Blog
November 16th, 2013
Today I learned about Agent Sheets, reviewed the Vensim material we had covered last time, and got introduced to my two new projects. Agent Sheets are programs that involve "agents", and show the ways the interact and affect each other. We also did some modelling of a scenario of "Foxes and Hounds", in which we modelled the way Hounds would hunt down Foxes using scent and chance in a world with thickets that can hide the foxes' scents. In addition, we reviewed the program called "Vensim" which we had been introduced to last week. Vensim is a program that allows one to show the ways different factors, and their rates/equations affect an environment. This is similar to the Agent Sheets; however, there are two major difference. On Vensim, running the stimulation will show the user graphs, while running the Agentsheets shows the ways the agents affect each other on a screen, with each agent having different depictions. In addition, for Agent Sheets, the model will be more specific, by showing the individual agents, and by writing for each scenario a way for the agent to react. The last thing we did today was to get introduced to our two new projects. One of the is to create a website for Shodor by applying our HTML and CSS skills. The second is to work with a partner, and model one of three scenarios. .
November 23rd 2013
Today I learned about Office Ethics, was introduced to several programs I can use to access my work remotely, and some commands to use in Terminal. For Office Ethics, we were given a presentation about the appropriate and the innapropriate things to do in the Shodor building, and anywhere else in our professional careers. After this, we explored programs we could use to work on our projects at Shodor from home, such as Cyberduck, WinSCP and Putty. Another program was TextWrangler, a useful tool to edit a variety of files in a variety of programming languages. We also had a session on the powerful tool called Terminal. Terminal can be used to make and remove directories, change permissions on a file, and navigate ourselves in and out of the files in our computer.We even made a shell program to display the lines in a file.
December 7th 2013
Today we worked on our Art Walk project. My partner was John, and we made a model of how to place 3 sculptures in a crowded courtyard, so that least number of students would get stuck going from their classrooms to their cafeterias. In this process, we made depictions of each of our "agents" (such as the cafeterias, the students, to classrooms) and gave them instructions to follow. The hardest challenge was to create a scent, and create global variables. We had to make a scent so that the students would have a way of finding their cafeterias -- we dispersed the 2 different scents (for the two different cafeterias) throughout the square by having each tile of the "world" agent to average the scent for each of its neighbors. We also made a global variable to count the number of students streaming into the cafeterias, and to stop the stimulation once the number had reached 3000.
December 14th 2013
Today I worked on this website. I made the Portfolio page, and I also improved the appearance of the whole website. I validated it, and I checked the good coding practices. The hardest challenge I had today was adding a Java Applet in the portfolio. I first had to use the Ristretto app to convert my AgentSheets model into a Java App. Afterwards, the app wasn't loading, so I had to convert the Applet from a zip to a simple folder. Finally, it worked! Lastly I added the hyperlink "Portfolio" on the left menu, and fixed some of the website's problems (ex: the blog page not loading)
February 1st 2014
Today we first presented our projects. My partner and I presented our Art Walk stimulation and presentation. We also watched other groups' stimulations. Some used Vensim, unlike us. We also saw the models of the other available projects, such as Cops and Robbers and the Farming project. In the afternoon, we learned introduction to programming. We worked primarily on JavaScript. I learned what a variable, string, and boolean was. We did this by inputing different values through the error console. For example, if we typed in typeof("greetings") it would return "String". After this, we learned some basic terms and meanings. ! means the opposite of the value. && means that if one or more of the values are false, the whole thing is false. Finally, || means that if one or more of the values are true, the whole thing is true. We concluded this session by updating our blogs and completing our daily reflections.
