What's New(s) at TNT?

Ask any trig student about the importance of special triangles and the 'Unit Circle' and you'll get an earful about their place in mathematics. We created (Copilot created?) a suite of drills to help students practice their skills with these important concepts. Check out our Unit Circle Practice and the associated drills for 30-60-90 triangles, 45-45-90 triangles, and a mix of special triangles to see how we implemented this and to have some fun practicing your trig skills! Learn about the history and reasons why 'radians' are the 'grown-up' way of dealing with angles.

Novice Zach F. wrote (with AI assistance) a Python Processing app illustrating how multiple balls can fall under the influence of gravity and interact with each other. We weren't able to showcase the functional Python (yet) but Claude rewrote the program in JavaScript so we could see how Zach's app worked. A plus is that we can compare/contrast the two languages! See Zach Dropped the Ball!

This year we've been field-testing the usage of AI in the classroom and having students reflect on their experiences and designs by presenting their collaborative work with AI in class. We were inspired to create a paradigm, SPARK Speeches to capture this energy and experience.

We've kept some previous versions of SketchWave available for comparison purposes, but we've made enough progress that we decided to create a single repository for all future updates: SketchWave-Current.

Even more upgrades to SketchWave, including some 'original' artwork from Claude! Can you find it?

We have an updated p5js (Processing) template that is based on our 'SketchWave' development. Give it a spin, download it, and create your own app!

Did you know you could apply a color theme to selected elements in a webpage? We didn't, until AI helped us find out how to do it! Check out our Color Theme Tutorial to see how 'we' implemented this functionality. Read the associated explanations to see how!

An inventive, curious, resourceful novice, JJ, has been working with Copilot to create a sketch and drawing app that allows users to create and save their drawings locally using the browser's local storage. Check out his (their!) JJ's Sketch & Draw App to see how "they" implemented this and to have some fun creating your own drawings! We even have a side-by-side comparison of the vanilla CSS version and the Bootstrap 5 version of the app, so you can see the pros and cons of each approach! Be sure to look at the Resources section of the app to learn more about local storage and styling options!

Did you know it's possible to modify (hack) live webpages in Chrome? Novice Austin shows us how with his (and Copilot's!) Live Page Hacker Tutorial. Check it out to see how you can use Chrome DevTools to modify the content of any webpage on the fly! It's a powerful tool for web development and debugging, and it's a great way to learn about how web pages are structured and how they can be manipulated.

Novices have been playing 'real' and 'digital' dominos for weeks, so we thought it would be fun to create a digital domino gaming experience. Check out our Domino Saga to see how we implemented this and to have some fun playing dominos yourself against the computer! It's not strategizing (yet) but we'll let you know when that happens.

Based on our SuperSorter App, we created a new app that allows users to visualize both sorting and searching algorithms. Check out our Sort then Search Visualization to see how we implemented this and to have some fun sorting and searching 'Dot' instances yourself!

Troxler's Effect, the Lingelbach Illusion and the Hermann Grid Illusion were walks in the park with some new SketchWave classes we developed with Copilot. Check out our SWCross Illusions to see how we implemented these illusions and to experience them for yourself!

A subplot in the movie 'The Imitation Game' involved a 'Beale Cipher' that was used by a Soviet spy to leak information about war efforts in Britain during WW2. Our curiosity was piqued, so we asked Claude to help us create a demo of the Beale Cipher. Check out our Beale Cipher Demo to learn its history, see how it works and to try your hand at cracking the code!

Hat's off to novice Austin W. for his work with Claude to create a Local Storage Tutorial that is both informative and fun! Check it out to learn how browsers remember your settings and how you can use local storage in your own web applications!

Thanks to Claude we have made some considerable upgrades to SketchWave. It would be a shame to miss out on them!

A tropical island paradise awaits with our newest SketchWave Saga: Recursive Islands! We explore the use of recursion to create a series of islands, creating a visually stunning and complex landscape. Additionally, we implement a recursive maze-solving algorithm that allows users to find treasure. Check out our Recursive Islands and Maze Solution to see how we did it and to embark on your own island adventure!

