Google Code-in 2019: Week 8
Final week! Actually, this is only half a week. But anyway, let's get started. The end might seem a bit abrupt given how large GCI is, and how I didn't end it properly. I'll do all that in a review post. That post may come anytime. I'll just write it when I feel like it.
I went to sleep, and I saw more work was needed on my Rock-Paper-Scissors game the next day (19th Jan). I had to add a points system and make the game best of 3. I did this, and submitted my task at 10AM 19th Jan along with some other code improvements. I had two 44 page essays due the next day, so I worked on them while I waited for the review. The task was accepted at 6PM on Jan 19th.
I finished a sizable chunk of the essays, but I didn't complete them though I had the entire day. I claimed a task at 6:30PM: "Add an additional API Endpoint to StackOverflow.jl". I finished adding 4 endpoints, which took me some time, and I submitted my work at 11PM, and stayed up watching Cody Ko's videos (I recently found him, and he makes some of the best videos out there). At 12:45AM, I received a notification saying more work was needed. The changes were easy, and I submitted my work at 1AM. The task was approved overnight.
I came home after school the next day (20th Jan), and I claimed my second beginner task: "Set up Julia and code some Advent of Code puzzles!". I submitted my work at 7:30PM and it was accepted at 8PM. I claimed another task since I still had ~4 hours till 12AM (my usual sleep time): "Build a snake game using GTK.jl or another Julia Graphics package". I researched my entire evening, and I couldn't find even one graphics package that could do this easily. This really let me down, and I thought of abandoning the task. This would be my first abandoned task! Last year, I abandoned 2 tasks and I didn't make the cut to Winner. I didn't want to take chances, so this really brought me down. I looked all night frantically, but I couldn't find any package. This was it. This was where I lose. I felt like giving up. I'll be locked into this task for the next 2 days, and the contest will be over before I knew it. I went to sleep incredibly stressed.
The next morning (Jan 21st), I asked people on Slack for a good package like PyGame in Julia. No useful response. All responses were packages I tried already, and either had no documentation or no animation support. Finally, at 6PM (5.5 hours before the task claim deadline), I decided I'll use PyCall with PyGame. I did so quickly, and I had PyGame running on Julia by 7PM.
I had only 4.5 hours to write my game and have it reviewed and accepted. I started writing my game frantically, while kfung asked me questions about how I got PyGame set up. I tried my best to help him, but some cross OS error with setting up PyCall with PyGame didn't work, and I couldn't help him. He was on macOS, while I got it working with the same procedure on Windows.
Anyways, I finished my snake game at 9PM, and I had to make some final touches. I finished the code around 9:30PM, and I started working on Graphics, Colors and input. At 11PM (30 minutes from task claim deadline), I submitted my task, and it was accepted at 11:11PM.
I claimed my next (and last) task at 11:18PM after helping my boi Madhav. I claimed the "Write a blog post about using Github Actions for Julia packages" task, but my closest friends (Madhav and kfung) couldn't make it to the deadline. :(
After claiming my task, I had only a few hours to finish the task. I started working on it the next day (Jan 22nd), and I stayed up till 2AM writing the doc. I woke up at 5AM the next day, Jan 23rd (after 3 hours of sleep), and started working on my doc again. I submitted my task 6:30PM on Jan 23rd.
My final task was approved at 7:30PM on 23rd Jan, but another mentor asked me to make some corrections to my blog post before posting it on Medium. I made the requested changes and I posted my blog post on Medium at 10PM. Google Code-in had finally ended for me. I also added the blogpost to a template repo which explained working with CI/CD and Julia through a PR as my mentor suggested.
I ended GCI at 38 tasks!
At 10:40PM, the unthinkable happened: the legend, the Viking himself, Stefan Karpinski merged my Pull Request into master. This was when I knew: I had hope.
So, Google Code-in was over. The next day, 24th Jan, I was restless after coming home from school: I needed to pick up my laptop and do some work. I had gotten into the schedule so much, I was restless that I had nothing to do. Even today, I was restless, so I wrote this blog post. The results come out in 15 days, and I can't wait. Thank you so much for following me through this journey.
I'll still keep writing blog posts, just not about GCI, or sometimes even Code. I might write stuff from dolphins to how much I want to learn C or C++. I will not give up this habit of writing. I really enjoy this, and I'll continue to do this. I hope I can do this more often and get better at writing stuff.
