In which Pearl forgets...again.

Ah!! Gomen nasai, minna-sama! *bows down repeatedly*
I totally forgot about this blog entry... Please forgive me...
My excuse? Er, well, you see... After school I went to Fairview for a reunion with my classmates (it was a failure, though, because barely anyone showed up). Then I had a headache so I went home. I got home at around four-ish and went straight to bed. Now, uh, I...didn't wake up until...11:30 PM, when my mom was getting ready for bed. She told me to go to sleep, so I did. I woke up at...2 PM the next day. So you see...I didn't even go on the computer for the past three days. I guess I was suffering from sleep deprivation. The past week...I barely got a day of sleep.

So, Friday was the last day of school before Winter Break. It was a half day, so classes were only 45 minutes long. Because of this drastically shortened day (and most likely the fact that it's the last day of school), teachers decided to put away the old teaching handbook (I'm guessing here) and have a relaxed class. In my English and Science classes, we had a small party and conversed with each other. In my French class, Mr. Vretranos gave us a little talk (nothing serious) and we got the rest of the period to chat with our friends.

In ICS, Mr. Arkin gave us another work period. Zarin-dono and I worked on the "Window Edge-Tracer" program. I figured out why the rectangle wasn't going to the last row - it was because I hadn't used the dot-dot option after my put CHARACTER statement. And lo and behold! It was fixed and working perfectly!Until...

Mr. Arkin told Zarin that our if statements should be separate. However, when I did that, the rectangle did not go to the corners of the run window. I need to fix that glitch, and I'm planning to do so over the break.

---This next part does not pertain to computer science at all, so you don't have to read it---

I admit it. The pain of staying away from anime, manga and video games has finally caught up to me, and I'm facing withdrawal symptoms. The past week, because I've been working so hard on editing people's essays and doing my own; as well as the homework from other subjects, I didn't get to read one fanfic, one manga, one doujinshi... I didn't get to watch one crime show (other than Hawaii Five-O, and that was on Monday), one anime... I didn't even get to draw, for goodness' sakes! And my DS had been broken since August...August!!! So...I admit to "binging" on these things, as well as sleep for the past three days. *smile*
I believe that the aforementioned factors have also made me quite irritable and grumpy, too.

Nevertheless, I have recovered! Now I'm off to look for an old video game that will work on a PC, so I can cure that video game withdrawal! Oh, and I need to write a Christmas-themed fic as well~ I have a pretty good idea. It's fluff. Fluff for the holidays~
(And Zarin-dono, don't worry, I have a good idea for your Sebby/Ciel fic too~)

Anyways, have a great Winter Break, minna-san~!

Merri Kurisumasu! (Merry Christmas!) Happy Hannukah (though I believe that it has passed)! Happy Diwali! And Happy Holidays!




Image belongs to Owaranai Kiss.
Saber and Fate/Stay Night (c) Type-Moon

 

In which Pearl regains her pep

Konbanwa, minna-sama!
Hm. "Pep" is a bit outdated, isn't it? Oh well. Anyways, as the titles suggests, I was actually alive today! It's strange, though, because I only got four hours of sleep last night/this morning. (But hey! I got the last hour of sleep after I finished my French test second period!)

Today I got my "Follow the Bounce" code fixed (thanks to Nicole), and completed my "Window Edge-Tracer" code. I need to fix a small glitch on the latter, but otherwise I'm done!

That....is all I have to say. I'm in the middle of editing a friend's essay right now, so I'm keeping this short.

Tomorrow is the last day of school before winter break! Ha...I can finally catch up on my sleep...

In which Pearl struggles to write a code

Konbanwa, minna-sama.

As usual, I'm feeling very tired and lethargic. Add in some stress because the majority of my classes are "behind" the other Grade 9 Pre-IB classes of said subject, and you have the perfect formula for exhaustion. If it's possible to get more than 7 hours of sleep a night in the next few days, I'd like to take advantage of that. Otherwise I might really fall asleep in Science. (And no, I absolutely cannot afford that!)

I think my overall average went down a lot, and it's got me worried. I already knew that my Science mark would drop, I just didn't expect it to drop so much. I'm even dropping in ICS, and I feel horrible, especially after Mr. Arkin gave his speech about expecting us to get over 80% on the recent programming test. I made stupid mistakes...very stupid mistakes...

Anyways, today we continued working on the "Follow the Bounce" program. Last night (this morning?), I had gotten a large part of it done. The only problem was that there were (I'm exaggerating here) a million loops, so that even I got confused - and I was the one who wrote the thing! So, yes, when Randi came over and told Zarin and I that the program only needed to consist of one loop...I...cried. All my hard work, gone! Well, it's nothing to lose sleep over.

