High School Projects

Although the code is very messy, I learnt a lot about the process of looking at uknown libraries and figuring out how to use their interface.

Two things I would do better going back:

• Clean up the code and make it wayyy more readable
• Tie the button press switch to an interrupt pin instead of polling it in the loop

The loop polling works, however, there is a slight delay when pressing the button to change the image.

This was one of my most favorite projects since it was the first biggest step I had ever taken toward building and working with custom hardware. I was so scared that I would have purchased incompatible parts, or I would mess up the soldering (which I did do a few times), and would never finish this project. However, after a lot of trial and error, I managed to get everything working and it was such a rewarding experience!

If I were to go back:

• Would have used wire crimps instead of alligator clips. The fact that I used alligator clips is silly (made wiring a mess), but was worried I would do something wrong with crimps. Thankfully comfortable with using them now

These skills definentely became critical in later projects where I needed to fetch data from other interfaces such as AdafruitIO and local servers. I also got more comfortable with the TFT display library and how to render text on the screen.

If I were to go back:

• With the experience now, I would've messed around a little more with the TFT display library and get my username and profile picutre to display on the screen as well (I was having trouble with this at the time)
• Would've handeled the screen referesh better. When fetching data from the API, the number is blacked out on the screen. I would have waited for the API to first recieve data before refereshing the screen so the screen doesn't have to empty itself first.

Although I didn't get to finish the full project and manual, the experience gained helped me format some of the curriculum for Tech Club and CircuitCharm.

Two things I would do better going back:

• Create a more organzied project plan (was kind of figuring it out as I go)
TFT screen got cracked twice through travel, stopped the project after since cost for part is high and was a large time time setback.

If I were to continue this project:

• Complete the interactive software tutorials on the TFT display
• Add more sensor modules and expansion options

Available Commands:

• help - Show all available commands
• list - Show all available tasks
• roll [projects] [skills] [studies] - Get random tasks (e.g., "roll 2 1 1")
• done [task_name] - Mark a task as completed (browser version does not store memory)
• clear - Clear the terminal output

Example Usage:

• Type roll 2 1 1 to get 2 projects, 1 skill, 1 study task, and a mandatory workout type
• Type done Github And Git to mark a task as completed
• Completed tasks won't appear in future rolls

Note: This is a simplified prototype. For the full version with file-save based storage with task tracking, visit the GitHub repository. Original code worked on terminal on replit, however since Replit moved to a premium service for publishing, the working version is not able to be used without me paying for a subscription.

This prototype demonstrates:

• Random task selection by category
• Clean command-line interface design

Full Version Features:

• Object-oriented design with Task and SkillTree classes
• Task dependency management (prerequisites system)
• Persistent progress storage using txt file storage

This was a really good capstone project for skills built up from microcontrollers with APIs, TFT display graphics, and timer/millis functionality. When went to Boston for this hackathon got really inspired by others and like minded interested high schoolers!

If I were to go back:

• I originally was trying to get the project done with USB data transfer (Serial), however getting it to work with the app itself when talking with crllct was a pain to handle in the moment. Would've skipped this part and gone straight to bluetooth to have more time for other features.
• After Serial shenanigans, did not have time to implement bluetooth functionality (more realistic for users with multiple devices), so going back would have definently focussed on that.
• Going back with bluetooth, would have also convinced Crllct to build app in using Expo Go so we could use bluetooth between app and server easy.