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`James Harris's IDT Portfolio`

8 - 20 - 2020 (~161 days since the world shutdown)

Welcome to my portfolio page. It is written in markdown language. Here I am documenting my progress through computer sciences in 8th grade.

Hello, I'm James Harris! (DejaVu?) I've been in computer science classes since 6th grade. This year I am excited that it will be more than just a semester. This class being a whole year means that I wont hear something once then be retaught it in the next grade to catch everyone who hasn't been in CS up. There's so much more opportunity to grow and learn. I've heard that we will learn JavaScript this year. That's such a great language in terms of what it can be implemented in. JavaScript can be implemented basically anywhere HTML is and can be used to create Android apps, that is very useful to me.

I've been trying to figure out development and design. I'm using a raspberry pi 4b 4 gigabyte model right now, but I just bought an 8 gigabyte model to build a laptop with. I have gutted a Gateway MX8711 laptop to use as a case and screen for it, turns out controller boards for any laptop display are super easy to find on amazon. So far my only issues are where I have to cut the old battery bay out and find a new battery and power-board that can output 12 volts @ 3 amps for the display and 6 volts @ 3 amps for an overclocked Pi.

I also play soccer (though that stopped the day school went online) and really enjoy music. Since 7th grade my audio setup has changed from a surround sound made of computer speakers to a tower of Harmon/Kardon equipment in one room hooked up to 2 bookshelf speakers and a larger floor speaker and two MASSIVE Polk Audio references with a Samsung sub in another room.

`Employability Skills`

9 - 3 - 2020 (100 Seconds Left on the Doomsday Clock)

In this unit we learned how to be respectful in online meetings and in professional groups. We learned how to write formal emails to colleagues and supervisors. We talked about the importance of clarity and good communication online through netiquette. We learned about problem solving and a design cycle to create a product and solve hard problems.

I learned the full details of netiquette and how it can improve your professionalism and your reputation. Having a good reputation can improve a companies ideas of you and that could reach someone higher up who could help pull you up too. I can use these professional skills for presentations for school and teams; and to communicate to companies asking for a sponsorship's or discounts to help create a product.

`Career Exploration`

9 - 18 - 2020 (9 Days Since In Person Education (Re)Started!)

In this unit we learned about careers in the Computer Science world and what they do. We learned about data analysts and how that could be applied in practical ways like analyzing basketball for the NBA. We learned about how computer science works in many other non-computer related careers and how they could be enhanced with computer science. We catalogued some careers that are interesting to us and looked at some of the finer details of those careers. We also looked at inclusive coding and how to help diversify the workforce. We saw the need for diversification to help to train algorithms and programs for mass use.

I catalogued 5 careers: PCB Designer, UX/UI designer, Front-End developer, Electrical Engineer and 3D animator. All of them have something to do with computer science whether its designing the stuff that makes computers tick or designing the software itself. I learned that computer science can be applied anywhere. It can be used to collect data and analyze it to create faster processes or to see how an athlete could work more efficiently to build their skills and beat their opponents.

I can use computer science skills I learn now to advance and have possible jobs open in the future. I also have more knowledge about what jobs use computer science and how jobs that aren't direct can also use it.

`What is computing?`

10 - 13 - 2020 (21 Days Until U.S. Elections)

In this unit we learned about what makes a computer and its specific parts. We learned that for a computer to compute it needs storage, processing, input and output. We also created models of a computer with some people even making them work! We built the models in Minecraft, with Legos, in Google Drawings or Spark, or even made our own ideas on how to model it. We also learned a brief history of computing and how it lead up to our modern computer.

I made my model in Minecraft. I learned that the RAM of a computers is less for storage and more of processing help for the CPU. I also wouldn't have considered portable storage to be a part of the computer, but in the model it was required and I can see why. I also learned more of the features on Minecraft while I was using it to build the models. I learned how to use the World Edit plugin and run a local server on my laptop without a modded client. I also learned more features of Google sites by putting my screenshots there.

Overall the unit was about the basics of a computer and what components are the most required.

Learning HTML

11 - 10 - 2020 ( ~42 Days until 12 - 32 - 2020)

In this unit we leaned about the basics of HTML and CSS. HTML is the language of the web, most pages use HTML to function. CSS is the language that give HTML some style, some better looks. Without these two languages our internet wouldn't be the same. We couldn't see sites how they work now. We learned about the different ways we could modify and bend the text and images to our will with CSS.

In class I learned a lot about HTML. I started with no knowledge of HTML and ended with enough knowledge to make basic websites. Outside of class I learned about classes in HTML and using the position rule to move elements around the page or lock them in place. I learned about embeding images and styling them to match in with the site. In the future I will use these skills in Google sites and outside of it to add a little extra to my sites.

This section was written in HTML as the work example view the code here.

`1st Semester Reflection`

12 - 14 - 2020 (2 days since the vaccine came out / 108 until the public gets it)

As the semester comes to an end the first half of computer science comes with it. I've been in computer science since 6th grade and hope the last semester is not only better than this dumpster fire of a year, but on par and better than the other years. Over this semester we learned about the fundamentals of employability and career readiness, the basics to programming in HTML and some JavaScript using web and game lab, and some of the more advanced parts of a computer that others wouldn't dive deep enough in a computer to think about.

This semester I learned the basics of HTML and CSS from pretty much scratch (I never used it before this class except for some copy and paste last year). This year I learned some JavaScript on the foundation of other languages with similar parts. I felt like JavaScript was a little more inviting to me after some experience with Arduino C and Python.

