insert clever title here

Group: Roseanne Feng, Julian Hammett, Aardra Rajendran, Bandhan Zishanuzzaman

So our group decided to make an app that would allow people to put up and access information concerning events, opportunities, and other points of interest in their community. They would be arranged by categories such as academic, games/entertainment, and volunteering. In theory, the app would be a part of a website, which would contain the majority of event information and would be able to send it to phones, as well as receive information from users who were creating new posts/events using the app. Although technically we were supposed to be designing apps for teenagers, ours ended up being more universal in nature, to help people in general connect with their community.

Other features we're considering include accessing google maps for a function that would allow searching for events within certain zip codes, or using some kind of calendar or profile information to help keep track of certain events. These may or may not be implemented depending on how far we actually get.

Ninja Time!

Today, our group (Carly, Kenny, Terrell, & Jackie) decided to create an app for teenagers that would enable them to have fun while being able to finish their schoolwork. The name of this app is called Ninja Time. Through our interviews, we found out that teenagers often can miss out on fun if they are working too hard or they can procrastinate their work in order to have fun. Our app allows teenagers to do both. The actual game of ninjas catching penguins while avoiding pandas is what gives teenagers a break from too much work. However, after a certain amount of time, the app won't allow the user to play the game anymore so they can finish their work. The screen will say, "Time to Go Back to Work!" and underneath will have an inspirational quote that will motivate the user to resume working. It will also play loud beeps and the phone will vibrate. The user will then have the choice to either quit the app or keep playing. If the user decides to keep playing, then the timer will again start and soon the "Time to Go Back to Work!" screen will appear.

Up For Seconds?

Today I focused on quiz programs. One was the Presidential Quiz app, which worked by presenting a predetermined series of questions to the Quiz taker. Once an answer was typed into the appropriate space, the progam matches the answer with it's selection of correct answers, and, using if/then statements, the program alerts the quiz taker of whether s/he is right or wrong. All the while, quiz takers have the option of skipping each question by pressing the next button, which not only brings up the next question, but also brings up a matching picture. The MakeQuiz and TakeQuiz apps work in a similar fashion, with the operative difference being the TinyWeb storage mechanism, which can store and retrieve inputed questions and answers using the Internet to construct unique quizzes, a feature that I found very interesting. As the programs are becoming more complex, I find myself forced to organize my codings in a more linear fashion, as displayed by the pictures above. One of my biggest failures was when I neglected to input the picture codes into the media section for the Presidential Quiz.

I've resolved a lot of my issues

Tonight was wayyyyyy better than last night. I still couldn't find a computer in the cluster at the dorm but it's okay because there were plenty of computers at the student center. I also finished 4 hours earlier than I did yesterday. I did the Presidents Quiz and the Ladybug Chase because I like ladybugs. I really liked the explanations in the book of how the program was working because it made a lot of sense. I think I realized today that it's important to read the small details because my carelessness almost made the ladybug program not work right. I also realized that it's good to layout things well because it makes it a lot easier to follow and figure out how things work instead of having them scattered all over the place. The epic fail was definitely having my frog spin around but not move towards the ladybug because I forgot to change the speed and interval. My discovery was most definitely connected to my epic fail because I realized my discovery because of my epic fail. The thing that has me intrigued is how much you can change the basic designs they give you to come up with a whole new program. The only thing I wish is that they turned down the A/C in the computer room because my hands are frozen :(

Night Two:

Tonight we expanded on our basics by doing the Ladybug and Presidents tutorial. They were a lot more complex such as three moving objects for the Ladybug with an energy line. I'm starting to understand the "language" of the blocks I think which makes things a lot easier and more enjoyable. I had a few minor problems I fixed them without wasting too much time. I also liked that we learned how to make things more general like in the Presidents tutorial so that you can change specifics and it will still work. My epic fail was that my frog wouldn't eat the ladybug. The screen shot shows the blocks that my problem existed in. I believe I defined other wrong. I finished a lot earlier tonight! It went a lot smoother too!

Day 2- Computer Science

Today in Computer Science was really intersting and fun! During class we were able to create our own app, and my partner, Brandhan, and I were able to create a "Stupid Test" app. It was a lot of fun to discover ways to change the screen in the phone. We also created three additional apps. During class we created ItalyMapTour and we were able to take snap shots of various cities in Italy from GoogleMaps and have it show up whenever one clicked on the label. For homework I created PresidentsQuiz and LadybugChase. PresidentsQuiz was really fast and straightforward, and it was really fun to make. It would have come in handy when me and Brandhan were making the StupidQuiz, but it was nice to see different ways to make quizzes. LadybugChase too a longer time to make but it was worth it. The game is really fun, and I see it can get addicting. Unfortunately, the program crashed when I was about to finish so I had to re-do the whole app. However, Erek Speed was here, and he helped me A LOT. He was nice enough to get me back to where I was in about 10 minutes, when it took me hours to get there. Nonetheless, it was really fun, I can't wait for tomorrow (technically today).

