What did you like the least about the class?

I disliked the disconnect between the projects and the class material. I think what we learned in class was interesting at times, but it seemed like the class was more of a “learn python and its quirks” rather than a class about software engineering.

What did you like the most about the class?

I really enjoyed the project. Although I had some difficulty with a group member, I felt that I had learned a lot through this project in terms of both technologies and just learning how to work in a team. It was pretty cool to see a website come into fruition and learn how a website works in the context of the entire stack.

What’s the most significant thing you learned?

The website stack, and more specifically React. I didn’t really know any webdev coming into the class, and while I still have a lot to learn, I have a much greater understanding of web development.

How many hours a week did you spend coding/debugging/testing for this class?

On the week before a project was due, I’d generally spend 20+ hours working on the project. This was because I had to Google pretty much everything, since I didn’t know any JavaScript or React, yet I still needed to implement the front-end. It got pretty rough at times for me, but looking at the other groups’ gitlabs, it seems like most people don’t spend too much time on the projects.

How many hours a week did you spend reading/studying for this class?

I spent around 15-30 minutes reading for the class per week, and I would study for the exam for a couple hours in the days leading up to the exam.

How many lines of code do you think you wrote?

I believe I wrote at least 2000 lines of code. However, a lot of these lines were taken and adapted from code segments I found online.

What required tool did you not know and now find very useful?

React. I didn’t know anything about React before, and I would hear people throw the term around constantly beforehand. I still don’t feel like I know enough about React, but I’ve gained at least a surface level understanding of how to use it thanks to the website project.

What’s the most useful Web dev tool that your group used that was not required?

I used a tool I found online to clean the front-end code in the refactoring phase, while also inspecting it myself.

How did you feel about your group having to self-teach many, many technologies?

I’m kind of torn, because I think it would have been difficult to have taught everything that we used in the project (from the front-end to the backend), but I do think it was pretty frustrating at times since I felt like I was just Googling everything. However, I do realize that this is probably really common in industry, so I guess this aspect of the class prepares us for the self-learning we’ll need to do in the workforce.

How did you feel about the two-stage quizzes and tests?

I thought they were fine; while I had some trouble on the first-stage of test 1, I think looking back I just didn’t handle the pressure well, which is why I did better on test 2 because I learned from my experience with the first test.

How did you feel about the cold calling, in the end?

I didn’t really like it. I understand that some people like the cold calling because they say it helps them stay awake or makes them pay attention, but I personally don’t need any extra motivation to pay attention for class, so I felt that the cold calling just made me anxious in case I didn’t know the answer. I’d imagine this sentiment is shared with a lot of other students as well.

What did you do this past week?

I managed to complete the front-end for the 2nd phase of the SWE project. It was really stressing me out, but I’m relieved that I managed to get it to work and I feel like I’ve really learned a lot. Also, I feel like I did well on my exams this week so overall I’ve had a really great week, and a restful weekend on top of that. Also, I was pretty proactive and did most of my assignments in advance so I feel like I’m really prepared going into this week.

What’s in your way?

I have an exam for security this upcoming week, and I feel a bit lost concerning the material we’re learning in networks right now. Since the professor retired, a new professor came in who is quite excellent, but goes at a much brisker pace in terms of the material covered. I’m honestly a little bit worried about that class, but hopefully I can just study harder and try to do well on the future exams.

What will you do next week?

I plan on getting started with the next phase of the SWE project, addressing issues raised by the graders and our customers, and studying for my security exam. Also, I need to start building my language model for a research project that I’ve been putting off to the side because of the SWE project.

What was your experience of Test #1b?

It was mostly the same as my experience with the first test; I was concerned about the logistics of the exam, but thankfully the instruction staff handled it as gracefully as they could. I really appreciated that we were assigned to our project groups, since I felt like my group members were really helpful and reassured me when I felt like I wasn’t pulling my weight.

What made you happy this week?

Mostly the fact that I got everything done that I had to, and that the week itself is over. I was a bit stressed about the transition to online classes, and even though I really miss going to class in-person since I feel like it’s difficult to concentrate with online classes, I think given the circumstances everything is going okay and everything will be fine.

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

Don’t be afraid to ask for help. There’s so many things that are difficult to do alone, and especially when it comes to the SWE project, ask your group members for help. Even though individually we may all have weaknesses, we can cover each others’ weaknesses and create a product that’s greater than the sum of the individual members.

What did you do this past week?

