Blog
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Oct. 4th 2014
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Today was October 4th, 2014. Today we learned about proper office ethics, from the really cool instructor Ron. Mr. List also helped us get to know each other, by having us each present a little bit about each other, and people could ask questions. Overall, the first day of the Apprenticeship program was pretty awesome, and I hope that next week will be even better.
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Oct. 11th 2014
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Today was October 11th, 2014. Today we learned about the human error that is associated with any measurement, and how to most effectively circumvent this inevitable error. We also make a Google Docs with the mass of various planets, from various sources so that we could see how different the measurements were, from different places.
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Oct. 18th 2014
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Today was October 18th, 2014. Today we learned about modeling, and especially how to model in excel. We also learned about models in real life, and we hypothesized about what models could be made from a piece of rope. This week was pretty entertaining, and I am pretty happy that we are mostly past the introductory stuff, and onto the more fun things.
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Nov. 1st 2014
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Today was November 1st, 2014. Today we learned about a lot of command line commands, and we got to implement them to build some file trees. I also started on my first website, which even though is pretty much copied from the Shodor instructions, is still really awesome. I helped the people around me with my command line code whenever they needed it, and many teachers helped me, especially the mentor who taught the command line segment.
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Nov. 8th 2014
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Today was November 8th, 2014. Today we learned even more about command line, and we learned a little about how Secure Shell (ssh) works, and we got to ssh into the shodor server. We also started a little on VenSim, which seems pretty exciting because of how many things you are able to model in VenSim. Today I helped a lot of people around me who had issues with their VenSim models.
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Nov. 15th 2014
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Today was November 15th, 2014. Today we learned more about writing and running simulations, in both VenSim and in Agent Sheets, and we made a SIR (Sick, Infected, Recovered) model, which models the spread of sickness, tracking those three groups of people. Iain helped me a lot today, due to the fact that I needed quite a bit of help with getting the AgentSheets simulation to work correctly. Luckily, I eventually got it working.
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Nov. 22nd 2014
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Today was November 22nd, 2014. Today we learned even more about VenSim, and William and I started on a project where we model Seal vs. Fish populations. Both Phil and Iain helped me a great deal today, especially with the units. I ended up learning how to properly use units, and due to this fact, I was able to help a lot of people that needed help with the units in their simulations.
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Dec. 6th 2014
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Today was December 6th, 2014. Today we worked some more on our projects, and completed my VenSim project. I also added some more to my website, which was interesting due to the fact that I was able to add many interesting things because of how well all the interns and people circulating around were able to help.
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Feb. 7th 2015
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Today was February 7th, 2015. Today we learned a lot about the concepts of programming in Javascript. We edited a few programs that had errors in them to fix the errors. We also commented out various lines in said programs to see what effect that had on the successful execution of the program. Finally, we learned about many operators in Javascript including ==, ===, >, <, >=, <= and others.
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Feb. 14th 2015
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Today was February 14th, 2015. Today we learned more about the concepts of programming in javascript, including how to use for loops, while loops, and use pseudocode to solve very complicating problems in coding. Overall, today was really exciting and I can't wait to learn more next week.
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Feb. 21st 2015
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Today was February 21st, 2015. Today we continued to learn a lot about Javascript and a little bit about HTML. In addition to learning more about the more precise mechanics of things such as while loops and for loops, we learned all about how Arrays work. We also got to work with a great deal of programs that used arrays to be sucessful, furthering our understanding of how best to use Arrays effectively in programs.
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Mar. 7th 2015
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Today was March 7th, 2015. Today was the first day which Sarah and I spent working on our group project. Today, we got the basic foundation laid, upon which we will be able to effectively create our project. This includes creating the GUI, a grid, and gaining a solid understanding of how the pre-existing code works.
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Mar. 14th 2015
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Today was March 14th, 2015. Today Sarah and I continued to work on our Seals and Fish project, adding a way for fish to eat and adding working Fish tags. In additon, we added a constantly updating background which displays the signal strength in any indiviual square, which will likely not only make the final product look better, but make the code easier to debug whenever we encounter a difficulty with our tagged Fish.
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Apr. 11th 2015
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Today was April 11th, 2015. The answers to the various questions are as follows: Some of the top supercomputer sites are the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the National University of Defense Technology. The contain 552,960 cores and 3,120,000 cores, respectively. The blue waters supercomputer does not show up on the list, and that is because they have opted to not be on the top 500 supercomputers list.
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Apr. 18th 2015
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Today was April 18th, 2015. Today we continued to work on programming in C, as well as doing some work with Parallel Computing. We leaned about how to make basic programs in C, as well as how to compile and run them. Overall, this was one of the more interesting session, because of how much we learned in respect to new material.
