Honestly, I want a career at the NSA because it is convenient and interesting. The location of the job is familiar, the benefits are eye-catching, and the history behind the NSA intrigues me.

I live in Maryland, so I would be familiar with the area and it would be easy to adjust to my surroundings. Working for the NSA means I would have a government job with many benefits. I plan on attending the University of Maryland, so I would not have to rearrange my whole life just for a job. I believe this would make me a stable, happy employee, with more potential for success working in the NSA than other people would have.

In 11^th grade, my computer programming teacher taught us a little about cryptography near the end of the year as a little side note. We learned about all types of encryption, from Caesar Ciphers to DRM. However, one type of encryption that fascinated me was the Enigma machine. This intricate device was able to produce a ridiculous amount of combinations, and it was a remarkable feat that the code was cracked. I can’t imagine all the work that was required, all the numbers that were used, and all the human power that was needed to accomplish such a goal. I realized all this effort helped the Allies win the war, and the people who contributed to cracking the machine are true forgotten heroes of this era. The NSA is partly responsible for cracking the code, and in that fact lays the main reason why I would want to work for the NSA. It would give me an opportunity to be a hero too.

Working for the NSA is a very desirable job for me. Not only is it close to where I grew up, but it is also close to my heart. It would be an opportunity for me to be a hero, for me to feel like I am making a difference for the future, and most importantly of all, It would allow me to pay my country back for all it has given me.

Scored thru 11/25 (20 pts possible) - see Edline for your score tomorrow evening.

What problems did you encounter while developing your solution? How do you plan to overcomethem?/How did you overcome them?

Today I encountered an infinite loop. I realized that I did not have a control variable to close the loop. That is how I overcame my problem.

What problems did you encounter while developing your solution? How do you plan to overcomethem?/How did you overcome them?

During developing my solution, I did know what loop to use. However, I realized that I need a series of nested loops. That is how I overcame it.

What choices did you face in developing your solution, and how did you choose among them?
Today I had to choose how to go about answering the chapter work. When I did not understand a for loop, I would just enter it in Eclipse.

How did you go about testing your program? What were the results of that testing?

If I did not understand any loop in the pelican java online text book, I used Eclipse to help me. I inputted code that I didn't understand, saw the results, and tried to understand why that happend. My results were a success!

Discuss some specific examples in which you might use iterations.

An example which you would use iterations in is if you want to draw circles. In the game connect four, each circle has the same radius and a certain distance apart. If you just multiply your variables by the initial start variable, you can easily make as many circles as you need.

Scored through 10/31. All blogs from this point forward are second marking period.
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How did you go about testing your program? What were the results of that testing?

I had to make sure all my variables matched my types. The results of my test were a success. Everything worked smoothly.

What choices did you face in developing your solution, and how did you choose among them?
I had to find a way to determine between 3 numbers which number was the greatest. I used Math.max to determine for me.

What problems did you encounter while developing your solution? How do you plan to overcomethem?/How did you overcome them?

During developing my solution, my formating was off. I had to make each width the same to eachother to make it look ok.

What choices did you face in developing your solution, and how did you choose among them?
Developing grocery list, I had to choose which way to get information from the user. I choose to use the PrintF method.

Scored through 10/18. Check Edline for scores on Monday evening.

What choices did you face in developing your solution, and how did you choose among them?
During developing my solution, I had to choose the message to output when a person's grade was a certain score. If they got and A,B, or C, I would output "You did well". If they got lower, I outputted "Try harder".

Ms Petr I was absent yesterday

What problems did you encounter while developing your solution? How do you plan to overcomethem?/How did you overcome them?

In devloping my solution, I had to choose what variables to use. Since all my numbers were ints, I choose integers.

What choices did you face in developing your solution, and how did you choose among them?

During my solution, I had to choose which type I would use in my methods. Since void is really easy to work with, I chose that.

What problems did you encounter while developing your solution? How do you plan to overcomethem?/How did you overcome them?

While developing my solution, I had problems with the result I recieved. I had to check in my calculator if my results were correct, and it appears as if they were.

How did you go about testing your program? What were the results of that testing?

I wrote two classes today. One was rectangle class and the other one was circle class. I had to make sure all the variables used were defined at the top, and I had to make sure I had two constructors. One was a default, and the other one had parameters. Then I wrote a driver to test both classes at once. The results of my testing were exactly what I wanted to do.

Scored through 10/5. Check edline on Monday evening for grade.