February 8th 2014
Today we expanded upon our knowledge of Javascript. Last time, we learned basic commands and types of terms. For example, we already knew what booleans, variables and strings are. Today, we learned several more advanced topics, such as if/else statements, loops, functions, and increments. There are several types of loops, such as the for loop, and the while loop. Phil and Aaron used example programs to show us real functions, and the ways they contributed to the program. We used an ant pheromone program, and a prime number program. We learned the way these loops work, and how to avoid infinite loops. We edited the programs ourselves, and gained experience on the things that can work, and the things that ruin the program or freeze our computer. I also mentioned that we learned iteration. We had touched upon this before, on one of our saturdays when we were working with Excel. In Javascript, it is shown with a "++". It is also a handy way to avoid an infinite loop. Since the variable gains 1 each time, eventually the conditional or the boolean will be false and the loop will stop. Another important concept we learned was the "array". An array can be described as a bookcase storing information. In the program, one can call upon elements of an array. We used the ant program to further understand this concept. Each time the ant moves, there are 4 possible directions, "North", "South", "East" and "West". These 4 directions were each stored in an array and can be called upon, given certain circumstances. In the end, we answered a series of questions about functions, loops, and the other concepts we'd learned.
March 1st 2014
Today we started learning about parallel computing. We first ran a program called Pandemic, a disease model. We learned how to set parameters, like "-n" which controls the number of people, and "-t" which controls the number of time-steps. Afterwards, we ran another program called galaxsee. Galaxsee models the way the galaxy changes over time, factoring in parameters like the weight of the stars, and the environment size. During this, we learned some simple commands for BCCD (the program with which we were running our programs) such as "pwd", which shows the current directory. The purpose of today was to understand parallel computing, and its benefits. During the later half of the day, we did an exercise with a jigsaw puzzle. There were 4 people, who represented computers. 4 people working together was quicker than just one person, as long as everyone was communicating. This exercise showed that parallel computing solves very big problems quicker, and more efficiently, with the computers dividing the work.
March 8th 2014
Today we expanded upon our knowledge of parallel computing. We started off by reviewing the concepts we had learned last week. We also watched a video about the different uses of parallel computing (which are quite numerous). A couple are: medecine, race car modeling, sports science, and business. We learned the importance of Thinking Parallel, and what it is. Thinking paralle is understanding the algorithms, how to divide the problem, and coordinate work and communication. To understand this, we did a group exercise where we found the area under the curve with rectangle. There were 4 people per group, hence there were 4 rectangles. Each person found the area of one rectangle, and in the end we added them together. In the latter part of the day, we focused on computer hardware. We learned the different parts of the computer, and their purposes. For example, the CPU is the equivalent of the "brains" of the computer. In addition, we did a hypothetical exercise in which we found all of the parts necessary to build a computer online (all with a budget of $970) We wrapped up the day with some review on Linux.
March 15th 2014
Today we learned more about parallel computing. In the morning, an intern demonstrated the way in which the effectiveness of each additional processor decreases after a certain point. We also understood the differences between "data" and "tasks". Today, we also did a little bit of programming, using a program called "emacs". We learned its similarities with JavaScript, such as its use of semicolons. We made a simple program, then followed with the three steps: write, compile, and run. We also understood the meanings of "validate" and "verify". To finish off the day, we learned about the advanced concept of algorithms ---- and how they can be applied to our daily lives as instructions, or recipes.
March 30th 2014
Today we were introduced to our new project. This project is another modelling project. We are to use Javascript, HTML and CSS to create a Forest fire. My partner was Rebecca. We were also given a template, that had a very basic program that met a few of the requirements for the project. The template given to us had the program to design the trees, and a way to store the trees' random coordinates into an array. However, REbecca and I set a goal to have the fire spread, have multiply timesteps (so that the fire would spread from the trees and be more realistic), and to also have a way for the user to design the forest. The first day, there were numerous bugs and mistakes in our program, so fixing them took up a lot of the day. Next week, we plan to move ahead in our project. We will have the fire spread for multiple timesteps. We will also have other options for designing the forest.
