Blog
-
October 4, 2014
-
Today we got everything set up and started. We got our mailboxes, logins, and picture taken. Notebooks were given out and sheets of paper are to be signed. Presentations were given by Phil and Ron and the basics were covered today.
-
October 11, 2014
-
Today Bob 1 was our main teacher. The first thing he told us was how the name Shodor came to life. I believe in the story that a kid described Bob as short and kind of dorky looking. He told us about the importance of having an expectation, observation, and reflection. Things on Google are also inconsistant. The computations done on a computer are also not completely exact since computers use numerals and computers use a base 2 system so some numbers won't turn out to be exact.
-
October 18, 2014
-
Today was all about modeling on an excel. The first thing we did was diffusion with different colors that helped visualize the change. At the end we looked at a disease model which was quite complex compared to the previous models we created. Using the mac is very different compared to a PC. Modeling really can predict the future in a way.
-
November 1, 2014
-
Today we learned about command lines. Some commands will give you information, like pwd,while others can give you changes, like mkdir. After that we made a tree and played around with moving and renaming and copying files. Unix is very powerful and comes great power comes great responsibility.
-
November 8, 2014
-
Today we worked with vensim and made a disease model. This was a simple model that graphed what would happen to the population if there was a disease. There was 4 different populations: susceptible, infected, immune, and dead, and each had factors that could change the populations. In the real world though, there would be a lot more influential factors contributing to the change of the population.
-
November 15, 2015
-
Today we were also modeling, but we used agent sheets instead of Vensim. Agent sheets has a more visual side than Vensim, it showed the interactions between the agents. We also built a disease model, and had different populations and how they interacted and changed when they met.
-
November 22, 2014
-
Today we worked with our partner(s) for our project. Aneesha and Ojas worked on the agent sheets, and I worked on vensim. The project was about modeling the population of seals and fish and how tagging some of the fish and seals would affect the population. We present our work on December 6th.
-
December 6, 2014
-
Today I mainly worked on building my website. I mainly worked the Phase 2 (the CSS part) because I worked on the HTML part at home. But before I worked on my website, I tried to reach the goal on the vensim model. Unfortunately I couldn't reach it, in fact I don't know anybody who did without breaking any parameters. Aneesha worked on the agentsheet model alone because Ojas wasn't here today. Aneesha also had to do everything again because everything they did last week was on Ojas' account. Aneesha wasn't very happy.
-
December 13, 2014
-
Today we spent the first 2 hours making final touches to our models. I also had my mentor meeting and I finally finished my website! I still have to add this blog and add the agent sheets model Aneesha and Ojas made, but besides that I'm done, but I hope to make my website look better, it's quite ugly at this point.
-
February 7, 2015
-
Today we learned about the basics of programming. We were introduced to JavaScript. We learned the different types (boolean, number, string, undefined), and simple commands. We also learned that copying and pasting is very useful to prevent small errors.
-
February 14, 2015
-
Today we learned more about programming. But this time we learned about loops and if statements. Today we learned about for loops and while loops. While loops can go to infinite and freeze your computer if you're not careful. On the other hand, for loops don't go through that trouble because you have your statements and boolean expressions in the parenthesis. Also exciting news, Shodor now has google apps! So we won't be using squirrel mail anymore!
February 21, 2015
-
Today we learned more about JavaScript. We learned about functions, arrays, objects, and reviewed loops and if statements. We also worked on the Bouncing Particle program, but this time we generated random colors. We also worked on the vehicle object program. I successfully added another vehicle to the race.
March 7, 2015
-
Today we worked in groups to complete a seal and fish model. This is very exciting because we can finally execute the skills we have learned in previous weeks. Our seal and fish model is very similar to our models on vensim and agentsheets. Our progress is going very well, we just have to finish our scent/sound function. Anja has been a great partner so far!
March 14, 2015
-
Today we still worked in groups! We were able to get our scent/sound function to work and introduce non-tagged fish. We also were able to display the strength of the tagged-fish on the canvas. Things have been going very smoothly. We definitely can finish our project on time even if we aren't going to be here next week to present!
April 4, 2015
-
Today was a makeup date for April 11. We were introduced to parallel computing. First we went over some common vocabulary, then we had to set up a bccd on virtual box. Afterwards, we booted the bccd cluster and ran some programs. The computer gets really slow when you use a lot of nodes on a small program. After that, we "liberated" or installed bccd on virtual box. However, Anja and I encountered an error and were unable to complete this step. We also looked at the top 500 super computers in the world, and Blue Waters super computer in Illinois. The top super computers are located in the US and China. The supercomputer in China has 3,120,000 cores! Blue Waters would probably show up as number 4 on the top 500 list. The reason Blue Waters isn't on the list is because it won't release any information.