I studied for my exams since they all happened to line up this week. I had a total of 4 exams this week (it was originally going to be 5, but Dr. Young got sick so we had our exam for security pushed back to after spring break.) I’m pretty bummed about the fact that I can’t take the second part of the SWE exam and the networks exam since school got cancelled on Friday due to the virus. I had studied a lot and the situation seems uncertain, so I’m experiencing a lot of stress from school and everything in general.

What’s in your way?

The second phase of the project. I think everyone in my group was dealing with exams so we just couldn’t prioritize the project, but now that spring break is here and we should have time, I’m hoping we can knock it out as quickly as possible. Also, I’m not sure how all of my classes will move to online (like my language class), so there’s just a lot of uncertainty which is making me feel pretty unsettled. I like to have structure/organization in my life and this whole ordeal is very stress-inducing.

What will you do next week?

I’ll rest up, try to learn React, and get as much of the second phase of the SWE project done as I can. My brother is coming home for Spring Break so I’m happy to see him again, and I’m hoping that we can catch up a bit. I’m a little disappointed that I probably won’t be able to go to the gym because of the virus, so I hope I don’t lose too much of the progress I had been making this semester.

What was your experience of Test #1a?

Honestly, it was pretty mediocre. I felt like I had prepared a lot going into it, but I ended up choking really hard on one of the problems, and I had misread the instructions. I ended up having a solution that had passed most of the test cases, but since I was scrambling for time I ended up submitting a solution that didn’t even pass a single one (since my semi-working solution was commented out.) I’m really disappointed with myself and I was hoping to make-up for that performance on Friday, but that didn’t end up happening so I’m just feeling pretty upset at myself.

What made you happy this week?

Seeing my parents again. With how my exams went (not that great) and having school cancelled on Friday, this whole week was pretty awful for me, but luckily I got to go home and see my parents/have delicious food, so I guess that made up for this week.

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

Wash your hands and don’t touch your face. I know that everyone’s worried and there seems to be a lot of anxiety due to the virus, but practicing good personal hygiene and taking care of yourself is the best we can do. There’s not much point in stressing about what we can’t do, so we might as well do our best to ameliorate the situation.

What did you do this past week?

I just worked on my assignments. I also had an orchestra concert on Tuesday which went pretty well, so I’m happy about that. We had no rehearsal on Thursday for once so I was glad to be able to go home early and relax that day.

What’s in your way?

This upcoming week. I have exams in nearly every class, and I am honestly pretty stressed about them all. I don’t feel very prepared, and I spent so much time sleeping this weekend instead of studying. However, I feel like I can study tomorrow and the day after, so it’s important that I rest during the weekend so I’m ready to tackle this upcoming week.

What will you do next week?

Suffer through midterms and hopefully survive. Also, I’m really looking forward to going home and catching up with my parents/brother. My brother’s coming home for Spring Break and I’m pretty excited about that. Also, I will probably start working on the SWE project once I’m done with all of my midterms. I’m planning on meeting a friend to study for the SWE exam, looking over my notes for networks, and meeting a friend for dinner on Thursday once most of my midterms are done.

What was your experience of =, *, **, and decorators?

It was interesting. I didn’t know what purpose those operators did in Python, and it was totally different from what I had expected. I still don’t have a great understanding of decorators, so I need to go back and give the hackerrank another shot before the exam on Wednesday though. Also, I need to look over all of the class notes and the Hackerranks we’ve done so far so that I will be prepared for the exam.

What made you happy this week?

Honestly, not that much. I’m feeling pretty stressed about all of my classes and I feel such a heavy weight on my shoulders about upcoming assignments, exams, and the SWE project. I feel like I have so many commitments as a result of taking so many classes and TAing on top of it all, so I’m really starting to feel burnt out. However, I know that as long as I survive this week I’ll be chilling for a while (thankfully!)

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

Take care of yourself. School is important, but your mental and physical health are far more important. Having a healthy sleep schedule, working out, and treating yourself to some free time, whether that means Netflix, YouTube, or playing video games, are all crucial to having good state of mind.

What did you do this past week?

I finished phase 1 of the SWE project in addition to turning in my lab for Intro to Security. Also, I’m almost done grading homework for CS429, so I feel like I’ve had a pretty productive week. I wish this weekend didn’t go by so quickly, because I feel like the grind is going to start again next week and I’m honestly not ready.

What’s in your way?

Phase 2 of the project; I need to learn so many technologies and I feel like there’s just not enough time to learn it all. Also, I have a vocab quiz for Korean tomorrow that I haven’t studied for yet, and I have several midterms coming up that I’m definitely not prepared for.

What will you do next week?

I’ll start working on phase 2 for SWE, try to finish/get most of my Intro to Security lab done, and start studying for my midterms that are next week. Also, I’ll try to get my assignments done early so I don’t feel stressed when deadlines start piling up.