April 5th 2014
Today I finished my project. I improved the graphics on the trees. For example, instead of using green and red rectangles to signify healthy or burning trees, I used a clipart image of a green tree, and a tree on fire. In addition, I did some more fixing. There were numerous errors in the file. For example, the trees closest to the spark didn't catch on fire, even though they were in the burn radius. The biggest improvement I made today was to include a text box, and some slider bars. This enabled the user to change the variables of the model. It was also more convenient for me, because there was a default value for each of the three variables. That way, I didn't have to input a variable each time.
June 16th 2014
This week, we are doing a collaborative project. Our mentors gave us 4 possible scenarios we could choose from. First, we chose a scenario and wrote an HLD about it. We included guidelines, such as requirements, due dates, and desired behavior. I chose to write an HLD on Fashionista Phil. For my HLD, Fashionista Phil would like to understand fashion’s color trends for a 10-year period. In Phil’s fashion world, when two people meet each other, they'll judge one another. One of them will either adopt the other’s colors, or they won’t change at all. After this process occurs, the more popular a color gets, the more influence it has, and the more likely it is for someone to change his or her color to that color. After the color is too popular, people won’t wear that color as much. After writing our HLD's, we will switch them. So, someone will get my Fashionista Phil HLD, and I will also receive an HLD. Based on the HLD I receive, I will program a simulation for that HLD, following the specified guidelines.
June 17th 2014
Today I started working only one the HLD I received. It was Fashionista Phil, the same one I'd made an HLD for. I chose to do it in Agentsheets (we could also use Javascript if we wished). In the morning, it was very challenging because I hadn't used AgentSheets in a long time. I eventually learned how to use it again; it helped that it was essentially a more complex version of Scratch. Today, I completed the entire project. I made 4 trendy colors --- purple, green, light blue and dark blue. I had them switch colors with one another, depending on each person's resistance, and also each colors influence. The HLD I received detailed slightly different requirements than the one I'd made. If the color was worn by less than 10% or over 90% of the population, the color's influence would be 10%. If it was anywhere between 10% and 90% then the influence would be 50%. It was challenging because I had to juggle many different variables and methods. I am pleased to say that I now have a working simulation of fashion trends over the ages, complete with a graph.
June 18th 2014
Today I first improved my Fashionista Phil model. Before, each of the agent sheets would change their color every timestep of the model. This was because the random process that controlled the agents' color was used every turn. I fixed that issue, and I also uploaded the project onto my portfolio. Then, I made a logo for myself, after using the tutorial for Inkscape. Finally, I tried to improve my website. I had an idea to have two images overlapping each other on my homepage. One would be the main idea of the passage, another would be a screenshot of said passage. For example, for my introductory passage on Shodor, the main idea image overlaid over the introductory passage was a logo of Shodor. Furthermore, when the website is opened only the Shodor logo would appear. Anytime the user moused over the picture, the passage underneath would be made visible. I succeeded on all accounts except for the hovering. Whenever the mouse hovered over the picture, if it ever shifted, the image would flicker uncontrollably.
June 19th 2014
I started off the morning by further editing my website. I was able to fix the flickering problem. I did so by changing the z-index of the lower image when the mouse hovered over it. Z-Index controls which image is in the front, the higher the z-index, the higher layer it is. Therefore, if I changed the z-index so that it became higher than that of the image above it when the mouse hovered over it, the image on the bottom would show when moused over. I also started to work on the simulation for Art-Walk Anew. In this simulation, it is similar to the Art Walk I'd done earlier, but I faced new challenges. For example, the people in the museum would leave, depending on how many statues they'd seen. I made a little bit of progress, and programmed the entrance and exits. However, I soon had to leave because I documented the Graphics Design workshop in the afternoon, where students learned different features of Gimp, such as selection, filters and layers.
