CSUMB Learning Journal 2025

 This week in CST 338 the majority of the work was on HW01: Markov Text Generation. This one was a tough one for me. I ran into countless issues. The methods that gave me the biggest headache were the addWord() method and the addFromFile() method. I know once you read this you'll ask how I managed to make those two simple methods so very hard, and I'll just give it to you straight...overthinking, overcomplicating, and not focusing ON. THE. PROMPT. I turned what should have been a 4-6 hour assignment (honestly looking back it should have only taken me 2 hours or so if I hadn't made all the mistakes I did) into an assignment that took nearly 8 hours. In the end I had to request a team member to review my code and help point out my mistakes. I had previously tried to let AI review my code and suggest revisions (no pure answers for the code) to try and figure out where I was going wrong. At the end of the day it was my Markov method. I forgot to implement my Markov method. This...

This was the start of week 2 in CST 338. I'm excited to finally be working on code instead of writing essays haha. Though there is so much in this class that is new to me. For instance IntelliJ and Adroid Emulator are both programs I'm very unfamiliar with, so right out of the gate I was nervous. But I'm beginning to dust myself off and refresh my Java memory. Discuss the process of solving the Coding Bat challenges.  A major part of software design is thinking about how to approach a problem with the tools we have at our disposal.  What were the steps you took to solve some of these challenges?       My process to tackling the Coding Bat challenges were to simply go in head strong and review/revise my mistakes. It's been awhile since I've used Java so I wanted to try and test my memory by going at it right away. At first I was successful, until I realized I was working on the warmups. String 1 and Array 1 was fairly easy, but once I reached Logic I was stu...

Part 1: Review Other Teams' final video projects Review 1: Cyber Down - Metaverse -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpDBSmyqRQs Yes the topic is well covered, the "What is the Metaverse" portion lays out a clear definition of the topic allowing viewers to understand what's to come. The presentation is clear and the audio has a good pace, not too quick not too slow, making it easy to listen to and understand the information being provided. The quality of the research seems to be very strong, the slides had good information and was well laid out. The video production was done well, but since it was basically just slides I'd expect as much. The audio could have been improved but not everyone can control that so it did not bother me so much. The video is definitely interesting, not so much engaging. After finishing the video I learned a lot about the topic. I'm not so sure I can guarantee the teamwork is evident, as there was only one speaker. But since the group...

  Part One Reflect on your team's Final Research Video Project Planning.  How did you collaborate?  What tools did you use to communicate and produce? Is the process smooth, what will you do differently next time in large collaborative projects?      My team and I are doing well so far on our final research video project, if anything I'm not pulling enough weight. We collaborate through discord chat and on Saturday's we have a meeting to discuss any team assignments/projects. Though we keep regular contact through the chat. We are in the process of recording our scripts for our video then we're going to hand them off to a member that is splicing together some videos. Our project has to do with deepfake AI so we're trying to make it as demonstrative as possible because of the potential deepfake has to ruin somebody's career and reputation. We want all of our fellow students to see our video and understand that. Part Two Please reflect on the Lecture readings...

  Part 1: Help Your Teammates to Develop Capstone Ideas One capstone idea my team has been discussing is a family gps app, similar to life360. The goal is to implement google maps api and integrate gps into the app. Another idea that has been floating around our group chat is a health app for appointment reminders, information about check up importance, information about all kinds of common diseases, and a build in translator for non native english speakers so that they can communicate with health care professionals. I had the idea to make an improved redactions app, where you can upload a database with keywords to auto redact. Formatting would be crucial but if successful you'd be able to redact documents extremely fast and effectively. Human review would still be necessary but it would be a goldmine of an app to sell if it pans out.    Part 2: Keep Up With Your Learning Journal This week was fairly short, we reviewed resumes and cover letters as well as viewed a really ...

Post Interview Reflection Report Introduction : Who you interview and why. The expert’s name, title, and organization. A brief background on why you selected this person. I interviewed Joshua Brackett, he's been a close friend of mine for going on 8 years and he works in the same industry I'm looking to transition into. Joshua is a Customer Success Engineer working at Zipline. I decided to interview Joshua because as I mentioned, he's a close friend of mine and I felt it would be a more meaningful interview asking him directly. During the interview I felt like the information and tips I was getting was directed at me and not just a broad overview of his industry/job. Summary : Key takeaways from the conversation (e.g., career advice, insights into industry trends, technical challenges). Some key takeaways I got from the conversation was that a) your portfolio means a lot when you're looking for a job, technical knowledge is important for the interview process but they a...

  Part One: Set Your Educational Goals  Something I want to achieve by the end of this CS program at Monterey Bay is to have a portfolio full of projects. We learned in the recent weeks that a portfolio is more important than a resume for a programmer and I stand by that. I would like to have several large scale projects completed with my group and perhaps a few solo projects in said portfolio so I may display all that I have learned. My goal? Port-Fillio (Fill out my portfolio). Part Two: Set Your Career Goals      It may not seem like much but my career goals are sort of simple. I want to be a full-stack developer, the company I work for does not matter to me so much as the work-life balance. Traveling is very important to me so a remote job that gives me the freedom to move around is a must. I envision myself with my significant other putting in our hours and then going out to explore a new country we just landed in. This lifestyle has already been attained b...