CS Learning Journal

  WELCOME TO WEEK 8 Learning Journal This week went by so quickly since it was a shorter week. We successfully completed our project and did a great job incorporating all the required elements. Everyone fully participated and helped each other out with bugs or any issues that came up. Aside from the project, we also worked on other required files. Each person recorded their part, and I successfully merged them into one video. For a moment, I panicked because when I uploaded the video to Canvas, it showed up blank in the discussion. If I hadn’t double-checked, I might not have caught it! Thankfully, I did, and after a bit of time (and patience), I was able to successfully upload the video. As I mentioned, we ran into some errors during the project, but the team was super helpful and supportive, and we were able to overcome all the obstacles. Now it’s time to relax for the holidays and enjoy the break! This class has been one of my favorites, and I’m excited to continue developing my...

  WELCOME TO WEEK 7 Learning Journal This week, we dedicated most of our time to studying for the Final Exam. I used the practice exam provided for our midterm, revisited some of the labs, and redid several homework assignments. I felt confident on the multiple-choice part; however, the coding part made me nervous. Having a time limit puts a lot of pressure on me, which sometimes clouds my judgment. Despite this, I tried to stay calm and approach the exam step by step. Fortunately, all the studying paid off, and I was able to get a very good grade on the final. I'm excited to continue developing my skills and creating more web pages.  For our project, we had a meeting to discuss what else is needed and to define each person's role. We assigned tasks to everyone, ensuring that we’ll all get to work on both the front and back ends of the project. This will give everyone the chance to explore all aspects of development. I can’t wait to see our project completed! Now that the fina...

  WELCOME TO WEEK 6 Learning Journal This week was slower than others in terms of lecture material because we focused on our project and took the time to plan accordingly with the other team members. Last week, we came up with a plan, but this week, we had more meetings and discussions about the project. We also gave each other time to study for the upcoming exam. This week, we learned and practiced concepts related to authentication and sessions. These techniques ensure that users cannot skip pages without logging in. This is particularly important when handling private data. We also focused on using Bcrypt to hash passwords. This is incredibly useful for keeping user passwords secure and preventing unauthorized access or exploitation of loopholes. These skills will be highly beneficial for our project, as users will have separate accounts. I can't wait to apply everything we've learned in the upcoming group project!

  WELCOME TO WEEK 5 Learning Journal This week, we worked on connecting databases to our Express apps. I learned how to connect to a MySQL database from Express and how to use SQL queries to display data on a webpage. For our project, we used FastComet to run the Express app, which was exciting because it meant our app was no longer just running locally. We created a webpage where users could look up authors based on their name, a keyword, category, or number of likes. All the information was pulled directly from a MySQL database.  Incorporating SQL into the Express app was a big step. We wrote queries in the app to get the data we needed based on what the user entered, and it was really satisfying to see the results show up on the page. Express handled the routing, the database provided the data, and it all came together smoothly. This week helped me feel more comfortable working with databases and combining them with my apps. It’s exciting to see how these pieces work togeth...

WELCOME TO WEEK 4 Learning Journal This week, we worked on some really interesting new topics. I learned how to install Node packages, create a package.json file, and add dependencies. We used npm to add libraries and ran a Node app for the first time, which was a big step forward in building more complex applications. We had a midterm this week, which was pretty challenging for me. The time limit made me nervous, and I struggled to recall some of the things I had learned. However, I felt relieved in a way because I was able to use some of my previous work as a reference, which helped me feel more confident and finish the test.   For the homework assignment, we created a Node.js app using Express, and this time, we weren’t running it locally anymore. It was exciting to see how the app worked as a full Node app. The app displayed random pictures each time it ran, pulling the images from Web APIs. It also displayed random quotes using npm packages. I used an npm package to fetc...

WELCOME TO WEEK 3 Learning Journal  This week, I learned a lot of new skills in JavaScript and web development. I created HTML forms using different input types, which helped me understand how to collect and handle user input better. I also learned how to make "fetch" calls to get data from external Web APIs, which made my projects more interactive. Another thing I worked on was validating HTML forms with JavaScript to make sure the data entered is accurate.  I used the "Inspect Tool" in the browser to debug and display Web API data, which was really helpful. I also created an HTML page that made several "fetch" calls to work with and show external data dynamically. For homework, I used a Web API that gives you the current weather, including the highs, lows, and conditions. I made a webpage that showed this information and also changed the background image depending on the weather. For example, it showed clouds for cloudy weather, a sunny picture for clear...