Basic Computing Class #14 [Tuesday, Period 3, 4/15]

[mike-cannon.livejournal.com]

This week's class was back in the regular classroom. Since it was the last week before finals, Mike stopped in at J,GOB on his way in and brought cupcakes. "Congratulations on making it through the entire semester," said Mike. "Feel free to grab something to eat. You've earned it, and you may need the sugar boost to get through today's lesson."

He looked just a little bit apologetic as he continued. "Today, we're going beyond the basics of just using the computer to look at the programming language that tells the computer what to do. Now, this is probably more than you will ever have to do, and admittedly, it may be just a bit above your comprehension level, so don't worry too much if this seems really complicated. The point is to understand what's going under the hood."

With that, Mike turned around and started writing on the chalkboard.

#include <iostream.h>

main()
{
   for(;;)
     {
     cout << "Hello world! ";
   }
}

"This is all the code you need to run a very basic computer program," explained Mike. "The language we're using here is something called C++, which happens to be my very first programming language. In this program, the computer is instructed to print the words 'Hello world!' on the screen. We have a call to a function library, iostream.h, where someone else has helpfully stored the instructions for printing something on the screen. We have main(), which is a special function declaration. Don't worry about what it does. Just remember that every C++ program needs to have that. Then there's the function that starts a recursive loop..."

Mike paused here, considering his words carefully before continuing. "That's really a bit more of an advanced topic. The important part is that you see the instruction cout, which is the command to output something on the screen. The part that is within the quotation marks is what's printed, and then both functions are closed and the program exits. And that's it. What we've just done is trace a program, which means we've looked at how it is interpreted from start to finish. In a more complicated program, we'd be looking for any potential flaws that cause the program to run incorrectly."

"We'll stop there for today, but if you're interested, there are plenty more of examples of the 'Hello world!' program in other languages as well. Good luck with your final exams next week, and if you have any questions for me, I'll be holding extra office hours on Thursday."

Sneaky Spycraft, Week 14, Period 5

[tricksy-spy.livejournal.com]

Once everyone had arrived in the Danger Shop, Aly started talking.  The lecture today was on poisons and some of their common effects.  It was one of the longer lectures, taking up not quite half of the class time.

Once she was done talking, Aly glanced at the class to make sure they were watching then hit the play button on the scenario and suddenly the hall was filled with people.  Servants walked in and out carrying dishes of delicious looking food and carafes of wine while a loud and rich-looking group of people dined at the high table, toasting each other and commenting happily on the food - and the servants - as it was paraded by.  It was, in short the same scenario as they'd used two weeks ago.

She hit the button again and everyone in the scenario disappeared except the girl on the dais.  "If you haven't figured it out already," Aly said quietly.  "We're coming at this from a different angle today.  Today your orders are to take this girl out without drawing suspicion to you or your faction.  Poison is underhanded - it's called 'the woman's weapon' in several countries because it's considered dishonourable - but it is used because it works."  Aly glanced around the room, gauging reactions.  "So today your task is to work either alone or with a partner to devise a strategy to take down the Queen on the dais.  Remember all the precautions we talked about two weeks ago?  Assume that the Queen has more than a few bodyguards watching out for her and for any attempts to hurt her and factor that into your calculations."

"Any questions?" she glanced around, answering all that came up.  "Go to then.  I'm around if you want to hash out ideas or discuss."

[OOC:  Please wait for the OCD]

Library [4.15]

[death-of-hope.livejournal.com]

It was a mildly grumpy Anemone that arrived, juggling her keys and thermos of tea.  Had this island never heard of Spring?  Seriously, at home it would be warm, sunny, and the Trapar would be just right....

She was starting to forget what the sky looked like, with this constant 'partly cloudy.' 

It was a Tuesday, however, and the library was now open.

How to Survive Your Own Cooking, Tuesday [Apr 15]

[mistressofblack.livejournal.com]

"Hello, everyone," Lulu said, smiling. "Today, we're talking about desserts -- or, more specifically, chocolate." Her smile widened. "Which I am certain you will all appreciate.

"There are many ways that one can prepare chocolate; one popular method is to purchase ready-made chocolate, whether as a bar, as chocolate chips, or some other form, and, crumbling it if required, sprinkling it over some other dessert, such as ice cream. It's also used in cocoa or hot chocolate. What we're doing today, however, is to make our own filled chocolates."

She gestured to the workstations. "At each station, you will find two trays of pre-hardened chocolate shells. The chocolate in these came from small chocolate wafers that you can purchase for the express purpose of melting down to make molded chocolates. Your job today is to create three fillings each -- this will give you four chocolates of each type per tray, with one tray per person per station. There are many different kinds of filling you can make; we're going to use an uncooked fondant."

At the front of the room were a wide variety of flavour extracts, everything from the basic vanilla to almost anything you could possibly imagine; a number of them likely weren't even available outside of Fandom -- at least, not on Earth. "When you make your fondant, you can, in fact, add the flavour at the end as you would food colouring; this allows you to make all three flavours from the same batch of fondant, instead of having to make one batch per flavour. After you fill the chocolate shells with your finished fondant, melt down some of the couverture chocolate, then cover the filling with it. After the chocolate hardens, you can lightly drop the tray onto a sheet of wax paper so that the chocolates come out onto it.

"My personal favourite chocolates are lavender-flavoured and chili-flavoured, but you can try any that you like. Hazelnut is popular, as are a variety of citrus- and berry-flavoured chocolates, such as orange or strawberry."

[Plz to wait for OCD is up! ... Now I want chocolate.]

Ye Shall Be As Gods? – Class 14, Period 3

[last-mizrahi.livejournal.com]

“Ye shall be as gods,” Juli said, watching as the class settled down into their chairs. Leaning against the front of her desk, she let her eyes pass over each of them before continuing on. “It is this conceit that this class has been built around—that, as people, we can even dream of passing by ‘gods’ boundaries. And then,” she smirked, but very faintly, “we, as a race have the nerve to go ahead and do so. To shatter those boundaries and define them more to our liking.”

“Next week is your final exam,” surely they knew that much at least, “and we shall see how much of the thinking you each have retained over the course of the semester. Today though, let us talk about that conceit.”

“’I think, therefore I am.’ Simple, no? Or perhaps you’d prefer ‘Fortune favours the brave’.” Juli smiled a bit. “Both are, in reality, true to some extent. If we did not have the brave few, the innovators that drove our sciences past their and our previous knowledge then new discoveries would never be made. In the quiet, but persistent, belief that they know what they do, why they do it, and that they are in the right… change happens. And the world is born again anew.”

“For today, split into pairs and discuss three ways you think that advances in science of made things better, and three ways that you think it has made things worse.”

[Wait for the OCD is up! Hurrah!]