April 18, 2015
-
Today we worked with C and created a simple Hello, World program. I am currently working on a more complex and harder program that can give you the value of pi, however I am encountering some issues… Today we didn't actually to much of parallel computing, I am hoping to be able to do that again but with more complex programs.
May 2, 2015
-
Today, Anja and I came in to present our fish and seal project because we missed March 21 for science olympiad. After Anja left, I worked with Aaron to make up April 25 since I left that day for science olympiad again. We worked with the pi program and made it parallel after looking and learning from other programs. To make programs parallel you have to use openmp. This is the last day I will be at Shodor until summer rolls around!
Summer
June 15, 2015
-
Today was the first day of the summer block! Phil began our day with a few instructions on what the rest of summer was going to be like and on our assignment for this week. We created an HDL based on a scenario we got to choose. I choose the scenario about art walking in the Louvre Museum. Basically guests would come in and view the gallery, but they couldn't move if someone else was in their way, this would result in a decrease in happiness. Once they reached a certain level of unhappiness, they would exit the museum in frustration. This model could help people design an efficient museum that maximizes happiness and foot traffic.
June 16, 2015
-
Today we received someone else's HDL. I received Ojas' and it was the Fashionista Phil one. You basically model fashion trends. I had many troubles in AgentSheets today. At first, my counter wasn't working, then my people could only change color once. I have now fixed that problem, but at the end of the simulation, everybody is wearing the same color. This clearly doesn't work because all fashion trends have a falling out because it is too popular. I'll try to fix this problem tomorrow.
June 17, 2015
-
Today we continued to build the AgentSheets model. I was able to complete it! I fixed my counter and instead of having a constant resistant rate, I gave people random resistance rates between 30-90%. My model also ensures that if a color becomes too popular the people would stop changing their color to the too popular color. This prevents the simulation from ending in the same color. But as the simulation continues to run, some of the 5 colors I have in the model get "kicked out". This is because when a color becomes too popular, I made it change into another color, instead of raising the popularity of the least popular color.
June 18, 2015
-
Today I was documenting for the entire morning. I documented the explorations in engineering workshop. The students there built a circuit! In the afternoon, since Anja and I both finished the AgentSheets model, we have decided to take on the challenge of building the same model with Javascript. Amalan has also been very helpful in clarifying the terminology of JavaScript since this is our first time building something in JavaScript from scratch.
June 19, 2015
-
Today Anja and I continued building our JavaScript model of the Fashionista Phil model. This is definitely a challenge for both of us and we will probably continue building next week. We have looked at the fish and seal model for reference and Amalan has also helped us a lot. So far we have a gray canvas with a black square moving on it that will stop once it reaches the border of the canvas.
June 22, 2015
-
Today we started our 2nd week of our 1st block. We are learning how to make a responsive website. A responsive website can resize if you shrink the tab. A responsive website can also look nice on tablets or smartphones. I think this is really cool because part of having a good website is the design. Today I also learned how to use Inkscape and Gimp, these softwares can help you design a logo and make your website more unique to you.
June 23, 2015
-
Today we continued to work on the responsive website. I wrote my HLD however, I did browse a lot of cool website ideas before I finished it! I also edited my logo so it wasn't so long (vertical). It is now more squarish and I have also changed the font and "personality" of the logo. My current website seems very busy and boring, in the future, I want my website to be simpler and more elegant that it currently is.
June 24, 2015
-
Today I continued to work on my responsive website. I have also made a background on Inkscape, however when I tried to use it on my website, nothing shows up. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to fix this because I then documented the Modeling Your World workshop. Not only did I document, but a couple of other apprentices and I had to help shoulder-surf. It was a really fun experience!
June 26, 2015
-
Today, I changed my background image, and I got it to show up on my website. In the afternoon, I went to document the Modeling my World workshop again. The students continued to build their own AgentSheets model and in the end they presented to the class.
July 7, 2015
-
Today, Joel taught us how to use php. Php is very similar to JavaScript, but it is slightly different. For example, you declare variables with $ instead of var. After learning the basics, we were given a list of projects to make. I completed the random hex code, calendar, and I'm midway through the dice statistics.
July 8, 2015
-
Today I finished my dice statistic program. We learned about super globals, and different methods in php from Joel. He taught us about cookies, something I didn't know until now. I then worked on my background selector. I'm still fuzzy with methods and super globals, but hopefully after working with them, I get to understand these concepts better.
July 9, 2015
-
Today, we continued working on our php projects. Today, I also finished the background selector using cookies, and made my dynamics program using methods! In the afternoon, Joel taught us about databases. We were using mysql on terminal to make tables.
