This is the first in a weekly series of blog posts I will be writing to document my experience in CS327E, Elements of Databases, for the Elements of Computing Program at The University of Texas at Austin
Monday, January 14th
Java. Well that escalated quickly. Here’s to not having the consecutive answer to 4 questions infront of the whole class.I must say, while this class looks like it will be the most work out of all my classes, I can honestly say I am most excited about this class. Interacting and manipulating databases is probably the biggest skill I am missing right now in my work as a freelance Digital Designer. I work with WordPress daily, and the only way I know how to access the database is through the provided WordPress Functions. I am looking forward to learning SQL to be able to write my own code and plugins to extend WordPress. I will say I was taken aback by Professor Downing’s direct hands on approach. It’s been a long time since I was asked point blank to explain the function of a line of code. While it will take some getting used to, I will say the direct call a name, ask a question really does help. It forces people to pay attention, to ask questions, to make mistakes and to learn. I’m really looking forward to see where this class goes this semester!
Wednesday, January 16th
PYTHON! Yay, something I understand and am decent at! By my understanding moving forward with all be python (sigh of relief) rather than last classes’ focus on a java program. I appreciate being exposed to another language, but I’m not here to learn java, I’m here for SQL. I’ll leave Java for my App design class…. Today was much deeper in code, a place I am much more comfortable with, rather than the awkward talking through the syllabus. We dove right in today, talking about our first Project solving the Collatz problem using Sphere. We spent the day going through the provided code for the project. I’m looking forward to getting back to coding. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve been in my terminal and gotten down and dirty writing code. Where is my coffee and dual screen monitor!??!
Friday, January 18th
I’ll be honest, I didn’t quite make it to class today. I got two new freelance clients, and I had to have meetings with them, this is not going to be a habit, but I can’t deny the fact that my freelance clients are currently paying for my college education. Apparently I didn’t miss much, only a quiz (What’s 1/39?) and a lecture on git and GitHub by the TA, but I already am comfortable using Git, so I don’t feel like I missed much.
Check out next week’s blog post.