Summative Post

By Qingyang Li, Steven Wang, Tanner Fred and Xavier Reinders

Thank you for reading our blog or if you have not already thanks for stopping by! We hope you learn something new or discover something cool. Throughout the course of our blog we have learned for ourselves the huge variety that the Computer Science and Engineering, which is a really long title and will usually be abbreviated to CSE, field encompasses. From our research we would like to present what we feel are the main pillars of the CSE field.

The Basics

On the most basic level, CSE is all about computers; designing, operating, and programming them to solve problems or perform tasks. These tasks and problems could be creating robots like Boston Dynamics or IBM’s Watson, phones like the S8, video games, databases, or even just the internet as a whole. The variety does not stop there. There are even more ways to talk to computers called languages, which are the building blocks for all programs. Just for starters there is C++, PHP, Python, Fortran, and HTML.

Example of basic if statement (source)

CSE obviously has options for what you can do and how you want to do it but it also teaches a set of skills common to anything you might want to pursue within the field. Most importantly, for us, is the the incredibly useful problem solving experience that comes from solving a diverse group of challenging problems. Whether you are programming or designing a computer, you will encounter problems, it might be functionality you want to achieve or blockages you want to avoid and finding solutions to these problems is the basis of CSE. Creativity also comes hand in hand with problem solving because unfortunately for those of us in the CSE field, computers don’t always make sense or do what you want them to. As the creator of C++, Bjarne Stroustrup, said, “[Programming] … is just learning how to trick the computer into doing what you want rather than what it wants.”  

Classes and Resources

Students studying computer science

At Michigan State University, along with your typical math and science courses, students pursuing a computer science degree must take a course regarding Python, C++, Discrete Mathematics, Algorithms and Data Structures. The full list can be found here. After the core courses are taken, students are now able to branch out into different areas in computer science, including subjects such as software engineering, computer graphics, and mobile application development.

Non-students on the other hand have far more freedom in the career they want to pursue as long as the have the dedication and focus to do so. Hundreds of free online courses can be found on sites such as reddit and codecadeamy, along with many project ideas to build your personal portfolio. There are also hundreds books, online and in store, that talk about how to get a job in the computer science industry by teaching the interview process. Check out our post about resources for more specific information! Whether you are a student or someone who is just interested to learn, there is always something out there to help you.

Career Opportunities

Comparing CSE jobs and salaries

The jobs in the CSE field are incredibly diverse and as of right now are always lacking people, so the opportunities for work are plentiful. If you look hard enough or meet the right people you can do anything you want as long as it's related to computers. A little more in depth look at the jobs available within the field you can be found in our post here. The skills you learn while studying in the CSE field are not just specific to computer based employment though. Problem solving skills, creativity and ingenuity learned in CSE would be an asset in almost any engineering, science or mathematics position you can think of. If you spend time working in the field before pursuing a different career you will have the chance to develop and improve skills based on working in teams such as cooperation and communication. A start in CSE could be your key to unlocking want you want to do in life.

We thank you for your time and wish you good luck as you explore the world of Computer Science and Engineering!

Computer Operating System Introducation

By Qingyang Li

Computer is no longer stranger to us, but besides Windows and Mac OS, there are some of other systems but not very familiar to us. And here I will introduce all of operating systems.

1. Dos (Disk Operating System)

Dos is a system which developed by Microsoft and used for command-line operating, it was used from 1981.Normally, it is stored in hard drive, and every time we start our computer, it is moved into RAM to help computer operating other software.
Different from other systems, we have to enter commanding codes manually to control computer.
But if you want to use this system really well, you have to understand computer languages.

    2. Windows

It is the most popular system that human ever use, before Mac OS, almost every computer are using this operating system, it promoted computers into every families ,it is very easy to use and have clearly User Interface.
 
   3. UNIX

It was developed starting in the 1970s at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and others. It is very reliable and safer, can used on different types of computers, but software is kind of lack, not easy to use,it is basically used on servers now.

  4. Linux

This system is more like "the Child of Unix", it has the advantages of Unix and meanwhile has more new function.Also, it is free and everyone can change it from original system into the system which they want , like ubuntu, Fedora, Debian .

