Anna Lin

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Blog

• Nov. 7th 2011

• Today was a make-up day for the first meeting (Nov. 5th). Ernie went go over the rules for the apprenticeship program with us. We took head-shot photos, set up accounts, and had a tour around the area. I created my webmail and sparks account. The tour was pretty nice. Each of us got a notebook in which we are supposed to keep up with planning out our future assignments. We were also given a folder of info and paper we needed to fill out.

• Nov. 12th 2011

• Today we were informed about our first project in creating a three page professional Shodor website. We were also given our mentor (I got Jenny). I started my website project. Ernie helped me get started since I had missed out on the last meeting. By using the Shodor HTML guide, I create the home and blog page of my website so far. This project is due the 28th of January.

• Nov. 19th 2011

• Doctor Panoff came in today and taught us about taking data and making observations. We learned of two processes that we can use to figure out science. One of the processes include expectations, observations, and reflections. As human beings, we tend to predict what will happen before it actually does. Many times we are wrong, but we keep trying until we get right. Doctor Panoff also showed us many tricks where we had to try to figure out what made the result. The other half of class, Mr. Broadnax came into the classroom and taught us of professional tips that would benefit us in the future.

• Dec. 3rd 2011

• In class today Jeff taught us how to use agentsheets. This wasn't new to me, because I had been to some of the summer camps here at shodor over summer. We also used excel to enter some data and compare them. Personally, I don't have much experiences in excel so it was a bit confusing at times. The class was divided into groups to gather data from a model then record them in excel to present to the rest of the class, the results were really interesting. In these groups we were also given an assignment to create a model in agent sheets about ways to prevent diseases from spreading.

• Dec. 10th 2011

• Today we finished our agentsheets model in preventing diseases from spreading, in our groups. We then ran the model several times recording all the data in excel. After we wraped up with the finishing touches to our model and data, we had to present them to the class. Though we made a few mistakes such as having the healthy people turn into recovered after being vaccinated, I really enjoyed the project. The second half of class, Jeff taught the whole class in using Excel. We took the agent sheets data and import it into Excel; Jeff also told us to enter several math equations that would give us theoretical data of the model. Lastly we inserted a graph the would be used to compare the 2 groups of data next week. I learned a lot about excel. I think I might have better control over it now than I had before (I prefer Vensim).

• Dec. 17th 2011

• Today in class we had a discussion about the disease project in agentsheets and excel. However, we didn't have the chance to finish gathering data in excel. We talked about how different data/probablities (theoretical and experimental) are better suited for various types of situations. For example the numbers in Excel are theoretical, they resulted from a mathematical equation showing the approximate of an actual experiment or model. We also review the basic equations of a theoretical equation in Excel using the results of our AgentSheets model as the base. Although I am not perfectly comfortable in trying to create a copy of the Excel model yet, I think I am gettin the hang of this.

• Jan. 14th 2012

• First day back since vacation, we are beganning to start a project in pairs. Tess and I decided to pair up. Our assignment is to create a vensim and AgentSheets model about either two topics; Water Cycle or Cops and Robbers. Since many of our classmates will probably be doing Cops and Robbers, we decided that we will do the Water Cycle and be unique during our presentation. I am responsible for the Vensim model and Tess will be responsible for the AgentSheets model; we will be helping each other out. This project is due on January 28th.

• Jan. 21st 2012

• Today we continued to work on our projects in our groups. I had finished my Vensim model earlier on when I came in during the week, so I started the website in which Tess and I are using to show-case the two models of the water cycle. Later Rob came in and taught us about probability. We did many experiments that had to do with probability. Lastly, we were given probability hw such as watching two movies on youtube.

• Jan. 28th 2012

• Today we finished up our Water Cycle project. It took a while trying to upload the Agentsheets model onto the website but in the end we made it work with help from Aaron and Trey. We also did our presentation, which I think we did pretty well. Personally, I think I have improved a lot with interacting and expressing my ideas in from of an audience. Although I didn't do as well as I would like to, it was better then my presentation at SSP. After presentation we worked on updating our blog page and did our reflections.

• February 11th 2012

• Back from all-district last week! I wasn't able to make up for the last class yet but I am planning to make it up as soon as I have time. Today we worked on binary numbers/codes, and more with terminal. I think I might have the basics down. Basically there is a lot of 0's and 1's. The other half of class we worked with Jeff on probability and did examples on extinction of a family and the rate of falling cats from a 42 story building!

