This was my very first day as an apprentice at Shodor. It was the first time that I have had a job, and so I was excited about both learning new things through the apprentice program, and getting paid. On the first day, we learned the basics of the office, including a review of the fire exits and a review of the apprentice handbook. Also, we got logged in for the first time, and I thought that it was cool that I could change my password in one place and it would be changed in several other places almost automatically. In addition, we set up our public_html folders in preparation for beginning our websites.
This was my second day at Shodor as an apprentice, and it went well. Today, we spent several hours learning about How Do You Know? How do you know is an interesting concept because it makes you think a lot about explanations for everything. For example, we started off the class by talking about four questions that we were supposed to research the answers to on our own time. We collected everyones answers to the questions, and the conclusions were very interesting. For example, one of the answers was a lie made up by a website called Snopes. This discussion was led by Dr. Panoff, who is an excellent teacher of this subject.
This was the last apprentice session for the month of October, and it was another interesting day. Today, we were allowed to bring our own computers, so I brought my personal laptop with me. Generally, personal computers are not allowed at Shodor, but the staff wanted to direct us on what software we needed to install on our personal computers in order to access the Shodor server while not actually being at Shodor. This is accomplished through three different programs. PuTTY is an SSH (Secure Shell) and telnet client for Windows, WinSCP is an SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) client for Windows, and Notepad++ is a text editor for Windows that can also be used for editing HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). At home, I have a laptop running Windows 10 and a desktop running Windows 7, so all of these programs work well for me.
This was the first apprentice session for the month of November, and we began learning about a topic that is very wide ranging, modeling. We learned that lots of different things can be represented using a model, including sickness, infection, and recovery, or SIR, information. We reviewed the definitions of the words qualitative and quantitative, which help determine whether data has numbers or does not. We also began learning about our first piece of modeling software, Microsoft Excel. I already knew a lot about Microsoft Excel, but I did not know how one could use developer tools in Excel to change data using tools such as scroll bars, which you can move up and down or left to right to manipulate data.
During this apprentice session, I continued learning about modeling. This week, we began learning about Vensim, which is a different type of modeling software, but it is still used for modeling. It is free for educational use, which is really cool because that means that Shodor does not have to pay for the software for the apprentices. In Vensim, a model is created using variables and arrows. The variables represent the things that you are modeling, and the arrows connect variables and allow someone to configure the model so that they change the number of variables that are present in the model. Overall, Vensim is an interesting piece of software that I would love to have more time to play around with.
This was the last apprentice session before Thanksgiving, and also the session where we learned all about our last modeling software, which is called AgentCubes. AgentCubes used to be a piece of software on the computer, but now it is all online on a website. AgentCubes is different from any other type of software I have ever used for modeling before, which means that I had to learn a lot about AgentCubes in order to be able to use it to its full extent. AgentCubes is a piece of software that can be used for a type of modeling called Agent Modeling. Agent Modeling uses a story in order to make a model. AgentCubes uses agents in order to model changes in other agents, which is what allows a user to manipulate a model.
This was the first apprentice session of December, and today was the day that we began our first group project. The purpose of the group project was to use the three modeling softwares we learned about to model a situation. The pieces of modeling software are Microsoft Excel, Vensim, and AgentCubes. The project was also designed so that the apprentices would discover the pros and cons of all three of the different pieces of modeling software. I ended up being in a group with two other apprentices, Joseph Ma and Jim Li. Together, we chose to model the predator-prey relationships as they relate to a prairie ecosystem. We chose to model this ecosystem through four organisms that can usually be found in this ecosystem. These organisms were plants, grasshoppers, sparrows, and eagles.
This was a day that was dedicated completely to working on the group project. One of the partners, Jim, was not here so we did not have him here. Luckily, he was able to do a little bit of work from home. Today, we really made great progress on the models in Excel, AgentCubes, and Vensim. We also began working on the HTML and CSS for the website that would host all of the finished information. We learned quickly that there are pros and cons to all three of the modeling softwares. I worked on the Excel model for a majority of the day because that was my part of the project, and Joseph worked on the website. He got some design help from some of the interns at Shodor, and with their assistance, we got a website that looks great!
