Final Blog Post- This Year in Comp Sci

This year computer science has been a very average experience for me. What I mean is that even though there were some fun lessons we did, including the marshmallow project, there have also been times when I have felt like all I was doing was going through the motions and getting a free completion grade for it. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely thought more of the labs because they were a challenge at times, but I felt that they were also dull, and for a class at LASA I was a little disappointed.

I will begin with what I liked most about the class, which for me was the hand on experience I got with computer programs that I hadn’t even known about before. Not only did I learn about what they were and how they worked, but Mr. Stephens’ lessons and help taught me how to create programs to run and experiments to create. My absolute favorite lab was also the most frustrating and it was our fall semester final. The program we had been using at the time was Jeroo. Jeroo is a program built to help people learn some of the language and code of Java, but in an easier, less confusing format. Its parts consisted of two sections of code: a main method and other created methods that could be called by the main method. In Jeroo there are three different objects (jeroos, flowers and nets) and two land types (land and water). A jeroo would be trapped if they fell into a net or the water, but a flower could be tossed into a net to cancel it out. Our final consisted of eight different layouts, all mazes, which required you to write code that would allow one jeroo to “save” another jeroo on the other side of the map and return to the starting point. The twist is that we had to complete as many of the layouts as possible with only a single code, one that would, without changing it, complete the task on each different layout. What I enjoyed about the lab was how challenging it was because each time I was able to complete a new lab, the sense of reward I felt was incredible. That was one of the best academic feelings I had had all year because I would have had no idea how to do any of it without the well thought out plans and lessons Mr. Stephens’ provided us with during the course.

What I didn’t like however was how dull or boring some of the labs could be. I understand that this being the first year for Mr. Stephens we are his educational guinea pigs and that computer science is something that requires strict rules to be followed, but I also felt like things could be improved to make the course more exciting and interactive. For example, if students were given the basics of each program and then given tasks to perform there would be opportunities for more group work. The tasks would not come with step-by-step guidelines and walkthroughs, but instead the students would be given a task to accomplish and it was their job to brainstorm and figure out a way to accomplish the given task. I believe that this would allow more interaction and creative thinking with others instead of simply transcribing code from detailed instructions by themselves.

Like I said before, this year in computer science was relatively average for me because the pros (the thrill of learning something new and accomplishing difficult challenges) and cons (the dull and repeated typing of long code) of the class balanced out. For a course at LASA I would expect something more interactive, so hopefully that can be improved on in the years to come.

-jag13

24th Reflection

The last lab in App Inventor that we did was the Amazon Book Store application. The purpose of the app was to be able to search for books on amazon by using either keywords, an ISBN number, or a scanned bar code. The app would then return a specific book, or the top five books that were related to the search, and give their title, ISBN number, and price. Making the app was actually pretty simple and the logic behind it was sound. The lab required a TinyWebDB to be used to access amazon.com, but then all you had to do was use the value(s) returned by the TinyWebDB to print out on the screen. This last lab for App Inventor was a good way to end the section because it used more interesting aspects of the App Inventor, like TinyWebDb and a Bar Code Scanner.

-jag13

I Hate Ear Infections

This weekend I got the first ear infections I have ever had. I also got the second too. Yep I had an ear infection in each ear and on top of that I also caught a cold, causing me congestion, a fever, and a sore throat. So my weekend was pretty terrible. The worst part was the throbbing pain in my head that resulted from my inner ear infections, which kept me from being able to concentrate and do homework (the silver lining in all of this). Being so sick caused me to miss school Monday and now I have to do what I hate most about LASA...make-up work. Make-up work sucks at LASA because when you miss one day on a block day schedule, you have to make up all that work and do the work for the day you get back. If you don't make that work up immediately you can end up a week or two behind schedule and I do not need that right before finals. Hopefully, I will be able to finish all that work, but if not, I'll be stuck with another long weekend.

-jag13 

Cricket Club

Here at LASA a cricket club was started to introduce more people to the sport and get a competitive inter-school league going. After playing every other team in the league we are now in the playoffs where, unfortunately, we lost our first game. We are now in the losers bracket, but we still have a chance to win the championship. I have found that playing cricket has been a great experience because I have gotten to try something new and found that I am good at it. Hopefully my team can bounce back from our loss and play better. Even if we don't win though the season has been great for the club and hopefully it will continue on to next year.

-jag13

Reflection 23

Last week, we worked on two new apps called Presidents Quiz and Xylophone. In Presidents Quiz we learned how to use a list in the App Inventor for the first time storing questions and answers so that we can access them later. We also used a list to store pictures for each different question to use as a background. Overall it was a good lab to help us understand how to use lists with App Inventor. Using Lists become more important when we made the Xylophone App. We had to store the noted played in the app and then run back through the list to play back the tune. Even though there were small problems I encountered during the assignments, I thought both labs were exceptional at teaching us how to use lists.