Inspired by our duck sorting (see below) we wanted to explore other sorting algorithms and visualize how they work. Check out our SuperSorter App to see how we did it and to have some fun sorting 'Dot' instances yourself!

Everyone keeps hoping we'll get our ducks in a row. Well, we did. We even sorted them, thanks to Copilot! Check out our Duck Sorting App to see how we did it and to have some fun sorting ducks yourself!

Ever wanted to star in a movie? See your name in lights? It can happen in this movie credits app, thanks to AI!

After a bit of dabbling, Copilot (and I) have developed a set of JavaScript classes that we are calling 'SketchWaveJS' (SWJS). These classes are designed to work with the p5js library and provide a more structured and modular approach to creating interactive graphics and animations. We are excited about the possibilities that these classes open up for our projects, and we look forward to sharing them with you in the near future! Check out our SketchWaveJS Portal to see some of the cool things we've been able to create with these new classes!

We're growing our library of SketchWaveJS classes (SWJS), and one of our latest additions is the 'SWDisk' class. To showcase its capabilities, we created a demo that features a variety of animations and interactions. Check out the SWDisk Demo to see what it can do! It's a great way to learn about how to use this new class and to get inspired for your own projects!

If there's one thing that's constant on the web, it's change! With the help of Copilot, we created a demo that shows how to use the 'Local Overrides' feature in Chrome DevTools to modify the content of a webpage on the fly. Check out the Simple SWDisk Modification Demo to see how it works and to experiment with modifying the content of our SWDisk demo page! It's a powerful tool for web development and debugging, and it's a great way to learn about how web pages are structured and how they can be manipulated.

This time, we're glad we have 'bugs' in our code! As we develop our SketchWave set of classes, we've used 'inheritance' to build an 'SWBug' class from its 'SWPoint' parent. Courtesy of Copilot, we've got some great reference material about our support classes as well! Check out the SWBug Demo to see how we implemented this and to explore the behavior of our 'bugs'! We even have a 'grid reference' app to help you understand the coordinate system we are using in our SketchWave library! Check it out here!

Continuing our exploration of p5js and Copilot, we developed a color demonstration app called SWColors Demo. This app allows users to explore the use of several classes in our new 'SketchWave' library for p5js. Check it out to see how we implemented color manipulation and interaction!

Our work with our Random Integers Saga naturally led us to explore a simple game: Rock, Paper, Scissors. Using our S.P.A.R.K. methodology with Copilot, we developed a multi-stage application that allows users to play against the computer. Check out the Rock, Paper, Scissors app to see how we did it!

For comparison, you might want to check out our earlier JavaScript version of Rock, Paper, Scissors developed pre-Copilot. You might need some passwords though!

Recently, the 'Mother Ship' wanted us do some development and better-familiarize ourselves with Magic School, a platform for learning and experimenting with AI in an education setting. In our absence, novices were instructed to explore the JavaScript Tutorial at W3Schools.

As we looked at it, we noticed it did not always use more modern JavaScript features and best practices. Then we thought: could Copilot create a side-by-side comparison of traditional and modern JavaScript techniques? Well, we were not disappointed. See what 'Claude' suggested at our JavaScript Tutorial that compares W3School snippets with more modernized snippets.

Another S.P.A.R.K. demo using p5js and Copilot! This time, we explored the creation of animated energy rings that pulse and radiate outward. Using modular JavaScript classes, we built an application that showcases the dynamic behavior of these energy rings. Check out the Energy Rings Demo to see the mesmerizing effects we achieved!

Happy New Year! It was for us, as we explored the generation of random integers using various techniques in JavaScript. Using our S.P.A.R.K. methodology with Copilot, we developed a multi-stage application that demonstrates different methods for generating random integers, from basic to advanced techniques. Check out the Random Integers Saga to see how we did it!

