See You Next Year! (Today's The LAST DAY!)

Guess what? That's right - the last school day of 2010 is over! Which means...

IT'S CHRISTMAS BREAK!
I've been wanting to say that for awhile... :)

In addition to that, today was only a half day! Each period was only around half an hour. My day went like this:

1. Math - Can you say party? Because of the shortened day, our math teacher felt no need to do any work. Thus everyone brought food and we had a free period! We also got our math tests back - I got perfect! Nice end to the 2010 school year, don't you think?

2. Music - To tell you the truth, I don't know exactly what I did in music class. Again we had a free period, and I just hung around with my friends. It was quite the chaotic scene in our music room, but nonetheless fun. As you can tell, didn't get any school work done!

3. Gym - Can you say party redux? That's right... another party! With lots of food and fabulous music, our gym class celebrated the start of the holidays. There was lots of eating and talking. And did I mention dancing? I think we all got high on sugar and chips, and lots of people started dancing. Gym class + junk food, you ask? Oh, the irony.

4. Computers - Believe it or not, it was a "normal" day in the world of ICS2O7. If you call going to class hyper off of chips, cookies, and candy canes normal. Haha. However, we continued working on our graphics/animation programs. Since I was already finished, I worked on an experimental game: HangPerson (aka Hangman)! The period felt very short though; and before we knew it, it was time to go.

And then there was a holiday assembly/concert, which I decided to go to for the fun of it. There were lots of great performers performing various Christmas songs and dances, and overall just an enjoyable assembly! Some highlights were teachers performing "The 12 Days of VP" (after The 12 Days of Christmas), the VP Improv team doing an improvised skit, and my friends in the Gr. 9 band class performing! It was a great time.

So that was my day. Now I'm REALLY looking forward to getting some much-needed sleep! I guess I will talk to you guys again next year. But of course...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Window Trace x 2 (OMG TOMORROW'S THE LAST DAY!)

Ha - Hahaha. He - yes, him. Hi - hi! How are you? Ho - Hohoho, Merry Christmas! Hu - wait what? What's a Hu?

Yeah... that was random. I don't know what happened there. One of my random bouts of "inspiration", I guess? I'm actually here to talk about Window Trace! Times two. Allow me to explain.

Window Trace #1:
That program I told you about yesterday? Yes, well I managed to figure it out quite quickly. However, it took some more time to make my code more efficient and shorter. In class today, we got to continue working on our "graphics/animation" assignments, and we went to review some of them with Mr. Arkin. We spent the entire period perfecting both the Window Trace and Bouncing Ball programs.

Window Trace #2:
So here I was, at the bus stop, waiting for the bus. The bus comes by, but it wasn't the one I needed to get on. As it passed by though, I saw a huge heart, traced on the frosty window. A window trace! Get it? Haha, very funny.

Very cute indeed, won't you agree?

Well there you go! That was my day. Now tonight I'm looking forward again to meeting up with my friends, to practise for a Christmas performance. So although it's only 5:15pm right now... good night!

Bounce x 1000 (Two Days Left! :D)

Yes, that's right. The bouncing ball mystery has been solved! Today was a work period, to continue solving the mystery. In addition to figuring it out, I have also edited the program to prevent having an infinite loop. All in all, it was a fun class. Now our next mission is to create the "moving symbol" program. We need to move a symbol around the run window continuously. I'm sure it's going to be another hardworking evening!

In other news, today we had our last playing test of the semester. Guess what? I did really well. I would have to say I was most satisfied with this one, because I actually managed to calm my nerves down a little! Only a bit, but hey, that's still improvement there. Not to mention the 10/10! :)

We also had a math test today; our final one before the holidays. I found it all to be really simple, except for a single question! I'm still not sure whether I got that question right or not, but there's nothing I can do now.

So that was my day. How did yours go? I think I'm going to go work on the "moving character" program now. But be sure to check Giftees United tonight, as I'll be posting Chapter 7 of our Christmas fanfic! It shall be epic. >:D

I think I've taken a liking to very small font. So, to all who bother enlarging/copy-and-pasting, today Grace got a ducky (stuffed animal). I named it "Turtle" for her. Grace loves Turtle very much, and he loves her too! <3

Whew, Just Dodged a Bullet There (3 Days Left!)

As predicted, Mr. Arkin handed back our tests today, reviewing the answers along the way. I was very relieved. Now you can go guess my mark - it wasn't perfect by the way. Congrats to Randi and Felix though, who did get perfect! And who are probably not gonna read this. But ah well.

Other than reviewing our tests, we also went over some other concepts, like how to generate executables. Executables are basically just the run window - the user doesn't see the code behind the program. Generating an executable of a program involves this uber-epic-really-long-and-hard-mind-boggling-brain-wasting procedure...

1. Go to the "Run" menu in Turing
2. Click "Generate stand-alone program

Wasn't that like, the toughest thing in the world? I hope you can tell my sarcasm. Why do I keep using very small text?

After learning those two steps, Mr. Arkin also showed us a few programs that involved animation. Do you know those DVD screensavers, where an image bounces off the walls of the TV screen? Well, he created a program like that, except the path of the character is shown. Then he asked us to create the same program! Argh, still haven't figured that one out yet.

On another note, Winter Break's only 3 days away! I am very excited. But meanwhile I still have work to do. I think now'd be a good time to go and work on the program mentioned above. Wish me luck!
Now if you're bothering to pay attention to this... I got 23.5 on my test. Awesome, eh? So Canadian, eh?

Wow. What. Was. That. (4 Days Left)

What?! ARGHHHHH. Noooooooo! OMGOMGOMG. Whowhatwhenwherehow? Oh. My. Goodness. Gracious.

Yeah. That was pretty much a re-enactment of me at lunch today. When Mr. Arkin had posted on the Daily Log on Friday, he'd written:

Be prepared for Programming Unit Test 2
the week of 13 December.

Me, being me, suspected that it was going to be on Monday - today. However me, also being me, spent a total of five minutes studying before I got distracted by Dramione/Facebook/Youtube/whatever else is on the Internet these days! Needless to say, as happens to all bad students who don't study for tests 3 days early... It was sprung on us. I found out at lunch - see reaction above. Then, me being me again, proceeded to study another about five minutes before getting distracted again. Déja vu much?

And my (non-existent) studying time paid off! Actually, not really. I knew that I knew all the concepts pretty well already, and the test actually turned out to be easier than expected. I was very relieved at the end but, like with all tests, I'm really nervous about my mark. Knowing Mr. Arkin and his super-fast marking skills though, chances are we'll get our tests back tomorrow.

Other than the unit-test shocker though, today was a nice day. Though it was very cold outside. Snow + wind = -20 something temps and a not-so-happy moi. But on the bright side, just 4 days until Christmas break! That totally makes up for the snow and wind. :)

Alright, time for me to go. But don't forget to check out Giftees United once again, as I posted chapter 5 on Saturday, and Grace just posted Chapter 6 of our Christmas fanfic today! Aren't we so awesome? ;)

Deck the Halls

It's Friday! Which means two whole days of getting to relax! And one more week until winter break! See how excited I am?! I'm using all these exclamations marks! They're called bangs in programming language!

Ok, I think I'll stop now.

How's life in the normal/not-so-normal-anymore world? In the IB world, life is good... for now. Everyone is looking forward to Christmas break, myself included - as you can probably tell from above. The true Christmas season has fallen upon us; snow, cold, and the holiday music, all in one big package! I can almost feel Christmas nearby. Ok fine, maybe not.

Right and now, back to the world of ICS. Today was basically a free period, for us to continue to work on reaching that level 4! For me, I re-modified some substrings assignments, and then started to work on a project: Hangman! I am trying to create the game using Turing. Wish me luck that it'll all work out!

So that's pretty much it for today. I have a busy weekend ahead: Christmas shopping and two church services will pretty much take up all of my weekend! But nonetheless, I am TGIF-ing. Good night!