  5. Mac OS
  This system is now famous as Windows, used on every Apple's device, it is developed and based on UNIX. Mac OS has good user experiences , beautiful UI and very easy to use. But all the software you use have to download from App store

Samsung Galaxy S8: Does it Blow?

After the disaster that was the Note 7, with its battery problems, Samsung is prepared to bounce back with their two new flagships: the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the S8 plus. Now that the phones are official, here is everything you need to know about them.

Display

S8 on the left. S8 plus on the right

At glance you are immediately drawn to the phones large screen and lack of bezels; the jaw dropping edge to edge display is where Samsung decided to go all out with this phone. The S8 screen is 5.8 inches corner to corner with a resolution of 2960 x 1440. The S8 plus, on the other hand, is rocking a 6.2 inch screen with the same resolution. Both screens are OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) , meaning colors are much more accurate (blacker blacks and whiter whites) compared to older devices. As seen in the photo, the screen disappears along the edges. Samsung has also incorporated software buttons instead of physical ones pushing the screen both further up and farther down. 

Camera

Camera and fingerprint sensor

The camera on the S8 is the exact same camera found on last years S7. Although sad Samsung decided not to upgrade, last years camera was still rated as one of the best. Users that use their phone as their everyday camera will continue to be pleased with Samsung's top of the line specifications. 

Fingerprint Sensor

A fingerprint sensor in 2017 is essentially a must now as it is much quicker and safer compared to a digit or word passcode. The fingerprint sensor is on the back of the phone unlike the iPhone but this is nothing new as many Android devices have been doing this for a few years. What is different is the position as the sensor is unfortunately located to the right of the camera. Because the S8 and S8 plus are tall phones, the fingerprint sensor can sometimes be out of reach, forcing users with smaller hands to sometimes use two. I'd say this is no deal breaker when purchasing but its something that can't be ignored. 

Software

Bixby and the cards

Like most new Android devices, both the S8 and S8 plus will run the latest version of Android, Android 7.0. However, Samsung does include its own skin on top with its colorful icons and abstract animations. But the biggest feature is actually Bixby, a personal software assistant. What Bixby does is essentially what Google Now does; swipe left to show a row of cards based on your personal lifestyle. The cards can show weather, news, your calendar, box scores, or whatever you like to view throughout your day. It will be quite interesting how users will use this new feature. 

Conclusion

Both phones feel like they belong in 2017 with futuristic like designs. They both have the possibility of being the device we all dream of, however, without scarifying functionality and features. S8 and S8 plus are still razor thin, will the newest chips inside to power them and include a headphone jack as well! It appears that Samsung has hit it out the park once again. 

Dallas and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Night of Sleep

By Xavier Reinders

Emergency Siren similar to the ones going off in Dallas

Two days ago on Friday the 7th at approximately 11:40pm 156 emergency sirens in and around the Dallas area simultaneously went off and did not shut off until Sunday the 8th at 1:20am. For almost 2 hours Dallas was in a state of panic with thousands of calls flooding 911 and residents in a panic over the meaning of the sirens. What did it mean? It meant the Dallas' Office of Emergency Management needed to update their cybersecurity and that a breach allowed some outside access port to set off a huge portion of their emergency alarms.

So who, besides the newly sleepless residents of Dallas, care about this breach, well we as people pursuing CSE careers do.  It is a demonstration of two things, the prevalence of short-comings in cybersecurity today and the issues these holes can cause when found by the wrong people. It is pretty early in the investigation but the city spokesperson has said this was almost certainly outside access. Despite the general panic caused by the incident it was generally harmless, aside from the lost sleep and has already been labeled one of the best white hat hacks.

