CS373 Fall 2020: Priya Patel Week 2

Blog 2: 31 Aug-6 Sep

Hey guys! I’m Priya Patel and I am currently a senior computer science major, who also loves coffee and k-dramas. This is my second blog post for CS373.

What did you do this past week?

This past week I reviewed information we learned in class and then started on the Collatz Lab. I set up my Gitlab, cloned the lab repo, and got a successful first run.

What’s in your way?

I am doing a part time internship with Target along with classes so figuring out how to manage my time between classes, assignments, and getting at least 20 hours of Target work in has been causing limits in how much work I have gotten done as of now.

What will you do next week?

This week my goal is to finish the Collatz lab by Friday and be able to utilize office and lab hours to help with the project. I have only done the set up stages of the lab so I have a lot to do still.

What was your experience of assertions, unit tests, and coverage? (this question will vary, week to week)

I do not have experience with all these topics but it has been interesting to learn about assertions and testing since it is essential for writing good code. My new story (task for 2 weeks) for my Target internship is to write unit testing code for functions we wrote in past stories using Jest, so learning about testing during class synchronously has been helpful. Also learning about coverage was interesting because having a tool that checks how much code you are properly testing is so vital and I never knew tools like this existed.

How are you doing and holding up? What’s been most helpful for you in terms of support at this time?

I have overall been doing well. There are times when I think about all the activities I would have been doing if corona was not happening and get sad, but my roommates and I have been doing our best to make new types of memories. Making sure to spend time with my roommates and keep in touch with my family and other friends I do not get to see if what has been most helpful for me during this time.

What made you happy this week?

This week I set up a desk in my apartment room and it has really helped me feel productive and get more work done. Also this weekend I went on a hike with my roommates and it was really nice to soak up the sun and get outside.

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

My tip-of-the-week would be to find a way to learn technology news updates daily. Once quarantine started, I realized my awareness on current technology and other events decreased as I was not interacting with as many people who could share news with me. I have found my ideal medium is listening to the TechCrunch podcast on Spotify, they talk for around 5 minutes about major tech updates for the day. It is very manageable for me to listen to this podcast everyday and I usually further search into things that peaked my interest. Also interviewers have asked applicants “How do you stay up to date with current tech news?” before, so I think it would be very helpful for recruiting.

Thanks for reading! I hope life is easy on you!