It's Christmas time, and boy did we score a cool present! Novice Kevin C. coaxed Copilot to create a 'Simple' Snowflake Generator based on work we were doing with P5JS in class. The difference is, he (they) didn't use the physics engines in P5JS: the work was done 'from scratch!' Be sure to check it out, along with the fantastic documentation. The brevity of the prompts was jaw-dropping!

We've done snowflake simulations before, but this newest rendition shows a comparison/contrast between random motion via 'Brownian Motion' and 'Perlin Noise' generated motion. You can toggle various effects on and off to see how they affect the snowflakes as they fall. It's a cozy way to get into the Christmas spirit while learning about coding techniques! Check it out here! News flash! We found a few 'bugs' in Stage9 and have fixed them in Stage10 and also included our dialog with Raina about Perlin Noise!!

TNT's 'mother ship' is exploring the use of the site Magic School in their ecosystem. To try it out, we asked its agent, Raina, to interview us about our current training with an eye on the future of how things might look as we continue AI collaboration in our courses. The end product of that interview was a Word document which Copilot then crafted in VSCode into an online sample curriculum guide that envisions the future of our curriculum. Check it out!

As we use Copilot, we develop 'chatlogs' to chronicle our conversations. We found that using Markdown files offered several advantages over plain text files. Check out our comparison to see why we made the switch!

As an experiment in our APCS class this year, novices were asked to create a review app for Unit 1 of the APCS-A curriculum. Using Copilot as a development partner, they were able to create reviews like this in short order. It includes explanations, code examples, practice questions and exam tips. Check it out!

For the first time in many years, we were able to integrate Java, Command-Line-Input, JavaScript, and Arrays into a cohesive learning experience for our students! VSCode allowed us to leverage these technologies in ways we never thought possible, using some command line input in the terminal. Be sure to check it out!

Copilot helped us create a Processing app that simulates a retro computer panel, commonly seen in sci-fi shows from the 1960s. It was a B.L.A.S.T. developing it!

...aka Hot Seat Spinner. It's now upgraded to support multiple classes and remembers where you left off in your random student drawings! Thanks, Copilot!

At TNT labs this year, management has encouraged us to embrace the use of AI in the training of our novices. To that end, we asked Copilot for a 'whimsical' take on the famous 'Hello World' program. He did not disappoint! Using 'S.P.A.R.K.' we present Hello (Whimsy) World!

We wanted an app to help students understand the Caesar Cipher. Using GitHub Copilot, we were able to quickly prototype the application and get it up and running. This is in contrast to the more advanced app, Shyft developed a few years ago. 'Shyft' was later re-imagined as 'Alien Language' in the more recent iteration of TNT.

Thanks to our handy Copilot template (below) we created an app to help novices learn about place value as often found in a CS setting. Including artwork and wiring up, it took about 5 hours. We hate to think how long it would have been without Copilot. Be sure to study the development chat log: only about 12 steps!

We have a couple of templates we use to incorporate Copilot into development projects so we don't have to write stuff 'from scratch.' The first template was a good start; the second has an improved chat log format which introduces our 'S.P.A.R.K' approach to AI development: 'Set Goal, Prompt, Analyze Response, Reflect, Know.'

ColorSliders: An 'oldie but goodie' updated with Copilot's help!

When using images for web pages, you have to be very careful about image file names and types, particularly based on their 'extensions.' To help learn about these various types, Copilot helped write FT Forensics to help us understand which type of file is better given a particular scenario.

While prepping to teach a Photoshop class, I was about to break out my 'shortcuts' cheat sheet, but then I really decided to cheat and have Copilot create an interactive Photoshop Shortcuts app. At this point, it's just a themed summary. Hopefully soon, it will quiz you!

Experience the Hangman Saga. We developed it in stages, in cahoots with Copilot. Walk through each stage to see how it was done: we documented the process in an extensive chatlog at each of the (currently) 6 stages.

Day-Shift is an app that lets you customize an 8-period 8-day cyclical school schedule.

