Beginning at the introductory to programming course, ICS 111, it always seemed the right way to follow the format my professors used when teaching me how to code. It was simple logic that guided me to the conclusion that if I don’t write my code a certain way, then my program won’t execute as I intend, because the machine is incapable of assuming what I want it to do. As such I developed a self-diagnosed strain of OCD I refer to as Obessive Coding Standard Disorder. In this line of work its more like a super power because of how much time can be saved, and its easier to debug code if its neat and orderly.
Coding Standards are important to learning in this field, due to the differences and or similarities of every programming language. The basic Coding Standards taught in ICS 111, allowed me an easier transition into ICS 212 when the language shifted from Java to C/C++ because of the similarities. I feel more comfortable with those lanaguges and prepared when coming across similar ones. Whereas in my first experience with coding being Python and HTML back in High School, I was excited to learn completely new things in Java, but felt my previous experiences weren’t useful in the situations I found myself in.
When it comes to IDE’s, my favorite would have to be jGRASP or for the purposes of ICS 314, Typescript Playground. They’re straightforward because I can easily compile and run code, and the terminal shows me what errors are causing problems in my code. Using SSH/Emacs in ICS 212 was horrendous, it felt like being knocked back into a technological stone age and VS Code, unfortunately is reminiscent of that. I wanted to access my old class files and couldn’t because of having to deal with extensions, extra files, to be able to get my code to compile.
It’s a good thing that tutorials exist. Thanks to those, I have no problems adhering to the class coding standards and setting up our repositories for my assignments to turn in. However, ESLint can be a mildly irritable like an ex-wife. I don’t find it painful just a slight inconvenience that I do my best to swiftly alleviate. Akin to the sound of a fly buzzing around until I’ve edited out all the red lines. The problem then becomes ensuring my code runs and returns my expected outputs, but hey that’s just another Tuesday when programming.