I am pleased to complete another week here at Target Freight Management, time really flies when you are writing code! This week I added some more contributions to the project, namely the functional acknowledgement (FA) that I started last week. As our project grows in size and scope, I am learning how different pieces of the project interact which is very important when making design decisions and turning them into code. For example, when working on the FA this week, I learned that I wasn’t getting all the data I needed to perform some of the error checks, so I had to go back into some sections that I wrote previously and alter them to work better with the FA. Since this is a program that must parse and organize key pieces of data, I figured it would be easier to perform most of the logical checks in the sections that first read the data, store those errors, then send that data to the parts that will be checking for errors. What I learned here is the importance of design decisions when creating software. Just like building a house, it would be very difficult to just lay down pipes, electric lines, and cement without first having a proper blueprint in place that will help guide the process for you, even if you learn you have to make changes to the blueprint later.

Since the main components of our project are now functional, the focus will now mostly be on finding bugs, testing it with samples, and making sure everything is in place for it to be ready for our clients. It has been a lengthy process, and I’m glad to finally see everything come to fruition. I will rate myself a 4 this week, and work harder next week to get even closer to my goals.