Final Blog Post

I think it’s somewhat fair to give us a Greenfoot final. On the one hand, almost none of us have used the program all year. This makes it difficult to pick up and find solutions in a few days time. And yet, Greenfoot is easy enough to use that we can learn the methodology quickly and make a program. So I guess it’s fair. Also, we’ve all been doing different assignments all years so choosing a program almost no one has worked with makes it more fair for the entire class. The final shouldn’t be too difficult because we’ve had very little time to prepare.

This class gave me an appreciation of high-level programming. It took me weeks to design an application window with basic functionality. I also learned what it would be like to work as a programmer. You would sit down every day coding on the same project. In a more practical sense, I learned about Java GUI design, recursive methods (I was never very good with those), static methods, and some basic math programming.

I would have liked to program a real application. I spent the whole year using Java and didn’t produce anything more than a few convenient applications. However, to run those applications I would need to use them in a Java applet. Frankly, I wanted to make an application that could open from the desktop. I would have liked to design a real application, however rudimentary. 

Final

So it's entering finals season. Apparently, I'm not exempt from the exam even though I took the AP. Anyways, now I have to take the final which is in Greenfoot. I'll study Greenfoot at home until I actually remember something about it. I didn't do well on the last final where we were just thrown into it. It's actually quite fair this time because we have been told that it will be in Greenfoot. Now I have the opportunity to study at home. Also, my quizbowl application is nearing completion. You input some figures such as how many points each team has (uses scanner class). Then, based on some input skill levels (possibly gleaned from bonus conversion stats), the program uses a binomial expansion to spit out the probability that the currently winning (or tied) team wins the match. It's not very practical except for someone using a computer while watching a quizbowl match.

Post: 5/16/11

The current program I have been working on has been returning a lot of errors lately.
This is the standard error message I get:


Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ArithmeticException: / by zero
at Projector.binomExpansion(Projector.java:24)
at Projector.getOdds(Projector.java:43)
at Projector.main(Projector.java:54)
Type 'getOdds()'. You will be prompted to enter data.
The binomial expansion of (0.5 + 0.5)^3 is:

0.1250.60.5The binomial expansion of (0.6 + 0.5)^1000 is:

The following is very odd because I should be getting an arithmetic exception. It may be that the computer doesn't understand factorial expressions. I may have to teach the computer that 0! = 1. The actual recursive program that calculates the factorials in my program does not have the condition for 0!. It's quite odd that the program worked before I tried to implement the binomial expansion as part of another method, but now the binomial expansion doesn't work.

I was also having trouble with some static call methods but then those were fixed.

I guess that's all. If adding the extra condition to the factorial statement doesn't work... I will have to try something else.

Post 2 - 5/10/11

Progress. Now that the AP is over I've had time to continue working on my Quizbowl application (and some research stuff). I've figured out that I need the program to take in a bunch of factors including the skill level of the teams, an x factor, what question in the set we are on... Anyway the program will use a series of binomial expansions to find out which team will win in under the aforementioned conditions over 1000 games.

If I just had the program calculate the odds for 1 game, the x factor would be useless. Rather, I will see which team will win the majority of 1000 games. The team that wins more games out of 1000 will be assumed to win this one game.

I need to create another binomial trial that factors in the x - factor. It will be difficult to iterate through all the possibilities based on which team the x-factor supports more. Anyway, I'll spend some time working out the math.

That's all for now.

Post 1 - 5/10/11

So I need two blog posts. My first one is going to be about this new program I've been using called Mendeley. The idea is really clever. For people doing research project the program compiles sources of information such as research papers and journals. What you'll find interesting is that the program works a lot like dropbox. When it's installed the program allows you to create a folder that syncs across all of your computing devices (including iPhones). In fact, Menedeley basically copied the entire dropbox content. They have the magic folder, and online portal, and 5 gb of free storage. So the lesson. You learn that succussful programs to do not have to be entirely unique. If you find a computing concept that works, stick with it.

Blog post (5/6/11)

So here I am... Post AP

The AP test went surprisingly well. I believe I either got a 5 or a 4.The hardest thing about the test was the gridworld short answer questions. When they told me to create a new class of critter, I had no idea what to do. I basically went into the API that they provided and did my best. Otherwise, the short answer section went well. I felt a bit iffy on the multiple choice but feel I did well overall.

Now, I'm going back to work on my quizbowl program. Or I'm studying organic chemistry for my Intel science project. (dendrimer encapsulated nanoparticles for reaction catalysis).

Research: A.K.A: What I'm Missing Computer Science for

So I will be missing computer science in order to attend lectures and shadow students at UT. Interestingly enough, the students are learning the same chemistry as we are in class. Granted, they actually have to put what they learn into practice. Yet, their material, such as titrations, acid bases, etc. is really similar to ours here.

The Lecture:
The lecture was about the basics of a lab dealing with Dendrimer-Encapsulated Nanoparticles.
I learned quite a few things.I learned that you can't leave a solution of encapsulated nanoparticles just sitting out because the copper ions will re-ionize by themselves. The lecture also included some talk about technology (I know you like technology). The lab contains UV-vis spectrometers. These special kinds of spectrometers are basically really expensive spectrometers that can measure absorbance on a nano-scale. The data from the spectrometers can be fed into a variety of computer programs. The professor suggested Logger Pro. Logger Pro is one of the best applications for handling input from a variety of sensors.

It's pretty awesome.