-jag13

TAKS

TAKS is a huge waste of time. That's what everyone at LASA believes, including the teachers. The problem with TAKS at LASA is the fact that at least 90% of the kids that attend here pass the test with ease and most people earn commended honors. On the scheduled testing days students and teachers reluctantly take part in the test and then have to remain quiet and in their seats for the remaining time. This just means that we're just sitting in a room for 4 hours for a test that doesn't really matter because it's getting replaced anyway. Of course this isn't true for all schools who have a higher percentage of kids who struggle with the test. That is why I think LASA should have some kind of exemption. If all the students have proven to be above the standard why should they have to take the test?

-jag13

Reflection 22

This week in computer science we continued labs with App Inventor. The hardest lab by far that we've done is the lady bug game. The point of the lab is to make a game with a ladybug, an aphid, and a frog. The objective of the game is to move the ladybug and eat the aphid, which will refuel energy and reappear somewhere else, and avoid the frog at the same time. The requirements to make this lab work were extensive and made the code extremely long. Although everything made sense, the problem was trying to sort all that out because of all the sections of code needed to be constructed.

-jag13

K-T Debate

Last week I had to dress nicely for what is known as the K-T Debate for sophomores in Planet Earth at LASA. The K-T debate address the topics of the mass extinction of the dinosaurs and other species and the threat of extra-terrestrial objects striking the earth. K-T stands for Cretaceous-Tertiary and the K-T boundary is the layers of rock and earth that was the crust millions of years ago when the extinction happened. As a lobbyist for the pro-side, I had to argue that 1) an asteroid/extra-terrestrial object was responsible for the extinction, 2) that asteroids still pose a threat to Earth today, and 3) that the United States government should approve the spending of $250 billion to develop research and build an asteroid defense system. After 3 days of trial, the Senate came to the decision that although the extinction was more likely caused by volcanic eruptions and several other factors, that we do in fact need a defense system to protect us from the very real danger of asteroid strikes.

-jag13

21st Reflection

These past two weeks, because there were no blogs due last week, we have been using the Android App Inventor to write code and create applications for a phone. So far we have made a paint app, where you can paint on a picture with different colors and different sized dots and lines, and a whack-a-mole game, where you try to hit a mole that teleports from place to place around the screen. Using App Inventor has been relatively easy because of its similarities to Scratch, the blocks, and its guide that helps you understand what, and more importantly why, certain codes need to be used.

-jag13

20th Reflection

Last week in Python, for the last section I might add, we learned to code lists. Lists in Python work a lot like strings and the two are closely related, which could make things easy at certain times, but more difficult at others. Lists can be made inside a running program by using the same base for while loops as we did with strings. By using a separate variable to determine the amount of times to run the loop we could control the amount of words or numbers added to a list. That code was good for making lists with certain specifications, but could get frustrating and complicated at times when the line between strings and lists got blurry. As long as you are aware of whether you are using a string or a list, things shouldn't get too complicated. Hopefully.

-jag13

A Not So Cinderella Story

Last night I watched the Division I Men's Basketball National Championship game hoping that Butler would be able to do what it couldn't last year: Complete the Cinderella Story and come out with a championship and a "happily ever after". However the Bulldogs did the farthest thing from it and were dismantled by the University of Connecticut Huskies. Butler only shot 18% from the field and couldn't get the advantage on the inside. UConn also had a poor shooting performance (only 34% from the field), but they were able to use their size and rack up points and rebounds in the paint. It has been two consecutive years that Butler has made it to the National Championship the underdog, only to walk away defeated and heartbroken. Hopefully, Butler will be able to make it back to the championship game in the future and come away with a win, but maybe the glass slipper just doesn't fit exactly right.

-jag13

A Cinderella Story

March Madness earned its name for a reason, for all the chaos that happens in the NCAA Men's National Championship Tournament. Usually there are several upsets in the second round of the tournament, an 11 seed upsetting a 6 seed or a 5 seed falling to a 12 seed, but this season for the first time in over 30 years two teams lower than a 5 seed have made it into the Final Four. 11 seed Virginia Common Wealth (VCU) is the only team to have won five games to make it to the semi-finals and will face Butler, an 8 seed, who is the first non-Big 6 conference to have made it to the Final Four in back-to-back years. Only one of these Cinderella teams will be able to make it to the National Championship game where they will face off against wither Kentucky or Connecticut. Now that my bracket has been destroyed because of the many upsets this year, I find myself cheering for VCU, who I picked to beat Georgetown and Purdue, but will this Cinderella story really have a happy ending?

