DEV Community: Kenneth M. Colón Pagán

Building My First Projects with Java!

Kenneth M. Colón Pagán — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 03:27:15 +0000

Coming from the Flatiron Bootcamp, I have been exploring different programming languages out there to keep my wheels turning. Especially in this programming world where things are always changing and evolving, my passion for learning fuels my drive.

I have found myself enjoying Java and have decided to start building CLI projects. Alongside a Java course, I built 3 Projects this week: an email administration application, a student database application, and a bank account application. One thing is watching videos and reading articles but the best way to learn a new language, personally, is by building a project to see all the puzzle pieces come together!

In these projects, concatenating seemed to be my best friend. In Java, using the "+" provides a concatenation operator, you can directly add two String literals. A great example is when asking a user for input and printing it back out with some added text:

Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
        System.out.print("Enter your name: ");
        String name = in.nextLine(); //Input: Ken
        System.out.print("Welcome, " + name + "!");
//=> Welcome, Ken!

Something to remember when using the "+" operator, is that spacing is not included so it is best to include it before closing the double quotation mark.

A great escape character to use when displaying this data, and have it organized is 'newline' => "\n". This also comes in handy when printing out multiple lines, it can show you what it will look like before it prints out.

// void means this method doesn't return a value
 public void showInfo(){
      System.out.println(
              "Name: " + name +
              "\nAge: " + age +
              "\nShoe Size: " + shoeSize 
      );

//=>   Name: Ken
//     Age: 20
//     Shoe Size: 10

I am now working on implementing a CSV file reader for my banking project. Knowing there is always something you can improve or add to my project, or simply start a new one, is the reason I love what I do and why I can't picture myself doing anything else!

Learning a New Language - Java!

Kenneth M. Colón Pagán — Sat, 06 Mar 2021 04:28:18 +0000

Last week, I wrote about my job hunt process and what I have been doing during so. In this industry where one can never learn enough and know everything, it is important to familiarize yourself with the different patterns and styles of the many languages that exist. This has taught me how similar patterns can be and it all lies in the syntax.

This week I will walk through some of the parts I found most interesting while learning the basics of Java. A factor I always look for is the data types and their size to make sure my application is as efficient as it can be. For Java, I look to this Primitive Types diagram to use as a guide:

Another difference I have noticed across languages is in the CLI. In Java, we use the Scanner class which is used to get user input, and it is found in the java.util package.

Example:
To ask the users their age and return "You are __" with their input age.

 Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
        System.out.print("Enter your age: ");
        byte yourAge = scanner.nextByte();
        System.out.println("You are " + yourAge);

In general, these are notes that anyone starting to learn Java can use or come back to for a refresher on data types and user inputs.

Here is a link to the Java Tutorial for Beginners I used to get started!

Learning a New Language - C#!

Kenneth M. Colón Pagán — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 03:58:21 +0000

The job search period in this industry can be very overwhelming and can lead to us losing direction on what to do next. Whether that’d be working on your previous projects, developing our knowledge on a language you’ve worked with before, or learning new languages.

I took this time to dip my fingers in the basics of a couple of languages I have been interested in. I decided to start with C#, a related language to the first language I worked with, C. It was an interesting experience getting a refresher and remembering where it all started.

I took some notes during this process and would like to share them with anyone who is beginning to work with C# or is interested.

One major difference I was not aware of before, was the compiling process. With C and C++, when the application is compiled, the compiler translates the code into the native code of the machine. With C#, the compiler converts the Intermediate Language(IL) or Common Intermediate Language(CIL) into the machine code. This is done before the IL or CIL can be executed.

An easy way to understand and view the structure of a C# application is with this diagram. I often refer to this to remind myself of the pattern of containers whenever needed. A container missing in this diagram is ‘Assembly’ a container for related namespaces.

This is another useful diagram to keep track of the ‘Bytes per Type’ which can come in useful when converting types.
Ex:

int myInt = 10;
double myDouble = 5.25;
Console.WriteLine(Convert.ToInt32(myDouble));  // convert double to in

To learn about all of this and more, I took a Udemy course that I absolutely recommend for any C# beginner:
CSharp Beginner Tutorial

"The One with the Hooks"

Kenneth M. Colón Pagán — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 18:36:28 +0000

In 2029 React, one of the most popular JavaScript libraries, released version 16.8.0. In this version, React Hooks are available in a stable release.

During my time with Flatiron, I built my React project using an older version. So now, I will make sure to write the key changes and how they look for reference to whoever needs it!

Let’s start by making sure we understand hooks. “Hooks let you use state and other React features without writing a class”. A Hook is a special function that lets you “hook into” React features. The most common ones being ‘useState’ which lets you add React state to function components and ‘useEffect’ which tells React that your component needs to do something after render. We can always tell it is a hook because it is prefixed with ‘use’.

