Essays

Beyond the Browser: Applying Core Software Engineering Principles to Any Project

18 Dec 2024

During this course, I discovered that software engineering goes well beyond the technical specifics of building web applications. While it’s true that I learned how to develop web-based projects, the broader and more valuable lessons came from understanding foundational concepts...

Software Engineering Reflection

Reflection of AI in 314: AI as a Tool for Learning

16 Dec 2024

Reflection of AI in 314: AI as a Tool for Learning The use of AI has seen rapid growth in recent years, with the boom of its capabilities seen with the advent of the ever-famous learning language model ChatGPT. In...

Software Engineering AI

The Symphony of Design Patterns

02 Dec 2024

Imagine standing before a symphony orchestra, each musician poised to play their part. At first glance, the scene is chaotic—strings being tuned, brass warming up, percussionists tapping lightly on their instruments. Yet when the conductor lifts their baton, order emerges...

Software Engineering Design Patterns

Aloha Archives: Your Window into Hawaii’s Data and Insights

04 Nov 2024

Project: Aloha Archives Authors: JR (Jonathan) Lee, Jared Seto, Shaelyn Loo, and Kevin Clarkin Overview The Problem The existing Hawaii Open Data portal is challenging for the average citizen to navigate. Citizens often encounter difficulties due to: Inconsistent dataset tagging...

Software Engineering NextJS

UI Frameworks: Why Would Anyone Bother?

09 Oct 2024

Why Use UI Frameworks Like Bootstrap 5? When it comes to building websites, developers face the choice between using raw HTML and CSS or turning to a UI framework like Bootstrap 5. It can be tempting to avoid frameworks since...

UI Frameworks Bootstrap5 HTML CSS

The Flowing Philosophy of Coding Standards: Far Greater than Formatting

25 Sep 2024

When most people think of coding standards, the conversation often revolves around trivial matters: how many spaces to indent, where to place curly braces, or whether to use tabs or spaces. While these small details do play a role in...

Coding Standards ESLint Typescript

Efficient / Inefficient Developer Questions and its Consequences

09 Sep 2024

The Importance of Asking Smart Questions in Software Engineering Asking smart questions is a crucial skill for software engineers. The ability to frame a question clearly and concisely not only helps in obtaining accurate and timely responses but also demonstrates...

Software Engineering StackOverflow Good / Bad Questions

Software Engineering - Its Devilish and Angelic Impact on the World

04 Sep 2024

Software engineering is a field that captivates me due to its vast potential for creativity and problem-solving. My journey into this domain began with a natural curiosity about how software shapes our daily lives. From desktop apps to complex systems...

Software Engineering

From JavaScript to TypeScript: With Great Precision Comes Great Power

04 Sep 2024

How important is precision in coding? Well, imprecision in coding could cost somewhere in the ballpark of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and in one of the worst cases hundreds of millions of dollars, just as we saw with the...

Software Engineering Typescript Javascript