-jag13

19th Reflection

This past week in computer science we got new computers. Now you might think that it's a good thing to get new computers to work on, and it still might turn out that way, but Friday turned out terrible. Instead of being able to turn in my labs and work on the current ones, the H drive crashed and hindered my work. Having no work may seem like it would be a relief, but my computer ran slow at everything, whether it was opening word documents or trying to attach files to an email. Hopefully we can fix the problem and get these new computers to do what they were made for, to make things easier.

-jag13

18th Reflection

Before Spring Break we worked on using booleans in Python. A boolean, simply put, is a true or false statement. For example, if we entered 2 >= 1 the program would return 'True' because the statement was correct. The results of a boolean statement can be predicted by using tables and using the stated functions to figure out what is true and what is false. Booleans are commonly used with loops, so that the loops stops once the boolean is no longer true. An example of this would be ' while x==2:'. If x was equal to two then the loop would run. Booleans are also used in if statements the same way. I found booleans to be fairly simple due to the fact that the are basically true or false answers meaning the program will run one possibility or another.

-jag13

Spring Break

I have never been more thankful for Spring Break than this year. With the work load from LASA and the soccer season coming to an end it has been stressful to say the least. Over the break I have played basketball quite a bit and have gone out with friends, but the best part has been getting my body well rested again. I have been able to sleep in late and not have to worry about getting up early for school or stay late for soccer practice. I haven't  had to worry about homework either (for the most part) and having that stress relieved has made my life much easier. Now that break is almost over though I have summer to look forward to, that is until junior year starts.

-jag13

Law and Order

Yesterday in English class I submitted my choices for electives for my junior year here at LASA. Because there will be no required signature courses to take and I will be finished with my language credits, I got to choose electives for half my classes. During freshmen and sophomore year I have been working at getting my required credits done (health, speech, etc.) so that I could take more classes that appeal to me. Those classes primarily deal with law. After taking Mock Trial for my speech credit I discovered the interest I had in law and as a result have decided to take several history based electives, including Contemporary Issues, Model UN, Facing History, and Constitutional Law. Hopefully I will be as interested in these classes as I was in Mock Trial and will be able to have an enjoyable junior year.

-jag13

17th Reflection

Last week we worked on labs involving "while" and "for i in range (x)" loops. The labs were very easy and simple for once because of the setup. The lab descriptions were like the ones we did for Jeroo, Scratch, and Alice, and the code was mostly complete. This made the labs very easy to understand and using the loops made the code short and sweet. The loops made writing code much easier and efficient, but the format of the labs is what made it so easy to understand.

-jag13

I'm not sick, I'm just sick sick

This past weekend I was finally getting some recovery time from the cold I began to catch after our snow/ice  day here in Texas. I had to attend school any way because of the tests I had during the week and the monstrous amount of make-up work I would have to complete because the end of the six weeks is coming near. Finally, reaching the end of the week was a major relief and I was able to sleep in and relax at home after a long, stressful week. During my time indoors I came across a You Tube video of a man who was placed in quarantine for a short time after contracting an illness on vacation. In the video the man raps about he isn't sick, as in "that trick was sick", but that he is really sick sick. Being stuck inside for only two days I could only somewhat understand his situation and luckily I started feeling well again.  Even better is the fact that the next two school weeks are only four days each due to the four day weekend we have between the two. Hopefully this weekend I can due more than rest in bed and actually go outside to enjoy the warmer weather.

-jag13

16th Reflection

During the week we worked on starting chapter five in Python, going over if, else, and if else statements. The logic behind the labs was simple enough, but one mistake I made was not using the pre-made Python files, and instead created my own new without knowing any better. The big difference was that the pre-made code already had the main function and required you only to fill in missing pieces of code. The problem I had run into in my own program was that I had not been properly assigning the value input into the program to the variable used in the function. That was because I had asked the user to input a number, but had not assigned that value to the variable, like this x = input("Enter a number:"). Hopefully I can remember to use the Python files given so that I don't make things more difficult than they actually are.

-jag13

Suberbowl Sunday

This year the Superbowl was to be played between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers in Cowboys Stadium in North Texas. The game would be a classic match up, a strong high scoring Packer offense and a hardened and experienced Steeler defense. The Packers pulled off the victory in stunning fashion by enduring the loss of three key starters, including pro bowler Charles Woodson. They did by stepping up on defense, where they created three turnovers that turned into 21 points. Their offense was brilliant too though. Or most accurately, Aaron Rodgers was. The games MVP passed for over 300 yards and three touchdowns, but they would've have been much higher if his receivers had not dropped five passes, one which could have gone for another touchdown, Overall, the game was exciting and explosive and the better, more complete team came out with the Lombardi Trophy.

-jag13