UNIT 1
Being part of the coding community is very difficult. I first started coding when I entered High school. Going into this program I was very nervous because there was a lot of different things to take in. when I first got into the course my teacher was explaining everything that we needed to know about the course such as how to set up the computer different vocabulary and phrases, and things that you shouldn’t do. As we were learning how to code our teacher gave us an important word that we needed to memorize and how to use. The word that he taught us was function. To a person that does not take coding they might think that the word function meant an activity or purpose natural to or intended for a person or thing, which is the dictionary definition for function. But in coding this word means something else. A function is a unit of code that is often defined by its role within a greater structure. when my teacher first said this word and definition I was extremely confused, and I knew that it was going to take some time to learn. He then went on to explain that functions contain a unit of code that works on various inputs, such as variables and procedures concrete results involving changes to variable values or actual operations. The first time I used this word was difficult, here is how it went.
when my teacher gave us our first assignment we had to use functions. Since I did not understand anything he meant I was messing up a lot. I was writing the word function out while I was typing my code thinking that it was going to make something magically happen on my computer screen. I then called my teacher over and he explained to me that functions are instructions that are used to create an out put from an input. I still wasn’t sure at this point so he gave me an example. He told me that there were many different types of functions such as built in functions, user defined functions, syntax of a function, and how to call on a function.
The first example he gave me was with a built in function. He showed me that there are some functions that you can automatically call to such as puts(), gets(), printf(), and scan(). he told me that these are all standard types of functions. These functions allow you to use basic properties of strings and numbers in your rules. next up he taught me about the user defined functions. He said these are functions that we create by ourselves. He told me that I needed a function name. A function name can be anything you want it to be however it has to be easy to remember and serve a purpose. next up was the argument list in creating my own function, which were variable names that went with something called data types. next he taught me about a C statement which I picked up pretty quick.
After he was done showing me everything I needed to know, it was my time to put what I learned into good use. When he left I got to coding. while I was coding everything was running smoothly I was using each function to its potential and my code was successful. I accomplished something that I didn’t think that I could accomplish, i was so happy. The word function has definitely changed for me. I went from the regular definition that I knew to the coding one which became so simple for me after a few tries.
As I was going on with coding for a couple of weeks it was time for our first test. I was nervous because i didn’t think that i was fully prepared for it. When the teacher handed out the test I noticed that the test was on vocabulary and function coding. I was telling myself that I was going to do fine because I had gotten good at doing functions. We were running out of time for our test and I was on the last question, it was a question telling us to create a code that made us use each of the types of functions we learned. I was determined that I could answer the question because I had been practicing for a long time. so I got to coding and finished my test. A week later we got our test back and got 100 percent on my test I was so Happy.
As I learned more and more about functions it became a very special word to me and the community that I am in. The reason why this word is important to me is because as I learned it more I became more confident as a student and my ability to do good on tasks that are presented to me. I also spoke with some of my peers that were in the same community and they agreed, also It was easier to speak to them about the work that we had to submit. I wouldn’t say using this word correctly indicated membership in the community because everyone understands how much goes into understanding the word so we all try to help each other out. I think that everyone should get into coding and try to learn some stuff about it because it is pretty cool, everyone in the community tries to help each other and the word function can be used by anyone outside the community trying to learn. This word does change depending on who I speak to, if I approach a student that is into coding i am most likely using the code definition of function. But when i use this word outside of the coding community i will be having conversation about an activity that i am trying to do. overall the coding community is a great community and the word function will always be special to me.
UNIT 2
What is global warming and how is it effecting earth? Global warming is when the climate changes in temperatures and weather patterns. The shifts in weather patterns and temperature are common however, since the 1800s human activities have been the main cause of climate change. You might be asking yourself how are we as humans contributing to climate change. There are many ways that we contribute to weather change such as the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas which produces heat, because these things produce heat earth is getting warmer. someone once asked me why is the earth getting warmer a problem? I found it crazy that they asked me this but I went on to tell them that the warmer the world gets the more problems it creates for us and animals. I came across some New York Times articles that go into further explanation of why global warming is not safe and why we should be doing everything in our power to try limit unnatural climate changes. The articles that I came across are “five takeaways from the U.N report on limiting global warming”, ” who’s most responsible for global warming”, and the final article that I came across was ” Scientist predicted widespread extinction by global warming” All these articles helped me understand global warming better so lets walk through each of them.
