CS371P Fall 2019: Week 8

1. What did you do this past week?

This past week I finished up the Allocator project. Luckily I was able to get the majority of the code correct on the first try, so I only had to spend a few hours debugging. However, I spent a lot of time working on the algorithms homework, so I didn’t have all that much free time. For my other classes, I simply attended class and did some minor assignments as necessary.

2. What’s in your way?

Right now, there’s nothing in my way other than just work for my classes. I simply have to get everything done on time.

3. What will you do next week?

Next week, I’ll be completing my algorithms homework ahead of schedule, because there is a test for that class on Friday morning. I didn’t do too well on the first exam, so I really have to double down and spend a lot of time studying in order to ensure I get a good grade on this test. As far as interviews go, I’ve received the online assessment from Amazon. I’ll be finishing OA1 today, and trying to get some more LeetCode practice in so that I’m ready for the harder questions in the later stages. On Monday night, I’ll be doing some pumpkin carving with my club TAMM (The Austin Meal Movement), so that should prove to be a fun night in between my preparation for algorithms.

4. What was your experience of the allocator project? (this question will vary, week to week)

Allocator was very easy for me. I had previously built a heap for Operating Systems, so I was able to create helper functions such as getHeaderFromFooter() and getFooterFromHeader() that were inspired by the work I’d done for OS. Similarly, the logic behind coalescing blocks was fairly easy to implement, with the only issues being some slight misunderstandings with the exact syntax of C++.

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

My tip of the week is to attend office hours for classes that you’re struggling with. I find Algorithms and Complexity to be a challenging class, so I make sure to attend the discussion sections, and as many office hours as I can to get some insight into the homework. Without talking to Professor Plaxton and/or the TAs, I doubt that I would be able to finish the weekly homework completely.