Day 23 and 24

Launch School Prep Curriculum

Today I worked on some more Command Line Interface exercises. There's not much to show here, but I am getting better at them.

Secondary Resources

I'm working on a drawing of a house using JavaScript loops. Here's the unfinished project.

Spin-off of "Project: Build-a-House"Made using: Khan Academy Computer Science

Math Review

These took me a while to figure out exactly what it was asking me to do. It's simple once you get the hang of it though.

Compound inequalities: OR: Sal solves the compound inequality 5z+7<27 -3z="" a="" or="" style="color: #111111; font-family: helvetica;">


This second one is pretty easy.

Equation with variables on both sides: fractions: Sal solves the equation (3/4)x + 2 = (3/8)x - 4.

Exercise, Sleep and Nutrition

Friday: 18215 steps (9.92 miles), core workout

Saturday: 18151 steps (9.64 miles), core workout

Nutrition needs work. I'm still figuring out sleeping habits for starting work at 4am (I have to get up at 2:30).

Language Studies

French - Duolingo review

German - Location (inside, outside etc), Predicate Adjective 2 (These were pretty hard)

Spanish - Numbers, began past tense

Italian - Colors

Day 22

Launch School Prep Curriculum

I worked on Command Line interface exercises today. I also read about Executables, which are files for which the following is true:

1. They have special characters at the beginning to tell the computer how to execute them.
2. They have scripts or machine language as their content.
3. They have the executable permission (we'll talk more about this later).

Math Review

I'm up to 41% in Algebra I on Khan Academy.

How to determine the number of solutions of a system of equations using algebraic reasoning (example): Sal solves several examples where he reasons about the number of solutions of systems of equations using algebraic reasoning.

Sleep, exercise and nutrition

I slept pretty well last nigt and took a nap this afternoon. I'm still adjusting to getting up at 2:30 am for work, but I'm feeling pretty ok about it. For exercise, I did a short core workout and walked 16,470 steps (8.87 miles). I also spent 10 minutes stretching. Nutrition has been all over the place. I had McDonald's for lunch so that wasn't the best. I remembered to take my multivitamin. 

Languages

French - Review on Duolingo. My tree is still all gold

German - Predicate adjectives

Spanish - Object pronouns

Italian -  Questions

Day 21

I'm studying like Wonder Woman Today!

Launch School Prep Work

I'm still reading about the Command Line Interface (CLI). Here are some common symbols that help us navigate the CLI:

• / - The root directory or a separator when listing directories
• . - The current directory (also ./) or the same level
• .. - The directory one level up (also ../)
• ../.. - Two levels up
• ~ - Your "home" directory, or the directory you are placed in when you log in.
• * - The "splat" or "glob" operator. This is the wildcard of the command line and represents "any characters."

And some more helpful commands:

• cd - change directory
• ls - list files
• pwd - display the current working directory

As I get further into exercises to move files around, the most difficult thing for me to do seems to be remembering where I am which my chain of directories. That's something that's pretty easy to do in a graphical interface like Windows, but without that graphical representation is going to take some getting used to.

Secondary Resources: HTML on Code Academy

Here is a short video about how the internet works that is recommended on code academy.

Math Review

Simplifying square root expressions can get kind of tricky. See the video and the chart below and remember the properties of square roots.

Simplifying square-root expressions: no variables (advanced): Sal simplifies elaborate expressions with square roots. For example, he simplifies (4√20-3√45)/√35 as -√(1/7).

Languages

French - Keeping the completed Duolingo tree gold!

German - Review on Duolingo

Spanish - Review on Duolingo

Italian -  Review on Duolingo

Day 20

Launch School Pre-curriculum

Today I did some exercises from the Command Line Interface book that involved creating and moving files around using commands like touch and mv. 

Secondary Resources - HTML and CSS on Code Academy

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. The first part, Hypertext, means that it is text with links in it. The second part, markup language, means that is it a programming language that can be used to do more with text than make it just sit on the page.

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. It's what makes HTML pretty.

So here we go with learning some HTML syntax (CSS I'll be learning later)

< and > are called Tags. And they usually come in pairs, an opener and a closer. Tags are nestable, so they can be inside each other, like Russian dolls.

HTML files have heads, which contain information about the file, like it's title, and bodies, that have your content.

I built this basic web site for a sandwich shop by writing the html code!

Karate Bear's Sandwich Shop

Come eat the best sandwiches ever. You've never tasted anything so tasy. Rawr!!!
We have peanut butter and jelly, salami, tuna, ham, turkey, grilled cheese, meatball subs, chicken, roast beef and poop.
Come on down and get some and eat lots of sandwiches forever!
Read about sandwiches

Math Review

I've skipped over to Algebra I (I'll come back to general 8th grade math later) and I'm 38% of the way done with it.

Converting from standard to slope-intercept form: Sal converts the standard form equation -7x-8y=28 to slope-intercept form.

Converting from slope-intercept to standard form: Sal converts the slope-intercept equation y=2/3x+4/7 to standard form.

Study Habits

I'm continuing to read Dr. Barabara Oakley's book A Mind for Numbers. The topic today is sleep. Sleep is necessary for the brain to flush out toxins. Without adequate sleep you can't learn as efficiently. 

