Wk05 Learning Journal Dr. C

Zeyad Abdelkader

Dr. C

Wk 05 Learning Journal 

For this review, I worked with Anthony and Grayson. It went pretty well. We met on Zoom and talked through our code together. It felt more like a normal conversation than just comparing answers, and everyone explained their thinking clearly. It was a little struggle to coordinate at first since the group chat was slow, but we eventually just picked a time and made it work. Next time, I would try to set a time earlier so it is less last-minute.

When I first read the Markov assignment, I did not start coding right away. I tried to understand how the model actually works, especially the states and transitions. I also sketched out how I wanted to organize things before writing any code. The hardest part for me was generating the output. I understood how to store the data, but using it correctly was confusing. What helped was breaking the problem into smaller pieces and testing each part.

Anthony and Grayson approached it a bit differently. One of them started coding right away and figured things out as they went, while I spent more time planning first. I think they just wanted to get something working quickly, while I was trying to avoid bigger problems later. Seeing their approach did change how I think about the assignment a little. It showed me that different strategies can still lead to the same result.

If I were doing it again, I would write more small tests earlier. I realized later that it would have saved time and made debugging easier. That change is more about how I organize my work than how I understand the problem. When they looked at my code using the Google Java Style Guide, they pointed out some inconsistent indentation and a few unclear variable names. I agreed with that since it did affect readability. After that, using automatic formatting in IntelliJ feels like a good habit. It keeps everything consistent and saves time on small things.