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Apr. 25 2015
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Today was April 25th, 2015. Today we did some more work with calculating PI with parallel computing. We refined our program which calculates PI, in addition to making it so that it can be run with parallel comptuing. This was interesting, because of how much it really sped up the execution of the program, making it much more efficient in many ways.
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Jun. 22 2015
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Today was June 22nd, 2015. Today was the first day in which I attended the summer session of Shodor. I followed up today on what I missed last week, in addition to getting much work done on both my Inkscape work and my GIMP work.
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Jun. 23 2015
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Today was June 23nd, 2015. Today was my second day of attending the summer session of Shodor. Today I wrapped up my work on Inkscape and GIMP, in addition to getting started on making up what I missed in the first week of Shodor, by finishing my HLD of Flashing Fireflies, and getting it approved by Phil.
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Jun. 24 2015
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Today was June 24th, 2015. Today I created the HLD(High Level Design Document) for my updated website which I will be creating in the future. In addition, I created a great deal of the AgentSheets simulation today, which mainly the things that I missed. Hopefully tommorow morning I will be able to finish up the simulation, and then I will continue teaching myself the basics of PHP, as to be better prepared when we are tought PHP in block 2.
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Jun. 25 2015
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Today was June 25th, 2015. Today I wrapped up all of my assignments for the week. In addition to this, I presented my Javascript Fish and Seal model to Phil. Finally, Miguel gave us some fun problems to work on. The first of these problems was converting a number to a base 2, 32 bit binary number, flipping it, and then converting it back to base 10. The second of these probems was figuring out the pattern of a set of numbers, and then finding out the Nth term of that set of numbers. I used Python for this, and because I do not know very much about Python, the rest of the day was used for teaching myself Python.
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Jun. 26 2015
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Today was June 26th, 2015. Today I reviewed over the assignments which I finished up yesterday, bug-testing them and making sure that they are ready for submission. In addition to this, I had a meeting with my Mentor today, in which we discussed my experiences at Shodor. Miguel gave us some more fun programs to work on, and I learned that I dislike reflections at the end of the day.
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Jul. 6 2015
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Today was July 6th, 2015. Today was the first day of the third week, although it was the second week which I attended Shodor for the summer session. This week appears to be more learning oriented, as opposed to being self taught, as the last week was. Today we did a great deal of work concerning Regex, which is extremely useful for sifting through large databases of information. In addition to this, we did a great deal of work with the Canvas, and we all got to make a smiley face with the various drawing tools which Canvas provides.
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Today was July 7th, 2015. Today was the second day of the week. Today I spent more time learning how to help teach the summer camp next week. I spent half of the day doing this, and I spent the other half of the day doing some more work on my PHP projects. The other half of the day I spent working on my PHP projects. Today I worked on my Calendar in PHP, in addition to starting work on my Dice Rolling program in PHP.
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Today was July 8th 2015. Today I simply did more work on my PHP projects. I made more headway on my dice rolling program, which appears as if it will take quite a bit of time to finish it and make it look as nice as I wish for it to be. In addition, I did some more work with Ron and learned some more about what exactly makes certain shapes of lego structures stand on their own versus topple over once someone lets go of them.
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Jul. 9 2015
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Today was July 9th, 2015. Today I spent half of the day again working with Ron on preparation for teaching the camp next week. We worked on a lab where we calculated the density of various objects and calculated approximately how many should fit into a styrofoam cup before it sinks. In the afternoon I spent more time working on my PHP projects, finishing up the dice rolling program and the name switcher. In addition, I got started on a color chooser in which I store the choice that the user made in a cookie. Finally, we learned a little bit of mySQL databases with Joel.
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Jul. 10 2015
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Today was July 10th, 2015. Today I spent half of the day working with ron on preparation for teacing the camp next week, We worked with something called "Daredevils", where the students were required to roll marbles down half a piece of pipe insulation, and get it to land in a film canister consistantly.
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Jul. 13 2015
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Today was July 13th, 2015. Today I was required to to document for the morning session of the Programming Concepts, in which the children learned about Javascript. In the afternoon, I caught up on the stuff that I missed in reference to the databases and started work on my Store project.
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Jul. 14 2015
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Today was July 14th, 2015. Today I learned some more information about databases, and did some more work on my Store project. I created all of the neccesary databases, and began work on the basic UI which will be used to create the website.
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Jul. 15 2015
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Today was July 15th, 2015. Today I did a great deal more work on my Databases project. I added the capability to display all of the database information, and the ability to "order" things off of the website. In addition, I documented in the afternoon for the engineering workshop, where I got to experience and help kids rolling marbles down ramps and trying to get them to land in a film canister.
