Over the semester we covered a variety of topics that covers the bulk of the computer science field. I found these topics to be very interesting and have plenty of valuable information that anyone getting into the field should know or at-least have some experience in. The things learned in this class also gave me a bunch of area of ideals I can expand on and help me find what I will love to work on in the future.

During the class the teacher told us that we would not have a textbook instead, our course content was covered from a comic book, created by our teacher… sounded odd at the time, but when I started reading the chapters and listening to his lectures I found out that there is a lot of information here. With the comic books, I felt that I learnt a lot more important information than I would have with a textbook cutting out some things but being more stimulating.

Not to brag to much about the class, but during the short time period we had together I wanted it to be longer. Learning more topics and gaining more information, but too bad it was only so long. But I found out that I love to produce things. Creating things with my own hands (digitally or not) seems to give me gratitude for what we use every day. It feels great being able to say, “hey i made that” or “I understand more about how that product works…lets try to make it better!.”

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I do not participate in a virtual world but i have played inside one before and i must add that it is crazy how large they have grown sense. I do however play some older games such as the PS2 and Nintendo DS.

I find video games to be a  relaxing hobby (when i do play) and they are a great way to interact with friends in a different way altogether. I have a friend that i play first gen Pokemon with regularly and as basic and old as the game may be we have found all sorts of hidden structures that will enhance our Pokemon teams to the max. We call this competitive Pokemon battling.

For more info check out this website.http://www.smogon.com/

But i rely dont see any cons about this other than the fact that there is other things we could find to do but more rewarding in the long run because we have something to show all of the work we have put into our teams catching the best Pokemon available and speeding forever collecting “secret” experience points that most users would not know about.

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Artificial intelligence has me thinking about the future and what it may hold.

I believe that in the future more and more intelligent computers and robotics will be used in every-day life. From devices used at home to make things easier to medical science that will wow everyone.This is already starting to show with the roomba that actually helps clean floors. I also see a lot of articles presenting robot products that are either being tested or in the selling phase for construction or government facilities such as prisons.

Prison robot: Worlds first robot prison guard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM9BJjjLU9U

Also check this out… It is an actual hologram performance of Tupac. Will the music industry change also?

Who knows….but i do think a lot of amazing things are to come.

Also working with robots was fun this week. Our group was able to program the robot to drive its-self by adding a bump switch that told the robot to change directions and move around the room without human help.

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Honestly, before this week started i thought that robots still consisted of basic motor controls. After seeing all of the videos and playing with the mind storm robot, my view changed completely Robots are so advanced we can even find ways for them to portray emotion. One day we as humans may even be able to learn from how robots operate because it is obvious that robots will advance beyond our own motor skills. I just hope robots will stay on our side.

Besides that the logo robots were a lot of fun. Being able to design the logos however we wanted and getting a chance to program in basic functions rely gave me an inside look on how much work is gone into this hobby/ industry. Maybe ill take one in as a side project one day.

Check out this high speed bot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW-JmMbyWm0&feature=related

One more thought, i believe robots will also become way more accepted and used. Maybe not in our personal homes just yet but its obvious that the military has been using robotic technolgies in iraq. Lets just hope its not used in the wrong way.

Example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQIMGV5vtd4

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After learning about computer security and hacking i was astonished. Hacking actually made the computer industry develop the way it is now. In fact, if it was not for hacking it may not be the same at all. On-top of that its amazing how non difficult it is to get someones information.

I belie that everyone should at least know the basics about computer hacking. If everyone was to be a little bit more knowledgeable in this area everyone would have a better chance of having a secure PC life.

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After playing around with scratch for a few hours i started to gain respect for game developers. As much of a creative vent it is the work behind putting together is fun but seems like it could be stressful. With that said i am  glad i got to experience scratch i will use it for a creative vent.

As for Randy push… He is something else all i can rely say is thanks for the video it is very inspiring and may change how i see a lot of things from now on. It only makes me wish I knew the man sooner.

It took a while but here it is…… http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/xxtdot/2420504

This is my first video game ever and i must say it was pretty fun to make. Of corse there is still some things id like to do to it but cutting out chars was fun.

