Week 5 :CST 338 Software Design: Learning Journal Markov assignment review

Who did you work with?

I worked with Manuel Caro and Edward Luna. We compared our approaches and discussed how each of us solved the Markov assignment.

What was your strategy for solving the Markov assignment?

My strategy was to build the program in stages instead of trying to code everything at once. I started with the dictionary section because it was the foundational part of the assignment. Getting that piece working helped me confirm that the basic structure was correct. I tested the dictionary as I built it to make sure it stored the information the program would need later.

Once the dictionary section was working, I moved on to the second part of the assignment, which depended on the first part being finished. I didn’t formally plan the assignment on paper, but I thought through the order of tasks before coding. Overall, I approached the project by completing the easier, core pieces first and then building the more complex parts on top of them.

What strategy did your classmates use?

Manuel’s strategy:
Manuel broke the assignment into two main parts. First, he built the dictionary and made sure each word mapped correctly to its list of followers. Once the dictionary passed the unit tests, he moved on to generating random sentences using methods. He focused on keeping the code simple and ran tests often to track progress.

Edward’s strategy:
Edward read the entire prompt before coding and identified functions that had no dependencies. He wrote those independent functions first because they acted like pure input/output. He worked from the bottom up determining which functions needed to exist early so the rest of the logic would work. He focused on establishing dependencies before writing any major logic.

How would you change your strategy after working on the assignment?

After comparing my approach with my classmates', I would improve my process by planning the order of functions more intentionally. Both Manuel and Edward put more emphasis on mapping out dependencies early. In the future, I would outline which methods need to exist first, even if only informally, before jumping into coding. This would make the workflow smoother and reduce the need to revisit earlier sections.

According to your classmates, how well does your code follow the Google Java Style Guide?

From our discussion, my classmates agreed that my code generally follows the Google Java Style Guide, but there is still room to improve consistency especially in spacing, indentation, and keeping lines within the recommended length. I also learned that there are automated tools that can apply many of the style rules, and I may start using these tools in future assignments to ensure formatting stays consistent.