What was your experience of comprehensions, generators, and yield?

I thought that comprehensions, generators, and yield were all interesting and nifty tools provided by Python; however, I feel like I won’t be able to remember all of the small differences in behavior when it comes to the test, so I’m a little worried about whether I can remember them all. There are just so many little details that can’t be ignored, and I’m sure they’ll come back to bite me in the butt later on.

What made you happy this week?

Finishing the first phase of my SWE project. It was giving me a lot of stress and I had underestimated how much time it would. Also, I spent basically half of this weekend sleeping so I feel pretty rejuvenated and ready to take on another week of school.

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

Try to have a good sleep schedule. It might be frustrating to not figure out why your code isn’t working or stay up late to study, but it’s better to just go to sleep so you feel rested the next day.

What did you do this past week?

I started working on the SWE project which involved meeting up with my group members a couple times to delegate responsibilities and set a timeline for things we wanted to get done. As I’m not very familiar with front-end development, I have a lot to learn, so I was hoping to learn from my teammate who was also assigned to front-end due to his experience, but I have not been able to contact him yet so I’m a little worried about our progress. I finished my assignments as usual, but this SWE project has been looming over my head and I’m honestly a little bit stressed about getting it done.

What’s in your way?

The SWE project for sure; I couldn’t figure out how to move our project to the domain we had purchased through Route 53 no matter how much I tried googling. Also, I haven’t started grading the homework for CS429, which I know will take me several hours (yet I really don’t want to do, because honestly, who enjoys grading?) Just in general, I’m really looking forward to Spring break since I feel like I’m burning out already– taking 19 hours this semester might have been a mistake!

What will you do next week?

I’ll continue working on the SWE project and update my group members on my progress while checking in on their progress as well. I hope to utilize continuous integration and use git frequently in order to facilitate a smooth development process. I’m also hoping to be able to get in touch with my team member who has been completely MIA since the project has been assigned.

What was your experience of iteration, AWS, and Chef Secure?

Learning about iteration was really interesting, and the guest lecturer from Chef Secure was engaging and inspiring. I appreciated his efforts to engage the entire class in his demo while also ensuring that the material he covered was not too advanced or basic. I had heard that AWS was nicer and easier to work with than GCP from a friend, but honestly AWS has been giving me a headache so far, so I hope I can figure things out quickly.

What’s made you happy this week?

Being able to sleep in. The weekend is always nice for that reason, even if I feel like I spend every weekend just studying and doing homework in order to stay on top of things. Also, I’m learning Korean right now and so I use an app called HelloTalk, which is a language learning app in which you can talk with people from around the world. I was talking with native Korean speaker and I felt like it was really rewarding to both teach English and learn Korean at the same time.

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

Schedule things out and try to stick to the schedule to the best of your ability so that you won’t be as stressed when deadlines come around.

What did you do this past week?

I had my first mid-term this week which went pretty well. I turned in all of my assignments for my classes, so this weekend was relaxing; however, I know starting next week that my classes are going to get hectic again so I’m just trying to take in and appreciate this brief moment of reprieve before I get super busy again.

What’s in your way?

The biggest upcoming thing is first phase of the website project. Our group has decided on an idea and we’ve created a slack, but we have yet to delegate individual responsibilities, and I’m not sure when we are all going to meet yet. I don’t have much experience with web development so I’m hoping I won’t be dead-weight to my team. I’ll have to pick things up quickly in order to help my group out and put a lot of time in to learn these tool sets separately.

What will you do next week?

I will get a head start on all of my assignments so I’m not super stressed when all of the deadlines start piling up. Also, I’ll probably look for some reeds since all of my reeds have been acting up in rehearsals and I haven’t been sounding great. Basically, just another week of doing homework, studying, practicing clarinet, and working out!

What was your experience of Project #1: Collatz?

The Collatz project went relatively smoothly, but since I was doing everything locally (instead of using the Docker image or being SSH’d in), I had some trouble with pydoc and some other things on the workflow. That was a little frustrating, so I ended up just transferring over all of my files to a CS machine and finishing the project there. Getting everything to work honestly took me longer than getting the working solution on Hackerrank amusingly enough, but I think the overkill-nature of the assignment helped me get a sense of the workflow I should implement going forward with the website project in order to efficiently work with my group members.

What made you happy this week?

Turning in all of my assignments! I’ve been coasting along since none of my assignments are due for a while, but I’m ready to get back on the grind tomorrow and get everything done in advance so I have time to relax.