Lets take a quick step back and define this new fangled thing know as white hat hacking. White hat hacking is the good guys, they try and break stuff that is supposed to be unbreakable. If they do break it they let the other good guys know and they fix the issues so bad guys can't break it then take advantage of it being broken to do something evil. Black hat hacking would be the opposite in case you were wondering. As an example to allow you to understand what repercussions exactly that this might have. Lets say a black hat hacker who wasn't planning on attending any formal event that night triggered the same sirens. Now their buddies over at Large National Bank Vault can break in, still all the gold and make their getaway without ever seeing a cop car. The phone lines are too busy with thousands of calls about the sirens that the police never hear about the crooks making off with millions.

Luckily for the city of Dallas this hack, as far as we know, was not malicious and had no serious negative reprocusions.

Prompt 3: Exploring Communication

By Tanner Fred

I recently interviewed Jamie Watson, a Sacred Heart graduate who graduated with a degree in computer scientist and now works as a compute scientist for Child Protective Services in Connecticut. During the interview I learned a lot about how computer science to connect to many different fields of work and not only connect to just programming and coding. When asking him how he communicates in his field, his answer was that most of it was electronically through email or some sort of phone direct message. Being in the field of Child Protective Services it is very important that the messages he sends to other agents in the field are direct and sent quickly in case there is an emergency that they may need to attend to in an urgent manner.

One of the common misconceptions in the field is that a computer scientist can only code or can only work as a programmer. Mr. Watson tells that he helps to get around this common misconception by working hard with CPS investigators to track down the issues that need to be resolved and hopefully being able to help in a way that allows the public to see how influential this field can be. The more he is able to help the investigators the greater chance people will realize how helpful somebody with a computer science degree can be even in everyday, real-life situations.

What I learned about the different types of communication in the field is that most of it is preformed electronically, whether it is by email or texting. This is very important because this way messages can be sent quickly and directly, and since most of the job is being preformed on a computer, there is a much greater likelihood that the person will get the message as quickly as possible.

IBM Watson

By Tanner Fred

The IBM Watson super computer is the combination of artificial intelligence and sophisticated analytical software that is used as "question answering" machine. It processes at a rate of 80 teraflops (trillion floating-point operations per second). Watson can access 90 servers with up to a combines data storage of over 200 million pages of information. He has 15 terabytes of Ram and 500 gigabytes of preprocessed information.

Watson is the next step in computer evolution and if more computers can be made this way then there will be an influx of super intelligent computers

Boston Dynamics

By Xavier Reinders

Boston Dynamics SpotMini traction test

We're going into the future once again with this weeks post as we take a look at Boston Dynamics (BD) with their slogan "We Won't Stop Till We Perfect Skynet and Wipe Out Humanity," or actually "Dedicated to the Science and Art of How Things Move."  Boston Dynamics makes robots to complete general purpose tasks much like humans.  Instead of a robot that can climb a hill or move across a frozen lake or traverse rocky terrain they make a robot that can walk, just walk, anywhere any how. Notice the "art" part of that slogan, for the people at Boston Dynamics its more than just numbers and servos and machines, its design and elegance and dog robots slipping on banana peels. Boston Dynamics is the leader in robots in the USA and probably the world as well as being one of the coolest things you could do with CSE degree.

Boston Dynamics started as a partner of American Systems Corp. working with the US Navy to create realistic computer simulations to replace training videos. After their success in this area they received a contract from DARPA, the US defense fund to advance the defensive arsenal of the country. With the DARPA funding they created a quadruped robot designed to carry military equipment across all terrains. Unfortunately for Boston Dynamics once the delivered the robot the US government raised an issue, they didn't know what to do with it. Despite being an incredible advancement in robotics it was not suited for military work, so Boston Dynamics dynamics tried again, and again and you get the idea. Each attempt was a huge step in robotics built by Boston Dynamics payed for by DARPA and sub-optimal for the US military. Eventually, Boston Dynamics had enough money to just build the robots they wanted to and solve problems posed by investors and other robotics companies rather than military obligations.

Boston Dynamics have currently produced 11 different models each with its own incredible ability. One can jump 4 feet vertically, another can run at a speed faster than Usain Bolt's top speed, some mimic human motion and work to be able to balance like we do. Boston Dynamics is actively building our future, hoping to one day boast robots that are just as varied and versatile as humans.

