Validate and Complete! Catch up! (OCT/29/2010)

Today we had a guest teacher in our classroom. In addition, the student hosts were Tasfia and Prashanth! As I mentioned in my previous blog post, we will be working on our HTML clean-up. in class and for homework, we will be finishing the thirteen selection assignments. These few days have been spent reviewing and finishing outstanding. Although we are not learning much, I feel that it is crucial that I work hard catching up, as I am quite behind with my work due to the cross-country meets and the SLC campaign.

On Monday, Mr. Arkin will return our tests! I believe I made at least one mistake, which is writing "elsif" instead of  simply "else". However, other than that, I am curious to see how else I can improve on my programming.

At the moment, my main goal is to finish the thirteen selection assignments, finish up the HTML clean-up, and get ahead by reading the material on toque.ca that Mr. Arkin has not talked about.

Today we had time to independently review and complete the outstanding homework, which encompasses the thirteen selection assignments. In addition, we had a pop quiz on selection! We were asked to write a program to request two distances in kilometres and then display the largest distance. To be frank, it was not much of a pop quiz since I was expecting it hence the other two classes have already had theirs.

After the quiz, as I mentioned, we had time to finish the selection assignments. According to the daily log, all selection assignments are due on Monday. Unfortunately, I need to do a lot of catching up. I will use the time I have left tonight and tomorrow in class to finish and review the assignments!

A guest teacher will be present tomorrow! Looking forward to a day of reviewing and catching up!

The truth is hard to find with "and"! (OCT/27/2010)

Today we had our review for the first two selection assignments. We learned about the boolean operators: "and", "or", and "not". We also learned about the "If ladders". At first I was a bit confused about the "if ladders" and how we can apply that into the assignments. After I read and studied the "selection" page on touque.ca, I understand it more now.

For homework, we have to finish selection assignments up to #7. This is a lot, but I am determined to finish it since I am already behind in class!

City Championships! (OCT/26/2010)

Today, I missed an entire day of school to attend the City Championships for cross-country. Many people were asking me what place I got. I actually didn't place very high, so I think it was a little bit over one hundred (100). So unfortunately, I did not advance to OFSAA (provincials), because the top 6 individuals and top 4 teams advance to the next round. Therefore my cross-country season is now officially over.

To be frank, I am actually satisfied with my results this season as I did not expect to advance to cities. I joined cross-country, because I have always participated in this sport right before my volleyball season, and it was a great excuse to force myself to wake up in the morning and exercise. Cross-country is one of those sports that don't involve a lot of initial athletic ability to succeed. You just need time, perseverance, and determination. The only true competitor is yourself, as you are the one who will drag yourself to the practices, and the one who will tell your body to keep pushing and running even when you feel like you are on the verge of "dying" (during a race).

I am actually glad this season is over, as I am now mentally and physically exhausted from all the practices and the four meets that I had to attend. Wow! Four meets!

So, I did not attend Computer Science class today, but I contacted Cindy, and she scanned me the notes. I will print it off tomorrow, as the toner for my laser printer is now very low. For now, I will finish this blog and go through the first two "Selection" assignments.

Sleep deprivation issszzz.... (OCT/25/2010)

Today I have to shamefully say that I was late for class. Usually I am late for class, because I was talking to the teacher from the previous class or was waking too slow so I would be a couple of seconds to a minute late. However, this time I had a lame, International Baccalaureate (IB) excuse: I was doing homework. I would not say that this is a legitimate excuse, because no excuse is legitimate for being late. However, I was actually finishing my Geography project up until 3am and woke up at 5am to finish the rest. It was assigned over a week ago, but I was so busy with my Grade 9 rep campaign and other extracurriculars that I completed disregarded this assignment. Unfortunately, I put the "pro" in procrastination.

Anyways, back from my tangent, we learned how to trace the execution of the code by desk checking. I was reading the daily blog and I found that Classes B and C started with the same thing as us, but they advanced and learned a lot more than we did today. Perhaps it was because of the lateness and interruptions today. This fact just makes me even more guilty about being late for class in the morning.

On the bright side, I am happy to say that we are wrapping up our Input assignments and section. Now, we have to start previewing the "Selection" page and assignments.

Colours! Colours! What a wonderful song! (OCT/22/2010)

Colours! Colours! Colours! What a wonderful song! (I was actually going to put these phrases in capital letters, but I realized that it was the incorrect way to emphasize. Time's top 100 most influential people: Mr. Arkin.)

Today in class we learned the pre-defined procedures: colour and colourback. The keyword "colour" changes the colour of the text. "Colourback" changes the background colour of the text. If we want to make the entire background a certain colour, then we will have to clear the screen (with "cls") and change the background colour using the keyword, "colourback".

After we learned about the pre-defined functions: "ord" and "chr". They are used for the same purpose as special character entities in HTML. I always find it interesting when I can relate material from Turing to what we learned in September and beginning of October about web design.

We received the rest of the period to work on our Input assignments. Unfortunately, we didn't have Studio 218, because no one brought in any music. I should really go out and get some legal music. Not solely for Studio 218, but because I don't have many decent, legal music tracks on my mp3. I was thinking of a Glee (fantastic television series) sound track. They have a variety of music in terms of genre and artists, and to be frank, they perform the songs better than the original artists!

Homework for today is simple: finish outstanding Input assignments and of course, the daily log.

Vote for Lisa, because she has super-powers! (OCT/20/2010)

Today we had the elections for Grade 9 rep! Wow! I think it turned out quite well! Many people flagged me down afterwards and told me that they thought my speech was the best and/or they are voting for me! I realize that it sounds like a cheesy politician's line, but even if I do not win, just the thought of my supporters' words of encouragement and praise cheers me up!

After lunch in class, Mr. Arkin notified us that our marks for the super-power autobiography are up. When I was about to check my mark, Mr. Arkin asked me to run down to the staff room to deliver a power cord of some sort. When I returned, some of my classmates told me that I didn't get a mark for my autobiography. "What?!?!" My first instinct was that my mark didn't show, because I received a zero for a some particular reason. Then, when I asked Mr. Arkin, he told me that it was simply an error and he showed me my mark. I am not going to say what it is, but I can say that I was definitely satisfied to some extent. Of course, from the perspective of a stereotypical International Baccalaureate student, it is not a perfect score, but I will take this mark and be happy with it. :)

After Mr. Arkin discussed with us his feedback on the assignment, he gave us the ballots and the class voted! The results will not be up until tomorrow. Of course it is nerve racking, but all I can do is get a good night sleep after one whole week of intense, friendly-competitive campaigning. As I mentioned before, whether I win or lose, the experience I obtained this past week is invaluable!