July 10, 2015
-
Today, we finished our php projects!! I finished Jane Doe and XML blog, which wrapped up all the php projects. XML blog gave me the most trouble even if it had the least amount of code. For Jane Doe you had to use some special functions in order to take specific character out of a string. In the afternoon we used mysql on php in textwrangler instead of on command line since we are more comfortable on textwrangler than on terminal.
July 13, 2015
-
Today, we started a new project. We have to make a general store where customers can sign in or buy things. In order to save things, we have to use databases and mysql. I was only able to create a table in command line before I had to leave early.
July 14, 2015
-
Today, we continued our store projects. I finished all of my tables (items, login, and order) in command line. Then I used php to display the information in a html table. This took a while since you have to take the information from mysql. Unfortunately, I can't seem to add an "add to cart" button... I will be working on that tomorrow. I also made a sign up or login page. Once you sign up/login it will take you to the table of items you can buy.
July 15, 2015
-
Today, I made more progress on my store project! I was able to fix my "add to cart" button and get my login page to work too. Now when you sign up, your information will be stored into my database. I will work on a order table and an admin page. Mobeen also taught us about redmine. Redmine helps manage your projects. You should also document your timeline for your projects as you go.
July 16, 2015
-
Today, I continued my store project, but I didn't make that much progress since I documented the engineering class that morning. I also left early, so I didn't have a lot of time to work on my store. In the engineering class the students learned about electrical engineering and they built circuits and used a simulator to learn about the 555 timer.
July 17, 2015
-
Today, I made progress on my store project. My button now works. In order for it to appear, you have to fill in all the blanks before you can actually get to the items store. I also made my order table and I fixed my login table since I had a blank row across the table. I also freshened up my store by adding colors and changing the border of the table.
July 21, 2015
-
Today I found out who was in my group for the javascript project along with which scenario we are doing. We are doing the epidemic model that doesn't have any doctors. The contagious-ness is also displayed on the screen kind of like diffusion. Details here. Then we worked on getting our detailed code plan written out. This step has to be very specific and detailed so when we actually build our model, it will be easy.
July 22, 2015
-
Today we finished our detailed code plan and got it approved by Aaron. Then we started the actual coding in the afternoon. We looked at the seals and fish javascript model to help us, but we are encountering problems. Right now, our healthy and sick "people" only show up on the canvas sometimes. So you have to reload multiple times before anything shows up. Our healthy and sick people's image is also waaaaay too big, so we will also need to shrink that. Hopefully we can finish by tomorrow morning.
July 23, 2015
-
Today I came in the afternoon and I continued to work with Aneesha and Brendan on our JavaScript program. We fixed the images, made them move, got the diffusion to show up, and made the sick heal. We still need to make the healthy flee from the sick people, and make the healthy possibly get sick if they are next to a sick person.
July 24, 2015
-
Today we finished our program and got it approved by Aaron! This was very exciting for my group since there was so many things we had to have in our model. But today we were able to make the healthy people avoid the sick, make the walls unsticky, and made the healthy get sick.
July 27, 2015
-
Today I missed most of the morning, but I did come in just in time for building the bridges. We had to try and get a low tension and compression by building a bridge with no more than 14 nodes and 25 members. Our highest number was 36! Then in the afternoon we learned about recursion and how it works. Recursion is basically calling a function in a function. But sometimes it is best to use a loop instead.
July 28, 2015
-
Today we built towers in the morning out of coffee stirrers and pipe cleaners. Points were calculated by multiplying the height of your structure by how many marbles you could hold. However, once your structure collapses, you get 0 points since the height is 0. Anja and I got second place! Then, we learned about jQuery. I then made my website responsive, and used jQuery to invert my background image of my website (multiple styles).
July 30, 2015
-
Today we learned about electrical engineering. Ron taught us about circuits, and we not only looked at a simulated circuit, but we also built one. It was confusing at times since there were so many wires and resisters crossing over each other. But at the end, I got a working blinking LED. Then I worked on my store. I got my login and sign in to work!! I also started my checkout. Only thing left after the store is the documentation in Redmine.
July 31, 2015
-
Today we learned about density and buoyancy in the morning. We then built boats to see how many marbles it could hold. My group's boat could hold the most! Also, TODAY IS DR.PANOFF'S BIRTHDAY!! We had pizza and cake for lunch and we surprised him in the break room. In the afternoon, I finished my store and redmine. Then I presented my website since today is my last day at shodor. This is my last blog post, and I not only learned a lot in my apprenticeship, but I met great people and had tons of fun.