I really want to write the review post right now, but I have a preboard tomorrow, and I should start prepping. See you in the review post!
I went to sleep, and I saw more work was needed on my Rock-Paper-Scissors game the next day (19th Jan). I had to add a points system and make the game best of 3. I did this, and submitted my task at 10AM 19th Jan along with some other code improvements. I had two 44 page essays due the next day, so I worked on them while I waited for the review. The task was accepted at 6PM on Jan 19th.
I finished a sizable chunk of the essays, but I didn't complete them though I had the entire day. I claimed a task at 6:30PM: "Add an additional API Endpoint to StackOverflow.jl". I finished adding 4 endpoints, which took me some time, and I submitted my work at 11PM, and stayed up watching Cody Ko's videos (I recently found him, and he makes some of the best videos out there). At 12:45AM, I received a notification saying more work was needed. The changes were easy, and I submitted my work at 1AM. The task was approved overnight.
I came home after school the next day (20th Jan), and I claimed my second beginner task: "Set up Julia and code some Advent of Code puzzles!". I submitted my work at 7:30PM and it was accepted at 8PM. I claimed another task since I still had ~4 hours till 12AM (my usual sleep time): "Build a snake game using GTK.jl or another Julia Graphics package". I researched my entire evening, and I couldn't find even one graphics package that could do this easily. This really let me down, and I thought of abandoning the task. This would be my first abandoned task! Last year, I abandoned 2 tasks and I didn't make the cut to Winner. I didn't want to take chances, so this really brought me down. I looked all night frantically, but I couldn't find any package. This was it. This was where I lose. I felt like giving up. I'll be locked into this task for the next 2 days, and the contest will be over before I knew it. I went to sleep incredibly stressed.
The next morning (Jan 21st), I asked people on Slack for a good package like PyGame in Julia. No useful response. All responses were packages I tried already, and either had no documentation or no animation support. Finally, at 6PM (5.5 hours before the task claim deadline), I decided I'll use PyCall with PyGame. I did so quickly, and I had PyGame running on Julia by 7PM.
I had only 4.5 hours to write my game and have it reviewed and accepted. I started writing my game frantically, while kfung asked me questions about how I got PyGame set up. I tried my best to help him, but some cross OS error with setting up PyCall with PyGame didn't work, and I couldn't help him. He was on macOS, while I got it working with the same procedure on Windows.
Anyways, I finished my snake game at 9PM, and I had to make some final touches. I finished the code around 9:30PM, and I started working on Graphics, Colors and input. At 11PM (30 minutes from task claim deadline), I submitted my task, and it was accepted at 11:11PM.
I claimed my next (and last) task at 11:18PM after helping my boi Madhav. I claimed the "Write a blog post about using Github Actions for Julia packages" task, but my closest friends (Madhav and kfung) couldn't make it to the deadline. :(
After claiming my task, I had only a few hours to finish the task. I started working on it the next day (Jan 22nd), and I stayed up till 2AM writing the doc. I woke up at 5AM the next day, Jan 23rd (after 3 hours of sleep), and started working on my doc again. I submitted my task 6:30PM on Jan 23rd.
My final task was approved at 7:30PM on 23rd Jan, but another mentor asked me to make some corrections to my blog post before posting it on Medium. I made the requested changes and I posted my blog post on Medium at 10PM. Google Code-in had finally ended for me. I also added the blogpost to a template repo which explained working with CI/CD and Julia through a PR as my mentor suggested.
I ended GCI at 38 tasks!
At 10:40PM, the unthinkable happened: the legend, the Viking himself, Stefan Karpinski merged my Pull Request into master. This was when I knew: I had hope.
So, Google Code-in was over. The next day, 24th Jan, I was restless after coming home from school: I needed to pick up my laptop and do some work. I had gotten into the schedule so much, I was restless that I had nothing to do. Even today, I was restless, so I wrote this blog post. The results come out in 15 days, and I can't wait. Thank you so much for following me through this journey.
I'll still keep writing blog posts, just not about GCI, or sometimes even Code. I might write stuff from dolphins to how much I want to learn C or C++. I will not give up this habit of writing. I really enjoy this, and I'll continue to do this. I hope I can do this more often and get better at writing stuff.
I really want to write the review post right now, but I have a preboard tomorrow, and I should start prepping. See you in the review post!
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