Prompt 8: Hands-On Experience

Alright, I'll admit it. Last week I paid no attention during my programming class and up until now, I was behind and unable to complete this weeks lab assignment. To be honest, the topic we talked about was boring. Like REALLY boring. Boring enough to make me want to die. Throughout my years of coding, I've realized that I'm not the gifted type who can just listen and learn right on the spot. Sitting down and listening to your professor lecture about code is one thing, but actually coding is another.

The topic last week was on pointers. I won't go into detail on exactly what are pointers as they are quite difficult to explain without having pre existing knowledge of computer science, but they are definitely something that you must practice coding with. Too many things are going on at the same time, with new syntax to remember and formatting rules to follow. The lab that was due was strictly based on a topic I had no idea about, so I was forced to watch many videos, and read powerpoints over and over again.

The one thing I learned during my hands on experience with pointers, or any new subject, is its a lot of trial error.  You type, you run, the computer tells you whats wrong, you fix and repeat. The truth is, programming is sort of like exercising, in that the main way to improve or learn is through constant practice. I had to start simple, just trying to create a pointer, and then later on implementing it in my program. There are no short cuts as the possibility of skipping important information will only slow down your learning experience as a programmer.

Another harsh truth I learned is when trying to complete my lab assignment is that it was easy to become discouraged by just how big or intimidating the subject of pointers seems. This especially the case when it comes to students who are just starting out. As the deadline for my assignment approached, I felt rushed and began to lose focus. At that point I wasn't actually learning but instead just felt like typing walls of bullshit. The solution, as stated before, is to start small and break the problem into smaller parts.

Although its called Computer Science, you are essentially trying to gain the mindset of an engineer. Break up the problem, research, and don't give up. The end goal may be far away but there is no comparison to the feeling of accomplishment.

How to become a First Person Shooter game master.

By Qingyang Li

There are five steps you need to do before becoming a FPS master.

1.Acknowledge your computer devices

You need to know your screen resolution, type of your mouse, and if your mouse can be supported by driven.
In normal way, if you want to play well in a FPS game, The higher of your screen resolution and refresh rate, the better your experience you will be. and if your FPS( Frames per second) below 30, you will feel lag, and cause you dying quickly. So, your computer should be very good to support you.

2.Adjust your device.

There is a function called " Enhance pointer precision, AKA EPP " in every windows system, this function can affect your mouse pointer movement by the speed you move your mouse.
FPS game require you control your mouse precisely, it's a good choice to close the EPP.
DPI (Dots Per Inch) also can affect your pointer movement during the game, we only can use mouse drive to change it, and the lower your mouse DPI ,the better you shoot the targets, but at mean while your camera will hard to move around , if your targets show up behind you suddenly, and you have to use more time to turn around.

3.Change game option

An example of Counter Strike Global Offensive

When you change your screen resolution to 16:9, it is how you see in the first picture.And second picture is when you change it to 4:3.


After compare two pictures, it is obviously that Targets are larger in 4:3 but 16:9 is more clearly.According to change the resolution , you can improve your shoot skill temporary.

4.Good view.

It is important to find your targets first before they find you.This time, we can go to option of the FPS games to adjust the graphic option. There is an example, the games are more like real world now, because everywhere in the games are too real ,sometimes you couldn't find out a target stand there at first time. After change some graphic option, environment in games will not be so real, it's more easily for you to find out targets.

5.Start your training.

A software called Aimbooster, it's a little game, the main purpose of this game is to practice your hand reaction time and the accuracy when you shooting. After some practice , it's called " muscle memory " your hand will remember this feeling and when you are playing FPS game, it is more accuracy when you shoot.

3D Xpoint, Welcome to the Future

By Xavier Reinders

Lets get this started with a little precursor, there are currently 2 basic types of memory containers utilized by computer systems. First, you have your RAM, random access memory, which is used as a temporary way to process data to help smoothly operate memory intensive programs like video games or complex computation software. It can only store information when the system has power, it is the fastest kind of memory but it is not practical for long term storage due to its pricing and power requirements. That is were hard drives come in, as the second type of memory containter they are massive, storage wise, and are able to hold information even without power. These come in two forms HDDs, typically a lot of space but slower, and SSDs, less space(for the same price) but a lot faster.

