CS371p Week 11: David Durairaj

1. What did you do this past week?

This past week I spent most of my time working on the 4th SWE and OOP project. There were quite a few things that had to be done for both, especially for my OOP project, and I spent most of the week planning and working with my teammates to complete the projects. They are both due this Tuesday, and while I am happy with the progress we’ve made, it is critical that I give my all to both projects to finish them successfully.

2. What’s in your way?

At the beginning of the semester when I told Professor Downing that I would be taking SWE and OOP together, he told me that that wasn’t the greatest idea. I now see why. Time is the biggest factor in my way at the moment, especially when I have two large Computer Science projects both due on the same day. Luckily I have been allocating my time well enough to get through both projects successfully, but it still comes at a cost.

3. What will you do next week?

One thing I am looking forward to next week is Rez Week 2019! For those who don’t know, Rez Week is a celebration held every year at UT west mall that brings together people from all backgrounds/ministries to celebrate Christs’ resurrection and the work He is doing on our campus. The beginning portion of my week will be mostly spent on finishing up my OOP and SWE projects, after which I will be freer for the rest of the week. I also need to see what classes to register for next semester as the Fall 2019 course schedule has been published.

4. What was your experience in learning about initializer_lists and vectors?

I enjoyed Professor Downing’s lectures on C++ initializer_lists and vectors. The best part of it was being able to practice implementing the vector class in the in-class exercises. I gained a much better understanding of how vector works as well as why we use vectors instead of arrays. Initially, initializer_lists were a bit confusing for me, but I’m glad Professor Downing went over them in class because I have a better understanding of them. Overall I feel more comfortable with the usage and implementation of vector, and I’m excited to see how I can make better use of vectors in the following project.

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

As the course schedule for next semester just came out, my tip-of-the-week is to not just pick Computer Science classes that are “easy”, but instead choose courses that will challenge you and increase your knowledge, especially in the most current technologies today. Some of the hardest courses I have taken at UT have also been the most rewarding!