Diving Into the New World of Javascript
06 Sep 2019
How I ended up in computer science
Design has always been a strong passion of mine. I come from a background that revolves around the arts as I enjoy my hobbies of drawing, painting, as well as playing the violin. Problem solving and puzzles are also a big interest for me. If I have free time to spare between classes, I usually pass the time by solving Rubik’s Cubes, doing Sudoku, or playing puzzle video games like The Legend of Zelda. The satisfaction of problem-solving is mostly the reason why my favorite classes in high school were my STEM courses. luckily, during my senior year there, a new AP Computer Science course was formed, so I took the opportunity to expose myself to this new field of learning computer coding, with Java being my first language.
First impressions of Javascript
As Java was my primary programming language, learning Javascript feels like a breath of fresh air. Although both languages have very similar syntax styles, Javascript allows more freedom, such as specifying every variable type with let or const instead of constricting them to a singular int, string, etc. With a more simpler environment, Javascript feels like a good programming language from a software engineering perspective. Its flexible syntax allows developers to have more creativity in functionality in the software, which may be the reason why it seems reliable for software engineers.
“WOD” is it like?
I have never heard of “athletic software engineering” before I started ICS 314. When I found out that such exercise implementations for the course would be WODS, I was anxious because of the pressure for coding under a time limit. I prefer to take my time while problem-solving; rushing myself usually results in overlooked errors, woven in my really clumsy work. However, I believe that allowing myself to succeed in WODs would help improve fluency in Javascript, or any language in that matter, as training myself to code faster for the solution also trains me to be more of a productive thinker and avoid convoluted answers. Saves me time and energy!
Takeaways
It would take some time before all this fast-pace learning settles itself into my own pace of learning. Looking ahead, I would need to familiarize myself with athletic software engineering by practicing on WODs regularly outside of the classroom. This means I need to allocate my time wisely to ensure that I get the most productivity from practice to prepare for the real deal. Although this style of learning may seem stressful at first, I will eventually learn to enjoy it further down the road on this journey.