make sure to not to suffer through it alone. Seek out professional help and stay connected with your friends. My friend had a little talk and he gave us some advice on how to approach the semester with being remote, and he gave the insight that we should shy away from the phrase social distancing and replace it with physical distancing!