'Tis the season to be jolly... FALALALALA LALALALA. I always did like screaming out that last part there. >:)

Aiming for Four

Today was a work period in class, once again in our study groups, so we could work together to "aim for fours!" (meaning the ratings we gave ourselves yesterday.) My group and I went over some of the notes we'd taken in class, to make sure we all had the right notes. Afterwards, we experimented a little in Turing, to see some of the parameters withing Turing keywords and statements. It was a fun period.

Then in gym class, we got to watch the grade 8 boy's volleyball finals. It was a real treat, because I got to see my old school's team play, and they won! I saw a lot of people that I knew and a few of the teachers from my old school.

So now here I am, writing very early on because my friends are coming over later tonight! I am practising with them on a Christmas performance we are going to do. Because of that, I have to finish all my homework early!

Have an awesome rest of the day guys, and be sure to check out Giftees United, as Grace will be posting chapter 4 of our Christmas fanfic tonight. Don't forget to click the follow button! :)

Are You a 1, 2 or 3?

Hi y'all. How's it going? I'm doing pretty well myself. Today was another one of those calm, uneventful days. During gym we did volleyball drills which were actually fun (!), surprisingly. I breezed through the math work in math class. And in music, we listened to Beethoven's Op. 18 #1, his first string quartet. Then we set off to work individually on one of Handel's Concerto Grossos. All in all, it was a peaceful day.

Didn't I forget something, you ask? No, I did not. I deliberately left ICS class to the very end, so I can talk about it separately. First off, we learned how to write custom procedures. They are similar to custom functions - and are actually easier to write, I think. The one new keyword we learned today was procedure. Like function, it is used at the start of the procedure. The procedure body is closed with end procedure.

Afterwards, Mr. Arkin surprised all of us by handing out slips of paper. On the paper, he instructed us to rate our programming skills on a scale of 1 to 4, with 1 being the worst and 4 being the best. Then, he ordered us to get into groups of four, with at least two level 3's in each group. In our groups, he wanted us to work together so that we can all become level 4's! My group spent the period looking at the programming skills inventory, and going over each point to make sure we all understood everything. We are making good progress!

So all in all, it was not a bad day. Here's to hoping the rest of the week can remain like this!

Customized Functions!

Would you like to shorten your programming code by a lot? Well... I introduce to you programmer-defined function!

Yes, that's right! With these custom functions, we are able to write our own subprograms, and use them in many different places. Today they were introduced to us by Mr. Arkin. Functions use the keywords function and result, and are declared in the declaration section of a program. When declaring functions, you must declare the parameters and what datatype the result will be. In the function body, there must be 1 or more statements. And of course, the function must be given an identifier, similar to variables.

After teaching us the basics of functions, we got to work on writing a few; I must say, they can get pretty complicated! For homework we are to re-do substrings assignments 10-24, using functions where possible. This should be a fun evening!

In other news, not much else happened today. On Thursday some of my friends are coming over to my house to practice for a Christmas performance; I look forward to seeing them again! But for now, it's time to tackle those substrings assignments again and functions!

Early Dismissal = Harry Potter 7!

Lalalalala! I'm in such a happy mood today, because I got to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! Because we were dismissed at 12:00pm, Grace and I got the chance to bus to Fairview Mall, get something to eat, browse around, and finally, watch the movie! Needless to say, I was really excited to see the movie. I'll tell you how it all went down in a second, but first...

The Daily Computerized Update

___________________________________________________________

Teacher Found!
By: Hannah Z

Today our teacher Mr. Arkin decided to grace us with his appearance again. It seems the Case of the Missing Teacher has been solved! After (not-so-) mysteriously disappearing last week, there wasn't a trace of the VP teacher to be found. However today, there is relief for he has been found safe and sound.

Acting as if nothing had happened, Mr. Arkin took up the Substrings assignments which his students had been working on all last week. Then, he continued on to teach the class about counted loops, otherwise known as for loops. The new keywords for and decreasing were also learnt. By the end of the class, most had forgotten about the disappearance, and everything seemed to go back to normal. Now, students will begin to treacherously prepare for both a possible substrings quiz and a second programing unit test. All paranormal activity seem to have ceased... for now.

Yes, so now you know what happened during class today. On to some Harry Potter! To tell you the truth, I don't really know what to say about the movie. There were some great parts, and also some not-so-nice ones. There were lots of parts from the book that were missing in the movie, and considering there are two movie parts to this last book, I expected a lot more details. However on the other hand, the acting was done pretty well, and there were some really funny moments. And some really nice moments, like the scene in Malfoy Manor. With Draco! ;)

So overall, I found the movie to be a little disappointing. It kind of killed the book, the way so many scenes were cut out and details excluded. However, the moments that were included were done pretty well. Still, my favourite HP movie remains the very first one. I rate this movie 3.4/5, but - needless to say - I will be there when part 2 comes out. Just to see whether or not they kill the ending. And for Draco, of course. :)

Tom Felton (left). Also known as the sarcastic, dark Slytherin in the Harry Potter series... Draco Malfoy (right). The centre of all fanfictions, dreams, and who knows what else.

Missing Teacher Redux

12:37pm
An epic hello to all you people reading this out there. It is period C, right after lunch, and another in-class post. If you're smart, you'd be wondering why I was posting right now, instead of doing my Substrings quiz! No, I am not a special exception. No, I am not so cool that I was exempt from testing. So why am I here?

Now if you are really smart, you'd figure out from the title of this post that, once again, Mr. Arkin has gone missing. :( Which means no quiz. :) Mr. Arkin has been sick this whole time, meaning an entire week with no teacher — and no teaching for that matter!

So since I am done all my substrings assignments, I decided to get this post finished with, so I wouldn't have to write tonight, where I'm going to be really busy.

And now... I have nothing left to say. Except, check out Giftees United tonight, as I will be posting Chapter 1 of the Dramione Christmas series Grace and I are working on! You will be entertained; I guarantee it. :)

First In Class Post!

11:28am
Hi. If you didn't realize already, it's 11:28am! Which means that if you're reading this right now, you're probably not where you're supposed to be... But I am, despite what you think! Yup, it's another Computer Studies class, another Substrings class, and another No-Mr. Arkin class. I have already finished and printed all my Substrings assignments, so I decided to post now.

I have three tests tomorrow, so I should probably go study after this. Oh wait, it's almost lunch, so never mind. And there I go off, rambling on about random things. But today has been a pretty good day so far — except a certain health video. If any Giftees are reading this, remember the health video Mrs. Phillips made us watch in grade 7? Yeah, well we actually didn't get to the worse part in the video — they show a live birth at the very end! ... and by live birth, it means every aspect of live birth. I think I've been scarred for life. :(

***

8:03pm
Hi again. If you didn't know, our period ended at 11:35am, meaning I did not get enough time to finish my post. So here I am again.

As for the rest of the day, it went pretty well. Nothing out of the ordinary happened in any of my classes, except that tomorrow I have a math quiz, CS substrings quiz, and a health test (yes, see previous referral to health video). So it's gonna be a fun night, with all that studying to do!

After school was Orchestra, which is really starting to suck now, because so many people are ditching. Plus, the Christmas concert is weeks away. Plus, we are not ready. Plus, the song we are (attempting) to perfect is not that nice of a song. Plus, we are only doing one song, meaning lots of repetitive practising. See what I did there?

Anyhoo, tomorrow is Friday! Monday is early dismissal! Yay! Really looking forward to this weekend, and all my tests being over. But for now, it's back to studying. Good night!

The Case of the Missing Teacher

That's right... Mr. Arkin was not in class yet again today, and also posted on the Daily Log that he will, in fact, not be here tomorrow either! So today was another work period on the Substring assignments. I have gotten up to assignment 20 already! I plan on - hopefully - finishing all the assignments by tonight.

Today during period 1 there was a "Spirit Rally", meaning we got to meet all our sports teams of the year, and "cheer them on". Not much cheering happened from the audience though... it was kind of sad really, the level of lack of enthusiasm. However, maybe that was just because today was a cloudy, thus gloomy day. Who knows?

