Forem: Milena

What do you think about the involvement of philosophy in technology?

Milena — Wed, 10 Aug 2022 15:57:10 +0000

Useful, useless... what are your thoughts?

Static methods and member variables

Milena — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 00:13:23 +0000

What are parameters for?
Before we get to the meaning of parameter, let's start by talking about methods.

A method is a collection of instructions, also known as a block of code, which is designed to perform tasks and operations. In order for us to make the method execute these instructions, it is necessary to pass the necessary information for the method's action to take place. This necessary information is captured through parameters.

In technology, we can say that parameters are the characteristics that the user adds. By defining a parameter we also specify the way in which it can be used.

It is worth paying attention to the difference between parameters and arguments, where parameter is the variable that will receive a value in a method while an argument is the value.

Some points to differentiate parameters and arguments
Parameters

Are defined in the method declaration (signature);
They receive arguments;
A tip to avoid confusion is to think of the "P" for parameter is like the "P" in Placeholder, which is for a Potential value.

Arguments

They represent the current values/variables passed to the parameters of the function when it is called;
Each argument corresponds to one parameter (position);
Tip: Argument = current value.

What is the difference between formal parameters and actual parameters?
Still talking about parameters, we have these two types, which are formal parameters and actual parameters. The main difference between them is how they are executed where:

We can say that actual parameters are those values that we pass to the method when it is called.

Formal parameters, on the other hand, are the variables defined by the method that are given values when the method is called.

Reference
Oracle. (n.d.). Defining Methods (The JavaTM Tutorials > Learning the Java Language > Classes and Objects). Docs Oracle. Retrieved July 5, 2022, from Java documentation

Control structures

Milena — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 00:06:36 +0000

Lets talk about the advantages and disadvantages of each looping structure...

I could be wrong, but I wouldn't use the word "disadvantage" in concepts like loops. We have different types because they can all work in different cases, but sometimes they are not suitable for it. So it is important to have a lot of knowledge of this concept because it makes it easier for us to understand, simplifies the code, and becomes a more fluid program.

Now, citing advantages of loops:

while: will repeat the proposed block of code, until the condition is true

do-while: will do something while a condition is true. I see people calling it a "control repeat structure"

for: already in this loop, we have a repetition structure with iteration, where we iterate a defined value in each repetition, reaching a limit.

I confess that I always get confused with repeat structures and, sometimes, with conditionals. But they are very important concepts, as I mentioned before.

What are your thoughts?

Syntax error x semantics error

Milena — Thu, 14 Jul 2022 00:00:08 +0000

If we stop and look around, we will notice that languages (in general) have rules.

In the English language, if we want to be good speakers, we must be good at grammatical rules. When we think about coding, when we want to create a utile program, we must follow the "rules" of the programming languages to see it work.

Syntax and semantics are to programming languages as grammar rules are to languages.

Syntax of a programming language
In the software development world, we can apply our logical understanding anywhere, but not syntaxes of programming languages. Why? Because each one has its particularities. In other words, syntax is one of the "rules" of programming languages that we have to follow.

For example, when we see that Java requires semicolons after statements, this is part of the Java syntax.

If we do not align the syntax of our program to the programming language, our program will not run. Here is where we see the importance of following rules.

The semantics of a programming language
In a dictionary, one of the definitions of semantics is:
"The study or science of meaning in language." In other words: study, signs, and interpretation of words. In the end, it helps to understand, to comprehend (and a little more) clearly.
Semantics works to describe structures in a programming language. We have to write our program in the correct format to run the program.

How would you simplify this concept?

Reference

semantics. (n.d.) American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. (2011). Retrieved June 18 2022 from The Free Dictionary.

New programming language

Milena — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 01:48:45 +0000

Today I'm glad to announce that I'll start a new journey! I love challenges and that's why I'm starting this. Seems very interesting and I'll be sharing my trajectory here with you all!

This seems to be a very powerful programming language.

Join me!

Explain like I am five: API

Milena — Tue, 12 Jul 2022 14:28:00 +0000

I had an interesting experience in an interview where the specialist asked me what I would say if I had to explain about an API to a ten years old kid.
Before that meeting, I was studying microservices and monolithic to understand Docker. The only image that I had in my head, was the whale with boxes on their heads, then you can imagine that my explanation was not good to a 10 years old kid lol. Usually I take some time to make technical things be easier to understand.

After that, I been thinking about how I would say that to a non-tech person. So, for now, I will share my vision.

Quick technical explanation: API stands for Application Programming Interface. We can simplify this saying that API is the interface of an application. It give us the possibility to request and receive a service.

