What started as an attempt to simulate a set of linked but independent visual objects, like chain links, has evolved into an elephants trunk that chases the mouse around the screen. There are many ways this can evolve but here are a few iterations of the “Trunk” as it stands. These are links to the […]
Learning How to Learn
Since embarking on my learning journey, I have come up against apparent limits to my own ability to learn new concepts time and again. This is especially true of some of the more tricky and conceptual aspects of coding in a particular language, and the maths required for some of the AI and Machine learning studies, to the […]
Let Learning Happen
This blog post is part of a graded assignment for the Coursera MOOC, Learning How to Learn. As an older student, or lifelong learner, or simply someone stepping out of your normal trade to learn a knew skill, hobby, language, you may feel your mind is not up to the task, or that frequently the […]
Beechen Bots at FLL OEC, Pamplona
So I have already documented my son’s team’s experience of the UK FLL championships in Loughborough this year, and made a post about the inspiring aura of the FLL OEC championships in Pamplona, Spain. I feel I have to describe the emotional journey of the Beechen Bots’ experience in Pamplona. Day 0 I’ll describe the […]
Robots vs Humans at FLL OEC, Pamplona
Robots or Humans? At the Open European Championships of the First Lego League (FLL OEC) in Pamplona Spain last week, it was definitely the young humans in the lead, while the impressive robots took second place. On the face of it, FLL is a competition in… designing and building a Lego Mindstorms robot to perform […]
Ripples
Been going slightly nuts trying to simulate a ripple effect visually in Processing. Got this far. Not accurate in a true-to-physics way, but close enough to what I was after. I find Processing great for prototyping visuals, but the graphical objects are a little limited so I may try to reproduce this in Paper.JS next. […]
Loving Treehouse Workspaces
As a newbie developer, learning from a number of resources, it is always tricky to tie together learning by reading/watching, following along, and then taking some basic steps into trying things for yourself off-piste. There are so many tools available. I have MAMP running a lot of the time so I can have as much […]
Swishy
Another little Code Everyday project, that looks quite nice. I quite fancy recreating on CSS and JS, but this is written in processing, exported as processing.js. Drag around or click to see the effect. Link to full page version. code below. int dropcount=1000; Drop one=new Drop(10,10,10); Drop[] drops=new Drop[dropcount]; int nowX, nowY; int driftX, […]
Project Euler
Since starting my “code everyday” discipline, one of the problems has been to have a bite-sized objective to focus on; one that I can pick up, think about in a short session, and then code. The point is to hone my problem solving skills, as well as the specifics of coding in whatever language. Sometimes […]
It Ain’t Simple
It strikes me that learning to code combines a large number of skills at the same time. Each is quite specific and separate, and yet the magic of coding comes from employing them all. That’s great, but you cannot learn them that way. you need some focus and separation. Learning to code (in any language) […]