DEV Community: Shafeeza

Git Commands I Use Regularly

Shafeeza — Sun, 21 Jun 2020 15:30:48 +0000

I work with awesome team-mates. In our team, there are three developers, myself included. To collaborate we use Git. When I first started to use Git, I had uncertainties.

Firstly, I did not fully grasp the concepts and flow of Git. Though I still used to make changes, create features, and merge my changes with the master branch on the remote repository, I always had an uncertain and hesitant feeling. I am sort of a visual person; when it comes to processes, I like to have a clear picture in my head. Hence, I decided to learn more about Git.

I followed some of the lessons from two of Kevin Skoglund courses on LinkedIn Learning. I enjoyed watching those lessons and I definitely recommend them. He clearly described the process and gave clear instructions. The two courses are:

After watching those tutorials, I was able to more clearly visualize what was happening when I was pushing changes. Here are Git commands I use on a regular basis.

Git Clone

If you want to create a copy of the remote repository on your system, instead of downloading the remote repository, you can clone it.

Open a terminal and navigate (cd) into a directory of your choice.
Go to your Github repository. Click on the 'Clone or download' button. There you will see the https web URL. Copy it.
Go back to the terminal and enter the following command:

git clone https_url_of_github_repository

https_url_of_github_repository is the https web URL you had copied in step 2.

Status

Checking the status let you see changes that were not yet committed.

git status

Save Changes in the Local Repository

Once you have made changes in your project, you can save and briefly describe the changes that were made.

Add changes

Add all of the changes

        git add .

Add changes from specific files

        git add file_name

The file_name includes the file extension. If you wish to add changes from more than one file, use a space between the file names to separate them.

Save the Changes

git commit -m "headline
description (optional)"

The description is optional.

Compare Changes with the Origin

git diff master origin/master

If you are unclear about the difference between the origin and the working branch, I highly recommend Kevin Skoglund's tutorials. It is from watching his tutorials that I gained a clear picture of the difference.

Create a New Branch

When I am about to create a new feature, I usually create a new branch. Command for creating a new branch:

git checkout -b name_of_branch

Delete a Branch

After your feature has been created and merged into the master branch on the remote repository on Github, you may want to delete the branch.

git branch -d name_of_branch

View all Branches

To view a list of all of the branches in the local repository, use this command:

git branch

Go to a Specific Branch

If you want to start working in a specific branch, use the git checkout command.

git checkout name_of_branch

Push Changes to the Remote Repository on Github

To push local changes to the remote repository on Github, use the following command.

git push -u origin name_of_branch

On the Remote Repository, Merge a Branch with the Master Branch on Github

On the remote repository, when I have to update the master with the latest changes from a branch on Github, I use the Github merge pull request feature to merge the branch into the master branch.

Delete a Remote Branch from Terminal

git push origin --delete name_of_branch

You can also delete the branch directly on Github.

Keep Branch Up-to-date

Before you start working or attempt to make any push, it is highly recommended to always update your remote branch and local repository. To keep a branch on the remote repository updated with the latest changes on the master branch, I use the pull request feature on Github. To keep the local repository up-to-date, I use either a combination of Git fetch and Git merge or Git pull. I personally prefer to use the Git fetch and the Git merge commands.

Git Fetch and Merge

git fetch
git merge

Git Pull

git pull

Asynchronous Method in Java EE

Shafeeza — Wed, 17 Jun 2020 15:35:14 +0000

Implementing asynchronous methods in Java EE is made simple by using the annotation @Asynchronous. It is part of the javax.ejb.Asynchronous package. The @Asynchronous annotation is used to indicate that the method or methods in a class are asynchronous. This implementation of the annotation is processed at runtime. There is no @Inheritance so this annotation is not inherited by child classes. It should also be noted that in Java EE the result is returned to the Enterprise bean container and not directly to the client.

@Target(value={METHOD,TYPE})

@Retention(value=RUNTIME)

public @interface Asynchronous

Taken from Oracle Docs on 29th January, 2017 from
http://docs.oracle.com/javaee/6/api/javax/ejb/Asynchronous.html

Rules to follow when implementing asynchronous methods in Java EE

Use @Asynchronous annotation before the method or if all the methods in the class are asynchronous use @Asynchronous before class declaration
Any method that that is annotated with @Asynchronous must return either void or Future <V> – V can be primitive data type or a class name.
Future<V> values can be easily created using ejb.AsyncResult<V>class. Example: return new AsyncResult<String>(“Async Ended “);

[1][2][3][4]

Example of an Asynchronous method in a bean that will take about over 30000 milliseconds to complete:

@Asynchronous

public Future<String> processAsyncTask() {

System.out.print(“Async started “+Thread.currentThread().getName());

try {

Thread.sleep(30000);

} catch (InterruptedException ex) { }

System.out.print(“Async ended”+Thread.currentThread().getName());

return new AsyncResult<String>(“Async Ended “);

}

Running this method and running a non-asynchronous method will show the other method performing its tasks while the operation in the asynchronous method has not been completed as yet. The code below calls the above asynchronous method and a non-asynchronous method 10000 milliseconds after calling the asynchronous method.

asyncRemote.processAsyncTask();

try {

Thread.sleep(10000);

} catch (InterruptedException ex) {

}

asyncRemote.nonAsyncMethod();

Result:

After the asynchronous method was called, the rest of the programme continued to execute even though the asychronous method was not completed as yet. Therefore, the non-asynchronous method was called after but compeleted before the asynchronous method.

