Today in class, we ventured down to the middle school and asked Mr. Coleman a few questions about the P.E department in the Middle School and how we could make it better for everyone down there. I noted down his problems, and we brainstormed to find the best project that we could effectively work on and finish within the time parameters given.
We ended up settling on making an automatic mile counter which didn’t require the work of peers to time yourself or for inaccurate measurement of splits.
For the rest of the class period, we worked on whiteboards in the project room and wrote down some of the code that we need, setting all of the variables required.
Although the picture is a bit unclear, it shows the map of the field and where our checkpoints will be set with the variable markers that adjust the timer.
This is a photo that shows my code. For the majority of the class, my partner and I were problem solving on his computer. However, half-way through the class we experimented with making a keyboard, of which I do not have access to.
Basically, what went well in our code was being able to functionally set up a game involving the balance board even though it was quite primitive and had to be reset manually by the player. However, it was still a game and counted the amount of time that we spent on the board.
What didn’t go so well was finding out how to hook the code up to the balancing board, of which my partner and I spent a lot of time on. Because we were a bit lost as to how to properly connect it, we ended up using a variety of methods that didn’t really work (connecting clips to each other). But in the end, we were able to hook it up to create a function game board.
Next time, we should try to get straight to the point instead of searching for shortcuts in the code or connection via the alligator clips.
Attached above are two pictures which are of my mind map and pseudo code. Together, they outline what the direct aim of my code is, along with how to choose to look to satisfy that objective within the code through simply written english language steps. (In order for the picture to work you have to open the link in a separate tab and click on the link within the text area)
Below is a video of me explaining the code behind my actual quiz, it contains a rundown of the whole code, which includes annotations for separate things if I happened not to explain it.
In the process of working on my code, I referred to just three websites along with our teacher, Ms. Mok, and her knowledge to help me overcome my challenges and properly create my code, making sure that it functions properly.
I used this website to research along with the advice that Ms. Mok gave me on global functions. Because we were just given a small tutorial in class on how to transfer variables across functions, I was a little bit unclear on what I was meant to do in order for it to work correctly. Therefore, I went on this website to teach myself how to use the global functions, which ended up working quite effectively.
The link above helped me look for what to use in order to loop my function from the end back to the start. However, once I realised that I can just use a function to loop the whole thing in order for it to work, I didn’t end up finding a need in this.
I used this link to make sure that I was using the correct syntax to close my code. Because I wanted to include multiple points of ending, all out of a loop, I was out of options for the use of syntax that we learned in class such as ‘break,’ and instead resorted to searching up and using the syntax, ‘quit().’
Inserted below is a table which discusses the different problems that I faced, and how I overcame all of them except for one due to a challenge/time constraint over the project as a whole.
Item:
Test Outcome:
Fixed:
Date:
Who:
Using Lists
Pass
Yes // I had to make sure that it would properly
project across my code when repeated. I didn’t know
if I had to make it global but I wanted to make sure to
include it in my overall quiz function.
Nov 21
AA
Confirmation
Fail
No // In the first class I had attempted to create a
way to confirm the choice of each answer, but then I
realised that it was going to take too long, and that I
didn’t know how to properly create the confirmation
loop itself.
Nov 21
AA
Input
Pass
Yes // It wasn’t originally working because I had
forget to input the variable the first time in the
function which didn’t let the second half of it work
properly.
Nov 21
AA
Function / Def.
Pass
Yes // I had originally planned to manually loop the
whole thing but then I realised that it would take way
too long to actually manually loop things around in
circles and that I’d never actually be done because
it’s an infinite loop. Then Ms. Mok taught me how to
create functions properly which I ended up doing.
Nov 28
AA/MOK
While
Pass
Yes // Was working when I just used basic while
I just used basic while functions. However, when I
attempted to use harder loops like when I tried to
manually loop my code, I ran into a lot of problems.
Nov 21
AA
Ending the Code
Pass
Yes // I wasn’t using a proper end to the code in
some parts of the code which just led to the code
repeating itself in a messy way that didn’t ever end
the code itself. Ended up searching up and learning
to use the ‘quit()’ syntax instead of ‘break’.
Nov 28
SS
Defining variables
inside the function
Pass
Yes // After I looped my code using the functions, I
had no idea as to how I was meant to define the
variables properly inside the code itself. Therefor,
when I asked Ms. Mok for help, she directed me to
the proper use of the ‘global’ syntax, which is what I
used to correctly be able to score the amount of
questions incorrect per quiz.
This class I first wrote out a pseudo code and flowchart for the majority of the class, choosing which routes I could take and how to get from place to place in my quiz.
When I was done, I got to work on some minor coding. I first created a small background content for the quiz, then a list for the types of quizzes that the player could choose to play from.
After this, I decided to just add a small basic script of which the quiz would simply follow throughout the rest of the quiz in order to provide the user with the desired quiz and the questions that they offer.
Attached above is a video of Sid and I summarising the code which we wrote, showing examples of all of the different things that we’ve learned in class so far.
This is an image that shows how we used a function to resemble a picture made out of symbols which we used across the code as a universal signal for game over.
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Below is an image that shows the first part of out code, which includes a list, the use of elif, if, and how inputs work. We produced a summary outlined in the annotations in the picture itself.
In this image, we showed the use of a variable in the hunger, which changed depending on what the player inputted into the input section. We also demonstrated how to summon the backpack list which we created at the start.
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This image shows how after demonstrating the techniques and concepts learned in class, we were able to just continue the storyline of the code without much trouble. Note, the ‘endgame()’ summons the game over sign that we produced in the function at the top of the code.
