Tyler

One of my summer challenges was to go on a photowalk which is basically a walk around your community where you take photos of stuff there. The only thing different was that I had to pick a topic for the photos. After the first walk I had selected a topic and over the next three walks that I compiled seven photos that fit in my category. My topic for my photowalk is Creatures In The Garden. I took photos of fake animals that people put in the garden like gnomes or rabbits. Here they are!

Standing Caterpillar

Hidden Ladybug

Flying Dragonfly

Snacking Rabbit

Relaxing Toad

Community of Ladybugs

Bison And A Flower

That is the end, thank you for looking at my photo collection

Part of Summer Challenges.

In this challenge I was given the task of creating a counter using Data Jar and Shortcuts. It would do five basic functions(create value, delete value, view value, increment value, decrement value.). I watched lot of youtube videos and got a lot of help but in the end was able to make the program work. the rest of the blog post details what I did and what I learned while making it. The shortcut gives you five options of what you want to do to a value in Data Jar.

In this Shortcut you can view a value, increment a value, decrement a value, create a value and delete a value. Let’s start with incrementing and decrementing values. to do this I first had to first get the keys for people to choose from. I had to learn not to use a list because keys can be added and deleted so I had to use the get keys action then use a menu with the information from the get keys action. They then choose what they want to change. Then the computer gets the value by putting counter.(the dictionary name) then the variable of what they chose from the list. Then I used the value that I got previously as the variable in a calculator action with +/- one depending if you were incrementing or decrementing the value. Finally I would set the value by using counter. the item that was chosen before to the calculation result then a show result to show what the value was equal to.

The only thing that was different when decrementing a value was I couldn’t let the value be negative. To work around this I used an if statement and said if the calculation result was greater than or equal to 0 it would work fine otherwise a alert will pop up saying “You cannot set the below zero” and the program will end there. From this part I learned how to get a value using the dictionary name dot whatever value you want. this allowed me to use that as a variable to use in the calculator and show what the value is equal to. I also learned how to deal with the amount of values and names of values changing by getting it directly from the source instead of pre-coding it. The final thing I learned from this was that a value shouldn’t go below zero and I can’t trust the user to make sure the counter doesn’t go below zero so I have to control it myself to make sure the counter cannot go below zero which is just a good thing a can carry throughout all of my programing.

The next thing was creating a counter. First the program asks for what you want to name the new value then creates that value with the name you put in. Next the program sets the value of the new value to 0 . Finally the program shows the result by saying that the counter was created. I learned that you you can set a value that doesn’t exist and the program will make the variable which was tripping me up previously and since this was technically the first one I coded I also had to learn that you have to put the dictionary name dot whatever you are accessing which I had been confused about before.

Next is removing a counter, First I had to get the keys from a dictionary(this was the second one I did so I hadn’t done this before) which I was super confused on. I kept on getting confused because it is written like this “Get keys in ____ at _____” I was always getting stuck on this because in the first slot you are supposed to put dictionary then after you put the name of the dictionary you are getting it from. I kept putting the dictionary I was getting it from first then not knowing what to put in the second blank slot. Once I understood that I was able to use that action fine throughout the rest of my coding. Going back to the program, the person has to choose which value they want to delete. After they choose it gives you a warning making sure you want to delete the value. If yes it uses the delete value action which was the one action I understood from the get-go otherwise if you say no it just does nothing. From this I learned how to use the get keys action which I would need for the rest of the programmed some more controlling just making sure if you pressed the wrong button you wouldn’t have to delete a value.

The final one is viewing what a value is equal to. This was the last thing i did so I knew how to use everything. First is getting the keys from the dictionary then using that list in a list to pick from. Finnaly get the value then just a show result with the chosen item and the value we got from the previous action.

