Trying To Hire A Diverse Team Of Engineers? It’s Not Just A Pipeline Issue

The author, Omotayo Olukoya, is an electrical engineering and computer science student at UC Berkeley. He directed the article to tech companies, but he talks about his experiences as a student of color in the CS department and the process of interviewing for internships.

http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/28/trying-to-hire-a-diverse-team-of-engineers-its-not-just-a-pipeline-issue/

Great New Video about Grace Hopper

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-queen-of-code/

The “How Does a Google Coder Work?” Edition

Slate’s podcast about work explores the world of a software engineer and her quest to write good code and good poetry.

NPR Planet Money: When Women Stopped Coding

Everyone should listen to this! Most of the early computer programmers were women. So the reporters decided to investigate why men now dominate the field. They talk to women and men about their early experiences programming. Lots of people feel like they are not as good as everyone else. But if you're patient and focus on your small achievements, you'll improve over time!
 

Free Javascript course in Oakland

This January there will be a free Javascript course in Oakland: http://cyber.wizard.institute/

The course will largely self-directed, but they will present the material and help you with assignments. Here are the topics they will cover;

• unix command line with bash
• javascript
• computer science fundamentals
• programming languages (regex, state machines, parsing)
• node.js (back-end programming)
• front-end programming
• collaboration (git & github, documentation, testing, open source)

Node.js is HOT right now so it's a great skill to have. I'm learning it myself! 

So if you're interested, fill out the application: http://cooperation.io/ 

Videos on Booleans and String Methods

booleans

string.charAt()

string.length()

Tips for Taking the AP CS Exam - Handwriting

I found this image on the AP CS website. You should follow these tips when writing homework and quizzes. 

In this example, the student does the following well:

1. The letters are written large enough so that the grader can easily read the words. The College Board recommends that a good character size is between a quarter and a half inch or so. 
2. The lines of code are indented according to convention. This part is crucial!

Slides for Thursday October 9th also available in the class Google Drive folder

Chapter 4 Slides - conditional statements

Chapter 3 Slides - parameters

The Forgotten Female Programmers Who Created Modern Tech

Great story about the women who made crucial contributions to modern computer science and programming.

You can listen to or read the story here: http://www.wnyc.org/story/the-forgotten-female-programmers-who-created-modern-tech/

Need a place to study with internet? Try the Oakland Public Library

Anyone looking for a place to study after school or on the weekends? Check out branches of the Oakland Public Library.

The 81st Ave branch is new and really nice. You can find their hours here: http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/locations/81st-avenue-branch

The Elmhurst branch is also close to Castlemont: http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/locations/elmhurst-branch

If those two are not convenient check out the locations of the other branches: http://www.oaklandlibrary.org/sites/default/files/uploads/location%20guide%2002_21_13%20inside_0.pdf

Homework 3.3 - Diamond with Parameters

1. Click to download the java file for Homework 3.3 - Diamond with Parameters

Homework 3.2 - computePower

Click link for Homework 3.2 - computePower

For Loops flow

YouTube Video on Parameter Passing

parameter example: dog years

public class parameterExample  {

    public static void main (String[] args) {

        int ruff = 10;

        dogYears (20);

        dogYears (7);

        dogYears (12);

         //  this wasn't talked in class but could be useful for extra credit

        dogYears (ruff);

    }

    public static void dogYears (int human_years) {

        int dog_years;

        dog_years = human_years * 7;

        System.out.println (dog_years);

    }

}

Homework 3.1

Homework - Lesson 3.1   Parameters

Due 9/30/2014

1. In eclipse, create a new class called “FirstnameLastnameHwk3_1”, where “FirstnameLastname” is your first name and last name.  Include a main method when you create your class.
2. Create a method called “computeSquare” that has 1 integer parameter.  The parameter variable name should be “square”
3. In computeSquare method, multiple “square” by itself and then println the result.
4. In your main method, call computeSquare 4 different times.  The first time, pass in the number 1.  The second time, pass in the number 2.  The third time, pass in the number 3.  The forth time, pass in the number 4.
5. Run your program, the results should be:

1

4

9

16

6. Extra Credit, in your main method, remove the previous calls to computeSquare and write a for-loop that will call computeSquare 4 times (make 4 a constant variable in main and name it “NUMBER_OF_SQUARES”).  Have the iterator start at 1 and pass the iterator as the parameter to computeSquare.
7. Run your program, the results should be:

1

4

9

16

8. Email your file to hw-cs-castlemont@googlegroups.com

UPDATE: We Won Runner-Up at the Hackathon

...in the category of "Most Likely to Go to Market!"

Silicon Chef Hackathon

Hey all -- hope studying for tomorrow's quiz is going well.

If you get the chance, make sure to ask Ronye, Laura, Sandra, or myself about this weekend's hardware hack.  We built a student response system that allows us to input student feedback and pair those who rate themselves as high (gets it!) with those who identify as needing help.  We learned a lot about Arduinos and about coding in C to get this done (we used lots of for loops!). 

Our final product: Check Yo Self!

#CastlemontCodes Dream Team.

If you want to try Arduinos for yourself, I now have 4 in the classroom that you can use.  Also, I will let you know about the next hack-a-thon and you should join us!

For those who are interested, here is the text of our code.

Study Help Screencasts from Your Peers!

Mad props to Lauren, Sandra, Evelyn, and Elvis who made screencast of some today's review problems.  They explain their thinking and how they arrived at their answers.   Watch them as review for your QUIZ on MONDAY. The slides are posted underneath the videos.

Elvis explains nested for loops

Elvis explains for loops

Sandra and Evelyn explain operators and assignment

Sandra and Evelyn explain nested for loops

Lauren explains for loops

More Java Coding Challenges

I just across this coding exercise site today: http://codingbat.com/java

This looks GREAT. Check out the AP section. 

And I just remembered about this other site that might come in handy too:  http://coderbyte.com/CodingArea/Challenges/

Screencast: Some Helpful Hints for Your Mirror Project

In case you haven't figured out your mirror yet.  I hope this video is helpful.

How to submit homework files

1. Open a new email messsage
1. To: hw-cs-castlemont@googlegroups.com
2. Subject: Homework # 
1. replace # with the homework number
2. Switch to Eclipse
3. Click Window... Show View... Navigator
4. In the Navigator window, click your <project name>... src
5. Find your java file then click and drag the file over to your email message
1. This works with GMail. Let us know if this doesn't work with other email providers.

Project Euler Programming Problems

For anyone looking for an extra challenge, check out https://projecteuler.net/. The website has a set of increasingly challenging mathematical problems that can be solved with a computer program. It will introduce you to new programming techniques and algorithms, but you should be familiar with many of the math concepts. Enjoy!

Nested Loop Problem

Print the following grid numbers to the console. Consider breaking the problem into three portions colored yellow, red, and green below. 

Nested loops

Below is a video on nested loops.  The instructor provides a great example.

Ted talk on Algorithms

Here is an interesting link to a TED Talk on Algorithms and how they impact our lives.

http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_slavin_how_algorithms_shape_our_world

Challenge!

If anyone is up for a challenge (and in a team), see Shorall...

Verizon Innovative App Challenge

Guest Presenter: Daphne LaRose

Hope you all loved Daphne's presentation like I did! Here is Daphne's email and some things she mentioned:

Daphne's email: daphne.larose@gmail.com
Daphne's Tumblr: blackfemalecoders.tumblr.com
GEM Fellowship: https://www.gemfellowship.org/gem-fellowship
Open Oakland Mesh Network: https://peoplesopen.net/