-C0rtez, P

Games + Quizzes= Great Night

This was a lot of fun. Now knowing this much more about this block program and how everything comes together helped a bunch toward understanding what I would have never figured out yesterday. By creating a function, for example "Eat Aphid", it can be reused through definitions. My epic fail today was not reading everything and discovering why my frog would not move. I had the speed on Zero.....

Day 2: Bugs and Backache

Day 2: E2 at MIT! Those ladybugs...grrr. Today was quite an experience! I started out making a quiz about presidents and used the images list along with the next button to forward through pictures. It was pretty easy in the setup and I felt like I grasped the concept of "if else" well. The second tutorial I worked through was Ladybug Chase. It took quite a while to get through all the steps as I had to make the specifications for the ladybug, the collisions of the ladybug and the aphid, the collisions of the frog and the ladybug and the restart button as well as the clock and a few other features. See the block editor for this attached. The most challenging part for me was getting used to defining my own procedures and variables- but I eventually got the hang of it and I began to expect the steps beforehand. I felt pretty accomplished when I correctly had the ladybug eat the aphid in block editor without using the steps on the next page! I'm hoping the program works on the android phone- but everything else seems to be working well, atleast with the emulator. Woo! :)

Quizzes and Chases

Today I completed the Presidents Quiz and the Ladybug Chase apps. The program that I took a screenshot of was the Ladybug Chase app. Here, I had to create a game in which a ladybug had to chase and eat aphids while avoiding a frog that wanted to eat it. The big discovery today was the fact that I was able to successfully create a quiz on the presidents :) The epic fail had to be when I forgot to add the imagesprite of the frog, but then I finally did. They weren't connected because they were two different apps. I think the quiz was more intriguing than the chase because we can't tilt the ladybug on the emulator.

Assignment 2

Today I worked on creating an unique app. Painting Mickey app. with my pair partner Jackie, as well as create the Paris Tour, Presidents Quiz, and Ladybug Chase apps. The big discovery of Day 2 is that App Inventor is surprisingly similar to Scratch. I am intrigued by the problem with the Painting Mickey app.; which is the inability for me and Jackie to find the correct If-Then block that would allow us to solve our highlighting issue that prevents us from differentiating between which color we have selected to paint mickey with. Ready for day three!!!!!

App Dev - Day Two : Games

Today we continued our programme of app development as we transitioned from simple user interfaces to more complex game systems. The programs which we built today, Ladybug Chase, Presidents Quiz and Make Quiz, reflected the the work which had completed on the previous projects, especially with user interface and real time interaction. Lady Bug Chase in particular highlighted a degree of logical complexity and interconnectivity which set it apart from the other programs. The structure of the game and the sprite deployment also depended on large part upon the clock cycles which provided the animation aspect of the game:The Presidents quiz demonstrated basic user interface design which is not only useful for making games but also helpful when designing menu systems and other list-based interfaces:
Ultimately everything worked out well despite some space problems for the layout of ladybug within the blocks editor given the size of the program.

day 2: PresidentsQuiz/LadybugChase

Okay guys I apologize again but I still can't get my emulator working so suffer through ridiculously zoomed out screenshots okay v.v


So PresidentsQuiz was pretty straightforward, I don't have much to say about it.

LadybugChase was a bit more annoying I guess. I kept losing track of all the different procedures and things to move around in the Blocks Editor, which is why this screenshot is KIND OF A HUGE MESS. I kind of need to develop a system to organize these besides WELL IT LOOKS LIKE IT MIGHT FIT THERE?

Anyway, I still can't get the emulator to work, so I'll call it a night. Just going to leave it here but if you guys want some help just ask :]

I have a lot of issues

So I worked on the MoleMash and PotPaint apps. I understand how the program works without the variations but as soon as I tried to add the variations I got very confused because I started getting a message that said that something was a duplicate event handler which I understand what that means too but I don't understand how to fix it because I feel like I need a third part to the ifelse component where there is also an else for if the flower is touched which decreases the number of hits but I don't think there is a way to do this. Also, today was very frustrating because I couldn't find a computer because there were all taken when I got there so I walked back and forth from the dorms to the student center like 3 times before I realized that I was going to be in the student center all night. And while I was at the student center my sandal broke so now my foot is freezing. And I was having problems trying to write comments on the blog because we could only do it on a laptop. Someone please help me!!!

commments

@First Night of HW
I agree that MoleMash was easier to complete than PaintPot, PaintPot had more actual parts to it than MoleMash, but you have to remember that MoleMash uses more advanced concepts. I like the Spongebob idea though, very creative.

