New Surroundings
19 Jan 2018
Powerful. It’s the most appropriate word to describe Javascript. Although I am completely new to Javascript, I am beginning to see how it is on the forefront of web development. Recently, I ran through the Basic Javascript exercises on FreeCodeCamp and was exposed to its syntax and programming style. Looking back on the other programming languages I know, Javascript seems to be more similar to Python (another scripting language) than C or C++. I find that it has relaxed restrictions on variable manipulation methods used in C/C++. String manipulation is much simpler due to an abundance of functions included in built-in libraries. Furthermore, functions are drastically more versatile as they are not restricted to a certain return datatype.
From a larger scope which encompasses software engineering as a whole, Javascript seems to be best suited for web development, graphical user interface applications, and rapid prototyping of different software algorithms. Having lots of libraries and more versatile functions/variable manipulation is incredibly important in the industry, as it enables software developers to implement ideas in a more time-efficient fashion.
When I first heard of athletic software engineering, I thought it was a great approach for building up software skills under a controlled stress-induced environment. I found the most important component to be acquiring competency with a minimal technology stack. This is a prime example of efficiency. The most useful work performed from its input. Software is always evolving, growing with time and aspiring software developers need to be able to pick up the new changes quickly or they face being left behind.
The WODs are an important tool for cementing the process of athletic software engineering. It serves as a progress report of how much knowledge was acquired by students within a time-constrained learning period. Although WODs are accompanied with some level of stress, I find it to be good stress. They provide enough pressure to prevent students from the dreaded procrastination, but are not overbearingly difficult. As they say, you get out what you put in. The WODs are simply an evaluation of whether or not your goals are being met. The frequency of WODs provide students with many opportunities to tweak the effort they put in to find the best ratio. Personally, the WODs and the athletic software engineering approach in general have been working well for me and I firmly believe that they will continue to do so in the future.