CS373 Fall 2020 Final Entry: Brandon Nsidinanya

Key Takeaways for this course:

• test first, test during, test after, test, test, test
• when designing algorithms, demand the weakest capabilities (e.g. iterable vs. indexable)
• when designing containers, provide the strongest capabilities (e.g. indexable vs iterable)
• build decorators on top of containers, iterators, and functions
• utilize the benefits of being lazy (i.e. yield)
• always look for reuse and symmetry in your code
• collaboration is essential to the quality of your code and to your well-being in producing it

How well do you think the course conveyed those takeaways?

I think the course conveyed these takeaways pretty well. When coding in Python, it’s important to keep many of these takeaways in mind because they will make your coding experience in Python much easier. I think that from learning about the different constructs in Python, the class hits on many of these points.

Were there any other particular takeaways for you?

I think another important takeaway from this course is writing code that is easy to maintain and expand. Throughout the course, we are presented with different readings that touch on different ways to write code that can easily be extended, and I think that this is very important when developing code.

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

I really enjoyed the two-stage quizzes and tests. I think that it’s a great way of getting to collaborate with your classmates. There were some times when something that I didn’t quite understand about a certain topic became clear after working on the quiz with other classmates. Being able to collaborate with classmates during the test also made test-taking less stressful and more enjoyable.

How did you feel about cold calling?

At first, I was a little worried about the cold calling. I think what worried me about cold calling was that I’d get called on and I wouldn’t know the answer to the given questions. However, after experiencing the cold calling, it became less stressful. At the end of the day, you’re not expected to know the answer to all of the professor’s questions. It’s more about engagement and learning more about a certain topic from getting called on.

How did you feel about office hours?

I think that office hours were pretty useful for getting help on the projects. Although I didn’t attend office hours that often, whenever I did, I always received very helpful advice on ways to move forward in the projects. I recommend going to office hours whenever there’s any confusion about what’s required for the projects.

How did you feel about lab sessions?

I never attended any lab sessions, but I’m sure they would be helpful, too.

Give me your suggestions for improving the course.

Overall, I think this course was great. From the taking this course, I learned a great amount about software development and some useful skills for web development. One thing I would improve about the course, however, is the portion about refactoring. I think that this skill is pretty useful to know, but I think there were some holes in the lessons about refactoring. There was some terminology about refactoring that I didn’t feel was well explained, and when asked to do certain kinds of refactoring on a test, I felt stuck because I wasn’t sure how I needed to refactor the code.