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Key Learnings of the Trimester
Week 0 | Dynamically creating a menu page
Probably one of the most valuable things I got from the challenges. I was introduced to some of the many different methods of creating menus. The one I used this trimester was using runnables and hashmaps to assign methods to each week. Each of these weeks then had another version of the same menu that ran the algorithms Through the many different crossover gradings I’ve done, the different methods of implementation was a great opportunity of learning for me. One I remember in particular was Bryant’s menu. All trimester, I was a little annoyed by how long the code had to be for each menu. The runnable hashmap lambda method was usually over a 100 lines of code because they required all of the following:
- Creating a MenuRow class that houses each week and their respective algorithms
- Instantiate a MenuRow for every week
- Storing the title and their respective lambda method in every instance of MenuRow
- Creating a hashmap that stores all of these MenuRow objects
- Iterating through the hashmap to print and run each object based on user input
As you can see, it’s a lot of code just to run some methods. Although we’re doing it dynamically, one can argue that a simple switchboard would look much cleaner and be easier to understand. That’s why when I saw Bryant’s method of dynamically creating classes, I was excited.
Here’s a rundown of how this one works (a lot cleaner)
- Store every week as an Array inside of an array (this creates a table like 2d array for text displayed, class location, and method name)
- Iterate through Array to instantiate classes and assign methods
- Invoke the method from the class that matches user input
This is obviously much simpler and superior. I had used this method of dynamically creating classes in javascript but I never knew that there was a java way to create classes with a line of code. I’ll be using this from now on
Week 1 | Queues and Linked Lists
A concept that seems very abstract and hard to grasp. Creating queues requires pointing objects towards the previous and the next object. This essentially creates a list with objects “linked” together with pointers (hence the name, linked list :O). To be completely transparent, I had no idea how to do this so this was the week where I lost a lot of points. In the end, taking inspiration from the stack and queue code provided by the teacher, I slowly grasped what was happening collectively behind all the setNextNode(), head, tail, and generic types.
Week 2 | Calculator and RPN
I remember trying to comprehend RPN before the actual tech talk beacuse it seemed really complicated. It turns out it actually is really complicated.. The hardest part was actually turning a regular math expression into RPN. Using stacks, we sort operands and numbers in a way that allows for the program to calculate any valid string of expressions. I had a little bit of trouble with figuring out the parenthesis bit and hoo precedence affects the order in which operators enter and leave the stackbut after the in class demo, I grasped a firmer understanding of everything else. It was really cool to see what happens behind all the calculators we use today.
Week 3 | Sorts
lol