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Jul. 16 2015
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Today was July 16th, 2015. Today I opted to help out Ron again and shoulder-surf/participate in some learning about electronics instead of simply do normal work on my General Store website. We did things such as learn about the different elements of an electronic circuit, learn how each one works, and build multiple functional circuits. We ended the day with a fully functional breadboard which housed multiple LEDs, which increment in a binary pattern every half a second or so.
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Jul. 17 2015
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Today was July 17th, 2015. Today was Friday, the last day of the workshop which I was helping to teach. Today we did something called "Daredevils", in which the students were required to roll a marble down half a piece of pipe insulation, and get it to land consistantly in a film canister. In addition, they used a great deal of mathematics to be able to move the film canister around, and still get it to land consistantly into the film canister.
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Jul. 20 2015
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Today was July 20th, 2015. Today I did the majority of my AgentSheets model in Javascript. I added basically everything except for a menu. Included in the model are the following: Balls of random colors which have the ability to bounce around the model, the ability of the Balls to bounce off of the walls, the ability of the Balls to bounce off of each other, and the ability of the Balls to be added to the simulation by the user clicking on the Canvas.
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Jul. 21 2015
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Today was July 21st, 2015. Today I put a great deal more work into my AgentSheets model in Javascript. I worked with my other group members to add some nice CSS to our page, so that it was not just a dull white background. In addition, today I added a Start, Stop, and Step button. Despite these buttons executing their basic functionality, there are defenitely still a few more bugs that need to be squashed concerning the buttons. In addition, tommorow I fill finish adding all of the functionality that is required of us in this project.
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Jul. 22 2015
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Today was July 22nd, 2015. Today I finished up everthing that was required of us in our project, albiet there are a few more bugs which I will need to squash before our group presents tommorow. In addiiton to these things, I did some more work on my PHP store project, which I am admittedly a little bit behind schedule on due to how refined I am working on making my Javascript project. Today I added the ability for the user to change both the simulation speed of the balls and the size of the balls while the simulation is running, in addition to adding a toggleable option for whether or not the user wants the balls to be able to bounce, and whether or not the user wants the balls spawned in to appear in rainbow colors, or in a single color(green by default).
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Jul. 23 2015
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Today was July 23rd, 2015. Today I entirely wrapped up my AgentSheets model in Javascript. I added all the functionality which is required by the assignment. In addition, I added a great deal more to my database website, things such as the ability to sign up and the ability of the database to store the signed up information for later recall.
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Jul. 24 2015
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Today was July 24th, 2015. Today in the morning I collaborated with my group to prepare our presentation, and iron out any more stubborn bugs that still remained after our testing. Then, in the afternoon, we presented our project to Phil and some other people. After this was done, I was remineded yet again of why I dislike our weekly reflections.
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Jul. 27th 2015
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Today was July 27th, 2015. This marks the beginning of my last week at Shodor as an apprentice :(. At any rate, today our day was divided into two parts. In the morning, we learned about how the center of gravity dictates whether or not lego structures of certain shapes will either topple over, or stand on their own. In the afternoon, while the rest of the students were learning basic Javascript information, to review, I was documenting the Parallel Programming workshop.
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Jul. 28th 2015
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Today was July 28th, 2015. Today, much like yesterday, our work today was divided into two parts. In the morning, we learned about structural engineering and built a structure which would hold as many marbles as possible. Even though we got last place, it was still really awesome to see the huge amount of marbles that structures made out of coffee stirrers could hold. In the afternoon. we learned about jQuery, which is a library extension for Javascript, which makes it super easy to do a lot of things which otherwise would be quite difficult to do.
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Jul. 29 2015
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Today was July 29th, 2015. Today I helped with the Daredevil activity in the morning, and learned a great deal about AJAX in the afternoon. The main thing which I did with AJAX was using it to read data from an external text file, and print it out in a a "p" tag.
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Jul. 30 2015
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Today was July 30th, 2015. Today I spent almost the entirety of the day wrapping up my projects, as this is my second to last day of Shodor. In addition, I spent the morning learning all about circuits from Ron, including building an oscillating LED light. Finally, I helped a great deal of people who needed help on their General Store Projects today.
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Jul. 31 2015
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Today was July 31st, 2015. This is my last day of Shodor :(. Today in the morning, we built ships out of various materials and competed in a competition to see whose ship could hold the most marbles without sinking. Ours came in third our of five people, which I am pretty proud of . In the afternoon, we wrapped up projects which we still needed to complete. In addition, five other people and I presented or websites, showcasing our work for the summer. As this is my last day of Shodor, this marks the end of my blog posts. Thank you to everyone who made my experience at Shodor as awesome as it was!
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MIGUEL DE LOS REYES