Progress Update 27th November 2020

Progress Update 27th November 2020

In the first of what I hope to become many progress reports, I'm going to list achievements I've made, what I'm working on and what I'm hoping to do in the future.

I feel this is a great method of keeping myself in check but also de-cluttering my mind because I tend to find myself storing up ideas and thoughts in the way I also store tabs in Firefox, which is why my phone always has at least 50 tabs open and the desktop has many, many more - though I doubt I'd ever beat Dr. Tompsett.

So, let's get going.

What I've acheived:

  • I wrote and submitted the Honours Project PID a few weeks back. That was a huge document which I actually left a little bit late to get cracking with considering the amount of information I wanted to convey but given what I produced in the time I allowed myself, I'm still quite happy with it overall.
  • I ran a logo design competition on 99designs to get the fabulous Parentull Logo and branding guidelines which has really set the tone for the brand. It feels modern, fluid and energetic, albeit with an overtone of professionality; just what I wanted.
  • I completed Data Mining labs and caught up on lectures after falling behind.
  • I completed Embedded systems labs and caught up on lectures after falling behind.
  • I attended extra sessions to work towards an Azure certification provided by the Computer Science Department @ Hull.
  • I setup a NGINX server for the first time ever which is hosting this website and Parentull's holding page. Previously, I'd been using Cloudron which pretty much takes care of everything, but now I'm back to handling everything myself, which is awesome. Shout out to Starbeamrainbowlabs for the helpful pointers; whilst I've got Apache experience, NGINX was new to me so her advice came in useful.
  • I managed to fit in two bagpipe lessons during a really busy week as well as practice.
  • I donated 10 meals to the Pepperell Solicitors 'Christmas Meal' campaign in Parentull's name.

What I'm working on:

  • I'm working on Parentull user stories for a variety of normal users and professional users. See example:
  • I'm working on research surveys for Parentull.
  • I'm finalising my choice of coding language/platform and justifying the choices for Parentull. At the moment, thanks to an awesome chat with @Epictek regarding Xamarin and Two Factor Authentication. Having been stuck on the question of which programming language to use for a fair while, the chat was helpful in helping me come to a concise decision.
  • I'm working on Embedded Systems Coursework and I think I've figured out how all of the hardware components need to interact. Certainly I know that I need to create header files to facilitate the communication interfaces.
  • I'm working on the Data Mining & Decision Systems Labs / Coursework. Admittedly, I am a bit behind with this.

What I'm aiming to do:

  • I'm aiming to submit Parentull to the big idea competition at the University of Hull again, the submission window is open so I need to get cracking.
  • I'm aiming to have a meeting with Mark Williams FMH about Parentull next week.
  • I'm aiming to get started on Parentull's codebase by the end of next week.
  • I'm aiming to have both ACWs rounded off by the end of december so I've got time to work on Parentull before / during the exam period.
  • I'm aiming to pass the Azure certification and then continue VMWare training.
  • I'm aiming to update the student resources list with more awesome resources for future students.