My first week in Software Engineering 1
19 Jan 2022
Javascript was one of the first languages that I stuck my toe out into the vast body of water represented by software engineering. 16 year old me didn’t know what she was getting herself into, all she knew was that the teacher for “Introduction to Computer Science” was super chill and it would be a fun elective to take. Three years later here I am relearning the language in the context of other programming languages used for website development. Javascript, HTML, and CSS are the languages that I have known the longest and have the most experience with.
My prior experience with the language barely scratched the surface of the different functions, syntax, and keywords. In reference to ES6, the new things that I learned are: Promise Syntax, the Rest Parameter, the Symbol Type, and many more Array and Math functions.
Javascript: Good or Bad ?
In my personal opinion, I think that Javascript is a good start language to introduce someone to the world of programming. Speaking from a software engineering perspective, I loosely understood the meaning of the term before Googling it for this essay. Now what is software engineering?
Software Engineering is defined as an engineering approach on a software development of systematic application. This in itself is the application of the major aspects of the engineering process: design, collaboration, analysis, testing, and “tinkering”. I think that any programmer no matter the language they choose to utilize should be able to incorporate it into their own engineering process. The length of their knowledge in the language is the most definitive factor in this process, but overall I think that Javascript is a good language that can be used in a lot of diverse projects.
What in the world is a WOD ?
Doing the first two practice WOD’s (Workout of the Day) made me feel extremely stressed, a similar feeling to my first ever technical interview. Though there was nobody actually watching me think through the problems, try and fail my methods of approaching said problems, etc. I thought the first two practice WOD’s helped set an expectation of what we would see throughout this semester, and I believe that more and more practice of these helps develop out analytical thinking and problem solving skills.
My take on athletic software engineering
Athletic Software Engineering is a term that I’ve never heard of prior to this class, but the more experience I get in this class the more I will be comfortable with this learning style. My first impression of this style felt pretty stressful and overwhelming, but I’m sure I will be able to get used to it. I can see this becoming very effective and helpful for us in our technical careers, so I’m excited to do more of these athletic exercises!