Wiping off the Dust with TypeScript
02 Sep 2025
A Small Break
As of right now, I’m starting my 3rd year of studies at UH Manoa, but am considered a 2nd year in terms of my Computer Science degree. Coming back from a one-year study abroad in Japan, I’ve truly experienced a plethora of new things; living abroad for the first time, learning a whole different culture and language, and even how to better communicate with others despite obstacles like language barriers. Sometimes, being in situations where you wanted to say something but didn’t have the capacity to explain yourself, or trying to explain a certain subject and realizing that some things are easier to say in one language than another, really expanded my worldview. While I had experienced a lot, I still had to come back, and coming back to Hawaii meant getting back into the groove of things, especially back to computer science.
Getting Into It
To be quite honest, I had forgotten quite a bit about coding, so I was a bit nervous coming back to school. However, starting this class, ICS 314, with the basics and a tutorial of JavaScript, not only let me learn a new coding language, as I had no experience with JavaScript, but it also helped refresh my memory of some coding basics, and allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of the limits of each language.
Much like learning Japanese and finding certain phrases or concepts harder to translate than others, learning a new coding language allowed me to appreciate and find the limits of languages that I already knew, like Python or Java, and also let me see that some languages excel in saying certain concepts over others. It was a lot of fun learning how to shorten and make my code even more efficient with ES6, and testing out my skills with the practice WODs.
Learning and Reflecting on TypeScript
On top of JavaScript, learning TypeScript after JavaScript showed me the importance of having constraints, especially with data types, as it makes code easier to understand and helps with bug fixing down the road. From an engineering perspective, I can see how a lot of people enjoy coding with TypeScript as there are a lot of shortcuts to make creating functions and objects easy. Even though I’m still getting used to the syntax of TypeScript and JavaScript, much like learning Japanese, becoming proficient is really only a matter of time and practice.
Overall, while this style of learning is quite intensive, and quite different from what I’m used to. The practice WODs help me gain more experience with the language which is great, however, this style of learning with watching online videos on your own time compared to having in person lectures is quite new to me. It’s almost like taking an asynchronous class but still having to go in person. Despite the coursework, I do think that I will be succesful in this class by managing my time correctly and turning in my work on time. This goes for not only this class, but for all of my courses, as I strive to get a good GPA for the future.
What now?
It’s still quite early on in my life, and while I’m very unsure of how my future will go (seeing as I’m pursuing two completely different majors), I am very excited about the possible paths I can take. I’m very passionate about both Computer Science and Japanese, and despite the stress and uncertainty, I’m curious to see how much more I can learn about software engineering and how this class will impact my career in the future.