A Software Engineering Retrospective
13 Dec 2022
Winter approaching also signals the end of the school semester, and my Software Engineering class. As a Computer Engineering major, this was my first time taking a course centered around computer science concepts, and I was able to learn a lot through this experience. Though this class mainly focused on web development and the required technologies, I can still apply a lot of these teachings to areas outside of web development. I’ll be sharing some of my grand takeaways from the course below.
Writing Consistent Code
Being part of a Software Engineering team requires looking at a lot of code. This code is normally comprised of contributions from many people, some who may not be working on the team anymore. It’s essential that you understand this code before making your own changes. This task can be a challenge, but following coding standards when contributing can help make your lives easier.
Coding standards provide a uniform look to code written by multiple engineers. This improves readability and can prevent simple coding mistakes that are associated with a specific language or library. We primarily coded in JavaScript during our class, and ESLint was used for the coding standard. However, this concept can be applied to languages besides JavaScript and in areas outside of web development. Enforcing these standards is one way to always help improve the quality of your code.
Utilizing Open Source
Another concept that has a large importance even outside of web application development is Open source software. This is when a copyright holder of a computer software allows users to change and distribute the source code for their own purposes. Open source is becoming more popular due to it allowing users to have more control over the code, and providing users with a way to help fix errors or bugs that the developers may have missed. Getting community feedback on the code is also another great way to determine new features to implement. A large variety of software are open source, some examples including Python, Git, and Mozilla Firefox. Contributing to open source projects is one way to improve your skills and gain experience outside of school. It’s also a great way to gain visibility!
To The Future
I’ve been able to learn a lot about web development over the past couple months. I worked with new technologies like Meteor and Bootstrap, and gained more experience working in a team to deliver a final product. However, I was also able to learn more about skills that expand outside web development. Whether I’m implementing coding standards for my team, or contributing to an open source project, I’ll be able to apply what I’ve learned in my future endeavors.