11: computer programming
introduction
This page will describe what I have learned with class 11, held on 28 July, 2020. This is the penultimate class of the entire Digital Fabrication course, so we begin to wrap up with instruction during this class, which is why the assignments drift more and more to working on the final project and documenting any progress made on the final project. Again, any and all thorough documentation on my final project progress and results can be found in my Final Project tab above.
miscellaneous computer programming info
During this class, we learned a little bit about some computer programming that we could potentially incorporate into our projects or in other endeavors, such as P5. A lot of this information can be found on Nathan's page, but this was still quite interesting to listen to and learn about.
breakout rooms
We learned a little bit about p5 and other interfacing/processing methods during the lesson and got to practice a little in the breakout rooms. We had two separate breakout room sections that both focused on teaching some things regarding computers and computer programming.
breakout rooms 1: processing & p5
Here, we looked a little more at what p5 is. I personally don't plan on using p5 in any aspect for my final project, it was still interesting to learn and (sort of) understand. More information on what p5 is, how the processing works, and other stuff pertaining to it can be found here.
breakout rooms 2: talking to browsers over serial
The final breakout room section involved explaining how to talk to browsers using Serial. This mainly talked about p5, but there was also information regarding USB connections. As always, a lot of the thorough documentation regarding these breakout rooms and what information can be found there can be seen on Nathan's GitHub page, as I didn't really use this at all in my project and thus did not really work with this.
Overall, this was the last class with any actual educational material that could pertain to our final project. While we did have a 12th class, there was not really much actual information provided there that could be used for the final projects or any assignments: it was more miscellaneous. Here, however, there was quite a lot of interesting information regarding the more complex aspects of computer programming that's possible with our materials. Personally, I don't use any of this in my final project, so there's not much documentation that I could personally provide with learning or application of this topic, but there was still a lot of interesting information provided. Again, info can be found in Nathan's page, Rob's page, and other documentation pages, such as Adafruit and Arduino's pages.
assignment
This week, seeing as it is the last week of classes for the Summer 2020 session, did not really have any "homework" that went along with the final project. Thus, the final project work I do from here on out is basically a substitute for any "homework" that I do.
final project
As stated in class 10, there were some major changes I made to my final project, and I started to execute some of my final project, primarily plans at first.
completely changing my proposal
I came to an important realization during class 10's assignment, and I was so inspired by what I was doing there (more info in the class 10 page above) that I decided to turn a modified version of that week's assignment into a full-blown final project. This way, as soon as I had completed the class 10 assignment, I was able to abstract from that and complete the entire final project.
getting and assembling a 3d printer
To execute this final project, I knew I would need to create some 3D-printed parts to assemble. Since we were too far into the course to request any parts from the instructors (and it would just be cool to have a nice 3D-printer), my father and I decided to get a (relatively cheap) 3D-printer, assemble/configure it, and use it for my final project, amond other things. I got the Ender 3 Pro, which can be found online. All assembly and information pertaining to that printer can be found in the Final Project tab above.
the final week
I understod that starting with a completely new final project so late into the course would be daunting, but I knew that with the right ideas and a level head, I would be able to "quickly" create and execute this project. I was ready to complete it all, and I knew I would be proud of it when I would finish. All plans and designs can be found in the Final Project tab as always. I also needed to make sure that I would complete everything that I needed to complete for this documentation to be finalized. This meant adding any necessary photos, videos, code snippets, links, and downloadable files, as well as commentary.
With this final week, I needed to crack down and complete this final project, slightly beyond start to finish. I was ready for the challenge ahead, and knew that it would be quite time-consuming. More thorough documentation of the entire final project process can be found in the Final Project tab above. I had most of the plans already more-or-less set in by this point, but after a bit of final planning that I got done, I was ready to start modeling, printing, building, and coding this project.
some more housekeeping
Since this was the final week, I knew I also needed to finalize some documentation. I actually ended up re-doing my class 4 assignment with the wirebender I fabricated for the class 10 assignment. I also fixed any issues I had with class 10's assignment, as well as just making sure that all information was thoroughly documented and easy to understand. I wanted to make sure that anyone reading this site (even you reading right now) would be able to see exactly which pre-made parts I used, which references I looked to, the code I wrote, the parts I designed and made, how I made them, how I assembled everything to come together, and what I learned from each class without much difficulty. In the end, I am pretty proud with what came out.
Final weeks are quite difficult for multiple reasons. The first (and most obvious one) is the necessity to complete the final project, finalize all documentation, and not lose your mind while doing that. The second one is also parting ways with everyone in this course and closing the book on quite an eventful and fun summer. I was excited (but also sad) to go into this final week and finish up all the work I needed to finish up. Information pertaining to class 12 can be found in the section under the same name in the Final Project tab, and any other info can be found in respective tabs above.
final message: 10 august, 2020
As of 10 August, 2020 (the publishing of this final bit), all documentation of this website has been finalized, and no further documentation will be added to this website. No additional photos, videos, code snippets, models, or commentary will be posted to this site. This website is meant to serve as the documentation of my learning during the Introduction to Digital Fabrication (PHYS S-12) course during Harvard Summer School 2020, and the program officially ended on 10 August. Thus, this website will no longer be edited and nothing will be added to it. This is why my biographical information may no longer be accurate at the time of reading of this page. It has been a fun run, but sadly, the course is over, and thus my documentation is also complete. Thank you to anyone and everyone who helped me along the way, and I am excited for future endeavors!