Then during Music class, I finally got to do my playing test. I was shaking so hard, you could probably see it! Plus, I couldn't stop shaking even after my playing test... ayeayeaye. The only good part was that I got a 10/10. I'll take that with the shaking any day. >:)

So, it was a generally happy day today, despite it being cloudy. Did I mention that I hate cloudy days? They're so depressing. However, it is the first day of DECEMBER! Christmas is only 24 days away, and our winter break only 16! ... But who's counting? ;)

I think now is a good time to mention this: A couple of my friends and I started a blog last year, which we are still continuing. It contains all sorts of posts, from poetry to short stories to rants, to just about anything! The blog is entitled Giftees United. You should check it out! Grace and I are just starting a new series of DRAMIONE fanfics for the month of December - they will be updated around every two days. Be sure to read read read!

Shoutout to all my fellow Dramione lovers! <3

You know what? I Think I Like Late Starts

That should be a new constant: LATE_STARTS := "Everyone likes"! See what I did there?

Maybe programming is getting to me a little...

Anyways, today is the last day of November! (And a late start, obviously.) Unfortunately, Mr. Arkin was away yet another day, so we had to forge on into the Substrings Assignments again on our own. The assignments seem simple when you read them, but believe me, they are something else when you're trying to write the program! However, I did manage to get up to assignment 15 done.

In some other news... December = CHRISTMAS IS COMING! I am really excited, because Christmas = Christmas break = no school. Plus, this year my cousin's coming over to visit us during then, so I'll be showing him around our, *coughfabulouscough* city! It should be a great two weeks.

So, not much going on today. Was a better day than Monday, at least. Still haven't had that Music playing test yet... Oh, and tomorrow is a "Spirit Rally", which means no morning classes! Joy?

More Than One Sub + a Rant on Math Tests

Substitute teachers and Substrings... what's the difference, really?
Ok, no.

Today Mr. Arkin wasn't in class because he wasn't feeling so well. Thus, sub #1: the Substitute teacher. The work he assigned us, because we were finished with the Repetition unit, was sub #2: Substrings. A substring is a part of a string. (A string is a set of characters, if you don't remember.) For example in the string "mathematics", a substring can be the letter 'm', the first syllable "math", or just any set of letters like "athema". After reading the page on substrings, we got right to work on a brand new set of assignments. Gee, I wonder what they're called... the Substrings Assignments of course!

So it wasn't that important of a class today... However, that was not the case in Math class. We had our second Math unit test today, and there were two questions which involved concepts we hadn't even talked about! How frustrating is that, when you haven't learned something and the teacher expects you to magically know it for a test? And I wasn't the only one complaining — out of the entire class, everyone agreed that we indeed had never been taught that! So by the end of the period, everyone felt really down... wouldn't you, if you knew this was going to bring your average down by a lot? We tried talking to our teacher about it, but she wouldn't say anything except "I'll see." Argh. :'(

Another Monday past, another disappointment. I'm starting to see another trend: Avoid anything major on Mondays! But like they say, if you're at the bottom it can only get better... right? I really hope so, and that justice will be brought to all our poor math class students. I DEMAND JUSTICE!

The GAG Experience

I hope I didn't just make you throw up right there.

If you're wondering why I didn't post yesterday — *gasp* — well, it was because of GAG! Aka Girls About Girls sleepover! After I got home at around 4pm, I had to pack. Then we had to meet back at school at 5:30pm, resulting in leaving at around 5pm. I didn't have the time to even look at the computer!

And so, a day — and a whole lot of sleep deprivation — later, here I am, sitting faithfully at the computer, to tell you about my day yesterday. During ICS class, we had another period to catch-up on our Repetition assignments. I managed to finish (and edit many times) my assignment 13, the last one of the assignments! It was very relieving to finally finish everything.

So now I have the rest of tonight and tomorrow to review for our second programming test! And study for the Math test. And practice for the playing test. Is it just me, or do my tests seem to gravitate towards each other, so that they end up all in the same day/week? Lucky me.

Now, you're probably dying to hear about my GAG experience! Yeah right. But I'll bore you with all the bloody details anyways. :)

Upon arrival, we were split up into different coloured groups. I was put into the red group. We started off playing a few group games, and then another few games in our smaller groups. We got to know each other a bit better. And then, before we knew it, it was time for dinner.

After dinner, we got a choice between "Improv" or "Karaoke". I chose Karaoke. Turns out, we played a game similar to Don't Forget the Lyrics! We paired up, and then went up to see if we could remember the lyrics to a song. Grace and I decided to go first, and we got to sing You Belong With Me (by Taylor Swift). After everyone got a turn to go up, everyone stood up and sang the last few songs. It was entertaining. xD

After our activity everyone went back to the gym, and we had a "wacky relay race", and you'd better believe it, because it was really weird, and involved things like passing oranges with our feet. Fun, eh?

Then, we again went into our groups for some team-building games. We had to do this game where we stepped on a sheet, and had to flip it over completely while making sure no one fell off. It was a really interesting experience.

After decorating our own cupcakes — and eating them of course — the ones who wanted to go swimming did, while the rest (including me) got ready for bed. We were actually luckier because we got all the nice mats. Not that we were being greedy or anything... ;)

After the swimming people got back, we again split into our groups for snacks and a discussion about life issues. We shared our thoughts and opinions on different aspects of life, such as relationships, the future, death, etc.

Then the movie The Incredibles was put on. Did I mention it was 12:00am by that time? Well past our bedtimes... but that was fine with us! Grace, Randi and I, who weren't very interested in watching the movie, spent some time talking, and then eventually we all fell asleep.

I only managed to get 4 hours. :(

I had to drag myself up at 7:00am, when they decided we'd had enough sleep for the night. It took awhile for everyone to get changed, and wash up. By the time everyone was done, it was time for breakfast.

After breakfast half the group went to the gym to play some "trust" games, while the others went to get t-shirts and decorate them! After an hour, we switched. I got all my friends who were there to sign my t-shirt.

And that was pretty much the end of it! I would say overall that it was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I'm glad I went — not to mention the free t-shirt we got. However as a result of yesterday I feel really tired, so I think I'll be heading off to bed yet. Better sleep well so I can get to studying for that CS test! ;)

The Lunatic Wants a Bath

Today, Mr. Arkin talked to us about programming success. The three steps towards success are:

1. reading the program code with precision, unlike how you usually read text - skipping words, filling them in yourself, etc.
2. being able to know the outcome of the program by reading the code
3. visualizing the locations in memory in a program (the variables that create a named storage in RAM)

I think number 2 is definitely really helpful, because if you can trace any program's code, than you can quickly and easily figure out if there are any problems with it, and how to solve the problem.

Now if you're wondering what all that has to do with a lunatic and a bath... Mr. Arkin reminded us that programming and the programming language is very literal. We need to be able to give clear, literal instructions, as if to a non-programmer. He gave an example: Before we found out that there is water on the moon, a lunatic — from Luna (the moon) *coughpuncough* — comes to Earth and finds out that there is water on earth. He wants to take a bath. Now direct him from the dining room to the bathroom, and instruct him on how to take a bath.

I once did a similar activity: instruct someone on how to tie shoelaces. The key to success in both cases is being literal — if someone does not know something, they are unable to take any instructions figuratively and automatically understand. Now I'd really like to take the challenge and write up a set of instructions, but maybe later as I have other things to do tonight.

So all in all, today was a cool day, and a nice class. Tomorrow is Girls About Girls, a sleepover that is being held at my school for all the girls. It'll be a great chance to hang out with friends; that's mainly why I'm going actually. Also, tomorrow is FRIDAY! Wow, this week sure flew by fast...

When Mr. Arkin first mentioned lunatics, literally the first thing that popped into my d was Luna. You know... Luna Lovegood? Harry Potter? Hermione Granger? Draco Malfoy? Yup. If you haven't heard already, I am a HUGE HP fan, and I'm dying to see the new Deathly Hallows movie. Definitely can't wait!

