This week was a bit shorter because of Memorial Day. We're still in the set-up stages. Dr.Anderson is setting up our remote accounts and the servers. In the meantime, Morgan and I have begun programming our calculator apps.
I spent way too much time trying to install a version of Visual Studio that allows programming of Windows 8.1. After cycling through silly incompatibility issues, I finally downloaded a version that works with my computer. I can't use the emulator because my computer doesn't have the professional version of the Windows 8 operating system, but since we have a Windows phone that I can use for testing, that won't affect me. (Warning Boring Tech Elaboration : I was going to the lab computers but they use Ubuntu. Because of this I installed a virtual machine Windows 10 (tech preview), but the Virtual Studio won't allow Windows 10 users to create apps, because the Windows app store does not accept Windows 10 apps yet! I was going to use a Windows 8 virtual machine, but then realized I already had Windows 8 on my laptop. Doh!)
Once I found the right software, I actually began working on the calculator app. It was a bit frustrating in the beginning. The actual C# wasn't difficult because it resembles Java, however implementing voice recognition was confusing. Windows updated it's speech recognition techniques, but the old information is still prevalent online. Discerning between outdated and current methods was hard for me. I eventually figured it out, though. At the end of the week the calculator wasn't finished, but I had some sense of direction for the project.
Outside of lab, I got to know University of Alabama better. This campus is full of history. On a lunch break, I checked out the University of Alabama's Museum of Natural History and got transported back in time. I was also delighted to find a black history display with actual journals and letters at the Gorgas Library. I spent hours of my rainy Memorial Day exploring this library.
My research team and I also hung out. Whether playing fetch with a dog at the Quad or lifting weights at the gym, we always found something fun to do. One day after lab work, my roommate and I went biking along the Riverwalk, a trail along the the Black Warrior River. On the weekend, our research team went out together for gourmet burgers and a stroll around downtown. We also visited the Birmingham Zoo.
This only the second week and we've already done so much. We expanded our research team with a new member, an exchange student form Brazil. Next week, I hope to complete the app. Dr.Anderson will present our logins and access to the project servers. We will be moving to the next stage in the project.
I spent way too much time trying to install a version of Visual Studio that allows programming of Windows 8.1. After cycling through silly incompatibility issues, I finally downloaded a version that works with my computer. I can't use the emulator because my computer doesn't have the professional version of the Windows 8 operating system, but since we have a Windows phone that I can use for testing, that won't affect me. (Warning Boring Tech Elaboration : I was going to the lab computers but they use Ubuntu. Because of this I installed a virtual machine Windows 10 (tech preview), but the Virtual Studio won't allow Windows 10 users to create apps, because the Windows app store does not accept Windows 10 apps yet! I was going to use a Windows 8 virtual machine, but then realized I already had Windows 8 on my laptop. Doh!)
Once I found the right software, I actually began working on the calculator app. It was a bit frustrating in the beginning. The actual C# wasn't difficult because it resembles Java, however implementing voice recognition was confusing. Windows updated it's speech recognition techniques, but the old information is still prevalent online. Discerning between outdated and current methods was hard for me. I eventually figured it out, though. At the end of the week the calculator wasn't finished, but I had some sense of direction for the project.
Outside of lab, I got to know University of Alabama better. This campus is full of history. On a lunch break, I checked out the University of Alabama's Museum of Natural History and got transported back in time. I was also delighted to find a black history display with actual journals and letters at the Gorgas Library. I spent hours of my rainy Memorial Day exploring this library.
My research team and I also hung out. Whether playing fetch with a dog at the Quad or lifting weights at the gym, we always found something fun to do. One day after lab work, my roommate and I went biking along the Riverwalk, a trail along the the Black Warrior River. On the weekend, our research team went out together for gourmet burgers and a stroll around downtown. We also visited the Birmingham Zoo.
This only the second week and we've already done so much. We expanded our research team with a new member, an exchange student form Brazil. Next week, I hope to complete the app. Dr.Anderson will present our logins and access to the project servers. We will be moving to the next stage in the project.