Project Showcase

One of the project prompts for Java InspireCamp during Fall 2022 was to code a word game using the Java language. Among Hangman and other popular games, Wordle was an option. 

Wordle is a web-based word game that was originally released in 2018 and became widely popular during early 2022. The goal of the game is to guess a 6-letter word within 6 tries; with each guess, players will be shown a green letter (if a letter in a guess word matches the position of a letter in the actual word) or yellow letter (if a letter in the guess word exists within the actual word) to help them along the way.

The Wordle game code showcased below features a variety of Java concepts–ranging from simple for loops and conditional statements to scanners and string methods. The game's code starts with defining variables that will control the game's outputs. Running the code will initiate the game through print statements that outline the game instructions.

After the initial setup, the game enters a loop that will end if the game is won (word is guessed correctly) or lost (word is not guessed by the time the player reaches 6 guesses). For-loops and conditional statements are used throughout this portion of the game's code to loop through the guesses and verify the accuracy of the guesses. 

One of the more challenging parts of this process was to visualize the game. While playing Wordle online or via an app, there is a front-end experience that colors the letters green or yellow based on positional accuracy. However, with this Java project, there was an additional layer of difficulty in accomplishing this all through the console printout. 

The Pokemon Character Dashboard is an informational dashboard that is controlled by a drop-down menu used to select a Pokemon character.

Once a character is chosen using the drop-down menu (created through Google Sheet's Data Validation functionality), the dashboard will change to report on key statistics and informations related to the character chosen. The color and picture adjustments are among the most visual changes to the dashboard, which are powered through VLOOKUP and Conditional Formatting functionalities. The picture is adjusted based on the character chosen and the color adjusts based on the element of the character chosen.

Google Sheet tools and functionality used as part of this project: Data Validation, VLOOKUP, Conditional Formatting, Image Functions, various Cell & Text Formatting.

A visual of the dynamic dashboard reporting on various Pokemon characters:

A screenshot of the data added to the backend in order to power the visual dashboard:

The personal and professional portfolio project made by Natalie doubles as a personal website and online resume. It most features HTML code, with CSS styling embedded within to decorate the various HTML elements.

In summary, the project is an interactive website, which contains buttons to various sections of the personal portfolio. These buttons are outlines in a right sidebar. Here is a screenshot of the overall layout: 

One of the most complex elements of the project was a percentage bar on the Languages Level section of the website. It displays the skill level out of 100% within each of the languages spoken. The screenshot below contains the code that powers this section along with a visual rendering of the result:

Other elements of this project include text alignment, spacing, and paragraph formatting. Additionally the HTML code contains hrefs add hyperlinks where relevant in the Projects and Contact sections of this personal website. A screenshot of this is shown below:

The Food Inventory Database is a PostGreSQL database that is designed to store information related to the food available in a typical home pantry.

The goal of the database is to store information related to what food is currently in a home pantry, where it is stores, how much is available, and how soon the expiration date is for the food item. The database is useful when turned into a dashboard to report on key information around expiration dates and amount stored. The results would be a reduction in food waste and preventing over-purchase of certain items.

Prior to building the database, a Google Sheet was used to plan and design the database schema and its various tables. A layout of the tables and its columns was created to ensure key information wasn't missed. The screenshot below shows various location tables for where food would be stored; Esmeralda chose to organize the database tables by location.

After having the data tables designed on Google Sheet, the next step was to take the database to an online hosting service (so that it could then be used on an analytics platform). The following is a screenshot of one of the tables from the hosting platform.

It is the Fridge table and contains information across expiration, units stored, and food category.

The next step after having built this database would be to build data dashboard and reports that would automatically report on the food data being stored and added to the database.

Some food-related trends and questions that could be solved with the setup of this database include:

1. How much food is stored at each location?

2. From fridge, which foods will be expiring in November?

3. What foods get past their expiration date the most?

4. Which foods do I have the most of? And least?

5. What category has the most food?

The Recursive Graphics project of the Java InspireCamp utilized the concept of recursion to general complex images with simple programming.

The recursive graphics project was inspired by the Sierpinski triangle, a three-way recursive algorithm that draws a fractal image using equilateral triangles subdivided recursively into smaller triangles. Here's a picture for refernece:

This particular recursive graphic image created by Wilson goes a step beyond the classic recursive graphic project. Along with drawing recursively, the algorithm is using the entire drawing from before and rotating and translating it to create the next iteration of the recursion. Here's a picture to clarify the complexity and recursive process and how the drawing iterates over its first five steps:

The drawing becomes easier to interpret when it is run recursively for a long number of steps. The animation below shows a drawing for the first 15 steps. (Unfortunately, the canvas size is too small for the overall image to be fully visible).

YogurtLan is LanLearning's futuristic frozen yogurt startup. It's like Menchies, but munchier. It's like YogurtLand, but better.

The shop uses robots to serve frozen yogurt. Customers simply enter our froyo shops and use the automated machines to build their order with flavors and toppings of their choice. With machines and advanced technology, the weight of each flavor and topping can be added much more precisely. It helps our most nutritionally-conscious customers stick to their diets and also limits waste and leftovers. The price of the toppings and flavors is always calculated before and after adding each individual item to the order, making customers aware of their accumulating bill. When it comes time to pay, customers can enter a promo code if they have one and pay directly at the machine. If there are any issues along the way, a member of the YogurtLan staff is always available to assist.

The futuristic makeup of YogurtLan's operations allows data to collect easily in a database, which has become a staple of our Data InspireCamp and SQL InspireCamp curriculum. It's our database of choice to teach learners about the SQL coding language, business analytics, and data visualizations. We've built the database and populated it with fake data that hides a bunch of gems waiting to be discovered through analysis and curiosity about the frozen yogurt business.

The database consists of 10+ tables, storing information related to customer feedback, orders, promo codes, flavors, toppings, and more. These questions allow our learners to be curious about important questions that they would find asking themselves when working in business intelligence or data analysis. Some of them include:

1. What is the gross revenue earned by our business? What percent of our revenue is net profit earned by our business?

2. How is the quality of our product changing as we open more shops and begin serving more regions? Is our feedback collection processes reflective of our changing product quality?

3. Which flavors and toppings are ordered during peak times and down times? How can we further optimize the flavors served during to limit expiring product and leftover?

A screenshot of the PostGreSQL database documentation created for the YogurtLan database:

A screenshot of the database hosted on our online database hosting service:

A screenshot of a SQL query written using the various tables of the YogurtLan database to answer important business questions: