What did you do this past week?
I worked on the Collatz assignment and recited some GRE vocabularies. I downloaded Docker and gets my Collatz going on Tuesday. I encountered some runtime issues and I’m still trying to fix it. The good thing is, with more time in the summer, I have a clearer mind of what’s going on by doing it incrementally. I am also reviewing class notes and comprehending the difference between pointers, addresses, and references.
What’s in your way?
Bugs. Both on my laptop and on my floor since summer is here in Georgia. (Also in my mind whenever my logic goes awry.) I need to speed up my Collatz program and complete the tasks after passing HackerRank test 3.
What will you do next week?
I will finish the Collatz assignment and go to office hours to get my questions from Collatz answered and learn about how others are doing.
What was your experience of assertions, unit tests, pointers, and references? (this question will vary, week to week)
I had experience with assertions and unit tests from SWE. In general, I like using assertions and other logging statements to debug broken codes. I know pointers, but I don’t know its difference from references. Names are a little confusing. I pieced together information from different sources and did a lot of guessing whenever I used them, so I am glad I would finally have the opportunity in this class to figure out more clearly what they are about.
How are you doing and holding up? What’s been most helpful for you in terms of support at this time?
I talk to my aunt all the time, about everything. I think she must be very “annoyed” by me by now. (My cousin gets annoyed because her mom talked to me more than to her.) Communication is a good way to have more support. Also maintaining a good schedule and being productive are very helpful.
What made you happy this week?
What is the first word in my little GRE vocabulary book? “Abandon”. (Abandon from the start haha.) I went over around 600 new words this past week. I’m not sure if that’s enough since there’s not much repetition but I’m happy.
What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
I had to pick up my gdb skills since HackerRank couldn’t stop giving me SIGSEGV or SIGABRT errors. So I saved my code and my custom input from HackerRank editor to local files and debugged it using “gdb [filename]” (to enter the (gdb)) and “run < Collatz.in”. I think HackerRank has a limit on the number of stacks, so I tried not to use recursion. When solutions went wild, gdb helped me in figuring out the bug by “backtrace”. (Also, “layout src”.) I really like this debugging tool. Also, using unfamiliar things from outside libraries introduce bugs.
… Me holding Soy Sauce Flavored Ice-cream (300 Japanese Yen) …
