This was one of the culminating assignments to finish off my first semester in CS. We were assigned to implement a binary search tree using node-based structure to organize passed in contacts in the form of (“First name”, “Last name”, XXX-XXX-XXXX). Through the completion of this project, I learned not only the importance of organized and consistent code, but the neccessity of testing.
Prior to this CS class, I hadn’t ever been exposed to the world of testing one’s code again and again along the way to ensure the reliability of a program. It was quite the rude awakening when I learned that we would have to test both our homework assignments as well as each of our lab exercises. As any disgruntled student would, I found this tedious and unnecessary in the beginning, yet as the semester progressed, so did my appreciation for this strategy of programming. I know now the importance of testing one’s own code, and will undoubtedly use it far into my professional career.