DRAMIONE <3

17 Kislev, 5771 : Arrays

Do you know what the above means? Do you have an idea? If you guessed the Jewish calender, that is correct — Today is Mr. Arkin's birthday on the Jewish calendar! That means he celebrates two birthdays: one on the Jewish calendar, and one on our Gregorian calender... I wonder if people have to get him two presents. If they did, I'd totally try that too — there's always the Chinese calendar! ;)

The main Jewish events on a Jewish calendar. Do you realize that according to the Jewish, 2012 has passed already? *phew* Not that I believe in it anyways.

In addition to Mr. Arkin's birthday, today's class was on arrays. They are an efficient method of storing data in many variables. The new keywords introduced today were array and of. Each array also needs an index. Indexes are what define the different variables — they are a sub-number of a variable. Arrays make life so much easier, especially in repetition programming!

Oh, did I mention today I saw my Printer Assignment marks? There were four levels, each marked out of lever four. Guess what I got? No really, guess. 'Cuz I'm not gonna tell you! So evil, eh? >:)

So now it's time to get to work, and my beloved repetition assignments. Good night! Yom Huledet Same'ach Mar Arkin!

A Leaside Day

Hi everyone! Guess where I went today?

If you guessed Leaside High School, you're absolutely right. Remember the Model UN (United Nations) G20 Summit I was telling you about? Well, it was head at Leaside today. I had to miss an entire hour of sleep so that I could get to school on time to leave! So by 9:00am, I'd already yawned about 20 times, and was sincerely hoping that it really was a worthwhile trip. Did I mention how harsh the winds were this morning?

Anyways, it was a huge relief when we got inside. However, we got there around 15 minutes late (blame the TTC), so we had to rush into the auditorium. It was there where we met Michel Chikwanine, a motivational speaker. We learned his story; he was a child soldier growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He survived the war, which claimed 5.8 million lives, including his father, also a human rights activist, and one of his sisters. It was really a bone-chilling story, and really brave of him to share it was us all. At the end, we also learned that he works with Craig Kielburger, the co-founder of Free the Children, a foundation that helps bring to light and eliminate the exploitation of children around the world. It was a really moving presentation.

Next it was on to our actual conferences. I represented Argentina, and was part of the Economics committee. Our first resolution was the debt crisis in the European Union. Many ideas and arguments were brought up, particularly about the debt crisis in Greece. Some suggestions discussed was getting rid of the Euro (which did not manage to pass during the vote), and reducing the value of the Chinese and Indian currencies (which was greatly debated especially by China). In the end, we agreed that it would benefit all countries of the European Union to increase exports, and limit government spending. A G20 committee would also be created to oversee the financial situations in the various countries.

After a multicultural lunch made by a class of Leaside students — needless to say they didn't spend a million to make sure it wasn't poisoned or something >:) — it was back to work, and resolution #2: debate on whether or not to implement a bank tax, to solve the issue of wasteful spending by these financial institutions. Again there was much discussion. In the end, it was agreed that only on those banks that had wasted money — not the countries themselves — was a bank tax to be issued. Also, 85% of the money collected was to go to the federal government, while 15% was to be given to the IMF (International Monetary Fund), to be saved in case of another economic crisis.

Unfortunately because of time constraints, we never got to the third resolution — which was supposed to be the one I excelled at! However, it was still a great day, not to mention all the free goodies we got, like actual G20 Toronto pens and keychains.

All in all, it was just a really great day! We were all in high spirits at the end, and we were kind of sad to leave. However, we all really got a look at the way G20 summits are held (it was actually really professional. Like really professional.), and discuss issues as if we had power. It was a fantastic experience!

Coming home though, I know the work that will catch up to me tomorrow! First step was to check the Daily Log, and call one of my fellow CS friends to ask about what they did in class today... the Printer Project got taken up! I am more anxious than ever to get my mark... I wonder if I'll be able to go to sleep tonight.

Actually, I probably will, because boy, am I tired from 1) not getting enough sleep! and 2) the day's activities. So GOOD NIGHT!

Dam---Dang. :(

Argh... "dang" is right. I didn't print out my Repetition Assignment 8 modified today, thus resulting in getting a zero. That totally just started my week at an all-time low...

*Remembering Sunday ~ All Time Low plays in background*

Wow, that was depressing.
Ah well, scr--- whatever. Let's talk about something a little less saddening, shall we?

Other than the homework collection today, we just continued to work on our Repetition Assignments. We are almost nearing the end of it! Just around 3 more assignments to go and we'll be finished the unit. (Hope that doesn't mean another test... No, I did not just give you an idea, Mr. Arkin.)

In some more happy news, tomorrow we're doing the horrendous BEEP TEST in Gym. How is that happy you ask? 'Cuz I'll be missing it! Tomorrow is the Leaside High G20 Summit, which I will be attending. It should be a great day! For more information, you can check out the website. I will be representing Argentina, and our topic is Economy. I actually chose Human Rights, because I find it far more interesting, but unfortunately I got placed into Economy. Ah well, hopefully I will be able to do just as well with that topic.

And so it's another Monday — some things never change — and the start of another week. Not exactly the way I would've wanted today to go, but hopefully the rest of the week will just get better right? Oh, and speaking of getting better, the Printer Comparison project marks come out tomorrow, which means I will get my mark on Wednesday! I am sincerely hoping that that will be able to lift up my spirits — I'll have my fingers crossed!

So wish me luck tomorrow, and I'll tell you guys more about it as soon tomorrow night!

I'm About to Get to Know Printers a WHOLE Lot Better...

Yes that's right, it's not only PD Day tomorrow, but also Printer Project! Aka we don't get to relax and enjoy the long weekend... Undeserved holiday, as Mr. Arkin calls it. Maybe this is "payback"... :'(

That's OK though, because instead of doing my homework right away like a good IB student, I'm gonna procrastinate until Saturday and still enjoy my day off! So while my fellow classmates are busy going on the Best Buy and Future Shop websites, I'll be off to Grace's house, along with a few of my old friends, to talk and catch-up on life with the Giftees (and TOPS people, I should mention). Thumbs up for not using time efficiently!

Let me explain more about the Printer Project... actually, because you probably won't want to hear it all, you can just go read it if you are interested. But a basic outline is that we have to compare two or more printers, and make a recommendation to ourselves based on our findings. We should consider the basic properties, like operating costs, connectivity, how well it will serve our needs, etc. Then we must present all our findings by making a webpage! Interesting project, but I know it is going to take >6 hours...

An interesting fact here, that we actually learned last year, but I forgot up until today: did you know TDSB blocks the Staples website from all its computers, just because it has a contract with Grand & Toy? I was trying to get a head start on my printer research today in class, and tried the staples website... remembering once again that it cannot be opened. Quite pathetic, in my opinion, to go that far, but hey... maybe Grand & Toy gave an irresistible deal. Who knows?

And so with that, this shortened week draws to a close. So while you watch some TV, go chat on Facebook, or just sit back and read during your weekend, just remember me... I'll be slaving away on the computer, trying to get the assignment done. ;)

Repetition Repeated

Yes. Again, today was dedicated to Repetition. First, we had to analyze and desk-check one of our partner's Repetition Assignments (#6). It was quite a tedious task, but I know it was to help us make each other's programs even better and improved. Afterwards it was time to continue working repeatedly on the Repetition assignments (see what I did there?). I managed to finish and modify all the assignments up to #11. For homework, we have to modify assignment 7 so that the user gets to choose aspects of the program, and also complete assignment 8. Thankfully, I have already done both!

Other than the past few days' repetition of Repetition classes, there hasn't be much else going on. Our mid-term reports are coming home next week, but we already know all our marks, so it isn't that big of a deal. Tomorrow I will be helping out my middle school teacher with her parent-teacher interviews, so I look forward to going back to my old school to visit. Also, Friday is a PA Day, which means hanging out somewhere other than school, so that should be fun! :)

And now I'm off to work on some outside-of-school projects that I've been creating (writing, Photoshopping, etc.). Making good use of some free time!

