CS373 Fall 2022: Scott Lai — Week 5

What did you do this past week?

This past week I met with my team and TA mentor, and we got started on Phase I of our IDB project. After drafting our proposal, we began working on the frontend of our website.

What’s in your way?

I’m currently trying to learn how to use React to get content onto our website and how to style it with Bootstrap. I’ve never used frontend libraries and frameworks before, so this’ll be interesting to figure out.

What will you do next week?

Next week I will apply what I’ve learned about React and Bootstrap to meet the requirements of the rubric and get our webpages published. My team and I also need to start our API documentation and technical report.

What did you think of Paper #5: The Single Responsibility Principle?

The chapter on the single responsibility principle was a thought-provoking exercise. Though it seems so natural to group up related responsibilities, I understand the technical arguments for decoupling and will strive to mirror this structure when designing my own software.

What was your experience of reduce and methods vs. functions? (this question will vary, week to week)

I don’t recall ever talking about methods vs. functions in class this week, but I enjoyed seeing the ways reduce could be implemented and used, especially in the factorial examples. I ended up using reduce on an assignment for a different class this week.

What made you happy this week?

My group was struggling with our proposal in that we couldn’t easily get our models to connect with one another. After a crazy-long research session and after toying with several APIs, I was able to find a way to connect everything together, solidify our idea, and get us started on the project. Though it’s nothing compared to the technical troubles my team and I will have in the future, I’m pleased to have gotten the team to the actual starting point.

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

LinkedIn Learning is a repository of professional video tutorials on topics ranging from productivity to React. I’ve finished a few courses the past few years, and they’ve helped me get started in web development.