The first article ” Five takeaways from the U.N report on limiting global warming” helped me understand why this topic is so important. The opening of this article states that “nations are not doing enough to prevent global warming from increasing to dangerous levels within the lifetimes of most people on earth today”, according to new report by the international panel on climate change, a group of researchers conveyed by the United nations. They go on to explain that limiting the devastation won’t be easy, however it is possible. One of the topics of this article that really stood out to me was when they spoke about how much trouble we are heading towards if we do not take action quickly. As I was reading this there were some interesting facts about the increasing temperature. They stated that ” Nations current pledges to curb greenhouse-gas emissions most likely will not stop global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, within the next few decades.” Even through they started trying to limit global warming it is still spreading fast, 2.7 degrees may not seem like a lot but think about that number increasing every few decades, eventually that number will add up. Going forward I read that there are multiple ways that we can limit global warming without spending a lot of money, even though I think the government should spend money to protect our planet. Some ways we can limit global warming are more recycling and more white collar work going remote and virtual, Better public transit and more walk able urban areas have benefits for air pollution and overall well being according to Joyashree Roy who is an economist at the Asian Institute of Technology. Based on the ways Joyashree explained there is no excuse why we can’t help limit global warming, it does not cause a lot of money its literally just doing the right thing.
The second article I came across was ” Who’s Most Responsible for Global Warming” This was my favorite article because I wanted to know what places in the world barely attempt to limit global warming and my findings were shocking. The article stated that todays highly industrialized economies the United States and Europe got a big head start on burning fossil fuels. The United Stated pumped more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than any other nation between 1850 and 2014. The European Union, including Britain, was the second largest source of fossil fuel emissions over that period. The United States did not surprise me as I was reading this data. what surprised me most was the last place that they brought up. The last place they brought up was China. The article stated that China is the biggest emitter of today by a mile. In 2014, China released 10.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels and industry, The United States burned more than 5.2 billion metric tons that year. Which means that China managed to double that number. Although China does most of the damage today, the United States still caused the most damage overall. In 2014 the average American was responsible for more than twice as much carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere. Imagine how much people would help the world if this statistic was cut in half. I did some further research and found out that the United States was responsible for twenty-seven percent of the worlds carbon dioxide emissions. That much carbon pollution over the course of 150 – 160 years is sill with us today and is still determining our future.
The final article that I read about was ” Scientist Predict Widespread Extinction by Global Warming” I think this is the most important topic yet since it is concerning the well being of animals. A group of international scientist that analyze research around the world, have concluded that a warming climate will rival habitat destruction in prompting widespread extinctions in the century. By the year 2050, scientist say that if the current global warming trend continues 15 to 37 percent of the 1,103 species they studied will be doomed. Even though the scientist did not predict the extinction of species worldwide the sample they had showed that climate change could be disastrous. Researchers used predictions of increased temperature ranging from mild to extreme and applied three different methods for predicting extinction, all based on the relationship of species disappearance to the loss of a livable habitat. They also considered two different possibilities for gauging how well the different species would be able to disperse as temperatures at home became uncomfortable. Scientist attribute to emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the burning of fossil fuels presents a ” very serious risk to huge number of species and at least ranks alongside habitat destruction” as a threat. This just goes to show that not only can contributing to global warming hurt us, but it hurts the living conditions of animals in their natural habitat. We should not only think of ourselves when it comes to this topic but we should think about the earth and animals.
In conclusion Global Warming is a topic that everyone should take serious and try to limit. Do not contribute to the destruction of the planet. There are many ways that we can help limit global warming such as driving less, recycling more, lesser burning of fossil fuels, and one of the most important ones planting more trees instead of trying to destroy them. Help save our environment.
