Journal - Week 4

 

::: Day 1 - Monday 06/27/05 :::

 
This morning I started reading a research paper concerning energy efficiency in wireless sensor networks. It was a ten page paper but it consumed quite a while of my morning. This type of papers are usually dense and deal with complicated material. The fact that I am mostly unfamiliar with it makes it even harder to read. I was talking to Vinod about the paper and he said he had read it. He also shared with me that at my age in college he never read such papers. I am glad my profs at school push me to do that kind of stuff because it will prepare me well for grad school. 

While I was taking a break from the reading I spent some time updating my journal entries. It seems to be hard for me too keep up with the everyday records of my live. But I do it, and I manage to keep the website up to data ... almost.

After lunch Vinod and I talked about the paper and I asked him to explain to me some terms and concepts. I then went to the library to search for a book on Networking. I will be taking a networking class in the fall but I want to look over some things now.
On my way to the Science library at UMASS I had to stop by the OIT office (computer support). As a true computer scientist I was flaky enough to forget my UMASS email password; it's a first time.
The rest of the afternoon I spent looking over the book and some articles online.

On my way home I went to the big tall library to check out a novel. The library building though is very tall (20+ stories) so I managed to get of on the 17th floor instead the 11th and was a little lost.
I went home for a bit and then at 7:30pm got on my bike and went back to the lab. Bruce (the Bluetooth guy) was online and we started the debugging process. We did different experiments but could not get the Bluetooth connection between the two computers to work. He gave me some suggestions and we decided I will keep him updated on the situation.

It's been a long day, so I think I will go to the lab a little later tomorrow.

::: Day 2 - Tuesday 06/28/05 :::

I woke up at 7 this morning and it was pouring rain. I woke up at 8am and it was still raining. 9am - rain. Well, I finally got up and headed to work. I was in the lab by 9:45 which wasn't bad. Vinod was there trying to test the Bluetooth software between his laptop and the PCs. We spent some time doing different test and concluded that the problem comes from my computer. I reinstalled the software and voila! it worked. I haven't emailed Bruce yet, but what am I going to say - "Yeah, it's suddenly working..."

After we got Bluetooth to work I had to do some additional tests and then it was time for lunch. I went out just for half an hour because there wasn't much to do outside. It has been raining all day, so I couldn't stay out anyway. Vinod said I could just leave a little bit earlier.

The entire afternoon I worked on my Bluetooth client/server. Oh wait, I should go back and share with you the best news in a week or so. Remember that integer I was trying to transfer between two computers? I DID IT! And I also transferred a whole array of doubles. So yeah...I played with the client/server all day; I sat back a couple of times, drawing diagram and thinking how exactly to put together the different pieces of the application.

::: Day 3 - Wednesday - 06/29/05  :::


The first thing I did this morning was to email Bruce and let him know the Bluetooth software is working. He replied an hour later; then 5 minutes after reading his reply I realized nothing was working again. It seems that I fixed the problem temporarily by reinstalling the software but when I came this morning and log on the computer the problem came back. I cannot run the Avetana Utility and obviously I can't run my client/server application. I had to email Bruce again, explain the situation, and now we are waiting for a reply. 
The couple of tests that I did yesterday were helpful enough to get me started on the code for transferring the data arrays. For the remainder of the morning I worked on fixing some bugs from yesterday and proceeding with the send/getData methods of the client and server. I also did some changed to the GUI.

The weather has been stormy so I could stay out for long during lunch. It started pouring around 1:30 and I hear it will be mostly rainy for the rest of the week. I like the rain, but I am not happy that I can't go out. Instead I am in the cold lab.

After lunch Vinod and I talked about grad school. I asked him how his first year was, if he's had to teach classes, and so on. I am trying to get as much info as possible so I can make my choices regarding grad school and life after college in general.

At the end of our conversation I also asked him a couple of things regarding the project. I wanted to make the code more object oriented so I was running some ideas by him. When I went back to my computer I created a Node.java file which was the class for constructing and maintaining a Node object. The members of the class are energy, data, x_coord, and y_coord. I wrote a constructor method, and methods for getting and setting the members of the class. Thinking about the design I came up with the idea of using a Vector to store the nodes. I have not used Vectors before so I thought this would be a good learning opportunity. I read about the Vector class in a textbook and then looked over the API.

