Blog 3

What did you do this past week?

This past week has been pretty light in workload, so I had time to play catch up and also do things outside of school. I caught up on readings in my non-CS class, which is important since I have an essay on those readings due this next week. I also finished the assignments in my other classes ahead of time, and I got my grading done for the class that I’m a proctor for. This week also gave us two episodes of The Bachelor instead of the usual one, so I spent some quality time watching that with my friends. I also allocated time for myself to cook, exercise, and read. For this class specifically, I’m almost done working on Project 1, but I still need to generate some acceptance tests before submitting.

What’s in your way?

Things have been pretty smooth, so I don’t have too much in my way right now.

What will you do next week?

This week I need to write the paper for my non-CS class and complete Project 1 for SWE. There are also a couple career events happening this week. Even though I already made internship plans for the Summer, it’s always an educational experience going to these events. Almost always, I learn something new about a company that changes my perception of them. Time permitting, I’d like to check these out (and hopefully pick up some nice swag too)!

What was your experience of exceptions, types, and operators?

I really liked Prof. Downing’s approach in explaining exceptions, specifically by showing us how difficult coding would be without them. I also found it interesting that even types in Python still have types, but this makes absolute sense. Learning about operators this week also exposed me to l-values and r-values, which I’m sure are terms abound in industry.

What made you happy this week?

One of my close friends celebrated his birthday this weekend, and we got to throw him a surprise party and bake a cake for him. Spending time with these friends is always a fulfilling experience, and it’s something I’ll miss after college.

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

Google Maps celebrated its 15th year this last week, and they updated their app icon as part of that. The new icon is a multi-colored pin overlaid on a white background, making it consistent with the rest of the Google suite. I have a lot of Google apps on my phone and was always bothered that Google Maps did not share the same design principles in its icon design, so I’m glad to see that it’s been adopted. I think the lesson from this is that customers appreciate consistency in the products they use. Software developers should aim to make their products as seamless and intuitive as possible, and one way to accomplish this is by making designs predictable and recognizable.