"Repeat." Repeat.

... And, repeat. That creates an infinite loop!

"..."

Oh psh, fine! Me and my lame jokes...

Anyways, today was another work period for our Repetition assignments. We also learned that if you want to use a character in a string, that is a Turing key symbol - like double-quotes ("") for example - you use a backslash (\) in front of the symbol. The backslash tells the computer to "escape" from the string for one character. For homework we need to finish Repetition assignments 6 and 7.

Other than that, today was pretty uneventful. The one major news though is that I got my final mid-term mark (gym) and so now I know my mid-term average! It is exactly 93.25% (too bad it couldn't round to 94!). Now have fun figuring out what my four marks are... especially the ICS one, eh? >:)

Oh Look, It's OUR MID-TERM MARKS

I didn't check my e-mail after 5pm yesterday, so I was completely unaware that the mid-term marks would be posted today! Ah well, probably better that I didn't know, or I wouldn't have been able to fall asleep last night. Haha. However today, as soon as I saw the list...

First reaction: OMG HOLY COW OMGOMGOMG IT'S THE LIST OMGOMG [put repeat ("!", 10 billion)] <--- xD little programming joke there.

Second reaction: *scans list frantically*, realizes the list is in fact not by class but by numeric order of student numbers. (Thank goodness.)

Third reaction: *mouth drops down to the floor — literally* :O

Now, let's continue on to today's class! Today was like a free period, so that we could catch up on Repetition assignments, and move further ahead if we wanted. I spent the period modifying my assignment 2 to make it even better, and working ahead. For homework we need to complete Repetition assignments 3 to 5, which I have already done, so tonight should be a relaxing one!

Plus, Friday is a PA Day, which means no school! PLUS, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is coming out on that day as well... if you don' t know already, I am a huge HP fan, so I am delighted! DRAMIONE FTW (you can go look that up :D)!

Did I forget anything? What, you mean my mid-term ICS mark? You actually thought I was going to tell you? Well, tough luck. I'm not gonna announce all over the Internet... So you can take your guess, but I guess you still have a few options:

(1) Stalk me and threaten me to tell you my mark (Not recommended, because I'll probably a. kick, b. punch, or c. slap you)
(2) Ask me nicely, and maybe I'll consider it... not.
(3) Ask Mr. Arkin, and maybe he'll tell you! Yeah right. Ya think?
(4) Go ask all the other ICS students who somehow know too, even though I wasn't the one to tell them. -.-"

So have fun trying to figure out what my mark is... tough luck. >:)

loop, put "Repetition", end loop

Output:

Repetition
Repetition
Repetition
Repetition
Repetition
Repetition
Repetition
Repetition
Repetition
Repetition
Repetition
Repetition
etc.

Yes, I think you get the idea: we formally started our Repetition unit today! First we learned about infinite loops - loops that can go on forever, and have no natural end. Of course, there aren't many uses for infinite loops in our lives, so usually we avoid them. But did you know Apple Inc's headquarters are at 1 Infinite Loop (get it, one infinite loop?). Funny.

Anyways, next we looked at the keywords loop, exit when, and end loop. Loop and end loop make up a loop body. In the loop body, there can be zero or more statements. To avoid an infinite loop, the keywords exit when are used - they instruct the computer to exit from the loop when a pre-defined boolean expression yields the value true.

For homework, we have to do Repetition assignments 1 and 2, as well as modify assignment 2 so that the user can choose the integers in the times table.

This whole new concept is sure to add another twist to our programs!

THE AFTERMATH. + Lest We Forget

Wow, that was fast. And unexpected. Mr. Arkin had all of our tests marked today! all 70-ish of them (for his three classes)! I've never met a teacher who gave tests back the day after before...

Anyway, aren't you curious as to what I got? Well, you'll have to wait. First I want to mention that today was Remembrance Day. All across the country, ceremonies were held for those who courageously gave their lives to fight for the freedom and peace we live in today.

During first period, we had a small assembly ourselves to commemorate those who died fighting for us. In Flanders Fields was read out loud, and The Last Post was played. Pictures were also shown of the wars and various peacekeeping missions, accompanied by the song Universal Soldier by Buffy Sainte Marie. Afterwards, we observed a minute of silence for the fallen ones, the ones who gave their lives so that we can live better lives today. It was an emotional ceremony.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row.
***
To all the soldiers who gave their lives in battle,
Rest in peace, and may God be with you always.

Next, we got our marks back for our tests, as well as reviewed in partners "hybrid" answers for the test questions. And now, what you've been waiting for... drum roll please!...

I got a 22 out of 24, the highest mark in my class! Guess Murphy's Law paid off... I was really amazed to score such a high mark, and really happy as well of course.

So today was both a sombre and a happy day. We continue to remember the brave, and cherish our lives today. If you have some time, I suggest you watch A Pittance of Time, a song about taking the time to remember, by Terry Kelly. It is a really moving song and video.

THE TEST.

9:00 - Music: Focused on film shown in class, taking Music History notes. Perfectly good mood.
10:15 - Math: Does math homework while playing Pictionary (yes, it is possible to multi-task). Perfectly good mood.
11:35 - Lunch: Tries to study notes while eating. Almost nervous breakdown.
11:45 - Lunch still: Trying to study while freaking out about test in less than an hour.
12:00 to 12:25 - Lunch still: Tries to take mind off of test by talking to friends about random things... to no avail.
12:30 - 5 minutes before test starts: Almost in hyperventilation mode. That's all I can say. Deep breaths, deep breaths... <--- Fine, maybe it wasn't nearly as bad as that.
But then...
12:35: THE TEST BEGINS. (aka D-Day.) Ok, no.

Surprise, surprise. The questions weren't nearly as difficult as I'd imagined. In fact, the concepts were quite easy! Though a few of the questions were kind of hard to answer to... you know, those questions that look so easy but are hard to word? However, I think I did OK. Actually, with Murphy's Law in mind... I THINK I FAILED MISERABLY. Hope that worked.

As is the upside to all tests though, we didn't have much homework. Plus today turned out to be a better day than I'd first imagined, so I guess thats a definite thumbs-up. Now, time to go try to get some sleep tonight, while really trying hard not to think about the test. Good night.

Devas---Anticipation Towards the Test!

Tomorrow is our first major Programming Unit Test, so there is definitely a lot of nervousness to go around. And anticipation of course! *coughcough*

Anyways, today was mainly spent as a Q&A period, so that we could ask any questions we wanted and study our notes for the upcoming test. There were many questions asked, as we all scrambled to take all the necessary notes and prepare well for our first major exam.

Afterwards we got a little into our next unit, Repetition, by learning about counters and accumulators. Counters are used to count the number of objects entered, while accumulators add up what is entered. After the little lesson, we had to write a program where we took 3 marks, and displayed the mean. It was a good start to the Repetition unit.

But as far as I'm concerned, no one is thinking much about repetition today, as all minds are on tomorrow, and no doubt studying hard. I hope to do well on that test as the mark will definitely be weighed my total Computers mark by quite a bit. So off I go to study now. Wish me luck!

More On Features, TEST!

Code analysis is something we've been working on every since last week, and today was the final finish - we presented the posters that we'd made on Selection assignment 6. Many groups had additional things to add to the general programming guidelines, so it was a learning experience. As a result, we had to work on analyzing another program, Selection assignment 7 today for homework. Afterwards it was a surprise party for Mujtaba, who became a Canadian citizen on Friday! Everyone enjoyed what free time we had.

Today was also the start of our swim unit in Gym! I really love swimming, so I know this is going to be an awesome unit. Apart from having really little time to change, it was a really fun start to the unit - we swam around, and then played a few games in the water. Hooray for swimming!

So all in all, it was a great start to the week. We have our first programming unit test on Wednesday though, so it is a mad rush to get studying, and study well! I hope I'll be able to do well on the test!