*Tip* - Working on a challenging problem before going to bed or taking a nap increases the chances that you will dream about it 

Languages

French - Did a little review to keep the Duolingo tree gold.

German - Time (Days of the week, time adverbs etc)

Day 19

Launch School Pre-curriculum

I'm still reading the book about the Command Line Interface (CLI). Here are some common commands used on the CLI:

cd	Change directory.
ls	List files and directories in current directory.
pwd	Display the path of the current directory.
touch	Create a file.
mkdir	Create a directory.
rm	Remove a file or directory. Warning: deleting a file or directory with this command is permanent!
cp	Copy a file or directory.
mv	Move or rename a file or directory.
echo	Print text to STDOUT.
cat	Display contents of a file.
more	Display contents of a file, starting at the top and letting the user scroll down.
less	Display contents of a file in an even more interactive way.
head	Display the first part of a file.
tail	Display the last part of a file.
man	Display documentation about a command.

Secondary Resources: JavaScript on Khan Academy

My first project for the day was a magic eight ball that displays a different message each time the program is run. Press the restart button to get a new message.

Spin-off of "Project: Magic 8-Ball"Made using: Khan Academy Computer Science

Next I read about using a "rubber duck" as a debugging method. You explain your code step-by-step to a rubber duck as you debug. I think my friend Henry is a good rubber duck. He's not as smart as me, but he'll listen as well as any rubber duck.

Henry

In the next project, I used two while loops to draw rulers across the top and left sides of the canvas.

Challenge: A Loopy RulerMade using: Khan Academy Computer Science

In the third project, I used while loops to repeat a landscape image across the bottom of the screen. 

Challenge: A Loopy LandscapeMade using: Khan Academy Computer Science

In my third project, I was given a while loop that created horizontal lines across the canvas. I converted it to a for loop, then added my own code for a for loop that made vertical lines to make graph paper.

Challenge: Lined PaperMade using: Khan Academy Computer Science

Math Review

I finished 7th grade math on Khan Academy! Woohoo!



Equivalent expressions with negative numbers (multiplication and division): In this video, we figure out whether or not some expressions are equivalent. To do this, we think about properties of multiplication and division.

Languages

French - keeping the Duolingo tree gold

German - Comparison, qualifiers and Household objects 2 (Ich bin ein besserer Bär als Sie)

Spanish - People

Italian - Animals, Food 2, Possession and Clothing (Io sono un orso.)

Day 18

Secondary Resources: JavaScript on Khan Academy

I did a whole bunch of JavaScript projects today. The first one is a ball animation that uses a Boolean expression to set parameters for the range of motion and direction of the ball. The syntax of the code uses an 'if' expression to change the direction of the ball once it reaches the edge of the canvas.

Challenge: Bouncy BallMade using: Khan Academy Computer Science

The second project also uses an if statement. If the mouse is pressed on the canvas, it paints. Give it a try!

Challenge: Your First Painting AppMade using: Khan Academy Computer Science

The third project uses three different if statements that tell rectangles to be either drawn or not drawn based on the number I give the program so that it draws a rectangle text that describes the number I give it.

Challenge: Number AnalyzerMade using: Khan Academy Computer Science

In the fourth project I used an if statement to change the color of a button, but only when the mouse is pressed and the cursor is within the borders of the button.

Challenge: Your First ButtonMade using: Khan Academy Computer Science

In the fifth project, I used a similar expression but further limited the paramters to make the button smaller, which just required a bit of math.

Challenge: Smarter ButtonMade using: Khan Academy Computer Science

The sixth project is similar to the fifth, this time displaying text in the button to make a flash card. Click on the button, try it out!

Challenge: Flashy Flash CardMade using: Khan Academy Computer Science

Math Review

Today's math review is another question about if you understand what negative numbers are. Pretty easy. I'm up to 89% on 7th grade math.

Substitution with negative numbers: Practice substituting positive and negative values for variables.

Day 14, 15, 16 and 17

Secondary Resources: JavaScript on Khan Academy

I finished my fish tank JavaScript project. It draws three fish at specified locations however many times I want it to (currently three times). I've also made it so the eye size, body size and the color of the tail is randomized each time the function is called. You can try it yourself by pressing the restart button below. As a finishing touch I created a function to draw bubbles in random locations and with random sizes within a size parameter I set. This project took me a while to complete!

Spin-off of "Project: Fish Tank"Made using: Khan Academy Computer Science

Math Review

So here is four days worth of math review. I'm now up to 87% in general 7th grade math. Nothing too hard this time below.

Two-step equations with decimals and fractions: Learn how to solve equations that involve decimals and fractions. The equations shown in this video are called "two-step" equations because they each take two steps to solve.

Making predictions with probability: Predict the number of times a spinner will land on an elephant.

Equations for proportional relationships: Learn how to write a proportional equation y=kx where k is the so-called "constant of proportionality".

Find measure of vertical angles: Given two intersecting lines and the measure of vertical angles, watch as we solve to find the measure of the remaining angles.

Languages

French - Keeping up the Duolingo tree gold. I'm just trying not to fall behind.

German - Prepositions 1, Numbers 3 (ordinal numbers)

Spanish - Places 1

Italian - Food 1