Learning to Think In Code

  Wk07/08: Learning Journal Summary Final Learning Journal for CST 338 Looking back at HW1, I remember struggling with formatting, print statements, and understanding the hasWon() logic. At the time, I focused mostly on just making my code work. Now, after completing more assignments and learning better coding practices, I would approach HW1 differently in a few ways. First, I would make sure to use proper Javadoc comments throughout the code instead of adding them last-minute. Second, I would break large methods like chooseWord() into smaller helper functions to improve readability and maintainability. After working with design patterns and testing strategies, I better understand how small structural changes can make code easier to test and understand. One major victory is how much more confident I’ve become with writing clean, well-documented code. Back during HW1, I struggled with things like remembering to add Javadoc comments or managing method complexity. Now, I consistently ...

  Sami Hobson Drew Clinkenbeard Wk05 Learning Journal Who did you work with? I worked with Faith Thomas and Luis Valadez! What was your strategy for solving the Markov assignment? My strategy : I started by reviewing the UML diagram and the assignment prompt to get a clear idea of how the class was supposed to be structured. I didn’t jump straight into coding, instead, I made a rough plan of the main methods and their purpose. I began by setting up the class structure and adding the fields and constructors so everything was laid out. Then, I focused on one section at a time, starting with the simpler methods that didn’t depend on others. As I added methods, I tested them with the provided files to make sure everything was working before moving on. This step-by-step process helped keep things organized and made it easier to debug when something didn’t work as expected. What was their strategy for solving the assignment? Luis’s strategy : I watched the videos provided first then read...

  Who did you work with for this review? I worked with my groupmates, Luis Valadez and Faith Thomas! What was your strategy for solving the assignments? My strategy was to start by going over the UML diagram and assignment instructions so I had a solid understanding of what was expected. I mapped out the class structure and method names before jumping into the code, which helped keep things organized. I tackled one class at a time, starting with the abstract Monster class, then moved on to each subclass, ElectricRat, FlowerDino, etc.  Running the test file, MonsterTest, often to make sure everything was working right. Once everything was working, I went back and cleaned up the code to make sure it was easy to read and followed the structure from the diagram. Only issues I ran into were some small warnings so I went through my code and picked through my code to figure out how to get rid of my warnings! At this point my code was running smoothly and a weight was lifted off my sh...

Whose code did you review ? I reviewed the HW01 code from two classmates: Faith Thomas and Luis Valadez. Faith Thomas’ Code : Faith’s code is functionally well-organized and readable. Most variable names are meaningful and self-explanatory. For instance, names like guessedWords, remainingGuesses, and numberOfHints clearly communicate their purpose. There is a good use of comments in some places, though many methods are still marked with TODOs for Javadoc comments. Some logic could be improved for clarity, such as simplifying the chooseWord method or extracting logic into helper methods. I also noted that debug System.out.println statements were scattered throughout and should ideally be removed or toggled with a debug flag. Unused import statements weren’t an issue, but formatting could be a bit more consistent in terms of spacing and indentation. All unit tests passed, and it does not appear that the tests were modified, which is good. Luis Valadez’s Code : Luis’s code was well-struct...

  Sami Hobson Drew Clinkenbeard Wk02: Learning Journal Journal Entry: During Week 1, I completed Lab 00 and Lab 01, which introduced me to essential tools and practices in software development: IntelliJ Ultimate, Git, Java basics, and unit testing. One of the most useful takeaways from these labs was learning how to write and run unit tests in Java using a test class (RectangleTest.java). In the test file, we verified the behavior of methods defined in Rectangle.java, such as area and perimeter calculations. I learned how to create assert statements to check whether the actual output matched the expected values. This helped me recognize how important test coverage is for ensuring code correctness, especially before scaling up a project. Using IntelliJ for the first time was initially a challenge, but I became more comfortable navigating the interface, running my code, and debugging issues. The auto complete and real-time feedback were particularly helpful when writing the unit test...