• February 17th 2012

• I dropped by today in order to make up for February 4th. Joel taught me the basic commands of Terminal. For example PWD stands for Path of Working Directory and it shows where you are. Other commands include cd, ls, and man. We also went over chmod and chowm. Chmod deals with permission and chowm deals with ownership. There were many things that we went over, but one of my most favorite was shell script. Shell script deals with putting in commands.

• February 18th 2012

• Today, Aaron taught us about supercomputers. We compared a regular pc to a supercomputer. Supercomputers are faster and bigger. Aaron also taught us about Moore's Law, Gigaflops, clusters , and serial versus paralleism. Then we ran a cluster in groups. I was the head node for my group when we ran a cluster (DHCP server).It was fun and exciting to in seeing the galaxy over a period of time; amazing that the computers were able to calculate it all. All the computers were doing to same stimulation therefore it was a domain decomposition.

• March 3rd 2012

• At the beginning of class, we took a class poll. Then we worked on the basics of Javascript using the W3 School Website to host the formulas; at the end we transfered the code into html. I learned that in order for the computer to understand what you are asking of it, you must simplify the code to a language it understands. We also went over several symbols such as the double equals and the modulo operator, and we worked on understanding loops as well as creating a couple of them.

• March 17th 2012

• We continued to work with programming in Java Script. Mr.Doug assigned us a couple of practice projects in class such as the Random Walking Rectangles. We also had to finish the dice-roll project (the one I missed last week). Overall I understood most of it, but getting the program to work was a totally different thing. I guess I got a pretty good grip overall with how Java Script works, but I'd like to work with it more.

• March 26th 2012

• I wasn't here for class on March 10th, but I talked with Doug about making it up. We decided that it would be best just to do it over email, since we couldn't schedule a meeting. During the last class (March 17th), we were supposed to sum up the Dice Roll project from the class I'd missed. I was able to recieve notes from a classmate and catch up as well. Today, I came in to talk with Jenny about my stipend, updated my porfolio page and finished the dice roll project.

• April 14th 2012

• Today we were introduced to a pair JavaScript project. Tess and I decided to be partners and were able to finish our High Level Design (HLD) Document. The challenge of the project exists in JavaScript code. We are to model a spread of tree fire. I think I have a pretty good grip with JavaScript although I still need a bit of help. The area in which I had a bit of trouble in today includes remembering how to write loops with different element ids. Ernie, Aaron, and 2 of my peers (Jenna and Avy) helped Tess and I with the project; Tess and I both helped each other as well.

• April 21rst 2012

• Tess and I continued working on the Fire JavaScript project. We got a lot done (half independently and the other half with help from Ernie and Aaron). I am so proud of myself. We were able to add a workable Regrow button and have the forest burn 100 percent for every click. Now all we need is a probability function. I will not be present in class next week, therefore I'm planning to come in Wednesday to finish the project along with updating my porfolio. Tess and I will be presenting our completed Fire project May 5.

• May 5th 2012

• Today is an extra Saturday class/work day for those who havn't finished their JavaScript group project. I had missed class last week therefore I had to finish as much of the project as possible and present today. Including the fact that Ernie made me restart the project yesterday when I came in to work on it, I had a lot of work to do .I must say that I am very proud of my accomplishments today; I was able to get the fire to spread, a probability factor to work, and box to set the amount of times the model runs before it stops. Working with JavaScript, I learned a very important lesson: take small steps at a time and make sure they work before moving onto the next step.

• June 18th 2012

• Today is the first day of my summer blocks. Ernie started us of with our first summer project. The first step in the project is to complete a High Level Design Document for the AgentSheets model. Following the HLD, there is 2nd part to create a Lynx-Deer Predator-Prey model in AgenSheets. Combining both parts, adding the AgentSheets model to our portfolios will be the completion to the project. So far, I've completed the HLD for the project and got a pretty good grip on the model. I was able to get the characters to move freely on the grass and have characters consumed or be consumed by the appropriate predator or prey. I also started a plot, but it doesn't seem to be working quite right.

• June 19th 2012

• Working on my AgentSheets model was my main priority. I have to say that I've complete much of it and might be finished by the end of tomorrow. I think I've made a great deal of progress in AgentSheets. I was also able to help a couple of my classmates with their model. The only objectives I have left in my model is to get the animals to die off from either old age or hunger.

• June 20th 2012

• Today, I continued to work on my Lynx-Deer AgentSheets model. In the model, I got the animals to die off. Most of the model works fairly well. At the moment I need to fix an error in my plot. The grass counts below 0, which isn't suppose to happen. This is resulted from having the agents broadcast to the counter rather than the counter to the agents (I don't understand why exactly, but I hope that I'll find the answer sooner or later). I also need to add an attribute called Scent. This will allow the Lynxes to chase it's prey; the prey (deer) to run away. Hopefully all will go well tomorrow.