By the end of the period, I had gotten a pretty good idea of how to do it. Of course, that included a ton of desk checking (in my head, because it would take too long to do it on paper) and tracing the execution (with the computer). Now, I only need to fix a little glitch and it'll be perfect! Of course, I could never have gotten this far without help! Thank you to everyone who helped me, you know who you are!

I really like this program (staring at it is fun!), so I'm going to create an executable for it. I want to send it to my mom so she can see it (and maybe even show it off to her colleagues at work). Teehee.

For homework, I need to start on the "Window-edge Tracker" program. I have a pretty good idea about how to do it, but I don't want to spend an excessive period of time on it, since I have a big essay for English that I need to finish. I also agreed to editing Zarin-dono's essay (and I'm perfectly happy doing so - I don't mind at all)!

So, I'm off to work now.
Mata ashita, minna-sama!

In which Pearl is in a bad mood

Konbanwa, minna-sama.
I'm really not in a good mood today. I think...school has made me very irritable, impatient and short-tempered. I mean, today I blew up at Zarin-dono for no good reason (and I felt really bad after, even if I didn't show it). Mr. Arkin even thought I said the F-word, when I was just saying "function", and I'm not afraid to admit that I felt annoyed at that (which put a damper in my mood, and that was just second period!). For Goodness' sakes, if it wasn't clear before, I will never swear at anyone - especially my good friends! But I must also admit that I felt bad after raising my voice, specifically because I didn't even argue something correct.

Anyways, we did our Test Review today, and we got back our tests. I am extremely disappointed with my mark - it dropped dramatically from what I got on the last test. I think the problem was that I only covered very basic, simple ideas (even though I made sure I knew and understood everything on the Skills Inventory), and the questions on the test went a bit further than what I bothered to study. However, I will not say that it was unfair, because I believe that Mr. Arkin actually gave me more marks than I deserve (and I won't argue with him on that)! And so... Thank you very much, Mr. Arkin!

After he handed us our tests back (and yes, we had to get them signed), he showed us some simple animations. The program we have to write tonight is actually really fun to watch. I'm not sure how to describe it, but when I manage to figure out how to write the code, I will create an executable for it so I can show my friends on their computers. (Ha, yes, it would be something I'm proud of; and yes, I love watching those kinds of animations.) Oh, yes! Mr. Arkin taught us how to create executeables today as well. It's actually very simple: all you have to do is click on "Generate Stand-Alone Program" under "Run" on the menu.

I started on said program in class, but it's not done yet and I still need to fix a certain glitch. I actually got home at around 5:30 PM, and have been editing a friend's essay since then. Yes, I take editing very seriously and I make special care not to explicitly say "You must do this!" Hopefully he takes the time to read the comments I made - I explained all of my edits - and took them into consideration.

Right. Until tomorrow, everyone~

In which Pearl suffers from embarrasment

Konbanwa, minna-sama.

I'm feeling tired and lethargic, as usual. I think I'm getting more and more irritable as the months progress; and by doing so, I'm annoying my friends, family and acquaintances/colleagues. Hopefully the Winter Break will allow me to recover. Only one more week! And the countdown to Winter Break begins...

Today we had our second programming test. There were a few people who were spazzing out because Mr. Arkin never told us when the exact date of said test was, only that it was (and I quote from the Daily Log) "On the week of 13 December". I actually found out second period, because my class (homeroom) was right next to the Lab in which I have ICS. Personally, I was more worried about other subjects like Science and English. (See, I have a lot of trouble with the former, and a huge essay is due this week for the latter.)

I thought that test itself was pretty easy. There were only two questions that I had difficulty with, and I had figured out one of them in due time. That one was the first question on the back, where you had to write what would be displayed on the run window. At one point, the code said something like this:

p := anchor
s := website

p (index (s, "s"))

I was incredibly confused, because I had focused directly on the second part of this...um...statement. I actually thought the correct output for this part of the statement was "4" (because 's' was the fourth letter of "s" [the string]). Then, when I went over it again, I realized that I had to put the fourth letter of "p" [the string], which was h. I'm glad I figured that out!

The other problem I had was with Question 3, which I'm positive I got wrong. I know a function is a subprogram that returns a value; and a procedure is a subprogram that performs a defined task. However... I'm not sure about when it is legal to call them.

Now... Mr. Arkin had told us that we cannot hand in our test in the last five minutes, so when he called out "five minutes left", I started to panic. But... no one else handed it in yet, so I assumed that I should get up and give it to Mr. Arkin. His response to my getting of the chair: "Sit". *cries tears of embarrassment*

*ahem* Yes, well, anyways! After the test, he gave us an introduction to graphics. I think it's in preparation for culminating... *spazzes out* I...really need that break.

