We're Not Over Yet!

Hello readers!

First of all, I'd like to apologize for my absence. I have been very busy juggling track, school, and robotics. As you might have read, my team made it to the FIRST FRC World Championship, and I was ecstatic! This event and continuation into the off-season has really taken a toll on my time and energy. I think this feeling of tiredness and relaxation is present to all after a FRC season, as some are coming and others are going after a long and busy season.

I must say, FIRST Launch: Destination Deep Space is probably the game I have enjoyed the most. But with that being said, I have only been part of FRC for two years. Also, it might just be because this was my first time going to the World Championship!

I want to take a moment and discuss my team's past season and the memories we made together. First off, the trip to Detroit was obviously an exciting new experience for all of my team. I am happy to have had the experience, and would very much like to go again. Towards the end of the championship, my whole team got a little emotional (some more than others), but I think it was safe to say that they were tears of joy because of what we have accomplished, rather than tears of regret and depression. All in all, I was very happy to see the end of some of my teammates career as a FIRST student end with an adventure like that.

Now let's travel back a little further in time. My team performed very well at all previous events, yet we still did not win a blue banner! One day, I am sure my team will achieve a blue banner, whether I am there or not, as long as we continue to have committed and dedicated students and mentors. I will not reveal to many details about the competitions in order to keep my team's identity a secret!

Now we're going to go way back to the start of the build season, and we are talking the first week! I'm going to be honest here, because if I can't be honest here, I can't be anywhere else. I did not think we would perform as well as we did. I also can confidently say that I am not the only one on my team who thought that. There seemed to be a lot of arguing over what robot design would play the game the most efficiently at the beginning. Eventually, we all started to worry a bit, wondering if we will have both our practice bot and competition bot ready for our offseason competition. We kicked it into high gear, stayed late, worked hard, and did what we needed to do to get the job done, and I am thrilled to say that I could not have been more proud of the stupendous work my team and I pulled off.

Now with my 2019 season at an end, I have to look to the future, and boy oh boy is that something. But that 'something' is for a later time, and a later blog.

I also have a confession to make. Ben Thomas is not my real name. I will usually never refer to myself by my real name, even though most of you probably know it. However, the videos do consist of me saying the title of the clips and my real name. If you listen, you will hear my name and the title of the clips, but I will only type Ben Thomas in my blogs.

Throughout the season I have been putting together videos of my team's progress when we stayed late. I called it "Robots Past 11 with Ben Thomas". I also had other specials such as, "Robots with Ben Thomas: Lights Out Edition". These videos were very fun to make, yet they were also very simple recaps that I find joy in when I look back on them. You might find them boring, however some of my teammates might look back on this and enjoy watching these memories unfold. I included the second one because the first one is not that great, but I will continue to post these videos throughout my blog.

I guess it's time for my quote right? Well, quotes are for closure, and this team is most certainly not closing yet! So I guess I will state the quote like . . .

"We're not over yet!" 

- Ben Thomas

Look Out World!

Hello fellow bloggers and nerds!

First of all, I would like to apologize to all my fans for not blogging recently. Second, I'd also like to laugh at my enemies who thought I was dead! Thank you for your patience everyone, but now I'd like to announce that for the first time ever, my team is going to FIRST FRC World Championship in Detroit, MI!

This is a big accomplishment for my team and I am so happy to call then my friends! I have been very busy preparing for competition and competing, which is why I have not blogged recently!

I enjoy blogging as much as you all enjoy reading it, but schoolwork gets in the way sometimes too. I am very excited for the competition, and there is much to be done on my robot, so I do not know when I will blog again.

Let me tell you about a story of how I used what I learned in FIRST to help me outside of my robot life. I am currently in my honors biology class, and I find it rather easy, yet tedious. Especially with transferring DNA and genetics. So using my programming knowledge that I acquired, I wrote a program that turns DNA to RNA to Amino Acids, or works backwards and takes RNA and displays the DNA it was used in and the Amino Acids it creates with its codons.

This program was kinda fun to write, yet very frustrating, because I had to write a huge dictionary. It all worked out after an hour of sitting in front of my raspberry pi however.

I am proud of this project, as it shows that FIRST really does have an impact on the lives of students, outside and inside the classroom.

Before I leave, I want to promise you all that I will try my best to get another blog in before Worlds!

Good luck to all of you in your nerdy or robotics lives, but remember you are not just doing this for fame or fortune, it's for your future!

"It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are." 

- Clive James

I'm Back!

Hello everyone!

I am very sorry I have not been blogging recently, but I have been very busy! We recently placed very well at Hatboro-Horsham 2019! Track practice has also started recently so I have not had time to attend to all of your needs.

A lot is going on right now, as I am actually writing this at robotics right now since my friend Wyatt challenged me to!

There is a lot happening right now. Allow me to briefly describe some of it. Wyatt is making snarky remarks and cannot believe I am writing a blog instead of python. He is currently threatening to drip water on my computer. Now, he is headbanging to Imagine Dragons. Wyatt is a very peculiar young man. I will not reveal too much information, as I do not want him to be offended.

That is all for Wyatt right now. Our robot is doing great and I am very proud to be a part of the team at the moment.

