Learning Journal - Week 9

CodingBat Practice

    As someone pretty new to programming with Java, I was able to appreciate spending some time in CodingBat practicing Java. I was able to relatively pick up on the syntax, and luckily it's quite similar to coding in C++ which I have a lot of experience with. The first assignment was relatively easy to push through, but during the second assignment I did run into a few issues.

Did I plan it out or just throw code at it?

     A majority of the problems were quite straightforward and didn't require any careful planning, so I didn't feel the need to plan it out. I would read the problem through, process it mentally, and write out my code while reading it a second time. Typically, this was enough to get it running on the first try, unless of course I ran into a Java syntax or method error. This changed once I reached the Strings-2 section, as it required me to utilize a lot more methods of Java strings which I had never worked with before. I ran into a lot more errors and I had to plan out my code much more carefully. The first few problems of Strings-2 I tried my original approach, but after I moved on to planning then I would run into less errors. 

What worked?

     If I came into a problem where the solution wasn't immediately obvious, I would comment out my thought process in the code and how I plan on using the corresponding functions. That seemed to work well for me in those tricky problems.

What didn't work?

     Assuming Java syntax was a critical learning experience for me. Some things worked right off the bat, but often I would run into errors of "method not found" or syntax errors. It felt like running into a brick wall, but then I would go read into documentation. One example was me using .at() instead of .charAt() or I would mix up .length and .length().

    In strings-2, I couldn't rely on my intuition alone. I spent much more time debugging and walking through my code after finding it didn't work.

How many tries did it take? 

    On average, each problem only required one or two attempts on my end. When learning how methods work for the first time, I would spend a few extra submissions fully understanding it. Also, if I wasn't careful enough in my planning in the Strings-2 problems, then I would do upwards of 4 or 5 submissions.