That's all for today! Until tomorrow~!

In which we achieve our goal!

Konbanwa, minna-san~
I think I was still "drunk" from International Night this morning. Heh, not even. I was "drunk" the entire day. I'm going to sneak in a fangirl moment here and say "Oh my God, the Korean groups were so awesome!!!" (Y'know, I'd replace "awesome" with another word [that starts with "h" *wink*] but it's probably not a good idea to say that here.) Ha, now I have renewed respect for Asian boy bands. *cue fangirl squeal* The song's still stuck in my head: Again and again and again and again...

On the other hand, I'm exhausted. After I got home and ate dinner (yes, I get home almost right before dinnertime) I went to sleep. I woke up at 9:30 PM, mentally kicking myself for not writing my blog first. Then again, the minute I go on the computer I won't be able to get off of it for a while. So, yep, that's why I'm doing it now.

*cough cough* Anyways!
Today was the last day we had to review programming in our groups. As I mentioned in the blog title, I think we achieved our goal. My group went over all the Programming Concepts noted on the handout Mr. Arkin gave us quite a while ago. I made sure I understood everything there, and if there was anyone who needed something to be explained to them, I tried to help. (Hopefully they understood after my efforts!)

I love helping others. *smile* I want to be an elementary school teacher, so it's actually helping me prepare for the "challenge" as well.

On another note, I need to start preparing for exams and culminating. Over the break, I plan on taking all my binders home and creating study guides for each one of my subjects, especially Science. Hah... That's what made me "sober". Mr. Pourkhatai returned out Ecology tests today after school, and I got a...horrible mark that will undoubtedly bring down my average.

Dakedo...oyasumi, minna-san!

---

Translation: So...good night, everyone!

P.S. For anyone that's interested, there's a Japanese boy band called NewS (also, NEWS, News) that's actually good. Sorry, I used to hate boy bands in general because they sang about...fickle concepts. Like love. (Dear God, I must sound morbid now.) But yeah, they sang for the seventh One Piece movie. It's called "Sayaendo". The translation's cute.

In which we review programming in groups

Kon'ichiwa, minna-san~!
Tonight was International Night, so Zarin-dono and I stayed at Maryvale library (at Parkway Mall) until around 5:30, when we walked back [to school]. (God, it was cold!)
Anyways, the entire show (concert?) was amazing! I'm so glad I decided to go. *smile*

Last night, Zarin-dono and I went through the Skills Inventory, briefly going over certain aspects of it and taking note of the concepts we didn't understand.

Anyways, yesterday I mentioned that we got into groups to help each other catch up/fully understand programming, right? We continued doing that today!

It was sort of funny, because I had no idea that there were two kinds of loops. When Mr. Arkin and Zelin tried to explain it to me, I got even more confused, and was like "ne?" *cue cute head tilt*
But eventually I understood! And when I did, I felt extremely stupid.

I think that my group made good progress today! We're going to continue doing that tomorrow. By Monday, I'm sure my group and I will be "Level  4" Computer Science students!

In which we learn about procedures

Konbanwa, minna-san!
I...get obsessed with different series very easily. Sometimes my love for a certain series dies out. (For example, I used to adore Hot Gimmick, but now it's...meh. It's not like I don't love it anymore (I mean - who can resist Ryoki-sama? *wink/fangirl squeal*), but it's just not as important to me.) But at other times, I will continue to love that series forever and ever... Like Inuyasha. I started watching it, what, six...years ago? I still adore it. And FullMetal Alchemist, which I started watching at around the same time. Of course, I absolutely cannot forget Detective Conan/Case Closed~! I'm a huge mystery/detective fan, so I love this one. Right now, I love Durarara!! It has a really unique/amazing/epic/addictive storyline and even more unique/amazing/epic/addictive characters. I don't want to stop loving it...



From left: Izaya Orihara, Anri Sonohara, Mikado Ryuugamine, Masomi Kida, Shinra Kishitani, Shizuo Heiwajima. The figure in the moon is Celty Sturlson, a dullhan.
Durarara!! (c) Ryohgo Narita

 Ah, but these are simply the ramblings of a crazy fangirl/writer. To get back on topic...

