Beyond The Code
10 May 2023
As the semester draws to a close, it is always a good practice to recount the things I’ve learned this semester. One of the more interesting courses that I took this spring semester at UH Manoa is ICS 314, Software Engineering. This course taught me many new things not only about how to design a web application but also lessons that could be applied beyond the scope of coding. Some examples that I remember fondly are coding standards and design patterns.
Coding Standards
Coding standards are just a consistent way of writing code. This makes your code easy to read and understand. This is important because if you are coding in a group and you need help and your code is difficult for your teammates to understand then it would take more time and effort for other people to help you solve your problem. Another situation where coding standards are important is when you write code for a company and when you are no longer in that company, another person has to edit your code. If the code you wrote is hard to read then you are creating problems for the other person that could have been avoided if you just had followed the proper coding standards. From this, I learned that it is important for everyone in a project to have their work presented in a consistent format if applicable. This way, it makes it easy for other people working on that project, present and future.
Design Patterns
When I first learned about design patterns in computer science, it was a bit confusing. In simplest terms, design patterns are just a solution to a problem that has been refined over generations through our predecessor’s trial and error. Essentially, design patterns taught me that I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. If someone else already made an efficient solution to a problem, then I could just use their solution or somehow rework my problem to be able to use that solution.
Applying Lessons to More Than Just Coding
To me, a good coder can apply what they learn in coding class when they code. But a great coder would deeply understand the lessons they learn from coding and start applying them outside the digital world.