CS373 Fall 2020: Ishan Phadke

What did you do this past week?

I worked on my labs for Network Security and Phase 2. It was super busy especially since I had no time to work on either the week before last due to exams. But, thankfully my group and I were able to finish our website, and I got a decent start on my other labs.

What’s in your way?

I have quite a bit to do this week since I won’t have time next weekend. I want to finish Phase 3 and my other labs, and also vote. I have a few coding interviews backlogged as well that are due soon. Hopefully, I’ll find the time to get through all of it.

What will you do next week?

I want to get the sorting/filtering done and finish up my NetSec lab. Since our group is using some cool tools like flask-restless and SQLAlchemy, we should be well prepared. I also would like to vote.

What did you think of Ethical CS?

It was a fantastic assignment, especially in this era where big companies, especially tech, are misusing their power for financial or political gain. Ethics should be at the core of STEM learning, since our generation is going to have to deal with the implications of AI and ML. Ethical CS really illuminated the issues surrounding corporate culture and product design.

What was your experience of functions, lambdas, and decorators?

Functions are pretty simple, although the parameter quirks will take some getting used to. Lambdas are really cool; they're useful in many situations and have the added benefit of simplifying my already messy code.

I haven't used decorators too much in Python, but it seems somewhat straightforward to learn.

What made you happy this week?

My friends and I finalized a weekend getaway next week that was delayed and changed because of COVID. We made sure to rent a place that is secluded to minimize our exposure and keep others safe.

What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?

Drink plenty of water when studying for long periods of time. Humans need almost a gallon of water per day, and sometimes it gets hard to keep track of it when coding for long periods. Headaches and drowsiness then occur and further deteriorate your attentiveness.