Highs and Lows: Journey with JavaScript and Athletic Software Engineering
30 Aug 2023
Learning JavaScript
So far, I am excited to be learning JavaScript again. In high school, I took a class that taught JavaScript. However, I did not touch JavaScript afterward. Doing the current lessons of JavaScript in ICS 314 were a great way for me to relearn the language and to learn more in depth information about it also. One of the things that I found interesting from the lessons is to avoid using var when initializing variables. Instead, using let or const is better to avoid overwriting variables in the code. An observation that I made while completing the lessons is that I noticed that the syntax between JavaScript and Java were very similar, so it made the transition of learning easier. Some new information that I learned.
Current Experience with Athletic Software Engineering
ICS 314 utilities athletic software engineering. This is done by completing software engineering tasks while being timed. At first, I was very intimidated of being timed, but after much thought, it is great practice for technical interviews. From my knowledge, when applying to tech jobs, one of the steps of applying is going through a technical interview, where a person will be given a problem and they must create and code the solution in a certain amount of time to show the interviewers their skills. By going through the motions of athletic software engineering in class, I think it will be a great way for me to experience thinking and coding under pressure. It will also be great practice to see where I am struggling and to improve upon these shortcomings.
My experience with athletic software engineering has been alright so far. By completing the practice WODs that are available through the class website and teacher assistants, I was able to experience coding while being timed. It was a bit stressful at first; I felt the need to type faster, but that led to a lot of mistypes. This led to me spending more time trying to fix my spelling mistakes instead of focusing on completing the coding task. I also had a few practice WODs where I needed more time to code, going over the DNF time. Making typing errors and going over the DNF time made me worry about how well I am doing with athletic software engineering. However, after reviewing the solution and understanding how the code worked, I was able to get my attempt times to be in the Rx range. I found the practice WODs to be a great help in indicating what I should know to prepare for the in-class WODs. I really enjoyed the practices, and I will continue to complete them as preparation for the actual WODs in class.