Cohort 23 CS Online Journal

Markov Review Meeting Time: July 28, 2025, 8pm Participants: me, Jose      Jose got full points on the Markov assignment - I missed one point for forgetting to create another GitHub branch to work on.      Both of us discussed that the amount of hours we put into the assignment was above the 2 hours minimum it suggests - it took Jose about 7 hours to finish the work, while it took me about 6 hours to finish the assignment. We both did not write out our ideas for how to approach Markov on paper, since there was a prompt that we could follow. I felt like the prompt is clear enough to follow and create a working project out of it.        Jose and I agree that having more time to focus on Markov would have helped when working on the assignment.  The amount of assignments we get a week (combined with our jobs) didn't let us fully internalize the information we used for Markov. We could try to change our strategy to focus more time on ass...

CST338 Week 4 - Project 1 Review Meeting Time: July 18, 2025, 6pm - 7pm Participants: me, Stan      My strategy for solving the assignments was to first get all of the code instructions implemented. I also write javadocs at the same time as implementing methods, so sometimes they can be outdated if the method is changed later. Once that was done, then I could attempt to debug the issues that were present. I did it this way because to test some methods, other methods must be implemented first, so this helps solve that issue. I did not plan it out on paper, since the code instructions were clear enough for me to understand how to implement the methods as asked (at least, 90% of the time).     Stan's strategy is to create the structure of the project first, like the constructors, method and field names, then to follow the code instructions and implement them. After this he tests his code and makes fixes when needed. He uses breakpoints when debugging to check varia...

Week 12 - Code Reviews      I reviewed my group's HW01: Hangman code. Overall, we did well on this assignment! I think the main issue that I noticed we all had was getting the output to correctly tally the current score. Since the project didn't touch on this, I don't believe it was a priority to make sure the logic for the current score was set up. All of our test code remained the same, so whatever was outputted should be what we created in Hangman.java. All of our formatting was clear, and our javadoc comments provided plenty of information for methods and fields. Code Review: Camila + sufficient comments for explaining code functions, if not a bit overused + all variables are descriptive and can understand their function from their name + code is efficient  + GameLoaderTest.java, HangmanTest.java tests all passed  -  HangmanTest.java does not output the word being built with guesses - TODOs are either not removed after completing, or not being addressed...

Homework Reflections      The homework was rigorous this week, but I am remembering a lot more than before now. I still have troubles with this  keyword and how to use it effectively, mostly because I haven't fully internalized how it is used. I thought the Hangman homework needed us to create the full project ourselves, but I was relieved to see that it was just the Hangman.java file we needed to fill out. Starting on all these projects early helped me immensely.              Working on the Shapes lab over time was a great experience to learn from what I did wrong in previous week's iterations.  What I Learned in Boating School Is... git stash has been immensely helpful for times where I accidentally make changes on the main branch.  Apps I've Tried      I've started using Habitica, a habit-tracking app that turns tasks into a leveling game. I've found that it does help a bit with remembering tas...

Week 9 - New Course CST338      I started the new class CST338 - Software Design last week! I didn't write anything down last week but I will do so here.  I had to relearn many concepts of Java for this class, but fortunately I remember most of what is being worked on so far. I do enjoy a more hands-on coding class that we have going on here.     The git commands we used in Lab00 are:  git add . git status git commit -m "commit description" git checkout -b BranchName Week 10 - CodingBat Work Reflection      The major challenges for the codingBat homework that I encountered started in String-2. xyzThere was where it started to go downhill for me. I find creating a loop that contains the correct length a bit hard for my head to wrap around. I tried a few different methods: first, a single for loop to check if .xyz existed. It then spiraled into multiple separate for loops to find xyz, then .xyz, checking if .xyz is at the end, etc. I ...