Fun With Coding Part II

Great Places to Start!
http://www.codecademy.com/
http://code.org/
http://www.tynker.com/hour-of-code/
http://www.codeavengers.com/
http://www.codeavengers.com/javascript/17#1.1

The last link will take you to a game. Enjoy!

Fun With Coding

What is coding?

         Coding is what makes it possible for us to create computer software, apps and websites.
The First Programmable Computer
        Colossus was the world's first electronic digital computer that was programmable. The Colossus computers were developed for British code-breakers during World War II to help in the cryptanalysis of the Lorenz cipher.

How it works 

        A computer can only understand two distinct types of data: on and off. In fact, a computer is really just a collection of on/off switches or transistors. Anything that a computer can do is nothing more than a unique combination of some transistors turned on and some transistors turned off. Binary code is the representation of these combinations as 1s and 0s, where each digit represents one transistor. Binary code is grouped into bytes, groups of 8 digits representing 8 transistors.
Programming Languages

         A programming (or coding) language is a set of syntax rules that define how code should be written and formatted. Different languages are designed to be used for different purposes – some are useful for web development, others useful for writing desktop software, others useful for solving scientific and numeric problems. Low-level languages are closer to the binary code a computer understands, while high-level languages bear a lot less resemblance to binary code. High-level languages are easier to program in, because they’re less detailed and designed to be easy for us to write. There are:

• Python
• Javascript
• BASIC
• C
• C++
• COBAL
• FORTRAN
• Ada
• Pascal

Sources:

http://www.codeconquest.com/what-is-coding/how-does-coding-work/
Google Images

Technological Singularity

What is technological singularity?

        Vernor Vinge coined the term "Technological Singularity" or "the Singularity" in 1986 with the publish of his book Marooned in Realtime. The idea was later developed in The Coming Technological Singularity in 1993. He believes that mankind will develop a superhuman intelligence before 2030. "Within thirty years, we will have the technological means to create superhuman intelligence. Shortly after, the human era will be ended. [...] I think it's fair to call this event a singularity. It is a point where our models must be discarded and a new reality rules. As we move closer and closer to this point, it will loom vaster and vaster over human affairs till the notion becomes a commonplace. Yet when it finally happens it may still be a great surprise and a greater unknown." He believes this may happen in four different ways:

• Scientists could develop advancements in artificial intelligence
• Computer networks might somehow become self-aware
• Computer/human interfaces become so advanced that humans essentially evolve into a new species
• Biological science advancements allow humans to physically engineer human intelligence

 Computers tend to double in power every two years or so. This trend is related to Moore's Law, which states that transistors double in power every 18 months. Vinge says that at this rate, it's only a matter of time before humans build a machine that can "think" like a human.

Ray Kurzweil believes that we're approaching a moment when computers will become intelligent, and not just intelligent but more intelligent than humans. When that happens, humanity — our bodies, our minds, our civilization — will be completely and irreversibly transformed. He believes that this moment is not only inevitable but imminent. According to his calculations, the end of human civilization as we know it is about 35 years away. There are a lot of theories about it. Maybe we'll merge with them to become super-intelligent cyborgs, using computers to extend our intellectual abilities the same way that cars and planes extend our physical abilities. Maybe the artificial intelligences will help us treat the effects of old age and prolong our life spans indefinitely. Maybe we'll scan our consciousnesses into computers and live inside them as software, forever, virtually. Maybe the computers will turn on humanity and annihilate us. The one thing all these theories have in common is the transformation of our species into something that is no longer recognizable as such to humanity circa 2011.

Can We Avoid Machines Taking Over?

In 1965 Gordon E. Moore, a semiconductor engineer, proposed what we now call Moore's Law. He noticed that as time passed the price of semiconductor components and manufacturing costs fell. Rather than produce integrated circuits with the same amount of power as earlier ones for half the cost, engineers pushed themselves to pack more transistors on each circuit. The trend became a cycle, which Moore predicted would continue until we hit the physical limits of what we can achieve with integrated circuitry.