——-
The rest of our code is just storyline, lacking any other concepts beside print and input functions.
Overall, we didn’t have too much trouble creating the code, only problem was synchronising all of the functions and lists throughout the code, by making sure to include a ‘()’ or if we were meant to use square brackets instead.
Today in class we went over the concepts of If, Elif and While:
If: Sets the condition for a response depending on what the player or user of the code has provided
Elif: Although not shown in my code, Elif is how to write therefor in the code, meaning that it provides a response based on the response of the If command.
While: Creates a loop to set a response for an input of an answer that was not of the given answers.
Loops: When would you use a ‘while’ loop and when is it appropriate to use a ‘For i in ___’ loop? explain in detail:
It is a lot easier to use the while loop because instead of infinitely looping, it loops until you get the correct answer, where it will stop looping. The ‘for’ loop will keep repeating for a set amount of times which can’t be affected by the user who can correct the mistake.
Today in programming, I had arrived a little bit late due to a bus problem on the way to school. In class, we made two things, first, I learned what slice was, and how it works. Later on, we experimented and played with creating a guessing game. To create the code, we were taught to create a pseudo code, which means that we were essentially writing the code, but in english words, explaining what it does. We wrote down how we would make the guessing game, then wrote the code based on our steps.
To create the code, we used the ‘if’, ‘while,’ ‘print’, and our knowledge of variables.
Although I frequently bring my own lunch and snacks from home, I used to personally along with many in my school choose to purchase food from the cafeteria for lunch. Amongst students at HKIS, school food catering doesn’t have too great of a reputation. Students have told stories of finding bones and hairs in their food, all massive turn-offs. This showed the fact that the school cafeteria wasn’t very clean, and when answered by my survey, they also answered that the food quality wasn’t all that great. Compared to the quality and quantity of outside restaurants and other schools, I also realised and noted that pricing at HKIS was quite unjust and unfair. When presented with the option of finding problems, I identified food as a problem, amongst wifi and respect at HKIS. When assigned to food, I realised there was a lot of information presented which I could pick up.
2. Discuss the development process of the pecha kucha:
In class at the start of the week, we watched a video about a pecha kucha that went wrong. So for this pecha kucha, I’m trying to properly set up my presentation and include a lot of topics to give off the opinions of many of the people that I interviewed this week and the week before. Although many of them gave off answers that were quite different to each other. I think that I can easily contrast their responses and come up with an accurate representation of two different perspectives that are present at HKIS. The information gathering proved to be a little bit inconsistent because overall, not everyone that I interviewed actually always ate lunch at school, which means that some of my data is useless. However, most people have heard about or eaten a little bit of cafeteria food at HKIS.
3. Discuss the challenges and difficulties with this format:
The challenges of this format is keeping things on topic and on the ball with the pacing of the slides. Most presentations that I’ve done in the past have not been more than 3-4 minutes, but this time, with a 6 minutes presentation, it will be a lot more difficult to present. That included, I have to also prepare the slides to make sure that I have ample time for spaces to induce and empathetic feel onto my audience, our intro to programming class, and potentially a larger audience if it turns out well. It will also be a challenge to find an appropriate image to match each slide that I have, because I can only include so many pictures of the cafeteria and random people who I interviewed.
“I’ll never wanted to call Hong Kong my home, but because my kids call it home, it’s starting to be more of home for me too.”
Mrs. Grant comes from Scotland. When she was younger, she and her friends were really wild and always broke their parents rules, but always to hang around with each other. She never really wanted to leave Scotland, but her father (also a teacher) told her that teaching in Scotland isn’t nice, so when she got the opportunity to come teach in Hong Kong, she went for it. Now she has settled here for 16 years, now with a husband and her two children.
Brittany:
“Just image eating ice cream on a hot summer day”
Before mentioning Ice cream, Brittany had answered fruits for her favourite dessert, but quickly switched to ice cream because she loves it in hot weather. Brittany spent her childhood in London, and she made some good friends there, but told us that the year she moved to Hong Kong, her best friend was also moving somewhere.
Olivier:
“I don’t know, I just love tiramisu, chocolate, caffeine, it’s perfect.”
Olivier loves playing tennis, and that’s where he has made a lot of his childhood friends. He mentioned that one of his best memories is playing doubles with a friend that he still hands out with to this day. When leaving, he returned to his SDLT seat, and subtly bragged about how good he was with programming.
Empathy Statement: We were unhappy that our bags were too plain, and just generally didn’t have enough space to hold all of my things.
1. Was your design the same or different than your final design?:
We found that our final design was incredibly different from our first design at the start of the process. We were thinking about making something pretty normal because we couldn’t find a good alternative to the bags that we already had, which we were semi-content with. When brainstorming we decided to exaggerate our dreams for the bag, but just decided to make them a reality in the actual bag.
2. Where did you get stuck?:
I feel like because we had decided all of the things that we wanted to originally put so much on, our biggest problem because where to place things without them being a nuisance. Even though our bag was pretty fictional, with the solar panel and chargers, etc., we didn’t want it to be non-functional in total.
3. When did you get your best idea? Describe the moment?:
The best moment was easily when I first put on the bag and decided that it was really uncomfortable to keep on my back for more than 10 seconds. To solve this, I grabbed a large block of large bubble wrap and told my teammates to tape it onto the bag which made it super comfortable in the end.
4. How well did you capture your partner’s needs?:
Because my partners and I all wanted to make the bag really cool and have a ton of inventions on it, we found that the best thing when someone recommended something was to just throw it on the bag for the fun of it. If something didn’t make sense, however, then we’d question their thoughts and challenge them to make it better or to just take it off in general.
