What did you do this past week?
I worked a bit on the final project for AI, but later in the week we were notified that this project would actually be optional due to issues with the code working on Mac computers. I also worked on implementing a chat feature in our iOS project. After looking at some old tutorials online using deprecated Objective-C code and Google’s old Realtime Database, I ended up putting together a solution that uses Firestore instead. I then implemented MessageKit for the front-end UI in the app.
What’s in your way?
Lots of project due dates are coming up and the semester-long projects are coming to a close so there’s a lot of work to be done on them. There’s also talk that the UT Faculty will let classes be taken pass/fail again this semester. Hopefully that’s not something that I’ll have to do, but that possible option is always picking away at my motivation in the back of my mind.
What will you do next week?
I’ll probably work a lot on the IDB project for this class at the top of the week. Sometime later in the week, I’ll be going back home with my brother. There are a few things that I have to do over Thanksgiving break, but hopefully it won’t be too stressful.
If you read it, what did you think of What Happens to Us Does Not Happen to Most of You?
I thought that it was definitely an interesting and insightful read. It’s a reminder that the spaces that we occupy can feel very different for different people. I also think that the ways the author listed to combat against these issues is extremely important. It’s not enough to be passive.
What was your experience of refactoring? (this question will vary, week to week)
Some of the refactoring examples were obvious design fixes, but to have them structured as steps in the refactoring process was definitely useful. It was also a useful reminder that just because code is functional or even fast doesn’t mean that it’s good.
What made you happy this week?
The weather was particularly nice this week and I went to the 360 bridge with my roommates. It was nice to get a breath of fresh air after spending so much time indoors.
What’s your pick-of-the-week or tip-of-the-week?
Turns out there’s not a really easy first party way to create a messaging UI for iOS. However, there is an open source library called MessageKit that makes it relatively easy to implement a iMessage like UI. It’s pretty customizable, but there are a couple of protocols you need to implement to get it working with your current backend implementation.