To start using these hooks:

The hooks must execute in the same order they are defined
Hooks cannot be inside of: if statements, loops, functions or nested.
We first destructure by putting the hooks we will need when importing React.

import React, { useState } from ‘react’;
The hook will return an array of two values: [ the state, a function that allows us to update the state]
We then call the hook and in the case of useState, we pass in the default state.

const [ count, setCount ] = useState(0)

“The useState hook returns a pair: the current state value and a function that lets you update it. It’s similar to this.setState in a class, except it doesn’t merge the old and new state together.”

function Example() { 
const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
}

Using classes it would look like:

class Example extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = {
      count: 0
    };
  }

“The useEffect hook, adds the ability to perform side effects from a function component. It serves the same purpose as componentDidMount, componentDidUpdate, and componentWillUnmount in React classes.”

To compare:

function Example() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

useEffect(() => {   
document.title = `You clicked ${count} times`; 
 });
}

Using classes it would look like:

class Example extends React.Component {
  constructor(props) {
    super(props);
    this.state = {
      count: 0
    };
  }

  componentDidMount() {    
document.title = `You clicked ${this.state.count} times`;  }  componentDidUpdate() {    document.title = `You clicked ${this.state.count} times`;  
}

You can also create your own Hooks to reuse stateful behavior between different components, which you can learn more about HERE.

If you want to learn more in-depth about hooks and their possibilities here are the resources I used:

Growing My Connections

Kenneth M. Colón Pagán — Sun, 31 Jan 2021 20:48:00 +0000

Week 3 of my 'post-graduation' / 'job-hunt' journey and well here is where I am.

This week was the most draining one. I consider myself to be an introvert when I first meet people. And this week I forced myself to step outside my comfort zone and contact people that work with companies I admire.

I started with a mock technical interview which was challenging but a great learning experience. I felt good about what I did and now I know what I need to work on. Especially controlling my nerves, which always creates fear and sometimes blocks me from thinking clearly.

Next thing, I met with the CTO of a company I respect and admire. This was more of an informal meeting to get to know me and what I can offer. This is such an important part of the job search, reaching out and connecting with people who know the position best. I ended up leaving the meeting feeling good and hopeful.

Right after that, I met with a very talented and nice software engineer whose path I admire. This was a very eye-opening talk. It was refreshing learning about how another Software Engineer got to where he is. He was extremely helpful in answering all of my questions and worries that come during the job search.

Overall, this week was mentally draining. Having to step out of my comfort zone was very challenging but taught me a lot more than I could ask for. I now know what I need to work on to better my work and made amazing connections.

01-31-2020,
Ken

Dealing with unexpected changes

Kenneth M. Colón Pagán — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 17:10:18 +0000

Week 2 of my 'post-graduation' / 'job-hunt' journey and well here is where I am. I started off with a strong schedule I made to make sure I was working on my programming and projects.

I found myself changing my schedule as I went because I either found a better source, needed more time on a subject, or just spent too much time applying for jobs.

This week started out by working on the Front End Libraries curriculum from freecodecamp.org and getting through to the Redux section where I decided to go in deeper into React. I started The Net Ninja's currently ongoing series "Full Modern React Tutorial" where he goes into the hooks which let you use state and other React features without writing a class with v16.8. This has been incredibly helpful with starting a basic react app involving these hooks.

Additionally, I started digging into the Big O; in particular about the space and time complexities. I still have a long way to go but now I have an overall understanding of how each affects the runtime.

At the end of this week I:

Now use my schedule as more of a task list of what to work on
Started working with hooks in react
Started to learn about the Big O.

Sources mentioned:
freecodecamp.com
Full Modern React Tutorial

01-24-2020,
Ken

Crossing Over from a Bootcamp

Kenneth M. Colón Pagán — Sun, 17 Jan 2021 17:10:06 +0000

The hardest part of my experience with a coding Bootcamp has been after it ended. I just finished my coursework with the Flatiron Bootcamp for Software Engineering and I can honestly say this has been the hardest, yet most rewarding, thing I've done. It was a roller-coaster, going from very basic knowledge of what code even was to building 5 projects in the span of 6 months. That should say it all.

I built projects in the CLI, with Ruby/Sinatra, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, and React-Redux respectively. But during the time we had some sort of structure and schedule to do these, now it's up to us to figure out what we should do and it has been a challenge. Thankfully, Flatiron even provides a Post-Work section to help us with the transition.

I have decided to improve my past work during my ongoing job search and write weekly updates on this blog as a journal. Hopefully, this can help others going through similar situations and for a way for me to look back at my progress.

01-17-2020,
Ken