...aka Hot Seat Spinner. Take it for a spin if you need to select students (or items you specify) randomly!

These numbers, discussed by prolific author Clifford Pickover, have been in the crypt for too long! This app was developed a couple of years ago but was in hiding as novices grappled with it. It's now seeing the light of day (sorry!) and we even asked Copilot to assess it. There were some surprising results! Don't miss them!

Novice Anna created an app that translates English to Spanish and Portuguese using a 'Google API.' She was just a beginner with JavaScript but hey, Copilot makes you an expert! We added additional Latin languages of Italian and French. Practice your Latin-based languages!

We were 'bugged' by some quirks in the original app, and Copilot came to the rescue to make it a bit better, and even helped us with some new stories! Enjoy them, quirk free(?!)

Some senior novices co-created this elegant game app with Copilot. It features computer-human or human-human play

A novice, Jackson R, co-created this spiffy app with Copilot. Use it to create some super CSS styles!

We (Copilot and TNT staff) wrote a word weaving app. Can you discover the algorithm??

Copilot was put to the test: Develop an assessment app based on a paper/pencil assessment. See how he did it and take the digital assessment!

There are many online graphics floating around to help you harness AI effectively. We've gathered a few of them together and put them in a JavaScript AI CheatSheet app that lets you browse them for tips and tricks. Yes, Copilot assisted in this development effort!

Another Copilot application! We took Java code from our archive, converted it to Python3 and from there created a JavaScript app. Enjoy making Pythagorean Triples!

Now, our novices are getting in on the Copilot kick and writing some amazing apps. How about a CyberCrack: A Password Guesser?! We are certainly not 'hacked off' with this work!

We are learning 'Prompt Engineering' with Copilot and logging our conversations. Check out a demo of development chats.

Still another AI assisted app which allows you to create a customized word-search game. This version allows you to view the puzzle and set the view for making a printout. Online play is coming soon, here!

Another AI assisted app. This time, we wanted to build an ASCII table as described in a Python training video on the Caesar Cipher encryption scheme. Copilot did not disappoint. We had to be crafty in our language, but...we got this app built in about an hour based on a template we built. We learned some stuff too!!! Want some ASCII from Base Jump? (Copilot suggested the app name!)

This is a big step for us here at TNT! Students in our games class insisted that we learn how to incorporate AI via Copilot in our development. Well, we did...and were blown away with the results. This app had been created in Python and/or Java but never as a web app. We talked Copilot through the development and he did not disappoint. Generate some random names that have a quasi-English feel. Thanks, Copilot!

Are you an e-leet coder?! Find out with our PHP app . It's the first PHP app we've added in several years. Too bad you can't see the source code, wink!

It's not often we feature a novice's work directly at TNT, but when we saw a couple of novices using Luke's Chessboard in class, well, we were dang impressed. You will be too!

A Processing (P5JS) app, Same Game models a retro/vintage game that dates back to 1985. It is in a rudimentary stage now, but novices should be making improvements soon. Watch for upgrades! Classes were also used extensively here!

This is a Processing (P5JS) app showing how shapes may be 'clicked' using a couple of different techniques. It was an instructional app, so be sure to read the details about it to see how the various functions worked together to make the app work. Classes were also used extensively.

We can't ever pass on the opportunity to parody a song, especially when it features nerdy math content. Enjoy the ditty, 'AbsVal Odie' sung to the tune of 'Yankee Doodle.' Soon, novices will be using JavaScript to load the verses!

We were doing some OOP graphics programming in our Python3 class (thanks, Tracy the Turtle!) and thought it would be helpful to compare various OOP methodologies in JavaScript and Python3.

Visit our JSGS Code Showcase in the 'Help' section of the JSGS. Look for the drop-down marked 'Code Showcase' and you'll find any pages we've added that offer comparisons. Our first offering was for TNTDisk.

It doesn't look practical but this app allows us to create spherical objects, that will form the basis for an up-coming 'Magic 8 Ball' app.

It showcases the use of the map function in P5JS which makes linear regression a breeze. Make yourself some Stepped Circles today!

