First, let me say one thing: I only know a handful of programming languages. So, when I say that learning TypeScript was a much smoother and faster process than all the other languages I have learned, that is not really saying a whole lot. I enjoy how it uses some of the same components that we are already familiar with, such as Objects, functions, variables. It seemed like throughout the course there were many more things I had heard of already than unusual things. For example, for loops are very similar to the other languages I have used, Java for example. The one task throughout the course that I struggled with was importing a file, I was required to use the backtick key ( ` ) and I had never even used that character before. There was one ES6 question that I was unable to solve, so while I may feel pretty confident about my TypeScript, my grade may tell another story.
That reminds me, I would like to point out that A.I. was very helpful in getting me through this experience. However, I feel like it would not be necessary for me in the long run; I am just using it as a learning tool. I would like to say that whenever I am taught a new concept in programming I basically always have to see at least one example before I am comfortable writing the code myself. I have plenty of time to work harder and tackle things entirely on my own. If I get lazy and use AI on everything, I will not pass this class.
Overall, now that I have done a couple of practice WODs, I am feeling better about the expectations for this class. I hope to keep using typescript as a language throughout most of the duration of this class. I also enjoyed learning some javascript, which as I mentioned before, I am completely unfamiliar with. I wanted to add a humorous little note. For some reason, I got the idea that typescript was a fancy way of talking about HTML/CSS. I thought it must be because HTML and CSS were covered so extensively in the Pregame module.
So far, my experience at University of Hawaii computer science has been that it is about the same intensity as I expected and the material that we are covering is about what I would expect it to be. I was wondering, how will this course work if the main thing we are doing is WODs, which are designed to take only 20 minutes. When will we develop larger programs, which would be the key concept behind this class, since it is software engineering. Also, I thought we would be working in teams more, but perhaps that’s coming up.