• June 21th 2012

• Today, I finished my model. According to yesterday, I fixed the plot and gave each character an ability to smell a scent on the other characters and react according to actual life. All I have left to do is play around with the values and adjust it to where it would make sense in real life. I'm thinking about editing the stimulation properties so others can play around with my model. Lastly, I need to update my HLD document. I'm happy to say that I'm very pleased with my work.

• June 22th 2012

• Totally finished, I added my AgentSheets project onto my portfolio along with my HLD document. I am so proud of myself. Today, I had worked on adjusting some of my agent values into stimulation properties so they can be changed according to the user. While working on this project this week, I learned a great deal about using AgentSheets. For example, by putting an @ sign in front of a value allows it to become a stimulation property. I had admitt that during this project, I used the set command a lot. I also learned how to make new methods and have them be a part of the while running actions. My favorite part of this project was to add scent to all the characters and have them chase each other.

• June 25th and 26th 2012

• During these 2 days, I was in New York. My older brother (Chinese Tradition) was getting married, therefore I was absent from attendance at Shodor. However, this week's main focus is in the use of graphics. I think it won't hurt that much if I finish all the requirements or make up for my absence.

• June 27th 2012

• Today was my first day back from New York. This week's topic is about creating graphics. Some of the projects include, looking over the Gimp and Inkscape tutorials online, creating logos, and messing around with Ernie's photo. We are also responsible for creating full website designs and watching the website scaling tutorial. Since I just got back, I was only able to finish both, the Gimp and Inkscape tutorials and finish 2 logos. As for Ernie's photo, I picked out a background; I'm thinking about making Ernie a clown!

• June 28th 2012

• Today, I created a 3rd logo, did two of Ernie's photos (as a clown and Einstein), and completed 3 full website designs based on my logos. They are based on the flute, tae kwon do, and dolphins. I'm thinking about creating a CSS switcher for my website after I'm finished with all the other projects. All I have left to do this week is scale my website and rewatch the tutorial, which I'll be doing tomorrow. While I was working on catching up today, many of my peers were of great help. They include Eric and Marc. I am happy with my progress in such a short time. I will also need to post all of the projects I have completed onto my portfolio.

• June 29th 2012

• Today is the last day of block one. I must say that I feel really amazing. Not only did I catch up with all the graphics project within 3 days, but I also completed scaling my website. I helped a classmate, Anwesha, look up a way to change her navigation bar as a horizontal row. While I worked on my projects, Ernie and Eric helped me scaling my website.

• July 16th 2012

• This is the beginning of my second block. Apparently my block schedule is a bit weird; I'm doing 2 whole blocks and one week (half) of each of the other 2 blocks. Last week, I was at music camp at UNCG and missed the all the basic introduction to PHP, as well as Subversion and RageRender. So today, I worked mostly on getting to know the basic PHP language, by reading the whole tutorial on w3school and starting a mini project. The goal of the first project is to transfer the dice project from JavaScript into PHP. While I worked on the dice project, Eric helped me with translating the dice JavaScript code into PHP. I am very happy to say that I was able to finish the project. I also helped Marc with his dice project after Eric helped me with mine.

• July 17th 2012

• I'm finally getting used to the language use in PHP. Following yesterday's progress, I continued to work on mini projects in PHP; there are 8 in total. Today I completed the Mad Lib (with Alex's help) and Dane Joe project (with suggestions from Eric as well as Avi). Along with the completion of 2 projects, I started the Hexcode project.

• July 18th 2012

• Today I worked on 3 of the 8 projects for this week. They include the calendar, background selector, and dynamic pages. Of the 3, I finished one of them (dynamic pages) completely and set the format for the other 2. So far, I have completed 4 of the 8 projects and started 3 of them. Tess helped me with the dynamic pages project. The main point of the project is to set values in the url. I kind of get the concept of the project. The only project left that I need to start is the XML Blog. Eric had promised me to help me tomorrow; I haven't been introduced to XML yet. I hope that I'll be able to complete the XML Blog project as well as 1 or 2 of the other projects I have already started.

• July 19th 2012

• The main project I worked on today was the XML blog, which I completed with Eric's help. I also worked on and completed the hexcode project. Other then those 2 projects, I spent my morning reception duty working on the calendar project that I didn't complete because the computer kept freezing. Hopefully, I'll complete the last 2 projects tomorrow.