Next, I connected the client/server part with the Choice Screen (which is the main screen) of my GUI. I made changes to the Energy class because I wanted to use the Node object instead of an energy array. After tinkering with the code a little more, I decided I wanted to test my application. I was hoping that re-installing the Bluetooth Software might fix the bug again, but it did not.
Vinod and I decided to wait tonight and see what Bruce will say. There isn't really much we can do.

I chatted with Vinod for a while and organized my desk.

For an hour or so I read the Java book I have at work. I think that I should make the most of this internship and in addition to the Bluetooth work, I should strive to master Java as much as possible.

I left work a little early because Natalie came to get me and we went to the big Y. She has a car so it is much more convenient to shop. She is cooking us dinner tomorrow night :)

Edit: When I got home I saw that t had rained on my laptop, which was open and running... it is still holding on and I hope something doesn't go wrong. As if life is not all wrong already...

::: Day 4 - Thursday - 06/30/05 :::


I have been alone in the lab all day because Vinod had some other things to take care off. I have not heard from Bruce which means that I have not been able to work on my Bluetooth project. When I came in the morning I decided to try one last time and reinstall the Bluetooth software on both computers. I did it successfully on mine but then when I proceeded to Vinod's computer I experienced some difficulties. I was not able to uninstall the old Bluetooth software. I went to Add/Remove Programs but when I clicked on the software there simple was no "Uninstall" button. And that is bizarre. I have played with this software a couple of times already and it's always been the same process of uninstalling. I decided to just leave things the way they are and talk to Vinod tomorrow.

I am a little bumped that I can't work on my project, but on the other hand I have already made progress and I know I have enough time to complete it on time. I just hope we find permanent solution to our Bluetooth issues.

I decided to spend my time mastering Java even further. I took the 1300-page book I have and went through the table of contents. I put marks next to topics I am not familiar with. Then I just started reading. I know it doesn't sound too exciting but I feel I am getting further and further into Java. It is great how much I have learned seeing that Mt. Holyoke does not have a Java class. I think that if I were asked to write a program in the language in which I feel most comfortable, I would use Java. I am excited and really believe that by the end of the summer I will be a good Java programmer.

I met Natalie for lunch and then came back to the lab to do more reading. I went to the library to return two books. One of them was that XML book I mentioned some time ago. I finished it yesterday and thus my intro to XML is completed. I got the basic idea but it didn't spark me as something really interesting. If I have time I might look over some code examples online.

The rest of the afternoon I spent reading more Java and taking a look at the web cams at the Smithsonian Zoo in D.C. They have baby cheetahs and pandas, and flamingos, and all other kinds of cute interesting aMiNals. :)
 
Tonight Natalie is coming to the dorm to do laundry and to cook dinner. I will share more about that in tomorrow's entry (if i haven't got food poisoning).

And...that's pretty much it for today. We are getting closer to the 3-day weekend. Yes Yes.

::: Day 5 - Friday 07/01/05 :::

Vinod and I spent most of the morning playing with Bluetooth again. It was working on and off but we finally got the two computers to talk. We have decided not to turn off the computer, not even log off because that seems to mess up the Bluetooth software. I went back to working on my application. The next step I have to take is connect the client/server part to the GUI part of the application. I started working on that but and tested it twice with no real success. There is still work to be done. 

I left work a little after noon because Vinod let me go early. I wanted to take the 12:45 bus to Boston in order to avoid traffic later in the afternoon (4th of July-Cape Cod-thousands of people.)

At night Matt and I went to see a movie - 'Bewitched' - it was good summer fun movie.

Note: Concerning the dinner Natalie and I made, it was amazing. First time I had chilly and it was really great. ;

::: Day 6 - Saturday 07/02/05 :::

This was a laid back day for Matt and I to rest. I've learned to appreciate weekends so much more now that I work full time.

::: Day 7 - Sunday 07/03/05 :::

I spent most of the day in sleeping and resting. I met Matt for lunch at around 2:30 and then stayed with him at work. He made me a mixed CD containing a few of his favorite albums. This way I will have something different to listen to and branch out with electronic music. 


::: Week 1 ::: Week 2 ::: Week 3 ::: Week 4 ::: Week 5 ::: 

::: Week 6 ::: Week 7 ::: Week 8 ::: Week 9 ::: Week 10 :::

 

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Maria Kazandjieva - makazand@mtholyoke.edu - last update: 07/03/05