Don't you hate trying to make an HTML select menu? Tedious, right? Yes, but no more! We used JavaScript and the DOM to make an app that writes the code for you! Just give a set of options and values and yowza: a menu! Thanks, Selecta!

Its development was accelerated by using the Yabba Dabba framework: a 'skeleton' of HTML/CSS that we feature in Styl'n.

It's that time of year, and although we at TNT are not really big Halloween fans, we did come up with a ghoulish movie clip that features several 'skeletons' (templates) that we use in web development, Java and Python. Let's go!!

Nyah-ha-ha!! Be on the lookout for this 'Dirty Deeds' icon! You'll find it on TNT pages where errors/flaws/dumb-things have been conveniently left for novices to find! Egad!

Learn more at a movie clip featuring our beloved villain, Dishonest John.

Are you pondering what we're pondering? That it's about time we have an app that features Pinky and the Brain with brainless banter? Well, here you go!

We created (stole) a demo from W3Schools that showcases various style sheets on a single web page Try it: Split Personalities.

We're summarizing the essentials of web development. It's a work in progress, but you can benefit from the summary as it evolves.

Make some waves with this interactive wave form.

Our 'take' on this classic Atari game is out of this world! Play Asteroids!

Novice Tyler C. attracted so much attention with his JSGS design that we decided to animate it with classes and Processing for our last act of the school year. See it in action and use links there to portal to Tyler's original artwork.

Each year our novices learn how to create artwork using our set of TNT-Shapes. We've added new shapes and some fine artwork. Visit the JSGS (JavaScript Graphics Sandbox) to see the goodies!

Novices were working on a classic 'Snake Game' using P5JS (JavaScript Processing) and we posted our version of it; it needs some work but it is still playable.

Previous versions of TNT included a YouTube 'Crash Course' on Bootstrap5. We watched the tutorial and implemented the training in a set of staged development to nail down the ideas. Check out the implemented training!

Let it snow, let us code! Get a blustery winter feeling with our Snowflake Simulation.

Our novices in APCS-A just can't get enough of our Java AP summary pages. We're constantly making updates so be sure to check them out. In particular, look at the entries for Arrays, ArrayLists, and 2D Arrays.

Novice Luca P. just finished the first stage of his Hardest Game in P5JS using P5Play.

Last year we did some TNT Styl'n and featured an app evolution that utilized HTML, CSS and JavaScript: The 'Old Lady Illusion Saga'.

This year, novices are incorporating Bootstrap5 into the design ....(Yeah! Now we have the Fantastic Four!).... and you can see the newest version in your JavaScript offerings.

Once again, we are providing another updated Processing template. We discovered a slight flaw (gasp!) in a former template when we were making sure it validated. That's fixed now, and this one is a good one to use. It's been wired up in the Processing home page too.

Using a tutorial, we integrated this ASCII Video app into TNT.

This simulation, similar to Conway's Game of Life, exhibits very unusual behavior: emergent order!

We've gone through several iterations of this dice game that we found at the Half-Price Books. After novices completed their versions (to be uploaded soon) we put ours up as well.

Recently we were discussing The Butterfly Effect with our novices in the context of Ray Bradbury's short story, A Sound of Thunder. Naturally, chaos ensued and we just had to show this effect in the context of Mandelbrot Fractal Orbits. It's still in its infancy, so come back often to see needed improvements.

Get into the Christmas spirit by singing nerdy Christmas song parodies. This year, we offer the cute little ditty: Let Us Code!

To 'celebrate' National Computer Science Week, our game development novices presented lectures on various topics in P5JS Processing. As we are able, we are showing them (often in raw form) at Processing Showcase. Be sure to take a look!

Our novices in Python, Java, and JavaScript all played with the lyrics to the holiday song, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas.' We've included our JavaScript version here. For contrast, you can see a PHP Version we did back in 2015 when we trained novices in PHP (the good ole days!)

