Saturday, October 16, 2021

History of Coding


Coding has changed human civilization forever. You see coding every day even though you might not notice it, that’s how impactful coding is. For example, when you text someone on your phone, the computer doesn’t understand when you click on the letter so coding helps the computer understand, and then the letter will appear on your screen. That is a straightforward example. Without coding, 90% of the things we use today won’t be available. But how did this invention start, and when did it start? Let’s take a deeper dive into the History of Coding.



Coding was first invented in the 60 A.D and was created by the brilliant professor Mr. Heron of Alexandria. He was an astonishing mathematician and engineer. One of his inventions was the puppet machine, in which to work you had to pull a few strings for the puppet to do something. This machine inspired the basic code. There weren’t many other inventions that altered coding history but 1800 years later, a coding genius by the name of Joseph Marie Jacquard changed Coding forever. Joseph created a machine called the Jacquard Loom, which basically made carpets, rugs, and blankets of different colors. Then the machine would copy the same thing over and over again, which invented the program called loop. 


Towards the end of the 1800s a mathematician in London, UK named Charles Babbage created the first computer called the Analytical Engine. He dreamed of creating a machine that could calculate numbers quickly, but he gave up midway and wanted to make a better machine. That became the Analytical Engine. He didn’t have enough money to build the Analytical machine so he couldn’t finish it. Another mathematician saw this idea and was intrigued by it. Her name was Ada Lovelace. She came up with a theory called a program that didn’t exist then. But again coding went quiet again for some time until World War 2 started. Another mathematician by name of Alan Turing was on the allies side in World War 2 and his job was to break the Axis side code. He and his coding team broke the code by creating a machine. Now the Allies knew Germany’s naval movements. In the later stages of World War 2, a man named Tommy Flowers, who worked with telegraphs made a programmable computer using those telegraphs. That machine was known as the colossal l. It helped during important wars. People didn’t know about this computer since 1950 since it was top secret.


In the 1950s, computer programming languages started to take off. The first programming language was called the short code, which was created by IBM. Then a few years later, they built a faster version of the short code called the speed code. Ever since computer programming languages started to take off, the job was in high demand. There were more languages added to coding over the years and computers have also advanced, which made coding a lot easier for a lot of people.


Coding has been essential for human civilization for a very long time. It started out very simple, like a lot of great inventions but over time people realized coding could be revolutionary and made it more complicated. This was when coding really started to take off and thanks to coding the world in terms of technology have advanced at a very high rate. Coding is still evolving, which will result in technology advancing even more.


Hiking Blog

 The Great Smokies is a great place to visit and has a lot of entertainment and there is hiking opportunities.

I have gone to the Smokies 3-4 times before this year but we never went hiking on those days. But for the first time, my dad and I went hiking. We went to this waterfall in the Smokies called the Rainbow Fall which is one of the most favored destinations among hikers. It takes 2.7 miles to get there so we knew we had to be prepared.

Before we started hiking we ate grapes and omelets. During the hike, we brought 3 water bottles and 3 granola bars. The funny thing was we didn’t even need the granola bars during the hike. During the hike, the animal we saw was a deer. But we saw many small waterfalls and streams which looked very beautiful. Also, it was so calming because there weren’t any cars and we could only hear nature which sounded beautiful.

Once we reached 3 hours later it felt like the Rainbows Fall was waiting for us. This was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. It was really calming, fun, and exciting. I recommend all of you should at least try going hiking once because it feels like you’re in a completely new world that is more peaceful and less stressful.



Saturday, April 24, 2021

NBA 2020 Season Review

 

2019-2020 NBA Season: Season for the ages

By: Aahan Kar

 

Beginning:

The 19-20 NBA free agency was bizarre. The most prolific players in the league were switching to new teams and for the first time in a while the league was balanced. This season was one of the most anticipated seasons in NBA history.  The two teams that changed the most were the two teams in LA, Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers. Both added superstars to their teams. The Laker acquired Anthony Davis and the Clippers acquired Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. Both were ranked as the best two teams in the NBA. This season had so many different storylines, Lakers, Bucks, and Clippers contending for a ring, how Steph Curry would do without a super team, Raptors looking to defend their championship, etc. Opening day Clippers cruised against the Lakers. But after that game Lakers were so dominant with LeBron and Anthony Davis leading the way. In the first five games, Stephen Curry was playing horrendously but he got a severe hand injury and was out for most of the year. 

