CS371p Spring 2020: Ian Thorne (Post 11)

What did you do this past week?

This week, I figured out most of my design for the Darwin project for this class, caught up on algorithms material, and my partner and I made some solid progress on my graphics project. I think I’m starting to get into a rhythm with this whole remote learning thing.

What’s in your way?

Currently, not that much. Just like last week, all I really need to do is make sure not to get distracted by the bevy of distractions that is being at home. Like I said, though, I’m starting to get the hang of this, so this week should hopefully not be that bad. If anything, I think I’ll have three projects to work on this week, so I’ll need to manage my time well to get everything done.

What will you do next week?

This week, I’ll need to finish up the Darwin project, but with a design I’m reasonably confident in, it shouldn’t be too terribly difficult, as long as I stay on top of it. I’ll also need to do some more work on my graphics project (especially since my partner and I haven’t worked on it since Thursday…). On top of those things, I’ll need to do an AET project. Fortunately, the project is to create a prototype for a game of my choice, so hopefully it won’t feel like work. Otherwise, I’ll try to stay in this rhythm I’ve come up with and hopefully it will go smoothly.

What was your experience of vector?

Since I learned about Java’s ArrayList in data structures, the ideas behind the vector implementation weren’t really that new, but the C++ side of things was nice to learn about. I think I’ve got a pretty good understanding of it, because a lot of the design decisions that we made about it in class made sense. I’m glad we went over that in class, because the allocator project had a lot of methods that were overwritten with const and non-const versions, and vector shed a little more light on those decisions. I also think I’m starting to get a better handle on the different constructors and their different jobs in C++, which is nice.

What was your experience of the ethics material?

I thought the ethics material was interesting. It’s hard to answer a lot of those questions, especially since technology is advancing at a much faster rate than our laws and policies surrounding it can evolve. As a result, it seems like governments just don’t really have a good idea of how to manage new technologies, which can feel pretty frustrating at times.

What made you happy this week?

This week, I finally got to finish a great game I started over spring break, which I was really excited about. With my first week back to school being so busy, I never got the chance, so finally getting to see how everything ended this week really put me in a good mood.

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

In a similar vein to my pick-of-the-week from last week, I would recommend the VSCode Live Share extension. My graphics partner and I used it while working on our project this week, and along with the voice channel in our Discord server, it felt really close to working together in person. The extension basically allows the both of you to work in the same directory at the same time, so both of you can edit files at once. It also shows you where the collaborators’ cursors are, so you can see what they’re looking at when they’re talking. If you want to check it out, here’s the link https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=MS-vsliveshare.vsliveshare.