Overall I learned how to use most of the Data Jar actions in Shortcuts and how they can be utilized in different ways to be very helpful. I also learned more about dictionaries and how they are used in code. Dictionaries are a collection of data in key value pairs, and in this program is used to store multiple counters with numbers attached to them. I now can do more complex things with shortcuts now that I know how to use Data Jar and the actions that go with it in shortcuts.

The Shortcut

Part of Summer Challenges.

This is a chess game that I played against my friend Sabik. I was white and I started by playing the Portuguese Opening. The game progressed as normal as we developed are knights and bishops. We both Traded queens on move 13 which was quintessential to my strategy. Then on move 24 I made a key play with my knight where I put his king in check and won his rook. After I managed to trade both of our knights leaving me with 2 pawns and a rook and him 3 pawns. I took the rest of his pawns only losing one pawn of my own then took the other pawn to become a queen for a ladder checkmate. I blundered the other pawn but then got a Rook-King Checkmate 24 moves later. The game is below ↓

Part of Summer Challenges.

In this blog post I will be detailing the parts I will be putting in my new tower and why I chose these parts.

My tower will mainly be used for gaming. It should be able to any game in 1080p in ultra setting easily and can play and game in 1440p very well(According to ChatGPT). It will be mainly white in a dual chambered fish tank case. Here is the Parts list

CPU - I am using the AMD Ryzen 5 7600X as my CPU for a couple of reason. It is one of the cheapest 5th gen CPU’s and since i’m trying to save some money this is nice. Second, since it is 5th gen I will be able to upgrade to Ryzens 8000 series of chips which will be 5th gen. Lastly, it works well with my GPU so there will be no bottlenecking (Bottlenecks?)

CPU Cooler - I chose the Vetroo v5 because it is sufficient to cool my CPU and I chose the white to match it to the rest of the build. I would have used the Deepcool AK620 but it is to big to fit in my case (Quick not just found out thagt deepcool is sanctioned form the U.S.) and i don’t think my case is big enough to fit an AOI cooler otherwise I would have either of those. But until I upgrade this will be good enough.

Motherboard - I chose the Gigabyte A620M S2H Micro ATX AM5 Motherboard for a lot of reasons. So first it has an AM5 socket so my CPU will work. It has 4 DDR5 slots which I need since I am using DDR5 memory. It has built in wifi which is a nice feature, has good performance, and has two RGB plug-in’s which i will need. The only downside is the motherboard cannot overclock but I personally don’t think I will need or want especially now.

Memory - I chose the Delta RGB DDR5 Desktop Memory White. I needed DDR5 memory and had picked out a much cheaper 4200MHZ memory card and was going to get that but then I was advised to get at least a 5200MHZ memory card and I saw this one which was white to go along with the build and it had RGB’s so I decided to splurge and get this. It has 32GB and runs at 6000MHZ and CL30 so it is a good card and will last me a long time.

Storage - I chose the Leven JPS800 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 x4 NVME. I just needed M.2 storage for my tower and this looked like a good one that was on the cheaper side it also had very good read /write speeds for the price but that’s all there was to it.

GPU - I chose the ASRock Steel Legend OC Radeon RX 7800 XT 16 GB. I decided on it for a couple of reasons, one I watched multiple Youtube videos that recommended it, it goes well with my CPU, good specs and seems good for gaming, ChatGPT agreed with all of this and there is no bottlenecking between my CPU and it. I also liked that it came in white and it fit perfectly into my budget while still being exactly what I want. It is a three fan design as well which I like the look of. It can go up to 2520MHz and expected to run at 2213MHz and has 16GB GDDR6 of memory. All of this convinced me to not go for a RTX 4070 Super(which had 4 less GB), Gigabyte 4070 Windforce, or MSI 4070 ventus x2. The main reason I wanted to get these though were for nvidia’a features but I think the ASRock Steel Legend was a better choice.