I Didn't Hear the Pop

Walks into a perfectly normal day in class. Sits down with group from previous day, works on code analysis poster. Looks through programming guidelines handout and jots down features of given program code. Makes good copy on large piece of paper - remembers to write in cursive on poster! Uses many colourful markers on poster. Everyone copies notes down properly on separate sheets of paper. Hands poster in. All a perfectly normal day, right? Then...

P-P-P-P-POP QUIZ!
C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

Sadly, no one heard the pop - no one ever does - so it kind of sprang on us. Only kind of though, of course... The upside was that the quiz was really simple: write a program that gathers two integers and displays their mean. I finished the quiz quite easily.

Another good thing about the pop quiz was that it resulted in no homework for the weekend! Yay! However, that means today set a new record: 3 quizzes in a day!

1. Computer Studies : pop quiz
2. Gym : basketball quiz
3. Math: math quiz
4. Music: only free period! If only we'd had a theory quiz eh?

So though we didn't hear the pop today, it turned out to be quite a cool day after all. Not to mention I got to hang out with my friends afterwards! Awesome! But as I always like to say at the end of the week... TGIF!

I wonder why I keep using the centered-large green font-small orange caption-format...

Desk-Checking is Back

Desk-checking made us a visit again today, because some people were having a few issues with their programs. Desk-checking is a good way to figure out what those problems are, because you can easily trace what the computer is doing. So today, we had to desk-check an assignment handout. Then for homework, we were assigned three more desk-checking exercises, this time on our own Selection programs.

COMPUTERS ARE LITERAL.
LITERALLY.
The one important thing to remember when desk-checking.

After working out the assigned program, we had to discuss in groups of four the features of the same program - that parts about it that met the programming guidelines, any other good parts. However the period went by very quickly, and we found ourselves out of time. I think we will be continuing that activity tomorrow.

So overall it was a nice day. I must admit desk-checking is a very helpful skill and should be practised so that we know it well, but that sure doesn't make it anymore tedious!

TOKTW Day!

Today was Take Our Kids To Work Day (yay!). Which meant no ICS2O (aww...), but it was a really cool experience and definitely very insightful.

I went with my friend Julia, along with her friend Catherine, to her mom's workplace, Symcor Incorporated. It is a really big company which offers data processing services. Created by BMO (Bank of Montreal), TD (Toronto-Dominion) Bank, and RBC (Royal Bank of Canada), Symcor works with many large companies to process its cheques, bills, and other information.

Because the company is so big, there were actually quite a lot of kids there &mdash around 30. It was really nice because the company had organized a special program for us. First off was a power-point presentation on Symcor's history. Then there was a tour of the three buildings at our location. The place had really heavy security, because of the highly-sensitive information it processed. Thus we each had our own security cards, which we had to swipe each time we entered and exited a building.

After the tour was another presentation, this time about Internet safety and privacy. The speakers talked about reading privacy policies fully, and changing privacy settings on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace. We also learned about browser cookies (a data trail which tracks your activities on a website), and even got an actual one (Chips Ahoy!) to accentuate the point!

Next came lunch. Did I mention it was free? There was a really nice cafeteria there &mdash with clean tables and a few TV screens &mdash so we spent all of lunch eating and chatting away there.

And then it was time to "shadow" our parents/sponsors &mdash look at what they actually do, and try bits of it out for ourselves! Julia's mom worked in the Data Entry department, which is like a fancy word for entering in monetary amounts from cheques so that the information can be stored in a computer. We mastered the basics quite easily, so one of her mom's co-workers was kind enough to open a program just for the three of us, and we spent the rest of the afternoon doing actual Data Entry for the company!

All in all, I must say it was a one-of-a-kind experience. I think TOKTW Day is really important &mdash more important than I thought in the first place &mdash because it helps us to understand both the importance of getting a good education, and how hard our parents work each day! The program at Symcor was really great, and we certainly experienced many new things. It was a really cool day altogether... not to mention the free coffee mug we got at the end. :)

Thank goodness I read the daily log today... Or else I probably wouldn't have written this. Thumbs up for last-minute thinking!

We Have a New Case On Our Hands

Yup, a new case for all of us to solve. Today was all about case statements, a better alternative to "if-ladders" (many selection statements). Case statements use the keywords case (obviously), of, and label, and are great if you have many true parts in a selection section. This type of selection statement basically uses lists, instead of having the keyword or separating boolean expressions in an "if-ladder". Plus, case statements are a lot easier to both write and read!

To help us practice our newly-learned concept, we were asked to create an "ATM" program, which lets the user deposit, withdraw, and transfer money to different accounts. We had to guard against negative balances as well. The program looks really cool when it is run!

And so, our Selection unit is coming to a close. On Thursday, we will be beginning our Repetition unit! That should add a whole new twist to our programs!

A special birthday wish to George Boole (1815-11-02 / 1864-12-08), who invented boolean expressions! Without him, our programs would sure be pretty dull. So happy birthday, George Boole!

Tomorrow is TOKTW Day! Aka no sch--- of course I'm devastated! Everyone knows school is the best place in the world... ;)

Clean-Up, Catch-Up, TOKTW Day

Aww... Studio 218 was supposed to be postponed to today, but unfortunately time flew by, and before we knew it, the time for music was gone! Darn. :(

However, it was a relaxed day today, as we got a period to catch-up and clean-up our Selection assignments. Thankfully, I only had a few minor errors, but still, time really did seem to fly past! However I was able to completely clean-up all my Selections assignments by the end of class, and it was a generally productive period.

Then, a period later, I found out that it was yet another late start tomorrow! They just keep on coming, don't they? ...Ah well, I think I'll live. ;)

So, it was quite an uneventful day today. But did I mention, Wednesday is Take Our Kids to Work Day for all of us ninth graders! I will be going to my friend's mom's workplace — I'm really looking forward to it because it'll give me an opportunity to see what a regular day of work is like. Yay!

Clean-up Time!

Lalalalalalala... it's Friday again! Have you noticed how I'm always really happy on Fridays? I wonder why...

Anyways, today was very uneventful, due to Mr. Arkin's absence. Teacher absence = free work period though, and that was very nice. I spent the entire period cleaning up my website based on the teacher comments from my autobiography mark, and creating the Programming Glossary... It's been a long time since I've visited my own website!

I wasn't able to get any programming done in class, but I managed to completely finish refurbishing my website (and that's quite feat)! The new glossary is up and running as well, if you want to check it out; just go to touque.ca/EC/, click on ICS2O, Student Work, and conveniently find my name at the very bottom of the last list!

So this weekend means time to do some programming and finish up those Selection assignments! But for now, all I'm concerned about is getting some quality sleep. Good night!

More Selection, Disruptions

Yes... today was a work period for us, to update our Selection assignments! They are officially due Monday. Tomorrow will be a work period as well, because Mr. Arkin will not be here. So dear guest teacher: I wonder if you can put up with us...

Not much discussion was done as a group today; a few questions got cleared up, and then it was right to work. At least until...

BRRRRRRRRINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG!

Wonderful — a fire drill. Did I mention we just had one two days ago? Joy. I don't understand why there has to be two in a week. Especially considering we used to have one every few months... we know what to do already! After the little disruption though, it was back to work.

Tomorrow, in addition to the guest teacher, is also our school Halloween! It's not that big of a deal, but I want do something a little out of the ordinary... still don't know exactly what yet, but I'll come up with something!

Is That the Truth?

Today we learned the unary and binary boolean operators, then making "Truth Tables"! It all had to do with the two binary boolean operators, and and or. It looks like this:

true + or + true = true
true + or + false = true
false + or + true = true
false + or + false = false
true + and + true = true
true + and + false = false
false + and + true = false
false + and + false = false

So today was all about determining truth from false, I guess. Then we set off to work on Selection Assignments #3-7. When you add selection and boolean expressions into the equation, it sure gets a whole lot more interesting! Today was a fun class.

Other than that, I messed up my 100% Music average today, so I'm feeling pretty bad. >:( Stupid playing test... oh well, I suppose it's just music. I'll just sleep it off and feel better tomorrow. Bad night!

