Starting the 311 Journey

Blogpost 301

How do you organize your code? What are some suggestions you find on the web?

I organize my code by whiteboarding first, so I know step by step what I need to do. Then I write the code for it, so it flows out in the order that I need it. I have gotten better about putting comments in my code as well, to help me and other developers know what is happening and what is needed in certain functions. Other suggestions I have found are to break the JS into chunks and create new files for them, use ES6 classes and use promises.

Can you describe your workflow when you create a web page or web app?

My workflow when creating a webpage or app so far consists of the following steps:

1. Read the problem/goal for the webpage to make sure that I have a clear understanding of all that is needed, or the problem that needs to be solved.
2. Whiteboard, going through each element one at a time to make sure each one is addressed.
3. Start coding, following the whiteboard plan, running the code and troubleshooting along the way to make sure each individual element is working.
4. Run the code in its entirety, tweaking anything that needs to be adjusted or adding additional elements as I want.

I’m sure there are better ways to do this and hopefully I’ll learn them as I continue to improve :)

You can’t work out how to solve a coding problem, where do you find the answer? Why? How do you know?

If I cannot find the solution to a problem, the first thing I do is Google. Google has become my best friend. I thought I used it a lot before, but I was wrong. If the solutions that I find on Google aren’t working, or I need another perspective I ask some of my classmates. If that fails, I schedule with one of the tutors who have been indispensable on this journey. But first and foremost, Google.

What problems have you solved that didn’t involve you coding?

Some problems I have solved have that didn’t involve coding centered around my perspective. There were a couple projects where I tried to make it a lot harder than it actually was by solving the problem in a roundabout way, just because I was still getting used to the mindset of a programmer and had only learned certain functions so far. Once I learned the straightforward solution, it got easier to adjust to doing it the simpler way, even if I didn’t exactly know how to yet.

Talk about your preferred development environment. (What IDE or text editor you enjoy, and why?)

I really like VS Code, and have discovered that I’d like to alter a few things about the setup that I have at home. I have a PC, and love it, and recently acquired a second monitor and don’t really know how I functioned without it before. Chrome has been awesome so far to test things and resolve issues in the browser. I don’t have experience with many other environments, since these are the ones we’re supposed to use, but I’m curious what the benefits of other ones are.

How are you keeping up with the latest developments in web development?

Again, Google! Also, the articles the instructors and other classmates post in Rocketchat have been very informative and interesting, and quarantine has given me a little bit more time to read (so at least that’s one benefit!)