Computer Science
At Mass Academy, Computer Science is
taught by Ms. Taricco. We actually made this website in her class! At
the start of the year, we learned the basics of HTML and CSS, we all
coded our websites using what we learned. After our websites went
live, we started learning the principles of Java. We complete notes
for different concepts in class. Then, we get exercises, which are
like puzzles to solve by coding with the new content we learned. CS is
also a very collaborative class, we often work together to work
through tricky programs, and we also occasionally do coding
challenges.
Bulgarian Solitaire
Later in the year, we started to learn how to program with
Java. One program which is interesting is my program that simulates
Bulgarian Solitaire, a card game. This program uses Java ArrayLists.
One of my favorite things to do is make unique variable names, such
as egg and ranch. To the right is my code for Bulgarian Solitaire.
Sieve of Eratosthenes
Another interesting program is my Sieve of Eratosthenes
program. The objective of this program is to ask a user for a
number, and the program identifies all the prime numbers up to that
number. The list of numbers is then displayed in Decimal Format to
the user. Attached to the left is my code!
Apps for Good
Overview
The final project in Mrs. Taricco's Computer Science course is
Apps for Good. We are put into groups of 3-4 people, and we work
together to develop an app that can be used to help people. The
problem that my group focused on is that when runners listen to
music while running, the tempo of the music does not sync to their
heart's BPM. Studies have proven that runner's heart rates will sync
to the music they are listening to, so listening to ill fitting
music can hinder performance. My group decided to develop Personal
Record, an app targeted towards runner that would provide and
optimal playlists for different types of runs based off a user
profile.
Algorithm
The Minimum Viable Product, MVP, of Personal Record was to
produce and display a playlist of songs for the runner based off
parameters such as age, duration of run, and desired genre of music.
Our app fufills this by accessing a CVC file of approximately 35,000
songs. Our app sorts the songs into different groups based off of
genre and tempo. When the user enters their age into their user
profile, the app calculates and stores the max heart rate of the
runner. The app uses that to calculate the predicted heart rate BPM
throughout the run. The algorithm matches a song whose average tempo
aligns with the runner's estimated heart rate in order to create the
playlist. Attached to the left is our project poster.