MVP Race:

On the Eastern Conference, the Milwaukee Bucks were dominating as usual with Giannis Antetnkoumpo leading the way. The MVP race at the beginning of the season was really close but later LeBron James and Giannis would be the clear top 2 for MVP. Giannis being number 1. The Lakers once again faced the Clippers on Christmas Day but lost once again in a close matchup. It seemed at the time Clippers were much better than the Lakers. There were a lot of surprising teams though, the Miami Heat, Nuggets, Celtics, Mavericks, and the Raptors. The Nuggets young superstar Nikola Jokic was getting better and was considered a top 10 player, the Miami Heat were making a run as the best Eastern Conference team with Veteran superstar Jimmy Butler and young star Bam Adebayo leading the way, Luka Doncic growing so fast and making himself one of the best players in the league and it’s his second year in the NBA, the Raptors lost superstar Kawhi Leonard but are playing well without him, and the Jayson Tatum who was a disappointment last year but now is growing into one of the best players in the league.

NBA All-Star Weekend: 

The regular season was good but then came All-Star weekend. One of the most anticipated weekends in the NBA season. The NBA decided to change up the All-Star Game. The viewership was going down since the All-Stars were giving no effort. Also, the NBA wanted to honor Kobe since he passed away. They completely changed the rules and people were wondering how it would be. This All-Star game was rated one of the best all-star games in NBA history. 

COVID-19:

After the All-Star Game, it seemed as if Giannis would win unanimous MVP which has happened only once in NBA history (2015-16 Stephen Curry) but the Lakers were playing the Clippers and the Bucks The Lakers already lost to the Clippers twice and lost to the Bucks once. The Lakers beat both of them and the MVP race became a lot closer. But it still seemed like Giannis was going to win the MVP. After a couple of weeks, an NBA player tested positive for COVID-19. Then more and more players started getting positive results and the league had to shut down. After a couple of months, the NBA was back but they had to play in a bubble in Orlando, FL. No team could travel and if players went out of the bubble they had to pay fines. Only a few teams were invited to the bubble and the teams that made the bubble were in the playoffs. Each team played 8 games before the playoffs officially started. 

NBA Playoffs: 

The Los Angeles Lakers were playing the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round and won in 5 games. The Utah Jazz vs the Denver Nuggets was one of the best series in the entire playoffs. The Nuggets were down 3-1 against the Jazz but came back and won. The Clippers were struggling against the Dallas Mavericks but ended up beating them in 6 games. The Houston Rockets vs Oklahoma City Thunder went to a game 7 but the Houston Rockets ended up beating them.  In the Eastern Conference, the Bucks beat the Orlando Magic in 5 games, the Miami Heat beat the Indiana Pacers in 4 games, the Toronto Raptors beat the Brooklyn Nets in 4 games, and the Boston Celtics beat the Philadelphia 76ers in 4 games. Some surprising series were the Clippers/Mavericks, Rockets/Thunder, and Bucks/Magic. These games were surprising because most people predicted it wouldn’t be a close series but the weaker team fought really hard but they ended up losing. Even though the Bucks beat the Magic in 5 games mostly everyone predicted the Bucks to beat them in 4. Nevertheless, the stronger team ended up winning and advanced to the next round.

2nd Round: 

The Lakers were playing the Rockets and won in 5 games, but the Denver Nuggets vs the Clippers was the most surprising series in the playoffs. The Clippers were up 3-1 and in one of the games they were up more than 16 points but Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray put up historic numbers and came back 3-1 upsetting the Clippers. At the time Clippers were considered the best team in the NBA but a young Denver Nuggets team with a bright future beat them. In the Eastern Conference, the Miami Heat upset the Milwaukee Bucks in 5 games. Jimmy Butler led this young Heat team to the Eastern Conference finals and he put up great numbers throughout the playoffs at this point. Young superstar Jayson Tatum led the Boston Celtics to victory defeating the defending champions the Toronto Raptors in 7 games. 

Conference Championship: 

The remaining teams were the Los Angles Lakers, the Denver Nuggets, the Miami Heat, and the Boston Celtics. LeBron James and Anthony Davis led the Lakers to the NBA Finals winning in 5 games. Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo led the Miami Heat to the NBA Finals beating the Celtics in 6 games. 

NBA Finals/Conclusion of the season:

The Finals were set, Los Angeles Lakers vs the Miami Heat. Both teams fought hard but in the end, the Lakers ended up victorious winning their 17th franchise Finals. Tied with the most Finals win with the Boston Celtics. LeBron James won Finals MVP once again. This season was unique, odd, and exciting. No year in NBA history was this different and we got to witness history.

IBM Artificial Intelligence Fundamental course

  I have always been fascinated by data science and artificial intelligence. Over the past few years, I have taken numerous classes from maj...