Sources:

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2048299,00.html

http://www.singularitysymposium.com/definition-of-singularity.html

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gadgets/high-tech-gadgets/technological-singularity.htm
Google Images

The Learning Experience

       I have finally finished my catapult project and believe it or not, I learned quite a bit! My first model was made completely of wood, with a long arm and a stop. It looked similar (but not the same) to this one.

 It was a complete failure. The ping pong ball went 10 feet.    

Then, I put on a plastic spoon.

          12 ft. Failure for me. I continued to play with the stop and length of the arm, when it occurred to me. Maybe I should try a shorter arm. From there, I took the remainder of the wooden dowel from cutting it, and stuck half of a ping-pong ball onto it to form a bowl. I then attached it to the catapult.

It went about 17 ft. at the most. It seemed like it was too heavy and that the arm did not have enough momentum. So, I took off the dowel/arm thing and put on a smaller and shorter spoon. This one had a plastic scoop that had a bowl shape. 

          The only problem: it shot the ball down, so that it did not have much of an arch. I took that off and decided to go with a regular soup spoon. This was my final design.

         My ping pong ball has an average flight of about 23 ft. and it is working really well. It seems to have the perfect ratio of arch to distance. 

Overall, I learned a few basic points:

-shorter arm= more distance, less arch

-add a tail to keep the back of mousetrap from messing up trajectory

-stop do not always work

-fancier is not necessarily better!

I had a lot of fun with this project!

Catapult Pun

History Of All Catapults...Ever. (Part 2)

      So, my mom's last name is Bothwell. You may be wondering what this has to do with catapults. Well, as a matter of fact, Bothwell is what it has to do with catapults. One of the most famous sieges in which catapults were used, was the 1301 Great Siege of Bothwell Castle in Scotland. Edward I of England besieged the castle more than a couple times with a force of nearly 7,000 and with the help of several catapults. The siege lasted for about 3 weeks and much of the castle was damaged. After, the castle switched possession a few more times before finally resting with England.

Works Cited:

Google Images

http://www.midrealm.org/mkyouth/links/catapults.htm

http://www.historvius.com/bothwell-castle-1175/

History Of All Catapults...Ever. (Part 1)

          Ok, so the first thing to know about catapults is: What is it? The definition of a catapult (according to Merriam-Webster's dictionary) is a military device used to launch missiles. Generally, it is a mechanism that is designed to store energy and then quickly release it in the form of potential energy to fire a projectile. Drawings of catapults existed in China around 3rd and 4th century BC. They were designed a lot like a crossbow and were about 8 feet tall. The first catapult, however, was invented around 400 BC in Syracuse, Greece. It was called the Gastraphete, was pointed at the ground, and it was very difficult to set and fire. The Greeks were immediately impressed with its ability to destroy and created a bigger version called the Ballista. Hoping for greater efficiency, they added cranks on the end. This way they could be operated by only one or two men, while the others fought. The Ballista was a great success. Later, in the Middle Ages, something called a trebuchet was created. Instead of using tension or a spring as the power source, the trebuchet used gravity and weights to launch the projectile. Speaking of, there are four different sources of power for a catapult: tension, torsion, traction, and gravity. Catapults that used tension, had a long throwing arm, so that when the arm was brought back for launch, the arm would not break. Torsion-powered devices used a crank to move the arm back for launch. Catapults that were traction-powered, such as a trebuchet, used a person as the power source. The arm would be horizontal with the opposite end up in the air and the projectile end towards the ground. Then, the men would bring down the opposite end and release the projectile. As for the one powered by gravity, a counterweight was built into the other side of the arm opposite the projectile. When the projectile side was released, the counterweight would pull the other end down sending the projectile flying.
         Today, catapults are not really used anymore, but in their time, catapults were a revolutionary weapon!