@Day 1-Fidgety
I agree that some parts of the instruction process were repetitive, but you have to remember that the purpose of that is to drill the ideas into our heads so that they become second nature, and then we can advance more rapidly into more advanced levels of work. I think the repetitive nature of the lessons is helping me too remember these methods a lot easier.

Night One:

Even though at first I was more than a little scared to be in Computer Science I found the book incredibly helpful with a lot of detail and step by step instruction. However I ran into a few problems such as not being able to find a computer and at one point the picture of a cat did not show up in the emulation for PaintPot but later appeared without me changing anything. I believed I was finally understanding the process until I got to the variations, which greatly confused me. I would love any help anyone would like to give. I was also wondering how everyone organized their components because it didn't seem to matter where they were. I just put them vertically.

Day One- Computer Science

Today was the first day of class for Computer Science with Google, and it is really exciting that we will be able to work with Google to create apps for androids. We were able to create three simple apps today, which included: HelloPurr, PaintPot, and MoleMash.

HelloPurr was the simpliest app and it was the easiest one to create. However, I was getting use to the system so took a while to get confortable with the program. Designing the Components became easier the more I did it, and the book did a great job explaining what to do and listing the instructions. Adding the behaviors was more complex, but after a while I became familiar with the Block Editor.

PaintPot and MoleMash were not as simple as HelloPurr, so they required more components and adding more behavior to the components. As I was testing the apps in the emulater, the pictures of the cat as the background for PaintPot and the mole in MoleMash failed to show up in the screen. I doubled checked all the behaviors and components and I couldn't find the error, so I think it the emulater was unable to reveal the pictures. Tomorrow I'll be able to see if my apps actually work despite the negative results from the emulater. Many of the E2 members helped me set up the emulater and find certain features within the program, so they were great help. Additionally, re-reading the book helped me when I was stuck on a step.

-Cortez, P

Enjoyable Evening E2

Being the first night of our stay and having such a hardcore introduction, I think I've gotten a massive taste of how our experience will be here at E2. I was surprised to see that MoleMash seemed easier than PaintPot to program. Still getting used to the program, I struggled trough a majority of the programming, but it should all come in time. Keeping everything organized and finding the tools necessary to create these apps was difficult for me. My variation was to our HelloPurr app. Now instead of listening to a stinkin cat, we now can enjoy the company of our favorite mammal, the cow.

First Night of Homework

Today I created four apps: HelloPurr, PaintPot, MoleMash, and my own called Spongebob. My Spongebob program was similar to the HelloPurr app. When you click on Spongebob, he sings a popular song called, "I'm Ready!" First, I had to find the picture of Spongebob and an mp3 of him singing. Then I had to insert a button and a sound in order to put the picture and mp3 into the app. Surprisingly, the MoleMash was easier to create than the PaintPot. Whenever I got stuck, I asked my fellow peers for help and advice, and they did which made the process much easier.

Assignment 1

So tonight was insane and funny all at the same. I had a great time collaborating with my classmates into the wee hours of the morning. Pictures are so helpful.

First App

Today, I completed the HelloPurr app challenge, as well as the PaintPot and the MoleMash challenges. While I initially had trouble accessing the software necessary to construct these apps in order to complete these challenges, once I was able to access the software smoothly, I encountered few obstacles in the way of their completion. The PaintPot app challenge had me construct an app that allowed a user to draw with colored lines on their mobile device's touch screen, while the MoleMash app challenge had me construct a game similar to Wack-a-Mole for one's mobile device. The MoleMash game was the most interesting to create, though I ran into minor difficulties when I confused labellings for hit-points and the actual hit-points within the blocks editor. Above is a picture of the MoleMash after I included slight modifications to make it into DarthStomp, a similar concept with a Star Wars theme. The MoleMash program involved the creation of a a new action, MoveMole where the sprite would move to random spaces on the canvas when appropriately prompted, based on the dimensions of the canvas and the sprite. Such a prompt was programmed to be a touch to the touch screen, and the MoveMole would continue every second based on the clock/timer prompt. Hit and miss tallies were programmed to increase with appropriate touches of the sprite. I found that while the whole of the Block Editing was large, the step-by-step processes presented in the textbook made the task of putting the program together fairly easy. As stated before, the only setbacks came from the mixing-up of various prompts, and such errors were recognized through double checking and were immediately corrected. This process can be seen in all three of the programming challenges, but it was enjoyable to the point that I am looking forward to repeating it many times during my tenure at Google.