According to my Programming Glossary, a procedure is a subprogram that performs a defined task. It is very similar to a function. However, a procedure does not have a result (because it's not returning a value) and it can have zero or more arguments. An example of a procedure with zero arguments looks like this:

procedure sayHello
     put "Hello!"
end sayHello

sayHello

This code outputs "Hello!"
However, you can "upgrade" it, using an argument. This code will output "Hello, Shizu-chan!"

procedure greetUser (greeting : string, userName : string)
     put greeting + ", " + userName + "!"
end greetUser

greetUser ("Hello", "Shizu-chan")

Simple, ne? *smile*
Of course, if this was Izaya-kun speaking, Shizu-chan would say: "Get out of Ikebukuro!!!"
D'awws, we love you, Shizu-chan~

You can also ask the user to give you the greeting and name. However, then you must make greeting and userName variables (within the procedure, if that makes sense).

procedure greetUser (var greeting : string, var userName : string)
     put greeting + ", " + userName + "!"
end greetUser

var greeting : string
var userName : string

put "Greeting? " ..
get greeting : *

put "Name? " ..
get userName

greetUser (greeting, userName)

Got it? *smiles again*

Well, I hope that explanation was plausible. I'm generally horrible at explanations (and you wonder how I'll ever become a teacher).

Anyways, after we were taught how to create a procedure, we evaluated ourselves on our understanding of programming. Then we got into groups based on our evaluation. By Friday, Mr. Arkin wants us to fully understand all the concepts of programming! With a bit of work, I'm sure we can do it~!

Ganbatte, minna-san~!

In which we learn about functions

Konbanwa, minna-san~!
I'm so tired... Luckily, I don't have a lot of homework tonight. I'm going to draw: something I haven't done in a long time. I need to improve my skills. See, one day, I want to draw a manga. Nothing too long - it'll be a oneshot. I already have a few ideas floating around in my head, but I don't want to get into them here...

So, as the title of this blog post mentions, we learnt about functions today. If you take a look at my Programming Glossary, you'll see that the definition of a function is "a subprogram which returns a value". The actual structure of a function is actually quite simple. Take this for example:

function sum (integer1 : int, integer2 : int) : int
     result integer1 + integer2
end sum

put sum (1, 2)

The program above will output the sum of 1 and 2, which is 3.

It is basically saying that sum will return the sum of two integers. integer1 and integer2 are parameters, and the : ints mean that those two parameters will hold integers. Parameters only exist locally, which means that they only exist inside the function body.

The last : int means that the datatype that sum returns must be an integer.
All function bodies must have at least one statement: the result statement.

Personally, I'm still a little confused about all this, but I'm sure I'll understand with time. I'm not a very fast learner, but with trials and tribulations (ha, did anyone catch the Phoenix Wright reference I made there? *wink*) I manage to "get" the concept with time.

For homework, I have to figure out how the nextConsonant function should look like, and modify some substring assignments so they have functions in them. Derr.

On an ending note (and no, this has absolutely nothing to do with computer science, but I really want to say this)...
If you haven't heard "Every Time You Kissed Me" by Emily Bindiger, go listen to it now!!! It's from an anime called Pandora Hearts, and it's a very pretty song. I happened to stumble on it by accident, when I found a piano instrumental cover for another song on YouTube. I went to the uploader's channel, and he decided to take a look at this song.
One day, I'd like to do a cover for this song...

Anyways!
Oyasumi, to mata ashita, minna-sama!

---

Translation:
Good night, and see you tomorrow, everyone!

In which Mr. Arkin returns!

Welcome back, Mr. Arkin!

You see, our (very much missed) teacher had been absent the previous week (Yes, all five days of school!) However, we have been working hard on our Substring Assignments. With Zarin-dono's (much-appreciated) help, I had completed all of them by Friday! (Thank goodness, because I slept in on Saturday and I went to a Christmas party on Sunday.)

So, today was an extremely shortened day. There was an early dismissal: school ended at noon! Because Mr. Arkin was away last week, he wanted to show us model answers for the Substring Assignments. Besides, we were expected to complete all of them and have all the codes printed out by today. It was sort of funny, because he showed us a model answer for Assignment #1, then realized that he hadn't taught us the for keyword yet.

And so, the lesson was postponed for another lesson: the for loop. There are times in which a programmer wants to repeat a loop a certain amount of time. In the event that he or she needs to do this, the for loop is used. (I was frustrated, because I could have used this when I was writing the Substring Assignments, and it would've saved me a lot of time.)

Here is the basic structure of a for loop

for control_variable : startValue .. endValue
     put value
end for

The control_variable will increment itself by one starting from the startValue, and it will stop when the control_variable is greater than the endValue.
The control variable is not declared - the computer declares and initializes it for you.

Simple, ne? *smile*

And that was pretty much all we got to do today!

