Fin

Wow, it's hard to believe this is the end. Tomorrow, all my materials will be turned in, and this journal will be done. It's been a good (and bad sometimes) 16 weeks. My narrative is done, and I plan to spend the afternoon writing my research commentary and eating frozen yogurt, then heading to Kinko's to print all my materials. What was once a daunting task now seems manageable, and I can see the light at the end of the year (ha, I'm punny). Even my presentation doesn't seem so scary now, just because I realized while writing my narrative that I have so much to talk about, because so much has happened and it's been such a learning experience. Also I kind of just want to brag about what I've managed to do, because to me, programming is pretty much the coolest thing in the world. It's been good, WISE. :)

Overwhelmed

You'd think as the year was winding down, I'd have more time to relax. But no. I'm swamped with work and it's completely overwhelming. So, once again taking my mentor's advice, I've made a to do list for the week. 11/14 of the things have to be done by Tuesday. Help.

Sample Presentation

Last week, we got to see a very brave student, Luke, present his project in front of basically everyone. This was really cool, because I had no idea what a presentation should look at. From his presentation, I got a lot of insight into what I could add into my presentation. I'd like to borrow his idea of going into the history. This would definitely add resources to my lacking bibliography, and also add something that wouldn't be present elsewhere - journal, narrative.
I think the strongest part of his presentation was his confidence, and that the part I'm most jealous of. I don't have that ability to speak with such certainty, and it really made his presentation bold and interesting.
Differently, I think I'll focus less on a PowerPoint and maybe more on my website itself and the code as my visual aid.

Switching Gears (For real this time)

Commenting is done! DONE DONE DONE. Most people probably won't understand how exciting this is for me, but it's really exciting. I just zipped up all the files and sent them off to my wonderful, amazing sister who said she would look into the two problems I've been unable to solve. Now, with my presentation in less than two weeks from to day, it's time for me to switch my focus to preparation. First step will be to get all the documents done, since those are kind of due in, oh, six days... then I'm going to have to majorly focus on practicing my presentation so that I don't completely freeze up. It'll be fun.

Commenting Commenting Commenting

Argggg. That's about all I have to say. I'm so tired of commenting (even if I made the comment font purple so it's super pretty). I also don't really know the rules of commenting - I had to look up whether or not I should comment my html (I shouldn't. YAAAAY. One less thing). I'm almost done, though, just like 400 more lines of code to go through. Then I can send it off to some super smart person who can solve all my problems while I try and pull together a presentation that won't just be stuttering. Ha. Well, I can hope, at least.

Listening to Your Coaches

I have a hard time taking advice from people I don't know. It's not so bad when someone I'm close to offers a suggestion, but when it's someone I hardly know, I often feel like they're being almost condescending about the way I choose to go about things. I've mentioned this in a earlier post - it bothers me when people tell me all things I could have done better, especially when I put in so much work getting to where I am. I'm not a "natural" programmer - I'm not one of those kids who have been writing code since they could read. I only stumbled upon this whole field a couple years ago. That being said, it also means I do need a lot of help, because I am new at all this. I guess it's just important that I take everything with an open mind, like the article said. I'm not quite at the point where I can easily filter good advice from bad advice, but I need to get there.

Comments

Following on one of my previous entries, where I mentioned how I wish I had commented my code as I was going so that I knew what it actually did, I now have another reason to kick myself over my laziness. I have a couple of problems that I'm completely stumped on, and have been for a good week or two. As the end of the year comes closer and closer, that becomes more of an issue. My sister has been MIA - she got really sick, and as she recovers has to focus on catching up on her own work, so she's too busy to help me. My dad's been looking to see if one of his students would be able to help me out, since it's on such a deadline at this point. Unfortunately, bringing in a new person would be a hassle - especially given the state of my code. Only maybe a fifth, possibly a fourth of it is commented, and it's pretty convoluted. Even someone who knows loads about programming would have trouble understanding it. I really need the help though, so I guess this week isn't going to be about preparing for my presentation, but actually going on a commenting spree. I really wish I'd listened to my Computer Science teacher now when he said that we should always comment everything!