This was the last day of the fall sessions, and so it was presentation day for the group projects. All of our group members were here today, so we got a lot of work done in the first half of the day. During that time, we finished the website, the Excel model, the AgentCubes model, and the Vensim model. After lunch, we got to see all of the other groups presentations, and we got to present our own project. All of the projects were really interesting, and it was really cool to see how each group used each of the modeling softwares to communicate their model effectively. Each group had a different favored software because of how different each of the projects were. We were supposed to dress up for the project presentation, and it was really cool to see everyone dressed up for their project presentation.
Today was the first day of the spring module, and we began learning about something completely new. We began learning about JavaScript, which is a coding language that can be used with HTML and CSS to expand the functionality of websites. Today, we learned the basics of JavaScript, including strings, variables, booleans, numbers, and syntax. We also learned about Camel Case, Snake Case, and conditionals. We were taught by Anja, an intern, and Aaron, a Shodor employee. I am very excited to learn about JavaScript because of the range of things that you can do with it. For example, Aaron showed us some JavaScript models that can approximate Pi, simulate a forest fire, and make particles bounce around a webpage.
Today, we continued learning JavaScript. We learned about loops, for loops, while loops, declarations, conditions, increments, and decrements. We also learned about arrays, which can be used to store more than one value at a time. Arrays can be used to store a list of elements that need to be accessed more easily than having the individual elements in separate variables. In addition, Aaron showed us some more of the JavaScript models that he has on his website. One of my favorite things about JavaScript is that it can be used to expand what one can do with HTML and CSS.
Today was our last day learning about JavaScript. We learned about functions, methods, and objects. We also learned about defining a function and calling a function. Objects are used to group similar data, and they can have a name. Functions are a very important part of writing JavaScript because of their wide range of uses in code. For example, the general definition of a function is that it is designed to perform a specific task. This means that it can be used to perform pretty much any task imaginable. I am excited about using functions in order to understand how JavaScript. In addition, the other apprentices and I learned about our next group project, in which we will be writing our own JavaScript in order to simulate a forest fire burning.
Today was the first work day for our second group project. My partner, Abia, and I are working together on a model that simulates a forest fire. In addition to the actual model, we are required to make a design document that describes our functions, story, and other important parts of a design document. After this document is finished, then we will use it to construct our model. As this was the first day of the group project worktime, I mostly helped my partner with the design document. It was tough to take ideas that are clear in English and transform them so that JavaScript could actually run them. Overall, I am excited about how this project is going, and I hope that we do not run into any major problems when we begin writing the code.
Today was the second work day for our second group project. My partner and I finished up the design document, and then started writing the actual JavaScript. While my partner wrote the JavaScript code, I wrote the HTML and CSS code for the actual website that the JavaScript is going to run on. So far, we have not run into any significant problems, but we have had a lot of help from Shodor interns and Shodor employees. This is probably the toughest project that we have been assigned so far during the Apprentice program, but I think that it is a good activity for learning the basics of JavaScript. So far, we have made a great amount of progress, but we still have a lot of work to do before the simulation works the way that we want it to work.
Today was the third work day for our second group project. My partner and I continued working on the actual code for the website. My partner continued to work on the JavaScript, while I continued to work on the HTML and CSS for the website that the model will be hosted. We have still not run into any significant problems, but we have required a lot of help from Shodor interns and employees alike. So far, we have almost finished everything that we need to finish, but we still have a few minor things to finish up during our next apprentice session.
Today was the final work day for our second group project, in addition to being the presentation day for the project. During the first half of the day, my partner and I finished up the JavaScript, HTML, and CSS for our model and accompanying website. Luckily enough, the model actually looks really good, and it does not have any major problems. During the second half of the day, we all presented our second group projects while the other apprentices and assorted Shodor employees and interns watched, made comments, and asked questions. Overall, the models were pretty good, though each model had its own unique touch. In conclusion, I enjoyed doing this project because it helped me reinforce and grow my JavaScript skills.
