CS371g Summer 2021: Mark Grubbs
Blog Entry #2
- What did you do this past week?
In terms of school work, I put together the gitlab tools as a way of starting to work on project #1 for this class. For this class and my other class, I have also written a lot since both classes are using Perusall and other tools for assignments, which require that the student annotate some piece of work. Outside of class, I purchased an electric blower from Amazon so I could clean the dust from my keyboard. Luckily, it only took one day to ship, but another product that I ordered also came, but the other product arrived opened. Also luckily, I got a refund and got to keep the product because it was probably impossible to resell. Additionally, my niece came over for the weekend and we are playing games together.
- What’s in your way?
Using the same structure for the previous question, the school work up ahead includes continuing and completing the first project and a test that is occurring for my other class on Thursday on top of the regular weekly school work. Other than that, I am trying to install a mod for OpenMW.
- What will you do next week?
This upcoming week, I will work on and complete the project as well as take a test on Thursday for my other class. I will probably do my usual walk with my brother around my area each day of the week, and the usual weekly school work.
- If you read it, what did you think of the Paper #2: makefile?
I have had exposure to makefiles before in the classes of CS429 and CS439, but after thoroughly reading over it and using gnu documentation to further understand each piece, I have a higher understanding of how a makefile works. I have learned that one can define a lot with the makefile. Previously, I had only understood that the makefile just made compiling things easier, but now I can see that many more things can be done with a makefile like that of making targets to perform multiple tasks such as the pull and push targets from the first project’s makefile.
- What was your experience of assertions, unit tests, coverage, and IsPrime?
I had heard of assertions in the past, but had never used them in the same way that they were used in class. In the past, I was told to and used them for detecting erroneous input/computation in my code, which on second thought may have been more similar to the way they were used in class than I thought. I just had not been exposed to calling the errors I was checking for as preconditions and postconditions.
As for unit tests, I am still a bit confused on the exact syntax for them, but I am sure that my confusion will clear when I work more on the project. This is the same story for coverage. I understand what the two of them do, I just need to actually practice using them.
The IsPrime exercise was very helpful to me in seeing how HackerRank works since I had never used HackerRank before. I like the way that HackerRank makes the student make their own test; this makes the student have to fully understand the problem rather than just write a solution that works.
- What made you happy this week?
Getting the electronic blower quickly made me happy. On top of the usual dust that builds up over time, I have to deal with my seborrheic dermatitis (a.k.a dandruff) that also builds up easily, so it is helpful. Also, I no longer have to buy compressed air cans.
Here’s a link to the product in case people want it: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BI4UQK0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
- What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
Through a YouTube video, I learned that EA got hacked and their engine was leaked to the public. The YouTuber explained the ramifications of this travesty included that games that used this engine would become easier to cheat in and that the engine’s properties may appear in other company’s games through illegal sellers. I don’t know if I should link the YouTuber since he does use foul language, but he knows software.