What problems did you encounter while developing your solution? How do you plan to overcomethem?/How did you overcome them?
While developing my solution, I had many errors in my program. I realized that I had to return a type double in some of my methods, which helped clear up the problems. I also emailed myself the program so I can work on it at home.

How did you go about testing your program? What were the results of that testing?

I tested my program by running it and making sure the driver could access all the methods it needed. The results were a success!!!?!?!!!?!!

Uh Ms Petr, I didn't write one yesterday because I went to the career center.

What choices did you face in developing your solution, and how did you choose among them?
During devloping my solution, I had to choose variables and how to initialize those variables. I made sure the variables made sense in my head when I initialized them. I also made sure that they followed the specifications to the Car class that I am suppose to write.

What progress did you make today on your solution? What needs to be completed next class?

I learned that public, private, and protected are access specifiers. The constructor initializes variables. Usually, one starts out with a defualt, which has blank parentheses. Then one goes on to make a more specific constructor, usually with one of more parameters. Next in class I will learn more about classes.

How did you go about testing your program? What were the results of that testing?

I tested my program by typing it up in JAVA. I had to count the number of characteres in the peoples names to make sure I had the right values for their s.legnth() 's. With that value, I could subtract and get s.substring() to work right. The results of my program were a success.

What progress did you make today on your solution? What needs to be completed next class?

Today I learned more about objects. Objects at stored differently in memory, for example strings are stored as references. A class is written to describe the properties and behavoirs of objects. Next in class, I need to gain more experience in using objects.

Scored on 9/23/07. Check edline for grade posting tomorrow evening.

What choices did you face in developing your solution, and how did you choose among them?

During devlopment I choose to answer the questions based on the book. I choose the questions I knew first and answered them, then I read to answer the rest.

A CARRRRRRRRRRR VROOMMMMMM

How did you go about testing your program? What were the results of that testing?

To test my program, I inputed the code from the paper exactly onto the program. Then when I ran the code, I saw if my drawing made any sense. It turned out to be a car.

No more drawing

What problems did you encounter while developing your solution? How do you plan to overcome
them?/How did you overcome them?

Today, for Worksheet A3.2, I could not understand problem 14. I dont understand why:

b=2;
a=b++;

The result of that is

a=2
b=3

It seems that they should be the same, but they aren't. Why is that? I plan to overcome this problem by asking you.

ACSII ART

What progress did you make today on your solution? What needs to be completed next class?

I made an ACSII Firefox picture. Next I will learn more java!

Score thru 9/14 4/4

What progress did you make today on your solution? What needs to be completed next class?

Today, I learned more about Java. I learned what objects, instances, classes, methods, messages, and arguments are, and I learned how they interact with eachother to create a program. Next time in class, I will have to implement them to fully understand how they work.

What choices did you face in developing your solution, and how did you choose among them?

When I was doing my windows, I had to choose between typical square windows, or circular windows. In the end I choose circular because it is unique. I also decided to draw lines on the windows to act as seperations.

Scored through 9/10 (6/2 pts)

More Drawing Again

What problems did you encounter while developing your solution? How do you plan to overcome
them?/How did you overcome them?

During devloping my solution, I ecountered problems with #4. I was having problems connecting the appropriate points. I overcame this solution by trial and error. For example, if I could not get two points to connect, I would use marker.up(), marker.move(), and marker.down() to direct the pen where I wanted to go.

More Drawing

How did you go about testing your program? What were the results of that testing?

To be able to draw the exact drawing on the paper, I needed to input values and run the program to see if the drawing matched the one on the paper. For example, for the mouth, at first i entered:

marker.up();
marker.move(40,60);
marker.down();
marker.forward(15);

this generated a slanted image. So instead I did this:

marker.up();
marker.move(40,60);
marker.down();
marker.move(40,45);

This generated what I wanted.

Friday, September 7th

What progress did you make today on your solution? What needs to be completed next class?

Today, I decided to drop from Java B to Java A. I realized I do not know how to do methods with Java, so I dropped to Java A. In Java A, today we learned how to use a library that enabled us to create drawings on a sketch pad. Basically, the progress I made today was copying the code Ms. Petr provided from the sheet, and understanding how creating a new object worked. For example, to create a new sketch pad, one would have to write:

SketchPad poster; // this would establish "poster" as a variable

poster = new SketchPad(600,600);
//from what I remember from taking Java at Maryland, you have to actually tell Java there is a new object, and define it.

Next class I have to complete typing up the program from the code Ms. Petr provided me.