I definitely feel like HTML and CSS experience will help me in the future and saw friends who probably will use it a lot too. HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Python, and Arduino C can help me in the future with creating a full experience for an idea. The idea could use Arduino devices and devices I designed in fritzing to communicate to a Python program to send data and receive orders. These Python programs could send this to an HTML/JavaScript page to show to a user and provide interactivity.

This year the class was similarly challenging to last year. I have some lower grades this year because it was less info I just knew, but overall it was still very fun. My favorite part was researching parts of HTML and CSS that we hadn't specifically learned in class and using it to better my site. I worked with Garrett, Landon, and Nathon to learn more complex parts of HTML and simpler ways to do things. The next year hopefully will allow for us to use pi's and collaborate without any fears of the dumb virus.

Sphero Bowling STEM Project. Landon Sturgeon, Jordan Thomas, and I are working on building a Wii Bowling type game in real life. I developed the program stack to control the Sphreo robot with a wiimote to launch it down the alley we built.

`Programming Animations`

2-14-2021 (27 Days since the beginning of the Biden Presidency)

In this unit we learned the basics of JavaScript. We explored its uses in animation, interactivity, and possible game design. We learned how to use the infinite draw loop, conditionals in JS, and manipulated sprites. We used Code.org GameLab to host and test our creations.

At the beginning of this unit I didn't know anything about JavaScript, but progressed enough that I feel mostly comfortable using it to create smaller programs. I learned how to use my own JavaScript IDE (Visual Studio w/ Node.JS) to make a basic program outside of class. I learned that not every programming language uses the sleep( ) or delay( ) functions that I knew. JavaScript used a setTimout(function( ),ms) to work. While learning JavaScript in class I also decided to learn Java on the side. I learned some VERY basic syntax for that. I see both Java and JavaScript as valuable cross platform languages. With more experience in both I could hopefully program more advanced apps that work on almost every machine with either a web browser or Java.

Work Example

`AutoAuto Labs I`

4-12-2021 (5 Days since Prince Philip Duke of Edenborough died)

In this unit we learned some python. We used the AutoAuto car library to control small Ai enabled cars. We learned basic computer vision, python programming, and conditionals. We learned how to handle the cars correctly and worked with digital classmates to control them corroboratively. We learned about some of the Boolean operators and arithmetic operators we could use in python including == (Equal to bool), != (Not equal to bool), < (Less than bool), and > (Greater than bool), // (Round to the nearest 1 after division operator) and ** (Exponential operator).

In the time we were learning this I was doing that and learning on my own about Ai chatbots, computer vision using tensorflow, and more of the advanced sides of python. I've decided learning Java should be put on the back burner for now because it is so radically different from anything else I have used. I've learned how to use GitHub to document my findings in programming and have uploaded projects to my GitHub. In auto auto I learned about some of the parts of Ai and using computer vision with conditionals. I also learned some of the python operators that I could've been using to consolidate my code and make it easier to run and use.

'''
Here is an example of the car parking when it sees a red sheet of paper
It was made by James Harris and Alex Miller

'''
import car
from time import sleep

frame = car.capture()
color = car.classify_color(frame)

while True:

    frame = car.capture()
    color = car.classify_color(frame)

    if color == "red":
	car.forward(0.5)
	car.right(0.6)
	car.forward(0.2)
	car.left(0.6)
	car.reverse(1.0)

`Recreation of my Portfolio on Github`

5-11-2021 (16 Days left in my Middle School Years)

This year has been weird, but it has given me the free time to learn a lot about computer sciences, economy, biology, and everything overall. I decided to make a website and Guthub Page to take note of and document my programs, experiments, and designs.

`IDT COURSE REFLECTION`

5-18-2021 (3 Days left in IDT)

This was a different date in our history, we reopened after a whole lockdown. The world woke up and pulled itself together. The vaccine is still not entirely safe, but the virus is also not as bad as people thought. Everything is reopening and madates are lifting, churches, schools, sports, and stores. In this year I learned some of the most valuable computer science concepts in the lockdown. I learned networking as I strode to create game servers for me and friends and work around my reliance on Google. I learned programming in computer science for webpages and python that I can use with this networking to extend the reach of my programs from basic calculators and command line games to User Interfaces and multiuser content. I still used these python principles to create more complicated calculators in math and to make the backend for ai, chatbots, and integreations. I used the HTML to write this portfolio and use understanding of its structure to manage my server and create multiplatform games or apps (some are just fun to mess with my friends, they don't hurt anything and are easy to remove).

In computer science we programmed cars with AI, created animations in Javascript (awful javascript), made sites in HTML, and figured out what we need to get employed at the jobs we want. I originally documented this in a Google Sites, but found out how to connect my GITHUB to my Domain (amesjarris.com) and created a website to use my skills on. The site is a mix of Markdown from a markdown parser to make it useable as a site and inline HTML to add some parts markdown can't do.

The course was very useful to me this year bringing in some programming topics I just couldn't seem to learn myself. The digital start kinda sucked, but not because of the course it was just my state at the start. Everything sucked in lockdown it was boring repetition and forced zoom classes (which don't work), and broken lessons meant for an in person class. My favorite part was Auto Auto AI because we were able to use a physical device to learn python. It lacked some things which was really just down to mixed classes and wierd quirks in the software. I really enjoyed this class and don't think there is much to improve. Next year will be great without mixed classes.

Based on my classes next year I might not have too much use for computer sciences in 9th grade. I was able to change my electives from AP Human Geography and Into to Business Technology (Office for dummies) to Latin I and Foundations of Engineering and Technology. I hope I will be able to use some of my programming skills there. I will continue to use them on my own though and hope for some other classes in uppergrades to add on to engineering and computer sciences. I know my future job will need some of my skills from this point on and I will be ready for it.

amesjarris.com