A mock up of Intel and Microns new 3D Xpoint

So who cares about 3D Xpoint (cross point) when we already have these perfectly fine forms of storage. Lets compare the numbers, RAM operates at latency time measured in nanoseconds, SSDs operate at latency time measured in microseconds (1000 nanoseconds) and HDDs operate at latency time measured in milliseconds (1000000 nanoseconds). So were does the Xpoint fall, supposedly around the 10 nanoseconds mark, so its a touch slower than RAM but it leaps ahead in other areas.

Like did I mention it was also a form of massive memory storage, although a different thing from HDDs and SSDs. So it has a speed approaching that of RAM with the storage capabilities of a hard drive. Plus a couple extra hard drive like bonuses, it will be cheap and it won't need power to keep things stored. The Xpoint is expected to come in above SSD's in the price per amount of storage department but well below RAM, meaning if you need something of medium size as fast as possible XPoint is the way to go. The fact that it won't need power to keep its ones and zeros also makes it more viable than typical RAM as it will be able to store important things across power cycles (shutdowns and restarts).

So it's the future right? Well not for all of us, it is not expected to replace either RAM or hard drives but rather to work along side them, helping in areas where the other 2 fall short. It is not however expected to make a huge incursion into everyday computing. It will more be seen in the two places all high end computer parts go, gaming and big data. Those little advantages that Xpoint holds will be magnified 1000 times when put on the scale of such massive companies as Google and they will help them achieve
their goal of world domination.

How Graphic Is Revolutionizing The Movie Industry

When most people think of the computer science field, they just think of programming and computer scientists sitting and staring at code all day. In fact, its actually a much broader field than that and extends to a wide variety of different fields that many people would not think of. One of these fields that is included is the field of graphic design.



As movies become better and more complex, it takes a lot to make a god movie these days. Especially in an era where Disney movies are being remade to live action, so real life characters need to accurately portray their animated counterparts. This requires a lot of computer and editing skill that can only be preformed by the most skilled of computer professionals. They have helped to transform the movie industry into what it is today with movies such as The Jungle Book, Avatar and others. Movies from a long time ago had a much less developed method of editing and the graphic were incredibly inferior to those in modern times. It is thanks to computer scientists that we are able to have these improved methods of designing.

All The Resources You'll Need

Whether you are a beginner or an advanced programmer, there are always ways that you can sharpen your knowledge and skills, especially with high quantity and quality resources available.

You want to start but have no idea where to begin? The internet is your best friend.

Codecademy: A website dedicated to teach coding through interact videos and online tutorials with
no prior experience required. They are an education company committed to "building the best learning experience inside and out". Along with individual languages, Codecademy also provides resources for the classroom, including downloadable lesson plans for Primary and Secondary Computer Science curriculums and the ability to test and track the performance of their students.

r/learnprogramming: With over 300,000 users, LearnProgramming is perhaps Reddit's most popular coding community friendly to all experience levels.

For beginners, multiple FREE online courses can be found throughout the subreddit with languages such as Python, Java, and HTML. Have a homework or project question? Submit a post and many users are quick to respond. Interested in starting a specific project such as applications or websites? Their wiki has links to the language used along with tutorials on how to start.

For the intermediate level coders, the subreddit contains tips and tricks on how to improve in their wiki along with many practice exercises and project ideas.

And for the person looking for professional level work, they are also here to help to with information on how you can make money, get a job without a degree or how to break into the industry and get an entry level job.


Cracking the Coding Interview: Finally ready to tackle the real world but have no idea what to
expect? This is the perfect book, recommend by most professional programmers, that teaches you what you need to know, enabling you to perform at your best. When applying for a full time position, coding interviews are different than the typical resume / questions interview you would normally expect. Coding interviews are often a test to see if you are capable of solving real world problems. Many companies with throw short programming questions at you and expect quick solutions with written pseudocode. They already expect you to be well knowledged in many languages but can you use your skills in real life?

