Today was a normal day. I came into class and went up the genius bar right after. Again, there were no customers, so I spent the class doing codingBat as usual. I am almost finished with Logic 1.
I also learned the mod concept today. It is the concept where you basically divide one number into another, and the outcome of mod is the remainder. Mod is the % sign For example :
15 % 6 = 3
14 % 7 = 0
Today's problem of the day, using the % "mod" operator is this:
We'll say a number is special if it is a multiple of 11 or if it is one more than a multiple of 11. Return true if the given non-negative number is special. Use the % "mod" operator.
public boolean specialEleven(int n) {
if ( n % 11 == 0 || n % 11 == 1)
{
return true;
}
//
If the number is a multiple of 11, then it is a special number. Any number that is a multiple of 11 will have no remainder when divided by 11. Therefore, if any number divided by 11 equals 0, then the number is special because it is a multiple of 11, so return true. If the remainder is 1, then the number will almost be a multiple of 11, with only 1 as a remainder. 1 more than a multiple of 11 also qualifies as a special number, so if the remainder of any number divided by 11 equals one, then return true because the number is a special number.
return false;
// If the number is not a multiple of 11 or one more than a multiple of 11, then return false because the number is not a special number.
}
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Mid- Quarter Report, November 2014
Mid Quarter Report for Computer Applications
November 2014
Mid Quarter November 2014
|
Please answer the questions fully in the spaces below.
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Name
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Ruben Chocron
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Module
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Greenfoot / CodingBat.
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Summarize what you have achieved in the first half of this quarter.
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At the beginning of the quarter, I still had a few Joy of Code videos to watch. I finished those, and finished the Greenfoot Module. I went on since then until present to work on problems on Coding Bat.
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Please indicate any days that you know you will be missing between now and the end of the course.
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I will be traveling to Budapest on the week of the 24th. I will be out of the country from the 26th to the 1st. That means I will be missing Wednesday's class.
|
Describe what you expect to achieve by the end of the module?
How much material will you have covered?
What projects will you have completed?
What will you be presenting?
|
I expect to learn a lot more about coding itself. About booleans, and other important things about Java, but more specifically I would like to learn Strings. I hope to have learned a lot and that just straight up coding will be easier for me. It's possible that by the end of the Semester I will be better at coding, and I will return to Greenfoot and possibly complete a project. I don't know what about yet. I will be presenting about Coding Bat and hopefully a project.
|
Your teacher will be entering a grade-in-progress in PowerSchool for mid-quarter. He will be considering your performance in terms of theassessment guidelines. At this stage he will be asking about the extent to which the statements below apply to your performance in the course.
|
Comment below if you feel there has been a change since mid-semester.
|
His/her written communication (blogs and reports) are done according to deadlines and contain enough information for the teacher to understand what he/she is doing, what kinds of problems he/she is facing and how he/she feels about his/her learning experiences.
Are you consistently doing your blogs? How does your BLog keeping compare to the first half of the quarter? Are you providing more details of your learning? Do you take care to express yourself clearly and use conventional grammar and spelling? Are you using images, videos, links to illustrate the work that you are doing? Are you satisfied that your blog reflects in a complete way what you are doing?
|
inadequate adequate good outstanding
I complete my blogs, and I would say that they are often on deadline. I maybe missed one or two blogs during this first half of the quarter. I write consistently and thoroughly. It is how I tell Mr. Daly about my work and progress, but it also a review for me of what I have done and learned every class. I use correct grammar and spelling. I occasionally put a picture to help Mr. Daly visualize what I am working on.
|
Typically this student makes effective use of class time by increasing his/her competence and confidence using software that he/she has chosen.
Are you using your time effectively? Are you learning each time you come to class? Are you becoming more competent and confident?
|
inadequate adequate good outstanding
I always use my time effectively. I spend 90% of the class doing my work. I come in, sit down, open my laptop, and get to work. I work consistently, and so I learn consistently. Every time I do another Coding Bat problem, it gets easier for me to solve because I practice and practice.
|
He/she attends all class sessions, coming and leaving on time, making sure to make up missing time by working during free periods or at home.
Have you missed class this quarter? How many times? What have you done to make up lost time?
|
inadequate adequate good outstanding
I always come to class on time and leave on time also. I have maybe gotten 1 or 2 tardies throughout the semester. I did miss class this quarter. I traveled to ISSTs at the beginning of November and I missed 1 and a half classes. I missed one full class, and another class on a half day. Whenever I missed classes, I worked on one or two problems on CodingBat.
|
His/her oral communication during class is focused on the learning tasks that he/she is engaged in.