June 20th 2014
I devoted my day to finishing my Art Walk AgentSheets. In my model, there are 6 agents -- the entrance, the exit, the world, the people, the sculptures and the curators. The curator is in charge of establishing new sculptures every day. In the beginning of the model, the entrance will produce people. The people are drawn to the sculptures by the "scent" they emit. Once a person has viewed (stood next to) 50% of all the sculptures, they are happy. If a person has been blocked by other people too many times (their tolerance is a random number) they become unhappy. After they are either happy or unhappy, they will exit (they are led to the exit by another "scent"). In my opinion, this simulation was significantly harder than Fashionista Phil because there were scents, and different depictions. For me, the count, and the scents were the two hardest parts to program.
June 23rd 2014
Today, we started our website week. This week we will primarily be working on improving our websites, and using Inkscape and Gimp. Today I used Gimp to make my logo. To do this, I primarily used the calligraphy tool, the selection tool, and the filters. I also wrote the HLD for my website. This is mainly to first think of the characteristics of my website before programming them. In my HLD, I included features I would work towards, such as a search box, a responsive website, and mobile compatibility. I mainly worked on responsiveness today. I used @media to do so ---- essentially, when the width is 1000 pixels, 900 pixels, or 800 pixels, the fonts and the sizes of the contents are changed. Earlier in the day, it did so ---- whenever I resized the window the sizes would change. However, it was not very effective, and it was also very messy. Because of an unknown cause, it stopped doing so later in the day. The portfolio and the blog still resized, because of the overflow. However, the index page stopped doing so. I believe this is because the index is composed of pictures, and the syntax or the programming I wrote for the resizing of the images is incorrect. After I fix this tomorrow, I will also work on mobile compatibility.
June 24th 2014
Today, I mostly worked on making my website responsive. It has improved a lot from yesterday. I also started working on the mobile-compatibility. I will test it later, to see if my changes have affected the usability on mobile devices. I also completed one of my HLD requirements: 2 different styles for the website. I did this by using javascript, so that when a button was clicked, the site would revert to a different css file. After I finished the different styles, I attempted to make drop down menus. It didn't work very well --- I believe that I need to make the css more detailed. The type of drop down menu I tried using was very standard, and not very aesthetically pleasing. In addition, the links didn't work. Tomorrow I will work more on mobile-compatibility, and drop down menus.
June 25th 2014
Today we continued working on our websites. I improved the responsiveness of my index.html page. This was a challenge, because the index page's content is pictures. I made it more responsive by making the space the pictures were from the sides percentages instead of fixed pixel. Tomorrow I will tweak this by making the images progressively farther from the left side, so that it looks almost like a staircase progression. I also improved the two styles the website was available in. Before, the Green Prints texture was the default. If the style changed to Pink Bubbles, it would only stay that way on that page. For example, if the style was changed to Pink Bubbles on the index page, if the user moved to Portfolio, the style would revert back to Green Prints. In addition, I changed the colors so that they match, and fit the style (either the Green or the Pink). I tried to have a drop-down menu, but there were likely many problems with my code, and sadly, the drop down menu was unsuccessful.
June 26th 2014
Today I further improved my website. First, I added Bootstrap, which improved the appearance of the buttons. I also had a hover menu: when the user hovers over the portfolio link, 3 other links appear: my portfolio for AgentSheets, Gimp and InkScape. However, they only appear when the mouse hovers over the Portfolio link, so when I move the mouse to try to click on the other 3 links, they disappear. I will try to fix this problem tomorrow. I also aligned the menu in the center of the page, and made the display :inline. This took a long time, because in the beginning, Even though the links were in the middle of the page, they still went down the center, instead of staying horizontally on the top. After I fixed that, the navigation bar and the Shodor Resources bar weren't aligned. The Navigation bar would be on the top left, and the Shodor Resources would be on the bottom right. I fixed this by tweaking the positions so some of them were relative and some of them were absolute. I also edited the number of pixels away from the top of the page the two lists were. I also added a border, so that the menu was more visible. The made the content farther down on the page, so that it wouldn't overlap with the border. I tried to add a fad out effect to the pictures, but I ran out of time. Tomorrow, I will fix the hover, program better fade-out effects for the pictures, and hopefully add hover links for the blogs. If I still have time after that, I will organize by blog posts, and include a search box.