Day 1- Fidgety

Day 1- E2 at MIT: Today, for the first time, I used App Inventor, a googlelabs product. The most challenging part of App inventor was getting used to the layout and format of block editor to add behaviors to the component. Working through three tutorials--Hello Purr, Paint Pot and Mole Mash--I feel like I have gained a basic understanding of the application. Following the instructions in the manual was definitely easier than I expected. However, a bunch of the steps in block editor were slightly repetitive and tedious, especially in Paint Pot. Many of the side notes that the manual made were useful for putting our steps into context; however, I feel like I need to reread some of the instructions to reinforce what I created through the tutorials. The entire process took around 3 hours. Right now, I'm fidgety more than anything else! See the screen shot for the block editor of Mole Mash attached.

day 1: PaintPot/MoleMash

Okay guys I have NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING. Also I can't get my emulator to work, so I will warn you ahead of time I have no idea if these work or not.

So PaintPot was kind of fun to mess with. The first variation was pretty simple, since I went back to it after doing MoleMash and just made new labels to display color and dot size. Clicking the buttons would change the corresponding label to that color/number. I couldn't figure out how to do the second variation since I have no idea how TextBox works. Anyway it's kind of a mess.

Also yes I know my screen is STUPIDLY SMALL. :]

To the left is a very zoomed out view of my MoleMash, and this is kind of a giant mess!

After following the instructions given, I added a set of labels - Moved/MovedCountLabel, which increase by one after a click, whether or not it actually hit the mole, and displayed next to the hits/misses labels. The reset button also reset the moved label to 0. I also added buttons Speed Up and Slow Down, which respectively decreased the clock's timer interval by 50/increased it by 50.

Then I ran into issues trying to do the other two variations, which didn't go so well. I added another image sprite.

This is totally a good image.

It was easy enough modifying the moveMole function to move the smiley too. The problem is, I'm not sure what the touchedSprite value refers to - like does it refer to the mole, the smiley, or both?

Also I had NO IDEA HOW TO DO THE LAST VARIATION.

And then I couldn't think of anything to put so I just started adding different color options and removed the dots from PaintPot because they were irritating me. The buttons are pretty simple; basically the same thing as the red/green/blue buttons, but replaced with that particular color. They also should change in the color display.

I'm sorry but that cat is going to haunt me in my sleep if I stare at it any longer.

Assignment 1

Today I worked on three tutorial Android apps using AppInventor. The apps were the intro, HelloPurr; the painter, PaintPot; and wack-a-mole, MoleMash. HelloPurr is an app that features the picture of cat, who meows whenever the phone is shook or the picture is tapped. It was just as I expected, not too easy but not too hard. The assignment was just time consuming because the book was wordy and tried to make jokes that weren't funny. Whenever I got stuck, I referred to the pictures in the book or asked for help from one of my classmates.

App Dev - Day One

After an extremely interesting day at Google Cambridge, the Comp Sci group jumped straight into app development for the Android Smart Phone. We work with the drag and drop App Inventor IDE developed by Google Labs which bears many similarities to Alice and Scratch (other programming languages used widely for teaching). After starting off with a simple implementation of Hello Purr (pun on the famous Hello World Program) which displayed a picture of a cat and demonstrated basic user interfaces we immediately began building slightly more complex systems. We then built upon the Hello Purr program to create our next application Paint Pot:
Paint Pot demonstrated a simple and easy to use graphics editor which prepared us to work on the next project, Mole Mash. This simple yet fun game reflected the work in user interface which we had done previous two Apps while adding real time interaction:

This app also had many parameters which affected the gameplay such as obstacles or mole speed which added a dynamic feel to the programming.

Welcome!

Welcome to our E2 class blog. I look forward to working with each of you this week.

You will be posting to this blog every day, as a way of documenting your process - keeping track of what strategies worked and what didn't, and what new ideas you had along the way, since you won't have time to follow up on every possibility.

This will also be a space to reflect on what you are learning - as you may have already noticed, this is not exactly like any class you've had before - reflection will let you think about how you can use the concepts - and ways of working - you are learning here in other parts of your life.

And I hope that this blog also does one other thing for us by giving us a space in which we can connect beyond the classroom as a community, responding to each other's insights, asking each other questions, and supporting each different approach to learning and creating.

So those are the three strands we'll braid together in our participation here: documentation, reflection, and community-building.

I can't wait to see where we take each other...