I love the above photo for several reasons. I struggle with each of the phrases written on the top and bottom of the image (you might have realized that because of the name of my blog). I also am a bit of a procrastinator. I also love the colors in the image!

I understand that that was kind of random but I just needed a picture I liked.

I will blog tomorrow hopefully, and several days after if time is on my side. 

Thank you for joining me tonight!

A Method To My Madness

Hello fellow programmers and Blogger wanderers!

If you have not read my previous and first blog post, I highly recommend you do in order to get a sense of the topics and ideas I will throw out.

Now that we are all settled, let's get into the title. You're probably pondering upon the title and asking yourself, "Now Ben, when are these strange titles going to stop?". You also probably have your mouse hovering over the back arrow, which is perfectly reasonable and understandable, but wait! If you click that button, you could miss out on some lessons that might be worth while depending on the situation you are in. If you're caught between a rock and a hard place, be sure to read until the end.

This blog should be a place for the clutter-minded programmers to come and ease their troubled minds. A place where students can come to rest their eyes and fingers. A place where homework is done, and the code passes tests and performs flawlessly.

Now without further ado, let's continue into the topic.

First off, several of my programming mates, several being one, dislikes numerous quirks I exercise while performing my tasks and jobs. This section is here to reinforce my ways. To prove a method for my madness! (Get the title now?) 

Number one: 'Ben Numbers'

Reader: "Uhh, what are 'Ben' numbers?". Great question! Ben numbers are real numbers that appear as irrational floats in code. These values are not returned, but declared. Many people, such as this certain one, dislike these numbers. Why do I appreciate their cause? Ben numbers have the capability of providing more accurate positions and rates.

As you can see in the image above, floats do NOT take up more space than integers also, which is a huge convenience for functional programming.

Now that we have that out of our way, let's move on to the next topic: Skipping tests.
Many of you not part of a group that runs tests on code prior to its deployment, which is alright. My point here is short and concise. Tests can lead to the build-up of time, and depending on what you run and how many (I run 5 and they can take around two minutes) you run, it might be quicker to "Ship it" and avoid the tests. Nowadays I am comfortable enough with my skills to set the title for this blog as my title, but also skip tests. If you run the tests every time, you're essentially taking small chunks of time just to get an error, or an annoying statement that says, 'Congrats! Subtract two useless minutes from your day!". Now, when you write big programs or are relatively new to a certain language, running tests are not a bad idea. However minor changes are not necessary in my opinion! Not only do they waste time at some points, crashing right away, and performing a part of it, could be very instrumental in cracking the error.

I hope these two concepts make enough sense that you see where I am coming from, but you do not need to agree.

Congratulations! You made it to the end and heard and reviews the method to my madness! Now for my words of wisdom from the day.

I understand that there are large obstacles in everyone's life, and you can get bummed out all the time. And I mean, all the time! But you must remember: if you claim to have hit rock bottom and you've sunken so low, what are the odds of your day improving to your day getting worse? Hmm? When you sit down on your couch after a hard day and think "Why did I do that?" or "Why did I say that?", I want you to think about what you can do to repair yourself, or get rid of the bug in your code! Make it up to them, rebuild, reconstruct, and most importantly, do not get distracted from the future. The future is everything while the past means and does nothing, except act as a footnote simply pointing to what we could improve or fix. So the key points?:

- It can only get better.
- Rebuild and regenerate!
- You cannot change the past, but you can influence the future.

As I wrap this up, I hope I leave you with a sense of satisfaction and relief, while providing a method to my madness. So, as a friend who understands the struggle, and the cure, have a great day, and an even brighter future!

"Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future." 

- Robert H. Schuller

Get Ready For a Wild Ride!

Hello fellow programmers!

Before I introduce myself, I want to start by saying that this is more than robotics and programming. This is my family, friends, and my way of life. Somedays, these people turn into my counselors. Someday, they are more than just some high school kids. My name is Ben Thomas, and I am a stressed-out high school sophomore. I take part in my local high school robotics team and work with them vigorously, hour after hour, just for a FIRST FRC blue banner. For confidentiality, I will not state last names, or my team's name/number. 

Second, I want to thank all of you for your interests. I understand that some of these people here received word of my blog on an ordinary day at the build site, but for everyone else, welcome! And those of you who thought I was joking all this time, you can stop laughing now! 

I am a very busy young man, but I will make an effort to post everyday, and discuss funny stories and codes. I also will be able to answer a few programming questions in the language of Python. 

Now you are probably wondering, "Ben, why waste your time doing this when you could be writing code for a robot or sleeping?". Well first off, great idea! Second, I believe that STEM needs to be promoted and that friendship is very important. I can tell you for a fact that this week has been hard on some schoolmates for personal reasons which I will not address. Students and kids need to be welcomed and the FIRST organization is perfect for this! Along with this, STEM needs to grow, as I believe it is our future, and chances are you do too if you're reading this!

All in all, I hope you are all in for a fantastic ride, because I got tips, stories, and suggestions I just need to shout from the rooftops before my days end. And you lucky ducks got front row seats, so buckle up!

     "I believe in being an innovator." - Walt Disney