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 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!

In which we learn how to add colour to programs

I realize...I'm going to miss five days of school this month. I was already absent for three days, all for X-Country meets. Then on Tuesday next week, I'll be away for Metros (also X-Country) and on Thursday of next week, the Grade 9 science classes will be going to Rouge Valley.
Now that I think about it, there's also a possibility that I'll miss school on November 3rd for Take Your Kids to Work Day.

Oh, and this is completely off-topic, but: in class today, after Zarin told me what happened to her, I realized that my chances of getting hit by a car are higher when I'm sleepy. For example, there was a time when I almost got hit by a car twice in the same day.
I space out when I'm tired.

Going back to the topic of Computer Science...

Today we learnt how to change the text and background colour in the run window, for Turing. There are two keywords we can use: colour, which changes the text colour; and colourback, which changes the run window's background colour. I have yet to experiment with these keywords, but I plan on doing so over the weekend.

We also learnt how to put in special characters. (And this is where ASCII comes in!) There are two keywords that we use: ord, which stands for ordinal; and chr, which stands for character.
For example, if you want to put the capital letter "A", you can write either one of these programs:

#1:
put ord ("A")

#2:
put chr (65)

And...I guess that's it. I've been listening to Canterella by Kaito Shion (one of the Vocaloids - computer-generated voices) for the past hour. I love that song!
I'll shut up before I start fangirling about Kaito.

Ja ne~!

X-Country meet

I feel like I didn't push myself today. For X-country, I mean.
Nevertheless, it's just a qualifier and I had fun running. *smile*

So, yes, because of the X-Country meet, I missed the better part of today's class. Well...I got some definitions copied down, but I need someone (Zarin! ...please? *puppy-dog eyes*) to give me the rest of the notes.

...I'm missing Criminal Minds right now. *cries*

Okay! Well...um, I never knew that "concatenation operator" meant "+". I tried guessing last night, and I wrote down "addition operator".
Hey, at least I got half of it right! *sweat*

On another note, I finished the homework without any problems!
To tell you the truth, it was easier than I thought it would be. I actually had fun doing Step 2 of Assignment 2. I love ASCII art~

Okay! I'm going to see if I can catch the last half of Criminal Minds now.

Ja ne~!

And I go back to being a "detective"

Oh, yes, another day where I got extremely hyper. And that email from the PP Lit section just boosted my happiness a few more levels! *dances around in joy*

Anyways, today's class was really fun - and tiring at the same time. Mr. Arkin gave us a worksheet on binary code. I loved trying to figure out which character is which. I always loved trying to solve codes - I had dreamed of being a spy or secret agent when I grew up, or a detective. So, naturally, I learnt as many codes as I could.

As soon as I finished the worksheet (which was, to my surprise, relatively fast), I went to my computer to find Mr. Arkin's last blog entry. It was completely written in binary code! Nevertheless, I always enjoy a challenge: especially if it's this fun and exciting!

I finished decoding it a few minutes ago. I desperately want to post the translation up here, but I won't. Because I'm a good girl~!

All in all, today's class was really fun and relaxing. It sparked my old desire to be a detective, and gave me a nostalgic feeling. I think I'm pretty familiar with binary code now. :)

01010100 01101011 01100100 01100001 01111001 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110011 00100000 01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100010 01100101 01110011 01010100 00100000 01100011 01101100 01100001 01110011 01110011 00100000 01110011 01101011 00100000 01100110 01100001 01110010 00100001