Oh, and now it's "shameless self-promotion time"!
I wrote a poem!
It's up on my Fanfiction account because it can be linked to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. (Actually, it is based on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.)
And while you're there, please check out my other stuff, too~! (I got flamed twice in two weeks, so I've been feeling pretty down. Now, if those people had told me what I could improve on, it might not have hit me so hard. See, I'm very serious when it comes to my writing: I want to become an author when I grow up. So if there's anything you guys see that I could improve on...please tell me!)

Arigatou gozaimasu, minna-san~
Mata ashita!

---

Translation:
Thank you very much, everyone~
See you tomorrow!

In which Pearl swallows her pride

Before I do anything else, I'd like to apologize for being so pessimistic and depressing in my previous blog post. I was feeling very frustrated (at myself) for not being able to finish the last two Substring Assignments (23 and 24). And, well, I tend to lash out at everyone when I get pissed off, even if the person (or persons, in this case) didn't do anything. I have my anger under control more often than not, but lots of things factored into last night, so, again, I apologize for my behaviour. *bows down*

Ah, pride. If I haven't told you before, it's the sin that I'm guilty of possessing. If I am forced to ask for help on a subject that I am good at, my pride takes a blow. And I become bitter. So, I apologize to anyone I seemed angry/annoyed at.

From the left: Pride & Alphonse Elric from FullMetal Alchemist.
Pride is one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Although he takes the form of a little boy, he can heavily damage Al, an experienced fighter very much bigger in stature than him. (Al's soul is in the metal suit because of an alchemic incident explained at the start if the series).
Disclaimer: FullMetal Alchemist belongs to Hiromu Arakawa. This picture was found here.

As for what happened in class today:

In essence, I finished the last two questions which frustrated me so much with the much-appreciated help from Zarin-dono. She let me take a look at her code, and asked me to explain it to her so I was sure I understood what was happening instead of simply copying the code. Arigato gozaimasu, Zarin-dono!

Mr. Arkin was absent yet again! When I first heard about this in the morning (before class started), I got extremely angry because I had a breakdown last night, not being able to finish the last two questions. (That, accompanied by my mother's constant scolding - "Why don't you work harder? Then you might actually  be able to finish it before midnight!" [Dear God, can't you see I'm doing as much as I can?] - just made me crumble.) I had so dearly wanted to show him that I could finish all the assignments, nevertheless with some help.

On the other hand, that meant that we didn't have a substring quiz today. Mr. Arkin has not mentioned when it will take place, but the Programming test is next week, so I'm not even sure if it'll even happen.

To end, I'd just like to say: "Get well soon, Mr. Arkin!"

Have a great weekend, minna-sama!
Oyasumi nasai!

P.S. I'm going to a Christmas party on Sunday, so if you need to reach me, make sure you call on Saturday. (Then again, I tend to use the weekend to catch up on my sleep, so don't expect me to be awake until the afternoon.)

In which Pearl gets extremely frustrated

Over the past few days, I've gotten less than 24 hours of sleep. And so, if you find me to be irritable or sound annoyed, please excuse my behaviour. I'm actually extremely stressed out, on the verge of exhaustion. It happened once before, back in Grade 8. Every waking moment felt like a living hell, and I could barely keep awake even if I'd gotten 10 hours of sleep the night before. It took all my energy to walk, too. So, if you find me sleeping during my spare time (or even in class...), you know why.

Today I made sure all my assignments were correct. When I got home, I started working on Assignments 20+. I got stuck on Assignment 23, so I ate dinner and took a bath. When I returned back to the computer, I was a bit more clear on what to do. Unfortunately, I've been working on it since 9:30 PM and I'm still not done. (It's pretty much midnight now) Hopefully I'll get a bit more done, then I have to finish my English.

Tomorrow is the substrings quiz. Wish me luck!

In which Pearl tries to simplify her codes

Argh! I'm going to keep this short, because I have yet to start my lab report, which is due tomorrow. My fault, I spent way too much time reading that White Pine book. Which reminds me, if any of you have any time, go to the (public) library and look for Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay. It's really good - I couldn't stop reading...until my friend, Keshini, called me. Yup.

We had a Spirit Assembly this morning! It didn't cut into this class, though. The X-Country team had to run out three times... Not that I mind.

Mr. Arkin was away again today - apparently he'll be back on Friday. I feel frustrated, because I still don't really understand the concept of substrings, and we're having a substring quiz on Friday.

I worked on simplifying my codes for Assignment 8 and 10 today. Unfortunately, it took the entire period for me to figure out how to do it. I feel pathetic.

That's pretty much it. In order to avoid writing out my science lab report, I'm going to finish a few more assignments now.

Oyasumi, minna-san!