New Application Idea

In addition to studying for the AP test, I will be designing an application that will apply some of the concepts I am reviewing. I have decided to make a quizbowl application. The basic idea of quizbowl is that to study you need to read packets. Packets are formatted with a bunch of questions. The problem is that when you open up a packet in Microsoft word to study, you see the entire question. The optimal way to study would be to see the sentences of the question one at a time. This experience would be more similar to the experience of IRC Quizbowl. The idea of this is that you can play quizbowl online. The bot reads every question 1 line at a time until someone buzzes. My application would go something like this:

First the user inputs a zip file of .doc, .txt, .rtf ... of quizbowl packets
The program will convert these to plain text. This is essential because java can only work with plain text and won't preserve formatting.

Then a different window will open. It will have a play button. Click the play button and the tossup starts. The tossup is read one line at a time until the user buzzes. Then press space bar again and the user sees the entire tossup as well as the answer. The time each sentence is displayed will be based on an equation relating the number of characters in the sentence to the time it takes to read each character.

Recent Work

Recently, I've been studying for the AP Computer Science Test. I've been looking through various sources to find the best tool for preparation. I've decided to use a standard AP computer Science preparation book. The best thing about the book is that it assumes you know something about java. It moves through the topics quickly, highlighting what you need to know.

So far I've studied loops, array lists, array list methods, compound assignment, the new style for loop, scanners, and basic java stuff like constructors and methods.(This isn't everything but it's all I can think of right now)

I've also been studying GridWorld for the AP test. I understand the methodology behind gridWorld: You have a series of actors that you control and make do things. I'm also seeing from practice AP tests that I may not need to be a master of GridWorld to get a high score. Gridworld actors basically move around, look for obstacles, then turn 45 degrees.

As a note for UIL, I've found that buffered string readers are much more difficult to use than scanners. I suggest we use scanners. They are much more straightforward.

1-11-11: Update

Right now I am working on studying for the AP test. Unlike normal AP students, I am coming in already having some knowledge of JAVA. I've been reviewing some old concepts. For instance, I now know by heart that constructors do not have return types while methods do. If you see "void" it's a method. I'm reviewing some old AP tests. The free write section is giving me trouble. How do you search a custom array (type isn't just int or string) for an int or string. Can objects with various types included by parsed? I'm also interested in programming in MATLAB. The mathematics based programming is intriguing.