Throughout my learning project, I noticed that there is a huge presence of women in the coding world. I think it is super cool that some of the greatest notes in coding history came from a woman!! Computer science is a male dominated field and I didn’t think much of it until starting my learning project. Some super cool women which I have learned about and want to share are: Ada Lovelace: Ada Lovelace was a pioneer of technology and is often referred to as the first programmer. Ada was only 17 (born in 1815 ) when she got introduced to working on engines as a mathematician. Ada made a…

In my previous learning project posts, I have been focusing on the software side of coding and this week I thought I would change directions and learn more about the hardware side of coding. The software consists of the program and operating systems installed on a device, whereas the hardware consists of the physical and tangible part of the device. I wanted to start somewhere simple with tools I had lying around my apartment so I started my search! I found a simple circuit project which needed the following materials: Conductive copper tape (the path) An LED (the load) Lithium coin cell battery (the source) Paper Most of these material…

My Scratch project! Here is the code I used to make the dinosaurs move between their costumes: Here is the code I used to make the sun change colours: I have used Scratch as a resource in one of my previous learning project posts! The last time I used Scratch I followed a tutorial that Scratch had provided, this time around I wanted to challenge myself to code on this site on my own ? When I heard that we were going to be using Scratch I got really excited to explore Scratch more and learn from others. This was a super fun mini project that also helped me with my…

For this weeks Learning Project I wanted to practice a further understanding of how to create GIFs using Pixilart. I wanted to create something spooky/on theme for Halloween week. Last time I used Pixilart I created frames where I went from an empty pot with nothing in the pot to having a flower grow. This time around I wanted to try creating an image move around rather than be stationary, so I made a pumpkin roaming around the screen. For this GIF I used 20 frames at a frame speed of 75ms. I am a firm believer of practice makes perfect so I wanted to continue my GIF creation journey.…

For my next learning project I wanted to take a look at the more artistic side of coding and how technology is used to create animations. A GIF also known as a Graphic Interchange Format is a bitmap image where essentially has a bunch of still frames to create a moving picture. For my first GIF I used a site called Pixilart as a resource to continue my coding journey. Pixilart is a free online website which allows you to make GIFs. The site does not require an account but you can choose to make one if you’d like, for my first GIF I didn’t feel it was necessary to…

This week I used a new educational tool called Screencastify! Screencastify is a Chrome extension which allows you to screen cast which lets you use both your microphone and webcam. I had only screen shared on Zoom before so I was curious to try using a new tool to both screen share and screen record at the same time. I don’t usually enjoy my voice on recordings but I want to become more comfortable with sharing my voice on videos. This tool was super user friendly, all you have to do is hit “start recoding” then “stop recording” and Screencastify will automatically upload your video for you to edit and…

To continue with my coding journey I decided to take a look at the Netflix series Explained. This is a series with 30 minute episodes explaining the most random things which I love and I came across an episode about coding, it was perfect! The blurb about the show was what intrigued me: “It looks at how computer code is pervasive in how it effects our lives. It looks at the development of machine code first in the textile industry and later binary code in early mechanical computers. It also discusses computer logic, algorithms, computer languages, personal computing, and machine learning.” The coding episode of Explained started with where coding…

This week I have been exploring a new site called Replit! Replit is a free online coding website designed to be interactive and fun which I found to be super cool. I started a daily challenge where every day I can map out what I have learned called “100 Days of Code”. The daily challenges are intended to do one challenge a day (for 100 days) but it is like a game and I got to day 5 on my first go! The challenges are displayed in a way which reminds me of playing Candy Crush… if Candy Crush swapped out the candy for codes. My goal is to finish…

I have never thought about why a computer turns on when I hit the power button or how my phone unlocks with the look of my face but I have always wanted to learn how technology works the way it does. Since I was little I have seen the incredible ways technology has evolved into an amazing tool which can help us do many things. The technology world is heavily dominated by men and this is why I have decided to take it upon myself to learn how to code as a woman to mend the gender gap. The Girls Who Code website offered many beginner activities which I have…