Case - (can’t buy case directly form SAMA for some reason) I chose the Sama AR01-RGB-W Tempered Glass Micro -ATX Tower Gaming Computer Case w/ 4 x ARGB LED Fans. I got this case because my motherboard is micro-ATX so I needed a micro-ATX case. I wanted a very aesthetic tower so i have to get a fish tank case and to make things easier for myself i got a dual compartment case. The case has 4 fans so hopefully that will be enough cooling for the build.

Power Supply - I chose to get the Apevia Prestige 800w as my power supply. I chose it so I would have a ton of extra power so I can upgrade very easily and not have to have any power concerns. It is a good high quality power supply but the big downside is that it is non-modular so I’m stuck with big black cables but… I am going to get ABN01 Cable Extensions to tie the aesthetics together and so you won’t see big ugle black cords.

Monitor For my monitor I got the Samsung Odyssey G50A 32.0" 2560 x 1440 165 Hz Monitor. It will do my tower justice and with 165 hertz should be good for the time being. I did want a bigger monitor so I decided to go on the big end of practical monitors. Good price just about as much as I want to pay.

Operating software I chose Windows 11 pro as my operating software. Microsoft is best for gaming right now and is just there newest version so why not get it so it will last longer.

Those are all my parts. It is my first time building a tower so if you have any feedback I would love to here it. -Thank you!

Part of Summer Challenges.

While we were back in Switzerland, me Jamie, Mazie, and Tammy took a photo walk around the town of soglio. We all took a ton of pictures then picked our top ten. Here are my ten. Hope you enjoy!

I find it funny that my friend went to Japan a few years ago and went to school there. He just went back again and he is in the same math group as he was in 2019. So in the Japanese school system he has not progressed in math at all in the last 3 years and he’s doing 8/9th grade math here.

I am posting about snapchat (or at least I think I am). I’m posting because I feel like it is super weird. Poeple take weird photos of themselfs that are not good photos, they are blury, bad lighting, and half hearted. They do this so fast too like it is second nature. I just don’t understand why?

I started using Swift Playground about a month ago. It’s super a super fun and cool way to learn the basics of swift and has also helped me with some of my python. I would recommend for younger people who want to get a better understanding of code and learn how to code better. More info about it will post soon

Today we went to the Ferrari Museum. We went to the Modena museum first but weren’t able to look around because we had to get on a shuttle. We went to the other museum and looked around for a bit. We took a factory tour on a bus then took a shuttle back. looked at other museum for a bit. Cool place!

So in the beginning of this trip my blog was disabled and I was inspired by Tammy to start blogging again so I got it set back up. On the third day of the trip was the day I had it set up and did a blog post About me and after did the Hiking day#3 blog post. Just yesterday I made a new blog post about Day 4,5,6 Hiking in Switzerland so now I want to complete the days.

So the first dinner that we had with the people was at Hotel Guardaval (a little bit earlier we had looked around the town and saw the other people that were on our trip. We had a nice 4 course meal (which I didn’t really like) and ended up going to bed late because dinner got done at like 9:30. The next morning we walked to a chairlift that took us up about a thousand feet then we started hiking. That day it was manly pretty views, a lot of sun, and a lot of hiking to start the trip (it was the day with the most miles) it was pretty flat with small amount of ascent and descent and was a nice start to the journey.

The next day we started at 9:00 we were hiking to a hut and then going back to Guarda. The day was one of the hardest in my opinion with 9.5 miles and a lot of ascent and a lot of descent. We were in a valley the entire time and it was cool to see the mountains on either side. Once we got there we had lunch (which Tammy ordered way too much of),We had rüsti and inside out grilled cheese. Jamie took a scooter down (Which is like a bike mixed with a scooter, it has no pedals but looks like a bike) and the rest of us walked. We had quite a nice walk down.

Once we got back to Guarda rested for awhile. After that Tammy and Mazie went around town to look and they ended up finding goats that tammy loved. We got those and went to dinner. And that summarizes those days.

P.S. The day earlier Jamie lost his wallet so that was a problem at the time.