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When i was younger my dad showed me how to create my first webpage. Sense then being a web page developer has been very interesting.This assignment is the most interesting so far and i think it will be the most fun.

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To me the ALS (Assembly Language Simulator), is interesting. By using the program i was able to see how numbers are compiled and added into RAM and other various components of the computer.

As for the entire first part of the semester, I am able to understand how all of the basic components of the computer work together creating a very valuable tool used world wide.It is very astonishing to see how much the human race actually depends on the invention. With that said our instructor has done a great deal of work being sure every bit of information taught is shown in some shape or form which makes understanding concepts a lot easier than just reading a book.

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ATX computer build

For this blog post I decided to create a home media pc with lots of storage. I will not list a monitor because it will be hooked up to a home TV. I also already own a wireless keyboard and mouse so find it pointless to buy a second set.

OS) Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit – OEM $99.99

Case) Antec Sonata III 500 Quiet Super Mid Tower ATX Case (Black) $119.99

CPU) Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I52400 $189.99

Motherboard) GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $129.99

RAM) G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM $74.99

Sound card) I found the sound card not necessary.

Hard drive) SAMSUNG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Combo Model SH-B123L Light Scribe Support – OEM $57.99

Video card) EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Super clocked8 1024 MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 2DVI/Mini-HDMI SLI Ready Graphics Card, 01G-P3-1461-KR  $199.99 (optional)

Total build cost:

$672.94 without video card

$872.93 with video card

• Antec Sonata III 500 Quiet Super Mid Tower ATX Case (Black) $119.99

http://www.amazon.com/Antec-Sonata-III-500-Quiet/dp/B000QAVVAM

With the good price and positive reviews I decided to use this quiet case to build a home entertainment pc(media pc). Not only does it ship free but it includes a high quality 500 watt power supply.

• Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I52400 $189.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115074

Because the computer is only for movies music and web browsing I chose this processor which is still on the high end side at 3.3GHZ. Other than that… It has free shipping also!

• GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $129.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128502

I chose this motherboard because it has all of the connectors needed for at home entertainment computer. The board also includes USB 3.0 connectors which are very fast and could be used for memory expansion in the future. The board also has the capability from switching back and forth from integrated and non integrated graphics. Also supports 8Gb/s of STATA memory for blazing speeds.

• G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM $74.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231476

Again with the free shipping, I chose 8GB of RAM just because expansion is easy if needed.

• EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Super clocked8 1024 MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 2DVI/Mini-HDMI SLI Ready Graphics Card, 01G-P3-1461-KR  $199.99 (optional)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0050I1PH4/qid=1008036386/sr=8-4/mysuperpc-20
I chose a video card that has a HDMI port because this is a media pc.

• I found the sound provided from the motherboard to be more than enough.
• Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $124.99

II chose a 1TB hard drive for the max movie storage.

• SAMSUNG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Combo Model SH-B123L Light Scribe Support – OEM $57.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151222

Of Corse you would want a blue bray reader for high definition movies.

• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit – OEM $99.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

I selected Windows because it has the most software available.

Installation:

For installation I would start by laying the case on a table. Then Install the processor to the motherboard adding mounting brackets. Once the motherboard is ready I will screw it into the case being sure everything fits snug. Then I would add the drives attaching them to the motherboard. With everything in place I would attach everything to the power supply and button up the case.

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My experience of learning has been the best this semester. At first I was overwhelmed by the two three hour classes I am taking and made converting base harder than it really is. Now I have begun to relax and not stress about having everything completely perfect, not meaning that I will not still try to get everything perfect. I am very anxious to push ahead and complete all chapters.

The most interesting facts in this lesson would be binary. The fact that humans can use numbers to produce so many things is fascinating.Not only that but how math helps us as humans to push on to the next goal and understand things more clear. I believe without thinking, numbers boost ideas and create more things than we realize.

The comic helps me study a lot. I am a very visual learner and being able to relate a picture to a topic or theory always helps my study. With D2L I can also read material anywhere on android; which helps me, a working student, to have materials anywhere.

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