Selection, Bad Timing, and a Drug Test

Today was the official start to our fourth programming unit: Selection! This concept will add a whole new twist to our programs — the results will vary even more now that the user will begin to have more than one option to choose from! We only went over some really basic examples today, but we are well on our way to an awesome new unit!

Next, we had a little pop quiz — D: — where we had to write a program that calculates the user's BMI (Body Mass Index). While I found the quiz to be quite easy, our time was interrupted by a fire drill! Such nice timing. But the thing is, by the time the fire drill was finished and we went back upstairs, our test papers had vanished into thin air! So, while I did finish in time, many of my classmates unfortunately did not.

Then, right after our little "CS surprise", we did a drug test in Health class! Guess what... I failed. Now, hopefully you didn't think I was talking about one of those tests where they see if there are drugs in your system... Would I really fail one of those? No, instead it was an end-of-unit test for our Substance Abuse Health chapter. And I probably didn't fail-fail, but I'm not sure exactly how well I did. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

So all in all, my day was just wonderful. Just wonderful. Oh, did I mention I learned some unwanted news, which I will not share with you guys for reasons I also cannot share? Just wonderful, eh? At least it was a late start.

Tables and Desk-Checking, Rant on Election Day

Today was all about tables and desks... well fine, not literally. But those were the two topics for today. "Desk-checking" means following the route the computer takes when running a program. Today we spent the first half of the period practising "one of the most valuable skills we have learned". Then we looked at arithmetic and relational operators. For homework, we were to create a program that displayed a table for both sets of operators, after two user-supplied integers.

So, well, not that much action today in Lab 218... However, we will be starting the Selection unit soon, so that should pick things up.

In other news... ROB FORD IS THE NEW MAYOR OF TORONTO! Egh... in truth, I didn't like any of the candidates this year, but Ford seemed like the "little-bit-better-one" out of the worst? Personally, I'd probably support Joe Pantalone, but only because he looked like the nicest person out of the three front-runners—he'd probably make a really good friend. His platform however... wasn't exactly the greatest.

George Smitherman on the other hand, even though the press was all over him, I didn't really hear much about his plans should he become mayor. The only thing they focused on about him was how he was the only chance for the "anyone-but-Ford" campaign later on in the race. Thus because I didn't know anything about Smitherman, I probably wouldn't have voted for him.

Well... that leaves Rob Ford. Let me just say something: REPEATING "THE GRAVY TRAIN" 10 BILLION TIMES IS NOT GOING TO HELP YOUR CASE. At least, not with me. After hearing that same phrase a hundred times, I was not amused. It didn't help when I learned of his history as a druggie. However though, I have to admit from what I've heard, his plans and ideas are the "best of the worst"... I mean, you have to agree that reducing taxes is tempting. However, I'm not sure exactly how much of his plans are going to actually come true—guess we'll just have to watch and see.

So all in all, If I reallyreallyreally had to choose...? I'd choose Sarah Thomson. Because she dropped out. That's how much I thought the rest of the candidates sucked. No offense to anyone here, I'm sure you're all good people, but I just don't think any of you would make a good mayor for Toronto. Sadly though, my opinions will probably never be heard... especially not by Rob Ford and his gravy train.

It's Almost Time to Move On

We are almost at the end of the Input assignments! That is really great because then we can finally move on to Selection, which is a whole new way to enhance programs. We were supposed to print out all our program codes (to have them as a reference), so today in class was spent doing just that.

Since I am already done all the required assignments due, I continued on with a few of the Selection ones. They are quite... interesting. But tonight I'll get a break—I'm going bowling with my friends! Then tomorrow is my friend's birthday party! So I'll be pretty busy throughout the weekend. Next week I have a Health test, a Music playing test, and a Math quiz, not to mention CS homework! So my hands will definitely be full these two "supposedly-relaxing" days.

Have a good weekend everyone! TGIF ;)

Oh the Horror of Input Assignment 4...

Well, not really. But still. Today was spent as a class, working yet again on assignment 4! There was (again) lots of talk, because everyone had different perspectives as to how to write the program. It was the processing section, actually where we spent all our time, because there was some debate as to how to actually calculate the average speed—it was long but simple vs. short but complicated. In the end, it was decided that long and simple won, because not everyone thought in the "supposedly-complicated" way (which I fought for). However, we left headquarters gaining some new insight, and another night to work on finishing Input assignments.

Next to tackle will probably be the Selection section. I decided to read ahead a little today since I'd already finished all the Input assignments. The concept itself is not difficult at all, but there are definitely some added challenges within the assignments themselves—like making text different colours! I read the Help page in Turing, but no matter what I tried, I couldn't get it to work! I'll have to ask Mr. Arkin about it tomorrow in class.

No ICS2O

Yes, that's right everyone, there's unfortunately not going to be ICS2O for the rest of the semester, due to technical issues.

Was that cheering I heard in the background...? >:/

Nah, just kidding. You can relax now. There was only no ICS2O today, because it just so happened to collide with the Volunteering Assembly/Gr. 9 Rep Election Speeches. So unfortunately, instead of working some more on the oh-so-wonderful input assignments, we got to listen to speeches, speeches, and... more speeches! Joy. But at least that's over and done with.

On a brighter note, we got our Superpower Autobiography marks! Yay, I was so happy because the wait was finally over. Now, drum roll please...

*drums roll in the distance*

I got 48 marks out of 50! I'm really pleased with my mark. Even with no ICS2O, it's been a good day after all. :)

Yes Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus.

Of course there is a Santa Claus! He's the one who takes the reindeer out, jumps down chimneys without breaking his back, and has enough appetite to eat ten billion cookies! ... Never mind that you can find reindeer at your local zoo. Or the fact your parents woke up with cookie crumbs on their lips on Christmas Day. Santa Claus does exist, I tell you!

The above meme was actually introduced to us yesterday, courtesy of Mr. Arkin. But only remembering today, I read about it just now. The whole editorial was really interesting... so I decided to write a little "response" if you may. The writer of the editorial has some really interesting points. You should check it out.

Back to Headquarters news. Today we didn't do any work on the computers; instead, we sat down to discuss and come up with a hybrid copy of Input Assignment #4: an Average Speed Calculator. There was much talk going on for the whole period between my group members and me. We spent the entire period working on making the most perfect copy of the program possible. Afterward, Mr. Arkin gave us a few pointers as to how to make our "supposed-perfect" programs even better/more efficient.

For homework, we were to go home and perfect our own assignments in Turing, based on what we'd talked about today. I finished that pretty easily, thus this generally early post.

Now I'm off to go make my friend a birthday card—it's her birthday Thursday, and her party on Saturday! So I'm off... good night!

"My pet rock ate my pencil." ~ Me

More on Inputs

Today was a continuation of last Friday - working on various variable programs. Thankfully I went ahead during the weekend, and thus didn't have to do much except make a few changes to my programs! Therefore I moved on even further when I got home—there's a really cool program where you create a program to generate a receipt, and plenty of others as well... lots of fun! :)

Tomorrow is yet another late start! If that seems a bit repetitive to you... well, it certainly was - there have been late starts for almost the past month! Not that I'm complaining or anything...

Well, it's time to go get some much-needed rest... Maybe after I check Facebook one last time. And listen to that awesome song on Youtube. And send out a few emails to my friends. Annnnd, maybe go check out my other blog. Yeah. See how much of a procrastinator I am?

So, that's about it for today! Good night... hopefully in the next hour or so. ;)

Cream Puffs!

Yes, I know you think the title has nothing to do with computers or computers class. But, in fact, that is not true! Today we were given a lesson on variables—a follow-up on the reading we'd done yesterday. We talked about variables and their identifiers, as well as the get command, and assignment statements—statements that assign a value to a variable. Oh yes, and the assignment operator (:=). Let me say that Mr. Arkin was quick to point out that it is not in fact "a second mouth"/"weird face I'm making at you", but that the actual operator is ":=". Although it actually makes a really good face! Haha.

