#week-4

The pattern I decided to read is titled “Nurture Your Passion” from chapter 3 of Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye. The line that I think best summarizes this pattern is the one that states, “The people who walk The Long Road are not the heroes who sprint for a few years and burn out—they are the people moving at a sustainable pace for decades.” I really liked this quote because I’ve heard so many stories of young software developers who do amazing work at their first couple of jobs, but suddenly stop working because they are not feeling fulfilled. I think part of the reason for that is because many software developers enter the field and work themselves to the bone without really thinking about the “why” behind their work.

The reading adds that the jobs can foster a highly competitive, fast paced, and toxic work environment that further leads to developers burning out. The reading provides some potential solutions to this problem: 1. work on something you like 2. seek out kindred spirits 3. study the classics 4. draw your own map 5. set boundaries

One of the most thought-provoking things I took away from this reading was how by setting boundaries in my first job as a developer, I may get passed over for pay raises, promotions, kudos, or popularity. But on the other hand, by taking care of myself I am less likely to burn out and have a more sustainable career.

Therefore, I would say this pattern has indeed caused me to change the way I think I will work in my profession. While I want to be seen and known as a hard worker, I also think it is important for me to be mindful of how I am working and find balance.

For this week’s blog post, I’ve decided to watch a video titled, “Object Oriented Design Tutorial: Creating a UML Design from Scratch” by Derek Banas. The reason I picked this video is because 1. it directly relates to one of our course topics, “Modeling: Unified Modeling Language (UML)” and 2. because it teaches a methodical process to creating UML diagrams. This video is actually part of a series titled, “Object Oriented Design” and in the next video Derek shows how to create code from the UML design he’s created. Since I will likely be making more UML diagrams in my educational/professional life, I figured it would be good to further develop this skill.

One of the first things Derek mentions in this video is that he will be showing both the analysis and design stages for this process. The program that Derek is tasked to create for this video is a coin flipping program for two individuals. One player selects heads or tails, the other player gets assigned the other coin side, and the winner and loser is selected. Derek starts this process with something called a Use Case Description. For this description, Derek has a basic text editor open with the following categories: description, triggers, actors, preconditions, goals, not available, and steps of execution. Derek goes through each of these categories and writes in the relevant information for the program he needs to create:

The description describes what happens in the program.

Triggers mention how the program/game starts.

Actors include the two players, the coin, and coin game.  

Preconditions lists the things that need to be true for this program to run (i.e. 2 players are available, a coin is available).

Goals list the outcome of the program (i.e. one player wins and the other loses).

Not available references potential invalid inputs and extensions on how to make the program better in the future.

Steps of execution describes what the program will do in a numbered list (each number represents a specific task).

Although this was only one part of the 30 minute tutorial, this was still an extremely useful process for me to observe Derek do. I learned how important it is to critically think about what you want your program to do before you jump into programming. I am definitely guilty of trying to jump into coding sometimes but I can see how cleaner and clearer code can be written by thinking and mapping things out in advance.

The thing I’m happiest about from this blog entry is finding this series and Derek’s YouTube channel. He has multiple tutorials on his channel that I can see myself learning a lot from. His videos are educational and thorough (many of them are 20-30 minutes long). As I continue growing as a programmer, I will definitely be referencing him to learn more useful information, techniques, and procedures.

Precedent Analysis Week 4 (Review -2)

Viipuri Library - Alvar Aalto