Are your conversations in class focused on your learning tasks?
|
inadequate adequate good outstanding
I rarely talk in class. When I do, it is most of the time to Mr.Daly for help with Coding Bat. Whenever I talk to anyone else, it is because one of us is asking the other a question about work.
|
During class he/she remains focused on the task at hand and generally respects the integrity of the learning environment for all students.
Do you stay on task throughout the block? Do you effectively resist temptations to use the computer for unrelated activities (other homework, e-mail, facebook, youtube, sports results, music etc.)? Do you resist temptations to take unnecessary breaks, arrive late, leave early? Are all your interactions with other students focused on the task at hand?
|
inadequate adequate good outstanding
As I said before, I would say that I spend 90% of the class working. It does happen occasionally that I get distracted and check things like powerschool and moodle. It is often hard to resist changing websites, but I also think that its normal because it is hard to sit for 80 minutes in front of a laptop without moving or doing anything different than CodingBat. I try to resist taking these unnecessary breaks as best as I can, but often I succumb to them. I am just being honest.
|
He/she has positive attitudes towards acquiring technology skills, and makes a conscious effort to acquire new skills and apply them in meaningful ways.
Are you acquiring new skills each class? Are you effectively documenting these in your blog? Have you found ways to apply your skills beyond classroom exercises?
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inadequate adequate good outstanding
I am always glad to learn new things, especially about coding because it entertains me. I learn new skills every class, but more importantly, every class I become more and more comfortable with coding freely. Before, I would copy the code from the Joy of Code videos, but now its straight from my head, and it's getting easier and easier. I hope to one day take the AP computer science class. Whenever I learn a new and important concept, I always mention it in my blog post. I also hope one day to code an application from scratch.
|
He/she is an independent learner, who tries to solve problems by himself/herself, but finds effective ways to overcome problems using a variety of other resources.
Have you become more independent as a learner? What resources are you using to learn effectively?
|
inadequate adequate good outstanding
As I previously mentioned, I am learning to code with more and more ease. I am slowly becoming a more independent learner as time goes on. Whenever I need help with a CodingBat problem, I know that I can always find help. I sometimes look back at old problems that are similar to the one I'm solving to look back and see how I solved it. I also ask Tommy for help sometimes. But most of the time, Mr. Daly is always there to give me a hand with Coding Bat.
|
He/she is respectful of all members of this learning community and his/her behavior is in compliance with all school policies, in particular the AUP (Appropriate Use Policy) and Academic Honesty Policy.
Are you respectful, appropriate, honest? Do you make sure that your behavior does not interfere with the learning of others to by distracting them from their work?
|
inadequate adequate good outstanding
I am a respectful person inside and outside the classroom. I always respect others, and whatever I do is indeed in compliance with all school policies. I don't cheat. I get work done. I don't say that I have completed a problem when I really haven't. I respect the environment of the classroom and I never distract others from their work.
|
Your grade will take into account your performance in the above areas and also..
The amount of documented learning time that you have spent in and out of class.
The amount and/or depth of material that you have covered
| |
What is your grade-in-progress (see PowerSchool)?
Typically if the grade is in the 80s your overall performance has been good. If your grade is in the 70s your performance has been adequate.
How would you describe your overall performance at this point? Is your assessment in-line with the assessment of your instructor?
|
My current grade-in-progress is 92. I think that this grade does accurately describe my performance at this point in the quarter because I've been working hard, on task, and been quite consistent with the blog. I have a positive attitude in this class, and will always keep it. This grade is in accordance with what I imagined my grade-in-progress to be.
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Is there any other information that you would like to provide your teacher to help decide on your grade-in-progress?
|
Thursday, November 20th
Usual class, like always. Got in and worked on Coding Bat.
I feel like now that I am not watching the Joy of Code, I am not really learning completely new concepts every class, and that I am running out of things to say since all I do all class is CodingBat. I am not saying that I am unsatisfied with Coding Bat ( I love it) but it's just that I don't have much to say if all I say in my blog posts is write : Today I did Coding Bat. So what I have decided to do when I don't have a lot to say is to pick one problem each day that I resolve on Coding Bat and take you through my thought process of how I have resolved it.