Today, we started our module on parallel computing. Parallel computing means using two or more computers to perform a task in order to make the task more productive or finish more quickly. Then, we did some activities, led by Aaron, that helped the other apprentices and me learn more about parallel computing, load balancing, and supercomputers. Supercomputers are computers that are built to have the processing power of thousands and thousands of household computers in them so that they can perform tasks more productively than the average computer. Overall, I am very excited to learn more about parallel computing because it is a very important skill set to learn for working in the 21st century.
Today, we continued our module on parallel computing. We learned about the world's fastest supercomputers, as well as actually applying our skills through the LittleFi Demo, Blue Waters Demo, and Daqri demo. My favorite part of today was when we used the Bootable Cluster CD (BCCD) in order to connect all of the computers in the apprentice lab together. This allowed the other apprentices and me to use the combined processing power of multiple computers in order to run files that could not be run on just one computer.
Today was my first day of the summer module. I have never held a summer job before, so I am excited about what this summer has in store for me. Today, I began working on the High Level Design (HLD) document for our first summer project. This project involves one apprentice being a project manager, while another apprentice is an engineer. This means that one apprentice makes an HLD document based on a certain story, and then another apprentice would use that HLD document to construct a model based on the story and the HLD document. Overall, I am quite excited to spend the summer at Shodor.
Today was my second day of the summer module of the Shodor apprenticeship program. I continued working on the HLD document for our first summer project. At the very end of the day, I submitted my HLD document to Ernie, which I am happy about because it is my first major project that I have completed this summer. Hopefully Ernie approves my HLD document so that I can continue with this project tomorrow. Overall, I had a pretty good second day at Shodor.
Today was the third day of the summer module of the Shodor apprenticeship program. Today, I spent the first half of the day working on edits to my HLD document based on the feedback that Ernie gave me. After I was finished with the HLD document, I began working on the Responsive Web Design activities. I think that Responsive Web Design is very interesting because it allows websites to be designed so that they can be used on a wide range of devices. This is important because now people use all kinds of devices, from cell phones to desktop computers, to access all different kinds of websites.
Today was the fourth day of the summer module of the Shodor apprenticeship program. Today, I finished improving my HLD document for my first project. I also continued learning about Responsive Web Design. In addition, I started the Inkscape and GIMP tutorials. After lunch, I finished the GIMP tutorials and put the images that I created on my portfolio. Unfortunately, my partner for the 1st Summer Project was not ready to share her HLD document with me, so I could not make any more progress on the second part of that project.
Today was the last day of the first week of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I spent the morning completing the Inkscape tutorials. After lunch, I put the images that I created on my portfolio, and then worked on my HLD document for my final website design. I also gave my HLD documents for the first summer project to my partner, Sahithi. We will both begin working on our respective models starting next week. Overall, I had a pretty good first week at Shodor.
Today was the first day of the second week of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I spent the morning documenting a workshop about iPhone app development. After lunch, I began working on the models for the first summer project based on the HLD document that my partner shared with me. I am making the agent model using AgentCubesOnline, but I am not sure what program I will use in order to make my system model. Overall, I had a pretty decent Monday at Shodor.
Today was the second day of the second week of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I spent almost all day making the agent model for the first summer project. I enjoyed making this model, but it was fairly difficult. However, I felt very accomplished when I was done. During the last hour of the day, I got a start on the system model. I am going to make the system model in Vensim. Overall, I felt like I was very productive today, and I think I accomplished a lot.
Today was the third day of the second week of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I spent the morning making the system model for the first summer project. I started off by making the model in Vensim, but then I decided to make the model in Excel because I thought that it would be a better model if I made it in Excel. After lunch, I continued working on the system model in Excel. Overall, I feel like I was fairly productive today.