June 27th 2014
Today I finished Block 1! I also made many improvements to my website. I changed the fonts, and made the appearance better. I also fixed the hovering problem. I did so by putting the
July 7th 2014
Today we first started by using Subversion, with Terminal. This is important, because using Subversion, we can save versions of files, so that in case we lose our work, we can go back to the latest version. There was a secure link online, with repositories for each of the apprentices to save their files. Then, we used terminal, and commands such as svn, ls, cd, etc to commit all of our important files to our repository online. Later, we made an animated GIF. I chose to make a gif of roses. To do this, we used layers, in Gimp. I had about 12 different layers, and I had 3 flower pictures. I ordered the layers in the order of the pictures. For each of the 3 flowers, I duplicated it 3 more times. For those 3 new layers, I had the blur radius increase, so that the pictures would become blurrier and blurrier. This allowed for the Gif to get smoother transitions. I also included the amount of milliseconds in parenthesis inside the layer's name ---- This is Gimp's timeframe syntax. This successfully created an animated Gif!
July 8th 2014
Today we started using PHP. I learned that PHP is a little bit similar to JavaScript, but it is actually "Server Side" -- thus, the source code doesn't show up on online browsers. We learned how to start a PHP file, the proper tags, how to declare a variable, and how to write functions. There are also some other important commands for PHP, such as "echo", and "print_r". We started by making a program that generated hex codes, and changed its background randomly every refresh. This used arrays, and random numbers. In the afternoon, we did PHP projects independently. I chose to make a web page that would show random pictures of cute animals. It worked relatively well, until I tried to add a button that would change the picture (it only changes the picture if the web page is refreshed). However, whenever the button was linked to the function itself, it took the place of the picture (Because the function would return the picture). On the other hand, if I tried any other methods, the button wouldn't work. Today I just settled for having the button refresh the page. However, I will work on this more tomorrow.
July 9th 2014
We continued to work on our PHP today. I started working on one of my projects: the Dice Statistics Project. The goal of this project is to create a working PHP file that models 2 virtual dice rolling, calculates the sum, shows the results, and also shows past results. I spent my whole day working on this, as well as trying to follow along as Joel did the calendar project. I successfully was able to have the PHP use functions arrays, and random numbers to simulate to dice rolling and producing a random number 1-6. I was also able to show the sum at the bottom. However, there were many errors when I tried to have the program show the last 5 results. Tomorrow I will work on those bugs in my code, as well as start another project.
July 10th 2014
I worked on more PHP today. I finished the Dice Statistics in the morning. The main problem was that the Past values were not working. At first, they simply didn't show up. Afterwards, they displayed random numbers that didn't match the past values. With help from my peers, I discovered that because I had code outside of the function, the random results for the dice were reseting each time the "Dice Roll" button was pressed. We solved this by using cookies. Joel also had demonstrations on how to code different features with PHP (such as forms) and a small introduction to XML. In the afternoon, I worked on a new project: the Calendar Project. Its requirements are to generate a calendar for any date. I successfully was able to have forms for date, month, and year, as well as store the user input in PHP. However, I am not exactly sure how to approach the problem of making new columns each time there are 7 days in a week, as well as how to know the day of the week the user's inputed date is.
July 11th 2014
Today was still PHP projects. I finished my calendar today, and worked a little bit on the background selector. I sucessfully found a way to find the first day of the month, using a PHP commands such as strtotime and date. Before that, I'd made functions to go through, and make table cells, depending on which date it was currently on, and also how many days were in the month (from an array). I also had a function successfully return the row, once there were 7 cells on a certain row. My calendar also includes Leap Years. The calendar was definitely the hardest PHP project I've done so far. The hardest part of it was drawing the days, and making sure that the number of days drawn corresponded to the the arrays that contained the information on how many days were in each month.
