Week 4

19 Sep 2015

Can’t believe a month of school has already passed. This week was pretty standard and uneventful in OOP. We did start learning about the new project, which has to do with being able to calculate votes the way the do in Australia. At least I think it was Australia. But for this project, we were allowed to work with a partner, and do pair programming. I know in the past, I’ve talked to people who have different views on pair programming. Such as that it’s not something you’ll actually do in the real world. But I have worked with people who are not the greatest at pair programming. I think it’s a good skill to have because you’re able to talk through your problem and code in such a way that other people can understand, i.e. build good communication skills and interpersonal relationships. But with what I’ve heard and what I’ve seen, what companies actually use pair programming on a daily basis? There was one paper that did mention that Ford and Chrysler did use pair programming and did see significant improvements, but that paper was also written in 1999. Technology has changed so much since then, do these companies’ still use pair programming? So to conclude, I think it’s a good skill to have because it will build up other skills that you need in the workplace, but my current view is that some classes at UT make a bigger deal about pair programming that what you will actually use, but maybe that is how the get us to build up this communications skill and interpersonal relationships.

Tip Of The Week: There’s no such thing as ‘not enough time’. You just don’t make it a priority.

I read or heard this quote somewhere a few months ago and I’ve tried to live by it. It’s suppose to make you think if you really should be making something a priority when you’re currently not. Some examples I’ve heard is that we all have those friends who are just involved in everything and has all these great side projects or participates in all these different hack-a-thons. And you ask them, “how do you do it? How do you manage to do all these things?”. And they’re answer is, “How much do you value sleep? How much do you value going out every weekend?” That’s not to say that you should be getting like 4-5 hours of sleep day, or not having a social life at all. You still need to be getting a good nights rest as well as a way to take a break, set loose, and just relax. But the point is to make you realize if you should be making something a priority.