This is a classic game of choice: there are 3 shells; under one is a desirable prize, the others house 'bogus' items. Choose one and before it's revealed, another is revealed (one of the bogus ones). You can 'stay' with your chosen shell or 'switch' to the other unrevealed shell. Does it matter? Find out with our Shell Game app.

Novices have written their renditions of this game and their work is available at our Processing Showcase in our Shell Game Saga.

Game design novices have been steadily adding apps to their portfolio and as they do we are frantically trying to include them here to TNT. Visit the Processing Showcase and look for new additions.

You may even find some additional emoji work as well.

Web design novices recently submitted their styled lyrics for the song, Monster Mash. See their work at our Monster Mash Designs app!

It's October! Do the Monster Mashup!

A simulation of moths swarming a light source!

An introductory project for our Processing-Gaming nerd novices. 'We're going into a hyperdrive!' Be sure to check out the sci-fi jazzy background music!

A discussion with our novices about what makes for successful learning lead to our web-page-izing a graphic in our lair. See the evolution of the graphic in this radical saga!

In less than 2 weeks into our game class, novice(?!??!!) Luca P. created an enchanting P5JS video game using a video background we created as our first project. In Luca's Vortex Game Saga we seek to take the raw source code from the editor and style it up and make it look 'out of this world' with CSS and Bootstrap!

Last year our emoji processors created some great designs; this year we've provided a downloadable template you can use to create your own emojis. Find it in the description of the Simple Smiley design.

A rite of passage: writing a program to communicate 'Hello, World!'. We added some upgrades to the app, including a link taking us to an interview of the first person to utilize this tradition. Can you find the link?!

A creative family member, David P., shot a series of photos depicting the story of 'Humpty Dumpty.' We've scrambled the story pictorially: can you recreate the scene sequence? Try it!

A classic slider puzzle game where you can control the complexity and grid size of the puzzle!

A simple app, yes, but it demonstrates many important concepts in the P5JS ecosystem. Take it for a spin, wink!

We LOVE randomness here at TNT so we were super excited to learn about Perlin Noise from a few lectures by Daniel Shiffman. We used the idea that Daniel described, of making a 'blob' using Perlin Noise to generate the radii of a collection of points in a plane. Take Blobby for a spin!

Ready for storytime!?! Check out our Snow White for Erudite Audiences Saga for a chance to upgrade your vocabulary and see how we used the Fantastic Four to make a cool Bootstrap5/JavaScript app!

Novice David M. came up with the original version of this app. We did a few extra tweaks to make it 'TNT Compliant' ... check it out. It's a great optical illusion!

We like movies, (of course) so let's use them to help us cement our HTML and CSS knowledge...and...learn some Bootstrap5! Look at the saga.

A movie clip from "Captain America: Civi War" inspired this app that uses P5JS (Processing) to deliver a series of code words that zoom in from a black screen. You can even customize the phrase you use! (Can you figure out the secret message behind the default code words?)

We're often wanting to show our novices images to illustrate concepts we explore in class. Now, we've set up a gallery where we can call them up!

More Gallery Entries!

Our 'Pixel Picassos' are at it again. Be sure to see their entries!

More Shapes!

We created some new JSGS shapes. Look in the 'About the shapes library' section of JSGS Shapes to learn more.

Story time!

Compose a nutty story based on blindly entering words into a form that are then fed into a zany story.

This app is the classic bomb!

We wanted to show our APCS an app with recursion in action, so we 'whipped up' this old classic game with Processing JS. It' still in production mode but we wanted to show the recursive animation.

Happy Valentine's Day, Nerds!

You and your sweetie can try out our Valentine Styln' Challenge! It will certainly warm your hearts!

This started at TNT-Sandbox as a challenge to AI: could it create a ransom note?! You can follow that saga there. However we liked it so much we outfitted it with Bootstrap5 and featured it as 'Ransom Note Generator' here at TNT!

Colors influence behavior and we wanted to see if we could mimic a color chart we encountered in Instragram. Our Color Psychology Challenge in the Styln' area was the result. Take the challenge!