Today was the fourth day of the second week of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I spent the morning finishing up the system model for the first summer project. During the afternoon, I finished up my website improvement HLD document and began working on the photo edits of Ernie. I am excited about my website improvements because they will make my website more professional. This is important to me because I am going to start applying to colleges soon, and the website will help me during that process. Overall, I had a pretty good day today at Shodor.
Today was the last day of the first block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I spent the morning working on the photo edits of Ernie. During the afternoon, I finalized all of my projects for the first summer block, which is good because it means that I do not have any more work to finish for the first summer block. I am not coming to Shodor for the second summer block, so it will be three more weeks before I am back at Shodor. However, during that time, I will be on vacation, so it is good that I do not need to worry about work until I get back. Overall, the last two weeks at Shodor have been really productive and fun!
Today was the first day of the third block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I spent the morning learning about PHP, which is a server-side coding language that expands the functionality of HTML and CSS. After I learned about PHP, I began to work on the PHP projects, which are a series of projects that are designed to help the apprentices learn how PHP works. The first project that I worked on was the Hex Code Generator project, which uses PHP to generate a random series of hex characters in order to make a hex code. Overall, I had a good day at Shodor today.
Today was the second day of the third block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I spent the whole day continuing to work on the PHP projects. During the morning, I continued to work on the Hex Code Generator project, and then I started working on the Dynamic Page project. After lunch, I continued working on the Dynamic Page project, and then I started working on the Dane Joe project. Though PHP is probably the most difficult concept that I have learned about during my time at Shodor, it feels good to use PHP because it makes me feel like I am learning something completely new. Overall, I had a fairly productive day at Shodor.
Today was the third day of the third block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I continued to work on the PHP projects. During the morning, I started working on the XML blog, then I continued working on the Dane Joe project, then I started working on the Mad Libs project. After lunch, I documented the Parallel Universe workshop, which introduces students to the world of parallel computing. I did not get a lot of work done during the afternoon because I was doing documentation, so I will need to be extra productive tomorrow in order to catch up on my work. Overall, I had a good day at Shodor.
Today was the fourth day of the third block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by writing the documentation write up for the workshop that I documented yesterday. Then I finished writing the blog entry for yesterday. After I wrapped up the work that I needed to do from yesterday, I continued working on the PHP projects. First, I continued working on the Hex Code Generator project, and then I began working on the Background Selector project. After lunch, I wrapped up some of the PHP projects, including the Dane Joe, Mad Libs, and Random Hex projects. Overall, I had a really productive day today at Shodor.
Today was the fifth day of the third block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by doing a little bit of organization of my website and desktop. Then, I watched while most of my fellow apprentices presented some activities from Interactivate, which is a platform that hosts activities made by Shodor employees. After the presentations, I continued working on my PHP projects. After lunch, I worked on the PHP background selector, which takes a user input of a color and sets the background color of the page to the user input. Overall, I had a pretty good week at Shodor.
Today was the first day of the second week of the third block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started the day by continuing to work on my PHP projects. First, I finished up the Dynamic Pages project, and then I started working on the Dice Roller project. After lunch, I learned about MySQL, which is a database management system, and then continued working on the Dice Roller project. Overall, I had a really productive day today at Shodor.
Today was the second day of the second week of the third block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started with a lesson on PHP, MySQL, and how the two work together to display the contents of a database on a webpage. After lunch, I started to work on my MySQL project, which involves putting items into a database and then displaying them on a website that is accessible from the Internet. After that, I finished working on the Dice Roller project. Overall, I had a fairly good day today at Shodor.
Today was the third day of the second week of the third block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by finished working on the PHP Calendar project. Then, I continued working on my MySQL project. After lunch, a former Shodor employee came in to teach the apprentices how to build a resume. Resume building is a valuable skill to have because when you are applying for a job, your resume is the first point of contact between you and a perspective employer. This means that first opinions are formed based on your resume, and the quality of the resume could be responsible for a perspective employee getting an interview. Overall, I had a good day today at Shodor.
