Software Applications! Yay!

PowerPoint Games

2006-03-10T11:23:00.001-05:00

Well, for our new and fantabulous project we had to create a game in about a month. My original plan was to create a game in Flash that was a side-scrolling shooter starring either Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr. (player’s choice) They had to fight their way through the deep south, Moscow, and a gulag, while killing Klansmen, Stalin, the Red Army, L. Ron Hubbard, an elite commando task force that is comprised of John Travolta clones, and eventually Holy Supreme Red Scientologist Father Thomas Cruise Mapother IV, aka Tom Cruise. The game would feature a Push it to the Limit theme song, and when the player wins, the game plays Voodoo Child (Slight Return), by Jimi Hendrix. The theme songs for the bosses (Stalin, Hubbard and Cruise) would be The Imperial March.

But obviously that's too much work to do in a month. So I wound up doing a black culture game derived from the I Know Black People sketch on Chappelle's Show. The game's actually pretty interesting, if anyone knows how to put it online, I will.

Second Semester

2006-01-24T17:03:00.000-05:00

Second Semester started today, um...we are going to be learning all about the exciting world of PowerPoint, and we are going to quite literally make a gameon the computer, using Flash animation, or something else. When I heard this, it seemed like something that belongs in Computer programming, but whatever. I don't know what I'm going to do for my game, but it doesn't matter now, so...yeah.

8 'Interesting' things about Excel

2006-01-11T09:18:00.000-05:00

Here are 8 so-called interesting things about Excel. I was originally supposed to do 5, and then 3, but I never did the original 5. So, yeah.

Using a function in a formula
First, type = in the cell, and then the ‘code’ for the function (ex: SUM). Put the data in parentheses in the cell, after the code, and it should automatically do the work for you. Also, you can use the AutoSum toolbar icon. Like anyone actually knows what it looks like.

Applying and modifying cell formats
To change the look of cells and entries, just go to the toolbar and icons to adjust a plethora of things, like font, size, italics, bold, underline and font color. O Joy, O ecstacy.

Shading a cell Shading a cell is a very simple thing to do. Just Highlight the shading victim, and go to Format on the menu bar, then cells, and then patterns. Bathe the enemy in a fiery purple haze. Oh, wait. They might like that. But you get the idea.

Hiding or revealing rows and columns The red menace is on to you. The only way to save little Susie is to hide your data. How? Well, go to the header of the desired column or row, and right click on it. Selecting hide will…well…hide the row or column. When the time is right, show yourself and neutralize the enemy. Go to the slight right column, or lower row. Right click>unhide will annihilate the commies and save America!

Organizing Worksheets
Excel automatically starts you off with 3 sheets. To add more, just go to Insert, then worksheet. You can do this an additional 252 times, for a total of 255 Worksheets.To move a WS, just click and drag, but in the same workbook (Excel window). To move one from Workbook A to workbook B, open WB-B. Go to window, then arrange to have the two WB’sbe in the same window. Then just click and drag. And I have a feeling the WB is going to sue me if I say WB again. Crap.

Comments
Wanna tell your friends how bad their work is? Well, all you have to do is insert a comment. To do that, just click on the cell, go to Insert, then comment, and type the comment. To make it permanently show up, right-click the comment after re-selecting the cell, and choose “show comment”Special Pasting Choose the cell(s) you need to copy or cut. Then, copy or cut them. Go to Edit, then Paste Special. This should be pretty clear from hereon, but if it’s not, then customize your options and click “OK”

Previewing Data in a printable worksheet
Okay, let us close off with an easy one. To preview the data in a printable form (a.K.a. Print preview), Go to, well, File, then print Preview. For the laziest of the lazy, click the page with a magnifying glass icon in the toolbar.

That wasn’t that hard, now was it. Quit yer whining, I didn’t give you permission to complain like a Frenchman. And also, I have since cleaned up the word post, so, look at it.

Updates I have to do, and I may or may not get around to them

2006-01-05T09:16:00.000-05:00

Yeah, the other day we got news that we have to make some updates by I think the 11th. We have to clean up the posts about word, since most of us (including me) simply copied and pasted the notes she did. After we do that, then we have to post 10 "interesting" things we learned in Excel. The problem with that is that Excel is not interesting, so I'll just randomly choose 10 things and talk about them at some future date.

Word Notes are useful, yet boring.

2005-11-16T09:25:00.000-05:00

Okay, I haven't updated in a while, and I'm sorry because I know you're all dying to know about my fantastical learning journey in Software applications class. Anyways, since the beginning of November, we've been taking notes on M$ Word, and most of it is simple stuff that preschoolers can do. Here's a little sample of what we've done.

To Insert hidden text, hit Ctrl, shift, H. You can also use the show/hide button. To insert special characters like (TM) and (C), just put the TM or C in parentheses, and Word should do it automatically for you. To delete text, highlight the text and hit delete. Or, if you want to recover it at a later date, then highlight, right click, choose cut. You can also highlight, go to Edit, then cut. Another wat to do that is highlight, then Ctrl+X.

Pasting is pretty similar. just right click where you want it, and choose paste. Yu can also use Ctrl+V, or Edit>paste. If you want to exactly duplicate the text and put it somewhere else, use copy. Ctrl+C, right click Copy, and Edit>copy are all ways to do that.

Spell Check-F7, or the "ABC" thingy on the toolbar you can also go to Tools, then SPelling and Grammar, or right Click on red underlined words (spelling), or Green (grammar).