At TNT, we love optical illusions! Our Old Lady Illusion Saga in the Styln' area is activated with JavaScript and infused with CSS!

Prior to our Christmas break, novices were feverously working with partners styling Christmas carols. We are beginning to post some of their work at our Styl'n home page.

Happy New Year! Before it completely takes over the world, let's look at some harmless stuff that AI can do. (You know, Artificial Intelligence.) The folks at NVIDIA created an online engine, Gaugan that can create landscapes from text phrases or from child-like drawings that you can make yourself. In some cases, it's difficult to see what landscapes are real and what aren't. That's scary and incredible all at the same time. Check out some of our generated art work.

Since our first entry on this topic, we've discovered you can upload a real image and recraft it as AI. An example from an Hawaiian park is marvelous.

Just in time for New Years? Just kidding. We created a diffusion simulation, classically known as the Drunkard's Walk. It's a great way to visualize a 'random walk.'

Novices in this years' classes were tasked with stying some Christmas carols and recipes. We've not put them here in TNT yet, but we did have some that served as demos. View them in our Styl'n area.

We've got a lot of skeletons in our closet! Here's another simple one if you want to practice some basic CSS on a standard HTML framework.

We're celebrating Thankgiving with (CSS) Style at our TNT Thankgiving App which features 3 parody videos from YouTube.

We're using the app saga to assist our understanding of basic non-Bootstrap styles as part of our Styl'n app lineup.

Our novices have started making original P5JS designs and we want everyone to see the wonderful work that they've done at our new P5JS Processing Showcase sub site.

It's been over 2 years since we've had any fresh novice entries in our sandbox. Be sure to check them out in the next few months as they trickle in.

We sure love doing JS Processing around here, so we updated a former JS Processing Template and made it available for download. The download is available at Processing Apps.

For comparison purposes, you can view our former JS Processing Template. What changes do you see, detective?

What if some dodo disables JavaScript? What happens? Try it and see with our 'improved' version of Mama's Little Function.

Keep calm and enable JavaScript!

As we ready ourselves for the AP test in May 2023, we are developing various methods to help us do Java dirty work. The helpful ones are being chronicled on our Java Utilities page.

As part of our APCS-A Review effort we incorporated a Array Resource page that attempts to (over time) review students on all aspects of 'primitive arrays' relative to the AP Exam.

As part of our APCS-A Review effort we incorporated a Strings Resource page that attempts to (over time) review students on all aspects of 'Strings' relative to the AP Exam.

We've not yet integrated functional Java apps into TNT, but we do have some demos you can look at, often with attached source code.

Here's a listing of Java Demos. Keep watch for additional entries.

Included in this area is a web page that summarizes the 'high points' of Java Development from the perspective of the APCS-A exam. We wanted to have the 'big ideas' available in one place for ready review. Check it out!

JSGS is a site unto itself and we are getting ready to deploy it to eager learners in web design classes. They will be creating some of their own designs which we'll put in the Novice Gallery.

We added 2 new shapes to the Shapes Library: TNTRetroStar and TNTRetroDiamond. Be sure to check them out!

If you want to do your own JSGS designs, we updated the JSGS Template. Just follow the link in this paragraph and use the download link in the 'Notes' area to download a complete JSGS design 'ecosystem.'

Stay tuned for upcoming designs and improvements!

We've not yet integrated functional Python apps into TNT, but we do have some demos you can look at, often with attached source code.

Here's a listing of Pythonic Demos. Keep watch for additional entries.

CodeHS offers the ability to write P5JS programs in its ecosystem without needing to write your own HTML/CSS housing. Cool!

To speed up that work we provided a template for start-up work at our Processing Template App here at TNT. Look in the Instructions>Quick Template area to find it.

We do a ton of styling every day, but we only recently devoted time and energy to 'sagas' showing the evolution of a web page from its infancy to full maturity.

The Stylin' Home Page lists such apps, beginning with the Purple People Eater Saga mentioned below.