July 14th 2014
In the morning, I worked on my PHP Projects. I finished both my background selector project, and my Dane Joe PHP Project. For the background selector, I had a dropdown menu with about 10 different options for the background color. At first, however, the background color wouldn't change when the dropdown menu was submitted. With Phil's help, we figured out that this was because I had already specified the background color in my site.css files. We removed the links to the files, and the background selector worked! Later, I worked on my Dane Joe project. The goal of this project was for a user's inputed name to switch the first letters of the first and last name. For example, Jane Doe would be turned into Dane Joe. This was a relatively easy project. I first had 2 text input boxes for first and last name. Then, I had the first and last letters change places by using PHP's 'substr' function. I then stored the first letter of the first and last name as variables, and the other letters of the first and last names as variables. I was able to print the altered names by using the 'echo' functions. Later in the day, I worked on documenting the workshop. In the workshop, students experimented and broadened their knowledge on expectation vs.observation vs.reality.
July 15th 2014
Today, I finished all of my PHP Projects! I had the XML Blog and the Dynamic Pages left. For the XML, I found out that my search box counted, because I used XML to store all of the links and titles the search box had access to. Then, I worked on my Dynamic pages. For dynamic pages, the requirement was to make a page that would respond to what the user inputed. My idea was to have a text input box for the user, where they could enter the image they wanted to see. I wasn't sure how to make that, so I searched online and used a little bit of code I found online. I adapted it so that the search term was the input the user submitted, instead of a predetermined one.
July 16th 2014
In the morning, we worked on MYSQL, and the Vehicle Table. We had already made the table, added values, and given it contraints and keys earlier. In the PHP document, we "joined" and "united" the tables. We had to unite them because we had 4 tables, detailing different information about the Vehicles. For example, one of them had information about the color, year, kind. Another had information about the Owner. In the afternoon, I worked on fixing the bugs my PHP page had, because of incorrect information in the tables.
July 17th 2014
In the morning, we worked a little bit more on the MYSQL tables. I updated it so that it would use $queries, and select or create different parts of the Vehicles Table. In the afternoon, I worked on converting word documents to HTML Documents. This was necessary because HTML files were needed for the SHODOR site. Before, people had needed to download the files each time they wished to view it. Now, they can simply click on the links.
July 18th 2014
In the morning, we worked on making the Word Documents HTML files. I also did some independant studying. In the afternoon, Phil gave us a new project: making a PHP file that would save URLs for different people: using MYSQL. I started by having different input forms, one for new users, and one for returning users. Because the way I set the MYSQL table up would auto increment, I would have the ID be the username (because each one was unique). So, a new user would first type in their password and the URL they wanted to save. The program would save the password and the URL into the table, and it would return to the user their username (The ID of the row in the table where their password and their username had been saved). Returning users would type in the ID, and the password, in order to view the URL. In the code, I did this by having different if statements that would be triggered when $_POST for bookmarknew or bookmarkold was true (bookmarknew for new users, bookmarkold for returning users). Then, I had different MYSQL commands to save the results and let the PHP file have access to the table. These commands included things such as SELECT * FROM, and INSERT INTO
July 21st 2014
Today, we mainly worked on Advanced Programming Concepts, and Engineering. In the morning, we worked on a JavaScript project. Keith, an intern, showed us his program for racing 2 cars. He explained to us different parts of it, such as its functions, its commands, its variables. We also worked on a project to make a new variation of a car, that used the inheritance command. Later, we used Legos to illustrate engineering concepts. My partner and I worked on building lego figures, as well as implementing Shodor apps to illustrate the figures. The app we used also should us different data about the figure, such as the center of gravity.
July 22nd 2014
Today, we worked on Advanced Programming Concepts and Engineering again. In the morning, we worked on Regular Expressions. Regular Expressions are needed to search for character, or strings in text. We learned its syntax, such as using [] to specify what (or what not) to search for, using ^ to only look at the beginning, and using . to only look for one character. I was able to search for just emails, and also for the text in between html tags. Later, we built a tower out of coffee straws and pipe cleaners. We had to make the tower tall, as well as strong. We concentrated on using triangles as the main structures.