This is today's problem:
Your cell phone rings. Return true if you should answer it. Normally you answer, except in the morning you only answer if it is your mom calling. In all cases, if you are asleep, you do not answer.
answerCell(false, false, false) → true
answerCell(false, false, true) → false
answerCell(true, false, false) → false
public boolean answerCell(boolean isMorning, boolean isMom, boolean isAsleep) {
if (isAsleep)
{
return false;
}
// this is one of the exceptions. As I learned in previous problems, the exception sort of "overrules" everything else. This means that whatever happens, if I am sleeping, I won't answer. So I put the exception first, because it is dominant over all other actions. If I am sleeping, then return false because I will not answer.
if (isMorning && isMom)
{
return true;
}
// this is one of two situations in the morning. It is the morning, so usually I would not answer, but it's my mom calling. I only answer in the morning when it is my mother calling. If the condition is that it is the morning, and it is my mom calling, then return true. I will answer.
if ( isMorning)
{
return false;
}
// this is the second morning situation. It is the morning, but it's not my mother calling. If the condition is that it's the morning, but it's not my mom calling, then return false. I will not answer.
return true;
// If I am not asleep, and it is not the morning, then it is any other time of day and usually I answer. If it is any other time of day, then return true because I will answer.
}
I feel like now that I am not watching the Joy of Code, I am not really learning completely new concepts every class, and that I am running out of things to say since all I do all class is CodingBat. I am not saying that I am unsatisfied with Coding Bat ( I love it) but it's just that I don't have much to say if all I say in my blog posts is write : Today I did Coding Bat. So what I have decided to do when I don't have a lot to say is to pick one problem each day that I resolve on Coding Bat and take you through my thought process of how I have resolved it.
This is today's problem:
Your cell phone rings. Return true if you should answer it. Normally you answer, except in the morning you only answer if it is your mom calling. In all cases, if you are asleep, you do not answer.
answerCell(false, false, false) → true
answerCell(false, false, true) → false
answerCell(true, false, false) → false
public boolean answerCell(boolean isMorning, boolean isMom, boolean isAsleep) {
if (isAsleep)
{
return false;
}
// this is one of the exceptions. As I learned in previous problems, the exception sort of "overrules" everything else. This means that whatever happens, if I am sleeping, I won't answer. So I put the exception first, because it is dominant over all other actions. If I am sleeping, then return false because I will not answer.
if (isMorning && isMom)
{
return true;
}
// this is one of two situations in the morning. It is the morning, so usually I would not answer, but it's my mom calling. I only answer in the morning when it is my mother calling. If the condition is that it is the morning, and it is my mom calling, then return true. I will answer.
if ( isMorning)
{
return false;
}
// this is the second morning situation. It is the morning, but it's not my mother calling. If the condition is that it's the morning, but it's not my mom calling, then return false. I will not answer.
return true;
// If I am not asleep, and it is not the morning, then it is any other time of day and usually I answer. If it is any other time of day, then return true because I will answer.
}
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Tuesday, November 18th
Today was a normal, good class.
We came in and the first thing we did was talk about what each person was doing. I noticed that a lot more people than in the first quarter were working with Greenfoot. We also talked about this thing that is happening next week called the Hour of Code. Mr. Daly introduced it and they will be doing it in the elementary school - I would very much like to see how they are going to make it happen as it seems interesting. I've done the actual Hour of Code myself. It's not so complicated.
So after discussing what everybody was up to, I went back to CodingBat. I created an account, and was supposed to share it with Mr. Daly, but I didn't know how to. I fixed the problem from last class with Mr. Daly's help . What I actually had done wrong, is not put in the correct conditions into the second if-statement. What I also learned was that whenever I code for a scenario where something is a boolean and an action depends on it, always code for the exceptions first, because they sort of overrule all the rest. They are more "dominant" in a certain sense.
And so I worked for a while with Mr. Daly on these problems and eventually went upstairs to the Genius Bar. Unfortunately, we had no customers.
After that, I just spent the rest of the class working on code that I mostly understood. At the moment I am stuck on one scenario, but I am sure that soon enough without even asking Mr. Daly for help I will be able to fix it by myself. I am getting the hang of these problems, and I understand more and more how code works.
Next class, I simply wish to continue these scenarios with CodingBat. I want to finish the Logic so I can move on to more important and complex notions like strings.
We came in and the first thing we did was talk about what each person was doing. I noticed that a lot more people than in the first quarter were working with Greenfoot. We also talked about this thing that is happening next week called the Hour of Code. Mr. Daly introduced it and they will be doing it in the elementary school - I would very much like to see how they are going to make it happen as it seems interesting. I've done the actual Hour of Code myself. It's not so complicated.