Bibliography

Annotation Type Asynchronous. (2011, February 10). Retrieved 2017, from Oracle Docs: http://docs.oracle.com/javaee/6/api/javax/ejb/Asynchronous.html
Asynchronous communication with JMS(Java Messaging Service) Part 1. (2012, June 10). Retrieved from YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAdrThcQkwQ
Asynchronous Method Invocation. (2013). Retrieved 2017, from Oracle Docs: http://docs.oracle.com/javaee/6/tutorial/doc/gkkqg.html
Asynchronous Method Invocation. (2014). Retrieved 2017, from Oracle Docs: https://docs.oracle.com/javaee/7/tutorial/ejb-async001.htm

This article was first published on August 17, 2017 on one of my earlier blogs.

Keeping someone in mind whilst Creating a Discussion Guide

Shafeeza — Thu, 28 May 2020 02:41:40 +0000

I am new to User Experience Design and sometimes get confused and wonder if I am completing activities in the right manner. I guess this is because UX is sort of like an art and a field that is still in its early days. Maybe only time can help each person decides on what works best for him/her.

For my Empathetic Research Framework class assignment, I had to create questions for an interview for understanding the experiences, values, beliefs, and behaviours of people who recently retired, as it relates to their health and wellness. At first, I did not know what kind of questions to ask and how to get them to flow in a conversational manner and at the same time keep to the objectives of the interview. After contemplating I thought of someone who had recently retired and what questions I could have asked her without making her uncomfortable. I did not realize I was using a persona. I learned about persona creation before but had considered it as just school work. Upon reflection, I was later able to make the connection between in-class personas to real-life persons.

I love buying gifts for people I care about and I usually put a lot of thoughts into deciding what to buy. But how do I form those thoughts? It is because I know and understand those persons! I guess in UX, personas help us build that gap so we can understand the persons we will be interviewing and put thoughts into what to ask them; hence, helping us to further understand them so maybe we can actually be able to improve their experience.

Here is the scenario and discussion guide. The discussion guide is meant to be used as a guide and not all questions may be asked during an interview. I skipped the introduction part — self introduction, brief on interview protocol to the signing of the consent form.

Start

Scenario

Health and Wellness

You’ve been hired by a health and wellness company to help them understand the experiences, values, beliefs, and behaviours of people who have recently retired, as it relates to their health and retirement. The company’s intention is to design an app that will support people in managing their stress and anxiety during this life change.

Goal

Create a discussion guide that could be used in a semi-structured interview.

Discussion Guide

Research Topics

Changes in Lifestyle due to Retirement

What lifestyle changes do newly retired individuals experience?
How do newly retired individuals react to these changes?

Health and Wellness

How do people in the retirement community cope with stress?
What strategies do individuals in the retirement community believe can help them to maintain a healthy lifestyle?

Use of Technology in the Retirement Community

Why do people in the retirement community use technology?
How do people in the retirement community physically interact with devices whilst using apps?

Questions

Warm-up

Can you walk me through a typical day in your life?
Can you tell me about your hobbies?
What time of the day do you feel most relaxed?
Can you walk me through your experience during this time?
Can you tell me a bit about your previous job?

Body

Topic 1: Change in Lifestyle due to Retirement

Can you describe a typical weekday in your life before you retired?
How has your routine changed after retirement?
Can you share with me anything you miss about your life before you retired?
How has your communication changed with your previous colleagues?
What opportunities do you now have that you did not have before you retired?
Do you now have more or less time at your own disposal? Can you tell me why?
Can you compare the concerns you have now to those you had before you retired?

Topic 2: Health and Wellness

Can you tell me about a recent experience when you felt stressed?
How do you deal with stress?
In your opinion, what does maintaining a healthy lifestyle involve?
Do you try to maintain a healthy lifestyle? If yes, can you tell me how? If no, can you tell me why?
Tell me about three things in your life that makes you feel happy.

Topic 3: Use of Technology in the Retirement Community

What are your favourite apps?
For what purpose(s) do you use your favourite apps?
What device you use most often to interact with your favourite apps?
Why is that the device you use most often to interact with your favourite apps?
Can you walk us through a good experience whilst using any of your favourite app?
Can you walk us through a frustrating experience whilst using any of your favourite app?
How is your experience using an app at home compared to using it whilst travelling?
Is there a specific time of the day when you mostly enjoy using your favourite app? Why is that so?

Cool-down

Use three words to describe your life. Why did you choose those words?
Would you like to correct or clarify any of your response?
Is there anything that you would like to share that we did not get to talk about?

Wrap-up

Do you have any question(s) for me?

Thank you for participating in this interview.
We value your opinion and will keep your information confidential.

End

Kind regards,
Shafeeza

A programmer who loves research
Putting pieces together

The actual date when this article was written is 14 February, 2018 - reference from my portfolio