Software Engineering
09 May 2022
Software Engineer
Attending a Software Engineer class was once a nerve wracking experience. During the first two months of the semester, I used to have an anxiety before the Thursday class because of the in-class WOD. As mentioned in my essay, “Hello JS!”, Workout of the day, or WOD for short, is a weekly in-class timed coding exercise that assesses us with how well we learned the module taught the week of and how well we can apply it to different problems. I was consecutively failing WOD after WOD during those two months, and my anxiety kept getting higher. But through persistency, practice, and a constant attendance to my TA’s office hours, I was able to finally accomplish a WOD exercise. Overtime, my Thursday anxiety diminished to the point where rather than feeling nervous, I felt confident doing a WOD.
More than just web applications
Although the phase of the modules taught in class was an accumulation of developing web applications, additional skills were also taught that contributes to the whole fundamental software engineering concepts. Of those concepts, User Interface(UI) Frameworks was one of the things I enjoyed learning. Simply put, UI Frameworks are like the makeup of software engineering. It is a set of classes and interfaces that gives a website the modern look. It provides tools, varying from elements, collections and more, to make a website even more pretty.
Coding Standards was another concept that I enjoyed learning. Coding Standards is the collection of coding rules, guidelines, and best practices to keep a code clean. No matter how functional and appealing an application can be, it is much more important to keep a code clean. It improves readability, efficiency, and understandability, making it much more easier to share your work alongside fellow programmers. As stated by my TA, you don’t drink off of a dirty cup, don’t you?
Ethics in Software Engineering was the last concept taught in class, but holds the same value, if not more, with the other concepts that makes up what a software engineering is. With the skills that we have accumulated throughout the class, our ambition to create a better application is nothing but more. Taught as a last module was a reminder that we still have to hold our morals when it comes to using people’s data no matter how great our development may be. An application makes up a collection of user data, and without the practice of ethics, no user would want to use such application.
Personal growth as a programmer
Taking Dr. Johnson’s Software Engineer class was a new level that I needed to unlock as a computer science student. The growth that I developed was personally surprising, as I didn’t expect I would find enjoyment in programming again. Similar to a writer’s block, I was going through a stagnant coding slump before taking this class. Software Engineer class was just a big reminder of why I decided to study computer science in the first place – because I initially thought it was fun. The class offered another encouragement to keep going and persevere through the end. Coding is fun.