So after discussing what everybody was up to, I went back to CodingBat. I created an account, and was supposed to share it with Mr. Daly, but I didn't know how to. I fixed the problem from last class with Mr. Daly's help . What I actually had done wrong, is not put in the correct conditions into the second if-statement. What I also learned was that whenever I code for a scenario where something is a boolean and an action depends on it, always code for the exceptions first, because they sort of overrule all the rest. They are more "dominant" in a certain sense.
And so I worked for a while with Mr. Daly on these problems and eventually went upstairs to the Genius Bar. Unfortunately, we had no customers.
After that, I just spent the rest of the class working on code that I mostly understood. At the moment I am stuck on one scenario, but I am sure that soon enough without even asking Mr. Daly for help I will be able to fix it by myself. I am getting the hang of these problems, and I understand more and more how code works.
Next class, I simply wish to continue these scenarios with CodingBat. I want to finish the Logic so I can move on to more important and complex notions like strings.
Friday, November 14, 2014
Thursday, November 13th
Today was a half day, so we had a very short class. Mr. Daly also wasn't here. We got to class and did our usual thing.
I went straight to coding bat. I started the Logic 1 problems. I got stuck on the first one for the whole class. I just couldn't figure it out and unlike the warm-up problems, I couldn't see the solutions. This was the problem :
I went straight to coding bat. I started the Logic 1 problems. I got stuck on the first one for the whole class. I just couldn't figure it out and unlike the warm-up problems, I couldn't see the solutions. This was the problem :
| When squirrels get together for a party, they like to have cigars. A squirrel party is successful when the number of cigars is between 40 and 60, inclusive. Unless it is the weekend, in which case there is no upper bound on the number of cigars. Return true if the party with the given values is successful, or false otherwise. And this was my code: |
At first, I had no syntax errors, but not all of the scenarios worked. I played around a bit, and once again no syntax errors, but one scenario didn't work. This was where I left off at the end of class, and there was a syntax error for this code that I don't understand. Next class, I will show Mr. Daly this problem and hopefully he will help me and we can find a solution. |
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Tuesday, November 11th
Today was my first class back from ISSTs. I came into class thinking I was going to look for a project to do over the next couple of classes, but I found something a lot more interesting. Well, Mr. Daly showed me and told me about it. It was CodingBat. I already knew about Coding Bat from Alex Halimi , who is in the AP computer science course. He tells me about it very often.
It is simply a website in which you practice the more algorithm side of java coding. Unlike Greenfoot or anything I've done in the past quarter, it does not focus on creating visual things and creating games and images. It is all about algorithms. It gives you scenarios, and you must code to solve what they are asking you to do. In my opinion, it is great to practice code. I like it a lot because it makes me practice, but also it constantly gives me something to do. Unlike the Greenfoot videos where I was listening at times and then working at other times, with CodingBat I am constantly working on the problem that they have given me. I was surprised to learn that I knew much more about simple code than I thought I did.
So far, I've only been doing easy things. I've been doing warmups, and even those are a bit hard for me sometimes. For example, I haven't learned about strings yet and some warm ups are string problems, so I can't do them. I wanted to watch a video about strings last class, but Mr. Daly told me to keep doing the exercises and to skip the string ones for now, and that he would teach me about strings later on. I hope to keep on working with Coding Bat for a while as it is good practice and I personally find it interesting. I think that it is something that either you like or you absolutely intensely dislike, but I like it so I am happy about that. I can't wait to continue working on these problems and to get to more complicated ones.
It is simply a website in which you practice the more algorithm side of java coding. Unlike Greenfoot or anything I've done in the past quarter, it does not focus on creating visual things and creating games and images. It is all about algorithms. It gives you scenarios, and you must code to solve what they are asking you to do. In my opinion, it is great to practice code. I like it a lot because it makes me practice, but also it constantly gives me something to do. Unlike the Greenfoot videos where I was listening at times and then working at other times, with CodingBat I am constantly working on the problem that they have given me. I was surprised to learn that I knew much more about simple code than I thought I did.
