CS 371P Fall 2021: Bruce Nguyen

What did you do this past week?

This week, I was able to finish a lot of my work for my classes and even get ahead on some of the overall material. I really liked being able to get ahead on my work as the Thanksgiving break is approaching, and I have a lot of upcoming exciting plans. I was also able to plan and hold a very fun and interesting Pod seminar for my students this week.

What’s in your way?

As the weather in Austin continues to suddenly shift between being cold and warm, I have found that it is a little bit more unclear as to what is the best thing to wear for a specific day. Even if the weather app mentions that it is rather warm for a specific day, there may be a sudden unexpected cold breeze during the day. However, I am very excited for the cold weather overall.

What will you do next week?

I plan on going home to Houston and spending some time with my family next week. Though I recently went home this past weekend to visit, I am already missing home and am really looking forward to being able to see my family again. There are a lot of exciting plans for my family and I during the Thanksgiving holiday so I am definitely excited to be going home.

If you read it, what did you think of the Paper #13: Why Extends Is Evil?

I think that the paper was a great resource that really continued the conversation that the previous papers in the class began. Overall, the examples mentioned in the paper really helped me to continue understanding why it may be better to continue utilizing interfaces instead of implementing direct inheritance. I have definitely seen how useful interfaces can be and will definitely be utilizing the concepts mentioned in the paper in the future.

What was your experience of vector and allocator?

I have definitely utilized vectors and allocators in my previous projects before, but I definitely learned a lot more about the specific implementation details of both vectors and allocators in the recent lectures and exercises from class. It was very interesting to know how things that might seem like small changes to an implementation can make such a big difference on the overall efficiency and effectiveness of a program.

What made you happy this week?

I was really happy to have been able to see a lot of friends who I had not seen in a really long time this week. We spent some time catching up and having a great time while talking about our future plans and goals. I was also really happy to have been able to try out some food that I had been looking forward to trying out for a long time!

What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

For developers who actively develop software on their laptops and tend to work on their laptops both at home and on the go, I highly recommend having an extra charging cord. By having two charging cords, developers do not have to worry about possibly forgetting their charger at home when heading out. One charger can be designated to being used at home while the other can generally be used on the go.