Hit Shift, then F& to bring up a thesarus. you can also go to tools, then "Thesarus" should be somewhere in that drop down menu.Text

AutoCorrect automatically corrects misspelled words with the #1 recommended respelling. Go to Tools>AutoCorrect Options to turn it on or off, or whatever.AutoText automatically enters something when you start typing it (an example is the current date), and it only does this when you say that it's OK. To turn it on, go to Insert>AutoText. To insert the date, you guessed it. Insert>Date and Time.

Okay, that's all for now, because I'm tired and I have to do other stuff.

Project due today

2005-10-25T08:18:00.000-05:00

This project is due today. So, yeah.

An Incredibly entertaining outline of computer stuff

2005-10-24T08:28:00.000-05:00

The title explains itself. Here it is:

Define the following words:

Microprocessor-CPU. Determines processing power for any and all programs.
Computer-Self explanatory. Used to surf the internet, play games, run programs such as Microsoft Word.
CPU-Microprocessor. Determines processing power for any and all programs.
Memory-Where files and programs are saved. Duh.
RAM-Random Access Memory. “Main” memory. Determines how quickly and efficiently a computer runs
ROM-Read only memory. Main role in distribution of firmware, not likely to need frequent upgrading.
Cache-collection of data duplicating original values stored elsewhere/computed earlier. Used to easily access files that are difficult to access from elsewhere
Virtual Memory-Permits software to use more main memory than the computer actually possesses
Motherboard-primary circuit board in a computer, sometimes abbreviated as “mobo”
Power Supply-the cord that plugs into the wall.
Hard Disk-non-volatile storage, stores data on a magnetic surface which is layered onto hard disk platters
Operating System-system software responsible for direct control of hardware and basic operations.
Windows-Proprietary closed source software. It is a range of operating environments for personal computers, introduced in 1985. Used for about 95% of PCs.
Mac OS-Apple’s name for the first operating systems for Macs. First commercially successful Operating System, used a graphical user interface.
Linux-Open source operating system. Underlying source code available to the public.
Sound Card-Makes the pretty sounds. Typically includes sound chip w/digital to analog converter. Advanced designs feature multiple sound chips.
Graphics Card-designed to convert logical representation of an image stored in memory to an image that can be “read” by and displayed on the monitor.
Accelerated (or advanced) Graphics Port (AGP)-attaches a graphics card to a motherboard. Primarily assists in acceleration of 3D graphics, like those found in videogames.
PCI Express Slot-Implementation of PCI computer bus, uses existing PCI programming concepts, just a lot faster. It is phasing out AGP.
Monitor-The thing that holds the screen.
Keyboard-The thing you use to type on the screen.
Mouse-The thing you use to click on Icons/Links on the screen.
Removable Storage-Disks, ROM drives like those below.
Floppy disk-Circular piece of thin magnetic storage medium encased in plastic, read and written by a FDD
CD-ROM -Abbreviation for Compact Disc Read-only memory. Non-volatile storage mediums. Flat, metallized plastic disc, information encoded in a spiral from center to outside edge.
DVD-ROM-Digital Versatile Disc Read-only memory. It’s an optical storage mmedia format, used for data storage. (Usually movies). They’re encoded in a different format, and at a higher density. MUST CONTAIN A FILE SYSTEM.
Flash Memory-allows several memory locations to be erased in one programming operation. (Rewritable memory, needs no power source to hold its information.)
Zip Disk-Medium capacity removable dick storage, introduced by Iomega in 1994. Performs faster than standard floppy disk.
Ports-Connection that data is sent through, so that you can move information, or connect an outside machine, like a printer or iPod.
Parallel-bits are transmitted at the same time through two separate wires.
Serial-bits are transmitted consecutively on only one wire.
Universal Serial Bus (USB)-Standard for connecting devices. Usually for computers, but also used in PDAs, and gaming consoles, like the Nintendo Gamecube, and Sony’s Playststion 2 and Playstation Portable.
FireWire (IEEE 1394, i.Link)- PC and digital video serial bus interface standard, offers high speed communications. Almost all camcorders have FireWire ports, as do many Mac and Sony computers. The iPod also uses FireWire to upload tracks.
Internet-World wide web, it’s an extensive computer network available to the public. Transmits data using an internet protocol (IP) that’s standardized.
Network-Variety of systems of interconnected components.
Modem-(MODulator and DEModulator). Modulates a sound to encode digital information, also demodulates a carrier signal to decode transmitted information.
Local area network (LAN) card-Network covering a local area. Using Ethernet to wire the computers to a hub/switch, which constitutes the physical layer. A spanning tree protocol used to maintain a loop-free network.
Cable Modem-Modem designed to modulate data signal over cable TV infrastructure.
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modem-Technologies that provide a digital connection over copper wires of local phone network.
Very high bit-rate DSL (VDSL) modem-xDSL technology providing data transmission to a theoretical limit of 52 Mbits per second downstream, and 12 mbits/s up over 1 twisted pair of wires.
BIOS(basic input-output system)- originally describes part of CP/M loaded during boot time. (back in the DOS days)
bootstrap loader-loads operating system into memory, allows operation.
bit-0 or 1
byte-8 bits
kilobyte-1,024 bytes
megabyte-1,048,576 bytes
gigabyte-1,073,741,824 bytes

So, there it is. That's an outline that we did the first couple days of class. Feel free to visit my other, more interesting blog here.