This week for our Software Design class, we got our Java development environments set up and worked on some coding exercises using CodingBat.
We started with some straightforward code challenges and then moved on to more difficult ones. I’ve taken a Java course before and have used Java to solve LeetCode problems, so some of these problems were familiar. The hardest part was probably remembering Java syntax and methods, since it’s been awhile since I’ve used the language.
To solve the problems, the first thing I would do is get the code to compile by returning the correct type. For example, if the function is supposed to return a String, I would just have it return an empty String. On CodingBat, this displays all the test cases, which helps with getting an idea of how to solve the problem and figuring out which edge cases to consider.
For simpler problems, I would just start coding out the solution, but for more complex problems, it’s helpful to follow a structured approach. George Pólya’s How to Solve It presents a helpful problem solving framework that can be remembered as UPER:
- Understand the problem
- Plan a solution
- Execute the solution
- Review and revise
I was able to solve many of the easier problems on the first try, while harder problems took a bit more effort. I set up a Java development environment on my local machine to debug and step through harder problems, which made it easier to see what the issue was.