CS2101 Second Post

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Finally it is recess week, although I would rather call it “coding week”, when we have to code a lot for various modules. We have come out with the blueprint for our product, QuickDo, and now it is the time to get our hands dirty, and have our dream come true.

We submitted out project proposal, after which we did some modification on what the product should be. We have have set up a discussion channel, Google Group. We have also set up projects on bitbucket, a platform for us to exchange our codes. All of those above are preparations for the actual work. Since this is a team project, it is better to start slow with good preparation and planning than to start coding hurriedly.

Reviewing all the discussions so far, I find we are more and more actively participating in. This is because, I think, we become closer with each other and are more familiar with our project. Most of our discussions were short and happened right after CS2101 and CS2103 tutorials. I think they were quite efficient. We had some thoughts before we came to tutorials, and we gained some new ideas during tutorial by listening to tutorial’s and friends’s comments. We exchanged those ideas while they were fresh.

Our most constraint is that it is very hard to find a time to work together. That is because all of us are busy, and it is hard to find a time suitable for all of us. Instead of meeting physically, we need to come out with others ways of communication. I personally think email is a very good way. While sending emails, we can look up dictionary to get the precise words; we can also check history, so there is no need to take minutes. However, there are still some problems: not everyone checks emails frequently, urgent problems cannot be solved efficiently. The worst effect is that we lose the chance to improve our speaking English, which is exactly most of us should work on. With fewer lectures during recess week, we definitely can find some time work together. All of us are good programmers, so I am sure we can finish coding for V0.1 within two days.

Our original plan was starting doing GUI (Graphic User Interface) in V0.1. Later we realized that was too risk, since none of us has experience in GUI programming. After receive Dr. Damith and tutors’ feedback of our proposal, we knew GUI is really optional in this module, I mean CS2103. Dr. Damith even said that students, we, are the products of this module, instead of QuickDo, or any other todo managers. It should be wiser to start easy and have a product that works first.

The ideal situation is that everyone takes initiatives, there is no need to wait for someone, the leader, to assign tasks. I even do not think leader is necessary for such a small project.  Everyone can pickup the part he/she is most interested in. Meanwhile, help each other when it is needed. Like this, doing project is fun.