Today was the fourth day of the second week of the third block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by continuing to work on my MySQL project. During the morning, I made the database in MySQL and then filled it with information. After lunch, I continued to fill the MySQL database with information, and then I began to prepare the PHP to be able to put the information from the database into a form that can be accessed from the Web. Overall, I had a fairly productive day today at Shodor.
Today was the fifth day of the second week of the third block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by continuing to work on my MySQL project. During the morning, I continued writing and rewriting the PHP code for my website so that the information from the database can be viewed in a more user friendly form. After lunch, I continued to work on my MySQL project, and then I watched while the apprentices for which today is their last day presented a few of their favorite projects from their year as an apprentice. Overall, I had a good day and a productive week at Shodor.
Today was the first day of the fourth block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by continuing to work on my MySQL project. Then, I started to implement PHP form validation on some of my PHP projects and my MySQL project. PHP form validation is a good feature to have on webpages that use PHP because it prevents a client from running code that would undermine the integrity of the webpage. After lunch, I continued to implement PHP form validation on my PHP projects. Overall, I had a fairly productive day today at Shodor.
Today was the second day of the fourth block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by finishing up my MySQL project, and then I tested some of my PHP projects in order to check that the form validation works. After lunch, I started to research for my Interactivate project. For this project, I had to choose an applet from Shodor's Interactivate site, spend time exploring its functionality, and then present the applet to the rest of the apprentices. Overall, I had a fairly good day today at Shodor.
Today was the third day of the fourth block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by continuing to prepare for my Interactivate project. After lunch, I documented the Shodor Scholars Program workshop. Since the students in the workshop spent the afternoon writing HLDs for their final projects, I did not have very much to document. However, because I was documenting during the afternoon, I will have to be extra productive tomorrow in order to catch up on my work. Overall, I had a good day today at Shodor.
Today was the fourth day of the fourth block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by completing the write up for the documentation that I did yesterday. After that, I continued preparing for my Interactivate project presentation. After lunch, I started working on redesigning my website. Although the website that I made in the fall was effective up to this point, I would like to have a website in place going forward that more accurately showcases the web design concepts that I have learned during my time as an apprentice at Shodor. Overall, I had a good day today at Shodor.
Today was the fifth day of the fourth block of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by continuing to prepare for my Interactivate project presentation. After that, I continued working on my website redesign. After lunch, I continued working on my website redesign, and then I watched while the students from the Shodor Scholars Program presented their final projects to their parents, Shodor staff, the interns, and the apprentices. Overall, I had a pretty good day today at Shodor.
Today was the first day of the last week of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by continuing with my website redesign. After lunch, Ernie told me that I needed to fix a few of my projects, so I fixed the PHP Calendar and the PHP Dice Roller today. I also presented my Interactivate project to the other apprentices today. Overall, I had a fairly productive day today at Shodor.
Today was the second day of the last week of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by continuing to work on my website redesign. After lunch, I finished up my website redesign, and then I started working on my programming self exploration project. Overall, I feel like I had a pretty productive day today at Shodor.
Today was the third day of the last week of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by continuing to work on my programming self exploration project. After lunch, I continued to work on my programming self exploration project. Through this project, I am learning a lot about different coding libraries that I did not know before I did this project. Overall, I feel like I had an alright day today at Shodor.
Today was the fourth day of the last week of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by continuing with my programming self exploration project, and then I continued to work on my website redesign. After lunch, I continued to work on my website redesign, and then I started to fix the issues with the PHP/MySQL database that I needed to fix. Overall, I think I had a pretty good day at Shodor.
Today was the last day of the last week of the Shodor summer apprenticeship program. Today, I started by finishing up the fixes for my PHP/MySQL database project. Then, I continued working on my programming self exploration project. After lunch, I wrapped up everything for the fourth block, and then I presented some of my favorite projects to the rest of the apprentices, the interns, and the staff at Shodor. Overall, I had a great summer as a Shodor apprentice, and I am hopeful that this opportunity will serve me well in the future.