• July 20th 2012

• Today I worked on the remaining 2 PHP projects. Of the 2, I successfully completed 1 of them; now all I have left is the calendar, which I'll finish up next week. This week, I learned a great deal about PHP's language/syntax and how to brainstorm a process to complete each mini project, step by step. Throughout the week, many of my peers helped me catch up with PHP. Today, Eric and Chase helped me with both of the projects when I got stuck with errors.

• July 23rd 2012

• Today I concluded the mini PHP projects and posted them on my portfolio. The calendar gave me a headache, mostly with trying to figure out the syntax. Then Eric gave me a quick introduction to Subversion and PageRender, which then connects to Apprentice Fun and Apprentice Portal. I was quite lost during the introduction; Ernie gave me a slower and more descriptive tutorial about the topic, which really helps. At the moment, I'm playing around Apprentice Fun and it's structure/function setup.

• July 24th 2012

• I started converting my website into Apprentice Fun. So far I've converted my home page and blog. All I have left is my portfolio, which is the hardest with all my projects. I understood/understand the process more than I thought I would. It's actually quite simple. Today was also my first time documenting. At first, I thought it would be difficult and well, obnoxiously annoying, but it ended up being kind of fun. I got to meet new people.

• July 25th 2012

• Today I worked on transferring my website onto Apprentice Portal. At first, I had to set it up using terminal, then it was pretty much copy and paste from Apprentice Fun for my home and blog page.Lastly, I worked on portfolio page. So far I have all the text in and my logos, banner, and full website designs. I'm probably going to do my HLD at home, tonight. Along with uploading my website, I also helped Jenna with editing some CSS for her Apprentice Portal, and Mark with uploading his blog.

• July 26th 2012

• Today Monte came in to work with us on databases. I learned a lot about what databases consists of and what they are used for. Databases simply store a lot of data; this allows us to access information easily. They are made of tables (or entities), which consists of rows (or tuples) and columns (or attributes). I also learned how to draw ER (Entity Relationship) Diagrams. Lastly, we made/explored one in terminal. Eric helped me understand how to use it it terminal, because I got lost typing.

• July 27th 2012

• I continued working on my portfolio in Apprentice Portal. Today, I successfully added Ernie's photos, and one of the JavaScript projects; the other 4 won't work. I also played around with the css. In the css, I changed my background and played around with it a little more. Hopefully I'll complete PageRender before the end of next week.

• July 30th 2012

• Today I advanced with my Apprentice Portal project. The biggest progress I made today was with uploading all of my PhP projects and AgentSheets applets. I also attempted to add 2 of my word documents (Ethics assignment and Deer-Lynx HLD (High Level Design Document)) onto my portfolio, although I didn't have much success at it. Now the only major projects I have left are to add my H2Whoa website I created with Tess and fix my JavaScript projects, that I've already started adding, onto my portfolio.

• July 31th 2012

• Today I completed everything for Apprentice Portal except one JavaScript project. I was also able to add a link to the H2Whoa website that my friend, Tess and I completed a long time ago about the water cycle. Hopefully, I'll finish tomorrow completely and play around with CSS. I'm hoping to decorate it so that it's represent me.

• August 1st 2012

• The goal for today was to add the final JavaScript project onto PageRender, then to play around with the CSS. I uploaded the Javascript project early this morning when I came in, then for the rest of the day I experimented with my CSS, which was pretty cool. It was like easter hunting for a particular part that you wanted to change.

• August 2nd 2012

• Today, I continued to design my webpage on Apprentice Portal. Krista, Eric, and Ernie helped me with editing some of the projects and designs on my webpage. There were minor errors to fix and I played around with making my website look better. I found a way to fix the link to my Lynx-Deer HLD; instead of using docx, you could use just doc. Now all I have left is the HLD to how I did the Apprentice Portal project.

• August 3rd 2012

• Today, I am officially done with the Apprentice Portal project, after having to decorate it and fixing errors. Tess helped me look over the project and locate any mistake she saw. After that, I did a little bit of testing. Testing includes making sure that projects work successfully on different devices.

• August 6th 2012

• According to my meeting with my mentor, there is still a little bit of stuff I need to fix on Apprentice Portal. For example, Jenny wants me to implement it so it looks like one of the webpage designs I had created in Inkscape; which was a success. Throughout this week, I will also be continuing to fix the Lynx-Deer Applet and finish the testing I started last week (Friday).

• August 7th 2012

• Today I had to document SSP (Shodor Scholars Programm). At the beginning of ODAA, I worked on my Lynx-Deer AgentSheets model for a bit; I'm stuck on it, but continue to work on it tomorrow with Jenny. Then for the rest of the day, I followed along in SSP. Kyle and Aaron taught class today; there were the basics in Inkscape, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I'm glad for this opportunity to review the basic material in each of the languages. Although it was a review, I now understand the languages better.

