Aloha Mi Familia,
Things are a little bit crazy as of late but I must say that finals week is looking a little lighter than I had expected. I have a final project left in my Digital Systems class as well as a homework assignment and two final exams (one group, one individual) in my C++ class. Otherwise all projects and Exams are done for the semester. The exams should be quite difficult and the final project is definitely going to be a struggle but I'm glad that I'm at least down to two classes for the next few days. Over the week break, I will be going with two of my former roommates (Jeffrey and Glenn) down to Boise and spending the time there before coming back for the Spring semester.
This weekend was also general Conference for the church so I spent about 8 hours listening to broadcasts from church leaders on various topics. I was tired enough that I slept through one session of the conference but otherwise listened to the majority of the other 4 sessions. I took several notes but not as much as I usually do and I've got a lot to think over after hearing the messages.
ECEN 160 Digital Systems
This week has been primarily focused on two major items. First, I spent about 6-7 hours studying for our third exam. We don't technically have a final exam for this class but this Exam was definitely the most difficult. I spent over 2 hours in the testing center and walked away with a 73%... It was rough and I actually felt a little over-confident when I submitted my exam to be scanned in for a grade. At least it is behind me. That's all I can really say about that. The second item was to make headway on our final project. There is likely to be many hours of confusion outside of regular class time, trying to get the project to work in our two design programs (Logisim and Xilinx). It is always hard to tell just how close we are because one issue can hang us up for hours but we have made some good progress during our class periods this week. There was, of course, a homework assignment wedged into our work this week as well but that is really minor compared to the Exam and final project.
CS 165 (Object-Oriented Programming in C++)
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| New intro screen with instructions |
Well, the day had to come. I submitted my "final" asteroids game for grading in my C++ class. It wasn't too terribly different from what I demoed in last week's blog but I did make a few changes. At about 1:30 in the video that I shared last week there was a glitch where two red lines would be drawn across the screen whenever the ship was trying to wrap from one side to the other. That glitch is fixed in the current version / final submission of the assignment. I also added some instructions for new users and some minor code changes that allow me to test the software differently.
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| What level "2" looked like on April Fools Day |
but I decided to try skipping to level 1001 after completing the first level. The game slowed down so much that I never did seem my ship come back when I died. I reduced the delay on respawning and was able to actually beat level 1001 after several minutes. Level 2001 was another story. I had a sneaky idea (in the spirit of April Fools day) and decided to have my roommate test the program again- this time with the jump from level 1 - 1001. We had a good laugh when he played it : )
CS 371 (Human Computer Interaction)
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| Previously Submitted WMP Skin |
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| Final WMP Skin Submission |
Usability Study work leading up to the final version of the project
The usability Study that I conducted (for someone else's media player skin)
The usability study that someone else conducted (on my media player skin)
Submitted Windows Media Player Skin
Windows Media Player Skin "Highlights"
Response to Usability Study:
Final Specification For WMP Skin "Highlights"
On Thursday morning, at 8 AM, I took my final for HCI. The final was a composite of all 6, 15-minute exams that we had taken over the course of the semester and we had 90 minutes to take the test. I was writing on the exam right up until my instructor said, "2 seconds left" and I threw down my pen, rather than continue writing. I'd say that I covered about 5 pages with hand-written notes and drawings by the time that the final was over.
*Update on the class, I received my grade for my final exam, I scored 88%! I must say, I was hoping for something a little higher but this class has been one of the hardest in my educational career. Considering I scored 9% on my first exam and had an F in the class for a while, I don't feel bad about my current B+. With any luck, my final project submission will bring me up to an A- but I'm not counting on it at this point. In any case, this class is done and I am just trying to wrap up my other two classes well.
Tech Products:
So... Not everything is all about school and I do find a few moments now and again to catch up on new tech. Here are some things that caught my eye. The first is yet another take on how to provide a simple, cheap, and effective electricity solution to places that stand in need. The second is similar to an Apple TV but for video games. You have your computer elsewhere in your house and you put this little box in your living room so that you can play games from your computer without having to move the computer. The third is essentially a Chromebook / Chromebox but in a "stick" format. Basically it is a very light and efficient computer that is now also very small and even less expensive. There is also a lot of news about Android apps getting added to the Chrome OS (operating system like Windows or Mac OS) so that there are many more options for how you can use Chrome devices.
Life Improving (The kind of thing I'd love to invent some day)
Gravity Light
For Fun
Steam Link
Curious to see where this goes
Chromebit
I was trying to think of more to add but I got the majority of my week in the notes so hopefully this is a fair update for you all. I love you and think of you often. I hope that everything works out so that I can join the family for a reunion this summer : )
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