July 23rd 2014
In the morning, we worked on Ajax. More specifically, I tried to have a page that would load a page from an external page every 5 seconds. To do this, I used JQuery, Javascript and PHP. I was not successful, but tomorrow I will hopefully be able to complete this project by using append functions, as well as find out the command used to have the page update regularly. In the afternoon, we explored circuits as the next part of our Engineering concepts unit. I learned how to use wires, batteries, etc to make a LED light up. We also made one that used capacitors and a 555 timer to have the LED blink regularly. We also used a Java applet online to build circuits online.
July 23rd 2014
In the morning, I worked on building Little Fe. I learned a lot about how to build the frame of the computer. I manually built it with Jopsy to assemble it with nails, screwdrivers, etc. Later, we put motherboards into the frame. Later, I had reception duty, where I helped people calling Shodor.
July 25th 2014
In the morning, I worked on my stocks project. I decided to try to simplify and change the code, because I had used many things I didn't feel was necessary. I was able to successfully load results from another page, however, the update didn't work. I also worked on Recursion with Eric, and got a project to make a Javascript model for Koch's snowflake. In the afternoon, we explored density. We used interactive applets, with different blocks that either floated or sank on water. In addition, we had an activity where we built boats using materials such as straws and cardboard. Our goal was to support as many marbles as possible, as well as support marbles close to our projected amount (of marbles that our boat could have).
July 28th 2014
Today, I mainly worked on the projects from last week. This included the stocks project, and the Koch's snowflake Project. I was able to successfully complete both of them, with help! For the stocks project, the main problem was the positioning of the commands. In addition, the text had started jumping down the page after I'd fixed the program to update automatically. I fixed this by straightening the 'div' and 'head' tags in the HTML file. I also finished the Koch's snowflake. I started out with one side, and was able to make a triangle in the middle of the side, just like what would happen in the Koch's Snowflake. I also had the user be able to decide the amount of iterations for the snowflake through a form. Every time the value on the form changed, the snowflake3 function would run. The snowflake3 function was necessary because the snowflake function only changed one side. In addition, a necessary part of the snowflake function was recursion. This allowed the function to repeat itself until a certain condition was met. In this case, that condition was when num (the variable that corresponded to the user input) was 1, where the screen would just show a horizontal line. Until then, the function would keep on running with the parameter of num-1. This repeated the function on each side of the triangle, and corresponded to the user input!
July 29th 2014
Today, I was already finished with all of my projects. In the morning, I worked on my resume. A former Shodor staff also came, and gave a presentation. He went over the standard interview for tech companies on the west coast, and we also did a 'whiteboard exercise', similar to a test that might occur at the interview. In the afternoon, I also gave my presentation for all of my Shodor projects, and later in the day, I volunteered and tested.
July 30th 2014
Today, I worked on my resume. I had to reformat it, as well as add dates, and switch the orders. I was also given a new project: to make a storefront using PHP and MYSQL. The store would have items for sale, with a specific price and stock. I would track each user (perhaps with a username and password) so that whenever they bought something, the price would be deducted from their bank account, and the item's stock would go down. In addition, there will be an admin, who can control the price and stock of each item. I was able to successfully create a MYSQL table for the items, their prices, and their stock. With my free time, I independently learnt JavaScript via Codeacademy.
July 31st 2014
In the morning, I independently learned Javascript, and some of its commands such as 'public', 'void', 'static', and 'class'. In the afternoon, I was the receptionist.
August 1st 2014
Today was my last day of Shodor for this summer! In the morning, I vastly improved my website, by making my pictures fluid. Before, whenever they were resized, the image would stretch, and become morphed. I did this by specifying the width of the pictures a specific percentage of the whole width of the page, so that whenever the page moved, the width and the picture would move in a consisten manner along with it. I also worked on independently learning Javascript via Code academy.