• August 8th 2012

• Today, I finished editing (fixing all the minor problems in) the Lynx-Deer AgentSheets model. This includes fixing the error in which the agents are moving more than once each interval. And keeping the fawns and cubs from moving off the grass. It didn't take long finding the errors, but finding a way to fix them took a while.

• August 9th 2012

• Since I am pretty much finished with all the requirements, I did a bit of testing today, which I'll conclude tomorrow with completing the second project test. I also created a css switcher for my website in Apprentice Portal, with Krista's help. Now, I don't need to have choose one design over the other. Yay, Pandas and flute :).

• August 10th 2012

• Today is my last day at Shodor. To began the day with, I helped a couple of the workshop students with fixing their websites and uploading their projects. Ms. Houchins showed me a pretty cool website that allows you to turn a Vensim model into a Java Applet, therefore it could be uploaded onto one's personal website. Then for the rest of the day, I worked on finishing up the last of my blogs and reflections.

• January 18th 2013

• I started my internship at Shodor last year in November. However, I decided to continue my blog today. The first project I had at the start of my internship was to take the Apprenticeship handbook and rewrite/post it onto Shodor Wiki. Today I continued to work on a tutorial for the JavaScript Coin Toss model. The Coin Toss project was the second assignment assigned to me by my mentor Ernie. It has been about a month since I've started the model (partially because I took a while reviewing/relearning some of the skills and techniques I learned last year as an apprentice). As of the end of today, I've complete the rough draft of the tutorial and will be editing it for the next week or so.

• June 18th 2013

• Today is my first day over summer as an intern. Although I have started the internship program some time last year in November, I haven't worked on my blogs consistently throughout the year. I'm hoping that I'll keep a decent blog over the summer. Today, I work on editing the apprentices' HLDs for their AgentSheets models.

• June 19th 2013

• I returned to working on the MathFlyer and ActionGrapher Apps Website, which I finished within an hour - all that's left is the link the apps to the website. After successfully completing the project, Ernie assigned me the succeed project - this includes testing workshop applications and return emails. Amongst working on the assignments, I helped a couple of the apprentices with their AgentSheets models (Elise and Ava).

• June 20th 2013

• Today I work on adding and fixing apprentice/intern profiles on the main website (the live one). I also helped Ernie organize documents and did some email testing from the succeed project.

• June 21th 2013

• Happy Birthday Ernie! I continued working on editing/updating intern profiles today. More on that next week.

• June 26th 2013

• Finally finished with Apprentice/Intern profiles online. I've been working on updating the Apprentice and Intern profiles on the main website for a few days by now (2/3).

• June 27th 2013

• Ernie introduced me to a new project today; I'm officially working on the Succeed project. Yesterday, Ernie told me and Brittany (also an intern) that we will be working on this project together. Today, he assigned me to delete $household from the project; so far the website hasn't crashed. I'll continue working on the project Monday.

• July 1st 2013

• Today Joel taught me about accessing projects and information fromt a hard-drive through command-lines. He also taught me about shell-script; shell-script are like loops in code. They help complete the job more efficiently and prevent us from typing commands multiply times. I worked with a "portable hard-drive 'thingy'" (quoted from Ernie) or the 500GB filesystem and worked on organizing past workshop/apprentice/intern projects.

• July 10th 2013

• Today I fixed a couple of errors on a couple of the intern profiles on the main website. I also helped Kristen with gathering math/science/CTE (career technical education) teachers' emails for next year.

• July 26th 2013

Today, I picked up from where I left of last time with organizing all the work of previous apprentices and interns stored in the hard-drive. After working on organizing the usernames, I loaded a few photos of some of the interns to update onto the main website; however, I haven't quite finished editing them or added them to snap2. I completed 2 ODAAs after working on organizing the usernames/work and loading the photo; I helped Ernie watch over the workshop kids during break and following that, I helped Kristen with documentation (taking photos and writing a paragraph on the workshop activity).

• August 2nd 2013

• Continued working on gathering emails of school staffs. Volunteered to watch over workshop students at lunch. Heard about bootstrap from Diya - plan to implement it in the future.

August 9th 2013

• Continued gathering emails. Helped Diya with AgentSheets model of gatherers and forest. Got help from Victor for DA teacher emails.

• August 12th 2013

• Continued gathering emails. Helped Diya with a couple of phone calls.

• August 16th 2013

• Continued gathering emails. Uploaded Kristen's picture on the main website. Mike helped with placing SD card into computer, which was located on the side rather than in the back.