First Blog
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Plano, Texas, which is near Dallas. While I have lived temporarily in China for half a year, I basically completely grew up here.
What high school did you attend?
I attended a high school called Jasper High School.
What was your favorite extracurricular activity in high school?
My favorite extracurricular activity in high school was definitely band. Being able to create music and express yourself was wonderful. In addition, the band community is very exciting and welcoming.
Why did you come to UT?
I came to UT because I knew I wanted to major in computer science and UT was a nice option for that.
Why are you majoring in CS?
I am majoring in CS because I grew up with computers and enjoyed working with them. Before choosing CS, I knew I wanted to do something in the STEM field, since I was interested in those subjects in high school. Computer science then seemed like the most logical choice.
Why are you in this class?
I am in this class because I took OOP with Professor Downing in the prior semester. I really enjoyed the class format and felt like I really learned a lot in that semester. I hope to learn even more frameworks/tools in order to assist my future career.
What are your expectations of this class?
While I already use Python as my primary coding language, I wish to know a lot more about python, whether that includes certain functionalities that I am unaware of or libraries that I have not made us of yet. In addition, I am expecting to learn about tools that help with teamwork and large-scale project development.
How much Javascript/Python/Web programming do you already know?
My summer internship that I just finished was all about coding a web app using ReactJS with a Flask API, so I think I am fairly experienced these fields.
How did you like the two lectures?
As I said earlier, I really enjoy Professor Downing’s teaching style as he teaches topics in such a way that enforcing understanding rather than some kind of memorization. Because of this, I enjoyed the previous two lectures.
How did you feel about the cold calling?
I think cold calling is a nice tool to make sure the students are paying attention. Especially with this online format, it is easy to get distracted during class, so this serves as a nice incentive to pay attention.
What made you happy this week?
This week, my brother and I cast a set of cement weights to use at home since buying weights turned out to be absurdly expensive. They actually turned out really well and I am already able to start using them!
What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
My tip-of-the-week is Window’s WSL. While there are some limitations, WSL essentially allows Windows users to interact with a Linuxshell. This was especially useful for me because I came from only using MacOS and Linux.