Why style web pages with boring content! Since web page design is largely learning an 'alien language' we started a saga where we style the lyrics to the 1958 smash hit: 'The Purple People Eater.'

We like 'code-y' things at the lab and one of the most famous code-y things is Morse Code! We've got to 'telegraph' our excitement as we invite you to see this Processing wonder in action!

Update, 9/26/2022! TNT novices Lleyton and Luke studied the p5JS source code and adapted it to Python with 'Tracy the Turtle' and you can see a movie demo of the action and can even view the source code.

Sometimes you need a quick HTML structure upon which you can kick-start a page design. We took one of our most common formats and stripped it of all styles. You can use this template to launch your own pages.

A link to this page is found in Resources under the 'Trouble Shooting' area.

A great way to design colors using either RGBs or HSLs. See it in action. Kudos to a former novice, Heath B. for this design.

A simple assignment to make emojis using the Processing ecosystem is giving some great results! See the latest entries.

To assist novice learning, we are attempting to document difficulties encountered and solutions applied in a special page that's part of our Troubleshooting resources.

Visit this new page an see what you can learn!

In the mid-1990s, we used to make topological maps using BASIC and to showcase them, we'd take a photo of the design on the computer screen(!), print it at out at Walmart and then frame it - and use it as a room decoration!

The image is lousy, but you can see a picture of such a map to the side. (The newer rendition of this image is entitled: "Hills & Valleys" in the new app, linked below.)

My how things have changed! Explore our new-fangled topological designs made with Processing!

We learned a new trick/hack! Go to the Purple People Eater movie clip details area. Following the 'Alien Language' hyperlink will send a trigger to click a button on that page, that loads a lyric clip into the message area. How cool!

Sometimes, we surprise even ourselves. When that happens, we will enter said observation in our 'Trick Table' so we can reference it later.

JSGS is actually its own mini-website. We use it to illustrate how JavaScript can do graphics and deal with objects.

Complete renovation will take some time, but we made a start by putting in a Bootstrap5 Carousel featuring designs from the past, and put it on the JSGS launch page.

Carousel inclusion was a new experience for us at the lab; look at the source code to see how we did it!

Beware the ides of July!

After 2 long years, we've relaunched TNT and its companion TNT-Sandbox.

The trigger was pulled on 7/15/2022. There are numerous housekeeping details to attend to, especially in the mobile-view department as we deal with pesky responsive issues.

You may need to clear your cache if you've a past TNT user.

Your PHP can get so rusty in 2 years!

We are beginning to bring former PHP apps into this Bootstrap 5 echo (eco, ha!) system and getting re-familiarized with the world of PHP.

Check out our PHP App Offerings

No new apps yet, but at least we're making a start.

How is that for double talk?!

It took a bit but in getting previous Processing apps responsive, we found a way to resize the canvas responsively.

Now, our masterpieces should resize as size and orientation change.

Be Mesmerized!

With helpful efforts from the mother ship, we've moved the bulk of our site from a Mac to a Surface Pro.

That said, we're wiring up previous TNT sites into this new installment and are very close to uploading this upgrade to 'live' status.

It will be the first upgrade in over 2 long years!

One happy consequence of this is we found a way to use VSCode (VSC) as our primary IDE with DreamweaverCC as an auxilary. VS code is a leaner IDE than Dreamweaver and is customizable with 'extensions.' A very helpful one, installed recently, is 'PHP Server' and it's made using PHP with VSC a snap, but it did take a bit of wiring effort. It's shocking how rusty your PHP skills can get in two years!

For quicker development, we are using Bootstrap 5 for the bulk styles of the site. This helps with responsiveness and also gives us practice with this important technology.

With the current curricular demise of PHP (sob!) we are adding new JS apps to our collection, while bringing former ones online. If you don't see an old favorite, it's still there at Past Blasts

The Explore page provides an index of all our apps, catagorized by type.

The Movie Clips page features a few new entries that have provided inspiration for new app creations.