So, if today I try to explain to a kid, I will say:

"Imagine that you are in your dad's phone and you open the McDonalds App. When you see the menu, you will look for food you want and pay for that, right? After that, you are asking the McDonalds to delivery your food. This is how an API works. You ask and it delivers you."

What do you think about my explanation and how can I improve my knowledge? Do share your thoughts!

1/30 days of Java

Milena — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 02:15:00 +0000

In my first day of this challenge, I already found something that I did not know!

While I was coding and trying to solve this challenge, I did not know what was wrong, because it simply was not making any sense in my head. My problem was the following: I had to create three variable. One for an integer value, other for a double value and the last one, for a string. I also had inputs for all of the them. The problem was that, the compiler was not reading the last input (nextLine) and I discovered that, for some reason, when the compiler starts getting the values, it jumps the nextLine command and to solve this, we need to convert it.

I am still researching and learning about this to know why and how it works, but, pretty exciting thus far.

For curiosity, this is how I was doing:

And this is how it works:

[pt-BR] 30 dias de Java

Milena — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 01:41:00 +0000

Ultimamente eu tenho dedicado meu tempo para aprender mais de Java (não, não vou virar fã de linguagem de programação).
Com isso, tenho me esforçado para entender mais, desde os fundamentos de lógica de programação até alguns detalhes, ímpares, dessa linguagem.
Com certeza uma das conclusões que tenho tido é sobre a importância de não pular as etapas de aprendizado. O básico é o que nos leva ao avançado.

Para aprimorar mais, tenho lido, em inglês mesmo, o livro "Head first: Java", pela O'Reilly Media, que é um livro excelente e que usa uma metodologia um pouco diferente para o aprendizado.

Além dos cursos que tenho feito e que envolvem Java, também comecei o desafio do HackerRank, que dura 30 dias. Lá vemos os exercícios diários e que abordam diversos tópicos de Java.

No começo algumas coisas terminam sendo genéricas, mas, ao passar do tempo, os detalhes passam a fazer muita diferença. Inclusive os pequenos detalhes de aprendizado.

[pt-BR] Desmistificando algoritmos - Thomas H. Cormen

Milena — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 00:45:00 +0000

Irei compartilhar as minhas anotações e highlights sobre o o livro "Desmistificando algoritmos" do Thomas H. Cormen.

Se eu fosse dar uma breve introdução, eu usaria algumas frases do autor, em que ele menciona as seguintes definições e para quem o livro é destinado:

Quem está interessada(o) em saber como os computadores resolvem problemas;
Saber como avaliar essas soluções...

No capítulo 1, já vejo o título nomeado como "O que são algoritmos e por que você deve se importar com eles?". Nos cursos mais básicos, aprendemos que os algoritmos são conjuntos de etapas com o propósito de executar uma tarefa (seja qual for ela). Os algoritmos estão mais presentes em nosso cotidiano do que imaginamos e são executados em todos os lugares.

Também é bom relembrar que não existe o "óbvio" para o computador. Ele precisa da exatidão. Inclusive, isso é o que difere a execução feita por nós e a por outro lado, a execução feita pelo computador.

É necessário haver precisão no algoritmo de computador

Uma outra pergunta boa a ser feita é: "Para que queremos esses algoritmos?" pelo simples fato deles nos trazerem soluções.

1st week - 100 days of code

Milena — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 02:29:09 +0000

so, as i said, i came here to record my journey of 100 days of code. i'll restart this 😅

from the beginning...

1 out of 100 - 27/fev/22

today i studied java, oop, and i'm so glad that now i'm truly understanding this concept without any fear. i've been carrying this for months and now i gave my brave steps and i can make my exercises in peace 😆 same thing works for git, i was always afraid of interacting with a black window and now we are friends.

2 out of 100 - 28/fev/22

hello, today i focused on javascript spring boot and had such a productive time learning new things from this intriguing language and its particularity. very interesting though. i also reviewed a site of mine and was trying to fix it

what i learned?

javascript
- introduction to es6;
- concepts;
- currying, hoisting, immutability,
- variables types.

what i developed?

codes to understand how the currying and hoisting methods + variables types work; let go your fear and open the door to your braveness and be happy

Hi :)

Milena — Mon, 28 Feb 2022 02:20:06 +0000

Hello!

My name is Milena and I'm a full-stack development student from Brazil. Nice to meet you all!

Well, I've been studying hard and lately I was thinking about where I could record my journey of 100 days of code and I remembered right meow that I have this AMAZING platform to do this. I'm here since october/2021, if I'm not wrong, and I never created a post but, I was reading and learning new things here in this period.

That's all for now! :)