Week 4 CST 338 Learning Journal

With whom did you work?

I worked with Sami Hobson and Luis Valadez. 

What was your strategy for solving the assignments? Did you start writing code right away? Did you plan it out on paper? 

My strategy was to start with one file at a time. I started monster.java first and explicitly followed the UML diagram for instantiating the variables and fields and methods. Before building the chunky methods I created 4 other branches, each with an individual monster in it, ex: electricRat, flowerDino, etc. Once I finished building my concrete implementations, I was able to build the chunky methods in monster.java without getting errors saying my electricRat or other monsters didn't exist. I don't like red errors lol. After building my chunky methods in monster.java I had to do a lot of debugging. I ran my tests and a lot of them passed but had some things I needed to fix. Got that done, everything ran smoothly, just happy to be done with it!

What was THEIR strategy for solving the assignments?

Luis's Strategy: Here was my strategy: I went right in to it, after following the video to help with the check in for the project. I read through the prompt for LDPM first to get an overall idea of the classes and methods. After that I followed the prompt to create the logic for the method which gave me an idea of the each class would apply those methods. Once the Monster class was finished I created the remaining constructor classes and override methods. I ran the unit tests and failed the toString() as it got stuck in a loop which led me back to modify the takeDamage() and attackModifier() methods. Once I fixed those methods the toStringTest passed leaving the setTypeTest as another failed test. That test led me to modify the attackModifier() method where I had assigned a variable to take in the modifier value which I changed to a return statement instead. That changed allowed me to pass the setType(). Overall my approach was to get code written in and modify as needed.

Sami's Strategy: For Project 1: LDPM, 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 shoulders.

How would you change your strategy having worked on the assignment?

I don't think I would have changed my strategy. I felt organized with the way I was doing it and it was a successful strategy for me. 

According to your classmate(s): how well does your code follow the Google Java Style Guide ? Did you know you can automate applying some of the style guide rules ?

My peers said that my code seems to follow the java style guide well.  They helped me realize i've been doing my javadoc comments incorrectly, so I redid that and turned it in again! Other than that they said it appears clean and organized. I did not know that you could automate applying some of the style guide rules. That is awesome and I will have to look into that!

What was the most challenging part?

The most challenging part for me was building the chunky methods and make sure they were done right. Once everything was built, I had trouble debugging when running the unit tests. 

What was the most interesting?

I think the most interesting thing was merging all my branches into main and doing pull requests in gitHub. I think it's cool it tested all my code and made sure everything was running. I sure do love seeing those green check marks. 

What are you the most proud of?

I'm most proud of staying calm, cool, and collected throughout the project. I was scared to start it thinking I would fail. So i'm proud of myself for getting through it and not crying at all. 

How did you celebrate completing the assignment? 

I was in San Francisco for my husband's dad's birthday, we went out to a nice dinner and I ate some really yummy seafood. 

If you didn't now will you celebrate?

It's a mental celebration for me when I finish almost any assignment lol. 

This isn't a joke. It helps our learning to celebrate and acknowledge victories.  <-- Dr.C just fought for your right to party.