technology

Codeacademy HTML Coding Tutorial Chronicle

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On October 31st, I participated in a Coding lab where we went through Codeacademy’s basic HTML coding tutorial.  Codeacedemy makes learning code fun, easy, and memorable.  It’s user interface is very clean and very aesthetically pleasing.  I made an account by using my gmail account but it offers many ways to sign up and get started.  This is the first activity that they start you with to learn the basic background of HTML.Image

Here, I had just completed the first lesson with ease! At this point, I was hooked and wanted to continue learning more code.

 

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The next step in the tutorial showed us how to enter text.  I wrote “Today is Halloween.”  I also learned that typing <Strong></Strong> makes the text bold.

 

 

 

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A cool feature of code academy is that it has achievements to earn.  They call them Badges.  Here, I earned “Max Streak Count of 1.”  It gives you the sense of accomplishment.

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Codeacademy then taught us that every code bust start with <!DOCTYPE html> and <html>.

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To write text in html, the tutorial showed us that we had to type it in between <html> and </html>.  The “/” shows that it is the end.  In this case, I wrote, “This is fun!”

 

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The last thing I was able to complete in the lab was how to write paragraphs.  This is done by coding <p></p> inside of <body></body>.  Also included was how to do the title which is intuitively done by typing <Title></title> in between <head> and </head>. Over all, the tutorials were very fun, easy, and addicting.  I recommend this website to anyone and everyone.  You can start your own coding adventure by visiting their website at http://www.codecademy.com/.

Happy Coding everyone! 

Technology Challenge

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Part one: Friday’s 10/25 Hourly Technology log

7am- My iHome Alarm clock woke me up at 7am.  I then checked my Droid Razr Maxx HD(phone) to see if my Girlfriend had texted me. Sure enough, she had texted me so I responded through the Text Messaging app on my Android.  I then got up and used my Philips Electric Shaver to shave the stubble off my neck and face.  Before I left the house, I made a cup of coffee using my Keurig coffee maker.

8am- Arrived at the VTA Light Rail after driving my Ford Expedition.  I browsed various apps on my phone and texted people the duration of the trip.

9am-On SJSU campus, I spent an hour surfing the internet on my Dell XPS 13 laptop equipped with an i7 intel processor.  To not annoy other people I used my Skull Candy headphones so only I could hear the sound my computer was emitting.

10am- No use of technology while in my Lecture.

11am- Responded to messages with my phone again and checked my email.

12pm-Took the light rail home and browsed apps again on my phone to kill the time.  Also read the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep using the digital copy on my phone.

1 pm- Used the Toaster for my bagel which happened to be my lunch that day.  When the food was ready, I watched Gaming Livestreams on Twitch.tv with my desktop computer at home.  After homework I used the computer to get my homework done and submitted online.  Various uses of my phone in the period again.

2 pm- Still used computer and Phone.

3 pm- Still used computer and Phone.

4 pm- Still used computer and Phone.

5 pm- Got off of my computer to eat dinner that my mother brought home and used my phone to text in between socializing with the family.

6 pm- Took a break from homework and rewarded myself with playing video games on my Desktop(Intel i5 CPU, Nvidia GeForce 660 ti Graphics card, 8GB of Corsair 1600mhz RAM, 1TB Hitachi Hard drive) at home.  During this time I used peripherals such as my Razer Naga(18 button MMO Gaming Mouse), Razer BlackWidow Mechanical keyboard, Turtlebeach x12 Headset and microphone, Skype to communicate with the friends I was playing with, and obviously the internet provided by Charter.  Also used my phone yet again during this time.

7 pm- Same as 6pm.

 

Part Two: Going without Technology

                Saturday was the day I chose to not use the same technology as I had Friday.  Let me tell you right off that it was extremely difficult to do.  As I woke up, my first instinct was to check my phone to see if I had received any messages.  Luckily I stopped myself before I did check.  2 hours into it, I felt extremely guilty not checking my phone and leaving my girlfriend hanging.  So I compromised and began using my phone and vowed not to use other technology.  This was a challenge too because almost all of my homework is done on a computer.  I used old-fashioned technology that we call pen and paper today and wrote out my Tweets for class that way so that I could at least start my homework.  I also used the time to study for my English 7 Module 2 test on Monday and my Kinesiology Midterm on Wednesday. By the time 4 hours were up, I was stuck doing nothing and I was forced to use my computer to complete the rest of my homework.  I completely failed because it was pretty much impossible to go on throughout the day without using technology.  I’m hardwired into the use of technology that going without it made me awkward because I couldn’t use my phone or use my computer to complete my homework.  This proved to me how dependent I am on the use of technology and I’m sure that other’s will experience the same if they went without technology for a period of time.  I feel somewhat shameful because I was not able to go the full 6 hours without the use of technology.

 

Part Three: The Effects of Technology

                The use of technology has a tremendous effect in my daily life in the way that I perceive the world because I rely on it very heavily throughout my day.  One effect is that by owning an Android Smart phone, I feel connected to people from a long distance.  This becomes extremely useful to me because my girlfriend and I attend different colleges.  She also has different school hours than I do and we work opposite shifts at work.  At her job, she works from 10am-4pm.  My job is from 5pm-9pm.  You can see by the complete flip flops of our schedules that it’s hard to see each other.  Then, when we stop using technology, it is impossible to communicate with her.  It honestly made me frustrated and annoyed.  My computer also is an integral part of my life.  I spend almost all of my time at home in front of it.  I either use it for homework or gaming.  When I didn’t game Saturday morning, it didn’t bother me too much because it is an activity to do in my free time and I was okay giving that up.  However, when I couldn’t complete my homework because it had to be done digitally, I became frustrated yet again.  The lack of technology hindered my production during the 6 hours by a large amount.  I can type much faster than I can write words with a pencil on paper.  The pen and paper method is extremely inefficient.  When the feelings of frustration, annoyance, and boredom combined, I found my mood was crappy and I was outright unhappy.  This changed my perception on technology because it shows just how valuable technology is to me.  I am definitely a techno-zombie.  I use so much technology during the day and I don’t even realize it.  Technology has become second nature to me and hard wired into my existence.  

It’s Alive!!!

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Technology has a huge impact on the way that Victor Frankenstein’s character is shaped.  Essentially, technology transforms Victor because it reveals to him the power of what technology is capable of.  The way that Victor ends up using technology is by reanimating a corpse into the creature/monster.  Victor is guilty and has a troubled conscience because of the creature he has created.  Furthermore, the creature murders many characters that also has an impact on Victor.  All of this is a consequence due to his connection to technology.

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Thomas Edison’s 1910 film actually portrays the creature quite accurately.  Mary Shelley described the creature like this: “His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! – Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered teh work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion, and straight black lips.” (Shelley 37)  The most noticeable similarity is the description of the hair.  Edison made sure to make it long and a lustrous black.  Despite the limited available technology of the time, Thomas Edison did a great job of not straying away from the description found in the book.  One description i didn’t agree with was where Victor calls the creature beautiful! However, that is only a personal opinion.