CS373 Fall 2021: Michael Kavas

Week 9

What did you do this past week?

This past week I worked on the backend and API for our IDB website. Getting the API routes and JSON information to work took a long time, but the solution itself was very simple and straightforward. Postman was extremely useful in testing it, and I used a program called DBeaver to visualize our database. Getting the backend to automatically deploy with GitLab CI/CD was another task I did this week, and it was very valuable to learn how to do that.

What’s in your way?

The biggest problem I’m facing is providing private information, such as database credentials, to our Docker image. When the backend automatically deploys, it doesn’t have our database credentials file because it’s included in the .gitignore file. I have tried writing scripts to write this data to environment variables, but I’m struggling to get it to work.

What will you do next week?

Next week I will put the finishing touches on Phase 2, and then immediately start on Phase 3. I took too much time off after Phase 1, and I won’t make that mistake again.

If you read it, what did you think of the Paper #8: Interface Segregation Principle?

The Interface Segregation Principle makes plenty of sense, but it also seemed slightly obvious at times. I think it would become more helpful with complex software, but the examples in the paper didn’t do it much justice.

What was your experience of functions, closures, and decorators?

Closures and decorators seem extremely useful but only in very specific cases. I’d like to learn more and get some experience writing real code with them so that I’m able to utilize them more often.

What made you happy this week?

I went camping for a night this weekend, which was a great getaway from screens and school life. I haven’t seen the night sky without light pollution in a very long time, so it was surreal to experience that again. I saw a lot of unexpected wildlife and got to spend quality time with 2 of my friends.

What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

My tip this week is get away from responsibilities and urban life for at least a day every once in a while. My camping trip this weekend reminded me of how important it is to give yourself a long break from your typical lifestyle every now and then.