3.1.1 Inputs and Outputs

Above is the program that I made for one part of this activity.

1. Examine the wire diagram on the mini switch and describe how the diagram relates to the concepts of normally open and normally closed. A normally open switch is a switch that starts out as 0, and when pressed it goes to 1. A normally closed switch is the opposite of that, starting out at 1 and then when pressed, 0. In the program above, both switches were normally open. On pressing the first switch, the lamp turns on and waits for input from the second switch. When that's pressed, the lamp shuts off and the program ends.

2. If computers only understand digital signals, then how is a computer able to interpret the analog signal coming from the interface? The computer is able to understand an analog signal as a digital signal, but it won't be as specific as an analog signal. For example, if you were using an analog joystick rather than a directional pad for moving something that would only accept digital signals, how far you moved an analog joystick wouldn't affect how fast it would move. It would act as if it were digital.

3. Why does resistance decrease as the NTC Resistor becomes warmer? I believe that NTC Resistors work by taking out energy in heat on the resistor to weaken the current, so if it were already heated up, there wouldn't be much more heat energy to build up and waste.

Subprograms and Meters

Above is a display for a timer program that I made using ROBO pro. The display is only showing the minutes and seconds because the program ends once it hits an hour. To the right is what the main program looks like. Time is the subprogram I made for the program. Below is what the subprogram time looks like:

To explain it briefly, what Time does is that it updates a seconds timer after a set amount of time, repeatedly, and once it hits 60, it adds 1 to the Minutes variable, and resets the Seconds variable. It does the same thing for Minutes and Hours, and once it gets to 1 our the subprogram ends, consequently ending the main program. In this case I made it so that each second was really 0.1 of a second so that the whole thing would go faster.

Conclusion: Subprograms are incredibly useful for organization, as shown by my really simple main program. Telling the main program to run a subprogram on another page is a good way of keeping track of what your program is doing, and makes it easier to follow when you have an elaborate program broken down into easier to see subprograms.

Intro to Variables

Today I was tasked with making a program using some given elements as an introduction to visual programming with variables. The task was to make a program that would make the value of a variable increase until it was 5, and then have the program end. This is what I made:

Having Ads on a Blog

• Cost: Ads are annoying, and mostly everyone thinks that. However, not all ads are annoyinbg and ads on the side of a blog are not so intrusive.
• Benefit: Hosting ads ona high-traffic website cna be a nice source of extra money. I have personally put ads on another one of my blog, and you apparently gain around 50 cents for each ad clicked. Whille this might seem like little, it can really add up, and I've heard of people earning about $50 from having their ads clicked.
• Goal: For some, it might be to make money. Ads in this case would be awesome. For others, it could just be to post about something they lovea nd stay in touch with fans. Might even be a bit of both, but in most cases I think that there's almost nothing wrong with adding ads.
• How others make money: Google runs a service called AdSense. Advertisers pay Google for them to put their ads on the many services that Google runs. Depending on how much people click on ads, Google will give a certain amount of money to the advertiser. They also give a cut to the person who is hosting the ads, because of their promoting these ads.
• Verdict: Ads are a great way to make money on your blogs, and I just recently added ads to one of my blogs. The benefits far outweigh the problems from a money making standpoint. From a keeping your clients happy standpoint, it might make them a bit more unhappy but ads on blogspot aren't that intrusive. In the end, ads are worth it and I don't see an big reason why you wouldn't want to try ads on your blog.

Content is King

1. Something engineering related that I have a "passion" for could be designing maps for video games. Above is the HAMMER Editor for Valve's Source Engine SDK (Software Development Kit), the main tool I have used to create maps.

2. Valve has used blogging a lot for promotion of their games. For example, two of their major franchises, Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress, each have their respective blogs. Through these blogs, they are able to stay in touch with their customers, and receive feedback

3. Something I could see myself blogging about is the progress in the maps I make for games. I mainly make maps for Team Fortress 2, and I have thought about possibly making a blog so that people interested in how my maps are coming along have a place to go to be informed. It would also help me to recieve feedback, and it would be mutually benificial.

Activity 3.1.4 Branch Functions (Lamp and Switches)

This is the program that I wrote for the second part of Activity 3.1.4. Here's a brief explanation of how it works. At first, it requires input from the first switch. If not pressed (0) it goes back to the beginning and once again waits for input from the switch. If pressed (1) it will go on to activate the lamp (M1). Upon activation of the lamp, it waits for input from I2. If not pressed (0) it stays on and goes back to wait for input from the I2 switch. If pressed, the light goes off and the program ends.

And this is what the whole setup looks like:

Flowchart 2

Second flowchart from Activity 3.1.2 Flowcharting.

Flowchart 1

First flowchart from Activity 3.1.2 Flowcharting. Starts at pick up object.