I've been meeting with Mr. Larsen for the past four weeks to acquire a
greater knowledge of programming to apply to the calculator. Although he is a
wizard, and definitely a professional at computer science, I must admit the
experience is a whole lot different than I had imagined, and different for the
better! I don't think I've ever left his office without the biggest smile on my
face and new masses of inspiration! Initially, after hearing how incredible and
intelligent he is, I thought meeting with Mr. Larsen would put me at an
inferior position. I thought this because I just assumed he would know all the answers,
and therefor render me quite useless as far as the program was concerned. This
is not what happened at all. I must admit I sort of underestimated my then
current understanding of how the program worked my ability to understand logic,
and to learn things hastily. Anything that needed to be learned, or just slightly
changed, was fairly easy to pick up and apply. I also just ignorantly assumed
he would have all the answers as far as how the calculator should look and the
best and most efficient way for the GUI to look. This was also false. I was
ebullient to realize that the ambiance of the meetings were that of a
partnership; we both played major roles in the development, and neither of us superseded
the other. We bounced ideas off each other and utilized both our knowledge to
one main achievement. As well as working together to discover and complete the
goal, he is also teaching me a lot as we go, and everything he teaches
me I always take and practice it until I fully understand it before I move on.
The current status of the calculator is radically further in the process
compared to my timeline than I could've ever imagined. The calculator can now successfully
solve two-reactant one-product problems where the user has the amounts of both
reactants. The calculator then immediately displays the theoretical yield of
the product in grams, moles, and particles, and tells the user the limiting
reactant (all things/"answers" that are necessary to be displayed).
The user can have the amounts of both reactants in either grams, moles, or
particles, so that no unit conversions have to be made by the user outside the
program.
However exciting this may be, there are many more things that can be done.
The first thing on my agenda is to create a drop-down box on the banner of the
program to create options (or "modes") for the user to choose. One of
the most challenging things about a stoichiometry calculator is that stoichiometry
problems can vary tremendously from problem to problem, and there are many
different types of problems as the chemical reaction you're using changes; as
the problem type changes, the math alters too. So Mr. Larsen and I have
proposed a tentative solution: there
will be a drop-down box so that the user can choose what type of problem he/she
has (two-reactant one-product, two-reactant two-product, three-reactant
two-product, etc.) and the calculator will change accordingly. The second thing
on my agenda is then to code all the different types of problems in the
calculator, which isn't as a gigantic task as it may seem. I already have one
type done, so I must only need to build on from that.
In a few days or so, I plan on screen recording a video of me using the calculator,
and explaining as I do so. That way I can hopefully cover any confusion about
what this is actually looking like/starting to become. But as for now, if you
have any questions please ask them below, and I will try my best to answer
them!