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

Get out of your comfort zone! It’s really easy to get comfortable with how things are currently, but it is so rewarding when you take a risk and it pays off. Whether that means talking to someone you don’t know or trying a new food, there’s so many things to explore and not nearly enough time.

What did you do this past week?

I continued working on my Collatz project and I managed to pass the 3 tests on Hackerrank by implementing a metacache. I need to finish the other things on the workflow such as writing unit tests and acceptance tests, and I also need to complete some assignments for other classes. However, I did the bulk of the work for all of my assignments so hopefully the next couple of days will be not too stressful.

What’s in your way?

I need to finish the Collatz project and my lab for Intro to Security. Honestly, I did most of the work last week so there’s not really a lot in my way for the next couple of days though.

What will you do next week?

I’ll finish up my assignments and hopefully get started on Project 2. I hope to start early and spread out the workload so it won’t be stressful to turn in. I’m not sure which group I’ll be in though since I don’t really know anyone in class.

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

My experience of exceptions, types, and operators was good. It was interesting to learn about the attributes of different types in Python, and I’m glad that I know now why Python doesn’t have a ++ operator like Java and C does. I remember being confused originally about not being able to use the ++ operator (and instead having to use i+=1).

What made you happy this week?

I’ve been diligent about going to the gym this semester (since I couldn’t go last semester very much), and I made some good progress. Although my body feels sore a lot of the time, working out is a good way for me to relieve stress and take my mind off of academics.

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

Try to build relationships with professors! I find that most professors enjoy talking with their students and they’re a great source of information and advice since they have already gone through the things that we have. More generally though, I would say to never be afraid to ask for help, since there are so many bright and intelligent students at UT that are more than happy to help.

What did you do this past week?

I started on the collatz project, following the workflow on Downing’s website. Getting everything configured and set up with Gitlab took a bit of time, but I thankfully managed to get everything working (at least, I think so.)

What’s in your way?

I need to start working on optimizing my solution, since it is currently only passing the first test on Hackerrank. This is because I haven’t implemented caching, but I believe that with a plan of action this shouldn’t be too difficult to tackle.

What will you do next week?

I’ll work on optimizing my solution and continuing to follow the guidelines listed on the workflow. I hope to complete the project before next weekend so I can have that weekend to take care of other classes and assignments. If I run into any obstacles along the way, I’ll go to lab hours and office hours to ask for help.

What was your experience of assertions, unit tests, coverage, and continuous integration?

I’ve had a positive experience with assertions, unit tests, coverage, and continuous integration so far. Assertions have allowed me to ensure that I am processing correct input and resulting in correct outputs, and unit tests have revealed bugs in my code through white box testing. Coverage has allowed me to feel comfortable knowing that my tests are comprehensive and good, and continuous integration has made bug catching much easier since I am continuously and constantly pushing my changes. This has facilitated the development process since I am able to quickly identify and fix bugs.

What made you happy this week?

All of my classes were really engaging and interesting this week, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot in the span of just a week. I’m looking forward to classes next week and learning more!

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

Go to office hours! I can’t stress enough how helpful the TA’s can be, and they obviously want to help us succeed. I was confused about getting through some of the setup for the collatz project concerning Gitlab, Docker, and how to transfer my code to Hackerrank, but the TA’s made everything clear to me. I feel like I have a good idea on how to proceed with the project and if I encounter anything else that gives me trouble, I’m going to go to office hours again for sure.

Where did you grow up?

I was born in San Jose, California and lived there until I was 4 years old. Because my father had to relocate for work, I moved to Plano, Texas when I was 4 and I’ve lived in Texas ever since.

What high school did you go to?

I went to Plano West Senior High School, a public high school in Plano.

What was your favorite extracurricular activity in high school?

Without a doubt, GDYO, or the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra. Music is such an important part of my life and I have so many fond memories thanks to GDYO.

Why did you come to UT?

The strength of the CS program and the close proximity to home were big reasons for coming to UT.

Why are you majoring in CS?

Throughout high school I could never decide on what I wanted to major in, but taking AP Computer Science in my senior year made me realize just how fun CS can be.

Why are you in this class?

I’m taking this class in hopes of acquiring skills I currently lack while learning about good software engineering practices. In addition, I’ve heard great things about SWE in regards to the material and the quality of the lectures.

How did you feel about the cold calling?

I think the cold calling can be a bit of an anxiety-inducer, especially if you aren’t sure of the answer. Personally, I’m not a huge fan but I recognize that cold calling has some value.

What made you happy this week?

The fact that the first week is over! I had been looking forward to going back to school for the latter half of winter break, but I forgot just how exhausting school really is. I’m thankful for the opportunity to sleep in and get ready for another week of school.