REFLECTION
This semester was by far my favorite semester in City Tech. I came into this class not expecting what I was getting myself into. At first I thought that I was going to be horrible writer. Based on my previous English classes, I went into English two with a mindset that I wasn’t going to be a great writer. I used to struggle with vocabulary, finding ideas, procrastinating while trying to write, and even finding motivation to write in the first place, But with professor Edelson’s help I was able to overcome all the task that were weighing me down. I am definitely not the same that I was at the beginning of the semester. I am very proud of what I was able to achieve as a writer. I would even say this course helped me Grow as a person. Whit this being said I would like to reflect on the work that I have done this semester.
My first ever serious writing piece in this class was my unit one piece. The purpose of the unit one assignment was to create a portrait of a word. This assignment allowed us to think of community that we were in, and what word in that community that really stuck out to us. This was my first step to becoming a better writer. At first I was thinking to myself, I was never in a community. what does professor mean by community? I kept thinking about this topic for a few days, then it came to me. I was part of a coding community. Before I get into my writing about the coding community I would just like to say that this was my first step to becoming a more advanced writer. The assignment that professor gave us allowed us to think deeply about the things we were part of in life. It made us think about how we can teach others about our community. My brainstorming abilities definitely increased after unit one. The community that I chose was the coding community. With this assignment I realized that community does not just have to be like all other communities such as cultures. It can literally be anything. As I was reading over my unit one assignment I felt that I did a decent job explaining what the coding community was and how anyone can join it. I also feel like I did a good job explaining the word that was important to me. That word was “function”. However there were definitely some things that I could have done better, and professor Edelson helped me find them. After she read my work she pointed out multiple thing I could have done to give my essay life. She told me that she wanted me to embrace using capital letters the way I would embrace using precise keystrokes when coding. She told me that it makes a big difference to processors if we can clearly tell when a sentence is beginning or ending, or know that the “I” isn’t just a stray mark on the page, but indicates something about your humanity and standing tall. she gave me more advice saying that I should use advanced vocabulary so it can add life and vibrancy to my language and essay. I really appreciate Professor Edelson for giving me these tips. Going back and reading my unit one essay I realized that she was completely correct. When I was writing this piece I noticed that when I was writing the letter “I” it was almost always lowercase. So when professor told me that I should always make my “I” stand tall, I never messed it up ever again. Actually don’t quote me on that I might have, just kidding. After this assignment I went into my unit two project with the mindset that this was going to be my best writing ever.
Our unit two project is finally here. I was very excited to do this project because I wanted to see how much i have grown as a writer. This project was about finding our own beat. What exactly does finding your own beat mean? Finding your own beat is being able to find a specific subject where you can showcase your unique experience and knowledge. The reason why I think this was our most challenging assignment was because you had to go into complete detail about your topic and find research articles about our topics. I wasn’t going to let the pressure of this assignment hold me down. The topic that I chose was global warming. This topic was very important to me because humans are contributing to global warming instead of trying to end it. when I went into this project there was a lot of emotion. I was happy, angry, sad, confused, but having all these emotions helped me as a writer because I am able to help people feel what I am feeling through my writing. Professor Edelson even realized the emotion that I was putting into my writing. I took her advice and started using words that could enhance my writing. Going back and reading my project it was way better than my first one. No feeling is better than the feeling of improvement.
As I stated previously this class really helped me grow as a person. Going back and reading each assignment I completed helped me realize that I can do anything I put my mind to. I went into this course not being confident to having all the confidence in the world. Even my reading became better. Professor was able to help us out with our reading by providing difficult text that you had to think about. My favorite text that read in this course was “Learning my Name” by Mohamed Hassan. This text was very inspirational. I would also like to thank my classmates for the feedback that they gave me on my writing pieces. Having another perspective on my writing helped me out a lot. This was my favorite semester and I just want to say thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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