So far, I've only been doing easy things. I've been doing warmups, and even those are a bit hard for me sometimes. For example, I haven't learned about strings yet and some warm ups are string problems, so I can't do them. I wanted to watch a video about strings last class, but Mr. Daly told me to keep doing the exercises and to skip the string ones for now, and that he would teach me about strings later on. I hope to keep on working with Coding Bat for a while as it is good practice and I personally find it interesting. I think that it is something that either you like or you absolutely intensely dislike, but I like it so I am happy about that. I can't wait to continue working on these problems and to get to more complicated ones.
Monday, November 3, 2014
Monday, November 3rd
Today, I finally finished the joy of code! I am glad that I finally finished it because I was getting tired of it. I think it was a good ending and overall even though I didn't like the way he taught, I can't deny that throughout the 33 videos I learned a lot. We finished by learning loops and using them.
I watched the last two videos today. The first one was about using loops to practice using them, and we created circles in the background purely for decorative purposes. It wasn't really that useful and we didn't use the collision detection, but it was still using loops. The second video was about doing the actual collision detection. I was very satisfied with my work today.
When I did the first video, it was mostly about image manipulation. And to my surprise, I actually understood most of it! I always knew what he was talking about and a lot of the time I knew what he would do next. It wasn't the first time that we did image manipulation with Greenfoot, but I was happy to realize that I understood the basics of it.
The next video was about collision detection. Michael taught us that collision detection was what most games in the world relied on, and after giving it some thought I realised that that was true. To my surprise, again, the collision detection code was much easier than I thought it would. It actually is very simple - if a ball is touching the block, then simply remove the block ! And to make it reflect back, you just make the distance negative!
Overall today I got a lot done and it was relatively simple. It was a good way to end before leaving to ISSTs because I now have time to think of a project that I want to do when I get back. I will give it some thought over ISSTs.
I watched the last two videos today. The first one was about using loops to practice using them, and we created circles in the background purely for decorative purposes. It wasn't really that useful and we didn't use the collision detection, but it was still using loops. The second video was about doing the actual collision detection. I was very satisfied with my work today.
When I did the first video, it was mostly about image manipulation. And to my surprise, I actually understood most of it! I always knew what he was talking about and a lot of the time I knew what he would do next. It wasn't the first time that we did image manipulation with Greenfoot, but I was happy to realize that I understood the basics of it.
The next video was about collision detection. Michael taught us that collision detection was what most games in the world relied on, and after giving it some thought I realised that that was true. To my surprise, again, the collision detection code was much easier than I thought it would. It actually is very simple - if a ball is touching the block, then simply remove the block ! And to make it reflect back, you just make the distance negative!
Overall today I got a lot done and it was relatively simple. It was a good way to end before leaving to ISSTs because I now have time to think of a project that I want to do when I get back. I will give it some thought over ISSTs.
Sunday, November 2, 2014
Thursday, October 30th
Today was a good, productive class.
I got to class and started to finish the video about loops that I started last time. But I was confused and had already forgotten most of what Michael taught us since last class, and so I decided to re watch the video from the beginning. And I'm glad that I did because as I watched it I was much less confused than the first time I saw it. It was about creating the first row of blocks in the Brick breaker game. It wasn't actually as hard as I perceived it to be and I got done with it with more ease the second time around. I learned about while loops while watching this video. Is there more types of loops ? If there is, are while loops the most common types of loops?
After re watching the video, I went on to watch one more during class. The point of the second was to add to the world two more rows of blocks. We wanted each row of those blocks to be perfectly aligned with the row above it. And once again, we used loops. Instead of writing the code for each row of blocks 3 times, we used while loops to add the other 2 rows, and make them identical and perfectly aligned. In the end, this is what the game looked like :
I got to class and started to finish the video about loops that I started last time. But I was confused and had already forgotten most of what Michael taught us since last class, and so I decided to re watch the video from the beginning. And I'm glad that I did because as I watched it I was much less confused than the first time I saw it. It was about creating the first row of blocks in the Brick breaker game. It wasn't actually as hard as I perceived it to be and I got done with it with more ease the second time around. I learned about while loops while watching this video. Is there more types of loops ? If there is, are while loops the most common types of loops?
After re watching the video, I went on to watch one more during class. The point of the second was to add to the world two more rows of blocks. We wanted each row of those blocks to be perfectly aligned with the row above it. And once again, we used loops. Instead of writing the code for each row of blocks 3 times, we used while loops to add the other 2 rows, and make them identical and perfectly aligned. In the end, this is what the game looked like :
and this is what the code for it looked like:
I am excited since I am almost done with the Joy of Code series. I have only 2 more videos to watch, and then I will be done. Next class I wil try to finish both videos.
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