If you're still wondering where the cream puffs came in, then you're in luck. First, while demonstrating an example of a program with variables, he created a program which asks for the user's full name, and then displays the first name. He put "Cream Puff". Except "Cream" isn't exactly a very nice first name... but then neither is "Apple" (Gwenyth Paltrow) or "Pilot Inspektor" (I'm not kidding—it's not even spelled properly!), and I don't see anyone complaining.

However, that is not the real inspiration for the title of this post. The truth is... we were treated to cream puffs in class today—the kind with ice cream in them! Win or what? One of our kind classmates brought in the treats, and everyone was, needless to say, delighted.

So, I would say that was a nice ending to the week. As I always like to say, TGIF... and TGfCP!

You can figure the second one out, right? Have a great weekend!

Fun with Variables!

No, thankfully we aren't talking about the not-so-fun-math-class kind. Instead, I mean variables in programming! They make programs a lot more fun, because the results can change. For homework we were given the task of reading information on Variables and Input in programming. It was really cool, because now I finally understand how to instruct the computer to "get" the data it needs, and to either display it or modify it. I then tried a few of the assignments, even though they hadn't been assigned yet— I managed to create an Inch-to-Centimetre Converter! It was lots of fun. It's definitely more interesting to create programs that contain variables in them!

On another note, If you're wondering why I'm posting so early, well it's because I've got to go somewhere tonight... It's the Young Voices 2010 launch! In case you're not familiar with it, Young Voices is an annual magazine, created by the Toronto Public Library, which publishes both writing and artwork by teens from across Toronto. This year, a poem that I submitted was lucky enough to be selected, so I will be going to the launch tonight! ...So if you ever visit the library, check out the Teen section and you should be able to find a copy. :)

Character Graphics!

Today's lesson was pretty much just on some more programming glossary terms. However, then we got our assignment... we were to create character graphics using Turing! It sounded pretty cool in the beginning, and it was, but after copying down 5 billion codes in our notes, it got kinda tedious. However then came the task of creating a graphic with our name on it... that was when things got a little more interesting.

This was probably around 1/4 of the entire length of the code...

Above is the example of the programming codes we had to write. But all the hard work paid off when the program was run and the final product outputted.

My name using slashes! So pretty, eh? ;)

There was also another, slightly more complicated project that we could also have done.

Yay, it's the Canadian flag, made using @'s! Believe me, it's harder than it looks.

So that was the two fun parts of this new assignment. I just finished both of them! Argh, my eyes hurt. Perhaps it's time to go to sleep... good night!

Outputs, Outputs, Outputs...

Today at headquarters, all the party spirit seemed to have worn off, and it was back to business once again. We continued with our new programming unit, from learning some new glossary terms to looking at more basic examples of various statements and their results. We actually did quite a lot today! It was a pretty fast-paced class.

After the lesson, we started on our first programming assignment: Outputs (surprise, surprise)! We had to follow the instructions written here, and take notes on what we noticed in our notebooks. In fact, I just finished the last bit! It was an interesting assignment because it continued the examples of various statements and their outputs. However the last bit with the number signs and the integers after the field widths are kind of confusing. You can read all about it in the link above.

All in all, it was a pretty great day... if you don't count the fact that we froze our butts off in gym because we had to go outside. But that's a whole other story.

So, that's it for now. I have two tests tomorrow, which I have to go study for now. So I'll talk to you guys later!

Celebrating Success

...Fine, it wasn't exactly like said above. In fact, it was a lot more pigging out on chips and cookies, playing truth or dare, and just... relaxing. I don't think we've ever done that in class before! Our party just so happened to be last period, so that was another bonus - after the day we were able to just play around last period. It was a nice time spent with each other.

This weekend is a long weekend because of Thanksgiving... Hooray! Tomorrow I'll be going out on a hike with my family and my friend's family, so that should be a great time, especially to take pictures of the wonderful colours of fall! Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone, and I'll talk you guys Tuesday!

Now you can go stuff yourself with turkey. Cheers! :)

Intro to Programming and PARTY TIME!

Today was the official start of a new journey: Programming! While I am really excited to be finally starting the programming aspect of this course, I'm also quite nervous—it looks so complex! That probably means I'll have to pay extra attention in class... not that I don't already, of course. ;)

Today we created a flow chart of the process of both website design, which we were already familiar with, and programming itself. With programming first you have to code the program. Next, when the syntax—programming word for grammar—is valid, you execute the program. Then, if it looks satisfactory, you can either generate an executable,—a non-open-source program—or simply stop there! See what I mean? Just the process is starting to look very menacing... Not even to mention the text-editor, the compiler, or the executor, all part of the IDE... Chances are I've probably lost you already!

After all that, we looked at the programming tool we were going to be using: a program called Turing. Turing is an IDE, or Integrated Development Environment. Basically that means it has a text-editor, compiler, and executor, all built in! We looked at some basic programming words and what they turn out when you click "Run". It was really basic stuff, and we have got off to a great start!

On a cooler note, start of new unit = end of the old unit... which in Mr. Arkin's words mean... PARTY! That's right, tomorrow our class will be celebrating our past few weeks' accomplishments with some food, and of course... music! So maybe tomorrow Lab 218 will become Party Room 218? Yay.

So tomorrow when you're in working on your English essay (that was actually due yesterday) or solving for x in Math, think of us... We'll be partying away! :D

Now, the party don't start 'til I walk in...

Don't stop, make it pop
DJ, blow my speakers up
Tonight, Imma fight
'Til we see the sunlight
Tick tock on the clock
But the party don't stop, no...

-Tik Tok, Kesha

01001001 00100000 01010111 01101111 01101110 01100100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01001001 01100110 00100000 01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 010000

01010100 01101111 01100100 01100001 01111001 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100010 01111001 00100000 01100110 01100001 01110010 00100000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101001 01101110 01110100 01100101 01110010 01100101 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100011 01101100 01100001 01110011 01110011 01100101 01110011 00100000 01111001 01100101 01110100 00101110 00101110 00101110 00100000 01110111 01100101 00100000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110010 01101110 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01100100 01100101 01110011 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01100001 01100011 01110100 01100101 01110010 01110011 00100001

01010100 01101000 01100101 01101110 00101100 00100000 01110111 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101111 01110010 01101011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110000 01100001 01101001 01110010 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100011 01101111 01100100 01100101 01100001 00100000 01110011 01110000 01100101 01100011 01101001 01100001 0110110001100010 01101100 01101111 01100111 00100000 01100101 01101110 01110100 01110010 01111001 01100011 01110010 01100101 01100001 01110100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100010 01111001 00100000 01001101 01110010 00101110 01000001 01110010 01101011 01101001 01101110 00101110 00100000 01001001 01110100 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100001 01101100 01101100 01111001 00100000 01100110 01110101 01101110 00101100 00100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 00100000 01100001 01101100 01110011 01101111 00100000 01110000 01110010 01100101 01110100 01110100 01111001 00100000 01100110 01110010 01110101 01110011 01110100 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100001

Have no idea what that meant? That's OK, I didn't expect you to. >:) Have fun figuring it out!

01010000 00101110 01010011 00101110 00100000 01001001 01100110 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110110 01100101 01110010 01110100 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110010 01100101 01100001 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00101110 00101110 00101110 00100000 01000011 01001000 01000101 01000001 01010000 00100001 00100000 00111110 00111010 00101000

010 0110 aka 38

Guess what we learned today? Hint: look at the title.

If you guessed binary code, you're right! Today we learned all about base 2 and 7-bit binary codes. It looks something like this:

2^6	2^5	2^4	2^3	2^2	2^1	2^0	Base 10 equivalent
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
0	0	0	0	0	1	1	3
0	0	0	0	1	0	0	4
0	0	0	0	1	0	1	5
0	0	0	0	1	1	0	6
0	0	0	0	1	1	1	7
0	0	0	1	0	0	0	8
1	1	1	1	1	1	1	127 (largest binary code number)

I thought it was a really cool lesson today. Plus, we finished the glossary! Double win! :D