Prompt 6: Evaluating Sources:Computer Game Addiction

By Qingyang Li

Several years ago, the American Medical Association decided not to classify computer game addiction as a recognized psychological disorder comparable to gambling addiction.

However, arguments about whether or not to treat computer game addiction as a psychological disorder still continue.

Some psychologists, physicians and researchers strongly believe that computer game addiction is an impulse control problem (similar to an inability to control gambling habits ) and deserves similar recognition as a "real " disorder.

In contrast, there are also mental health professionals (and of course, members of the general public ) who believe that it is incorrect to assume that computer games themselves are addictive and that classification would trivialize serious problems like drug and alcohol addictions.

People who against making computer game addiction said : " Although some individuals may play computer games to avoid addressing other personal issues, this does not necessarily indicate " addiction", but rather a less than ideal problem solving approach to life challenges, stressors, and temptations.

And who agree for making computer game addiction said : " Numerous studies have found associations between computer game addiction and issues such as poor academic performance, work-related difficulties, marital dissatisfaction, poor health, and other psychological problems like anxiety and depression.

So in my personal opinion, as a college student and major in computer science, I didn't see any of my friends who are addicted in computer game or fail class because of playing games. Computer games is interesting that can attract people, and the addiction we talking about mostly will hurt people like taking drugs and too much alcohol, although there still some of people because of computer games did stupid thing ,but it's a way less than alcohol and drugs.

And people can get addicted for everything, is that means they are all harm? What if a person is addicting for study (It's true happened).

And yes, if somebody play computer games too much time, it can influence his/her life, but we should not treat this as a disorder. Most of public ,including my parents ,have bad attitude to computer game, addiction is a problem but not computer games.

Anyway, it's still a good idea to go outside rather than play computer games indoor.

Prompt 10: Recognizing Truth

By Xavier Reinders

As with many fields and focuses Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) is subject to misconceptions and misrepresentations in popular media. Being as broad as it is CSE runs into a large amount of these problems, from over generalization, to sensationalizing, and straight up stereotyping. In this particular post I can not cover every problem out there or even name every piece that contains a problem like this, so for right now I am going to use a single example to point out some flaws that are common with the representation of the CSE field. To do so I am going to analyze the popular TV show "Mr. Robot" and highlight how it gets some things right and others wrong.

First things first, sensationalizing, or the act of presenting something in a way that provokes interest in the public while sacrificing accuracy. Does Mr. Robot do it right or wrong?  Right actually, while it is a little grandiose, it stays within the general logic limits of CSE and the exaggeration only comes in the theatrics and not the method.

So a determined hacker sits at his computer and pounds on the keys millions of lines a minute to retrieve one single line of information to hand off to the super spy who goes off to save the world right? Wrong, as a human being you are already behind in the CSE world, you are slower and less educated on the system than the system itself. So what does a real hacker do? They write a program, make a computer to outsmart the other computer. Basically a professional hacker, which is a thing, creates a program that does all the computation for them and just tells it which computing to do. Mr. Robot shows this well as you do not see him sitting down at his computer to race the system but rather he runs programs to beat the system.

Next, lets look at representation, Mr. Robot in the show is a cooperation hating, anti-social, save the world vigilante working for a hacker group trying to bring down the cooperations that run the world.  Although I'm sure some in the CSE field are like this, just like there are probably some in every profession,  it is not a large or incredibly pronounced group.  Most people in CSE work for some company or another, not an underground hacker cell trying the Fight Club Approach™, and are generally law abiding citizens who work IT, system management or are programmers. However professional hackers are a thing as I said above and Mr. Robot actually works as a legal one in the show, their job is to try and break a companies security so the company can plug any holes.

Like with the hate the world sentiment above there are a fair few in CSE that are anti-social but most are pretty social people and some are even famous, Zuckerberg and Gates are good examples. Also as a general rule CSE majors do not get to be alone while they work, a majority will work in groups or project teams and because of their broad reach will have to interact with all parts of a company or outside customers.  So while we may not be the most social group we also do not spend all our time in a dark hoodie with only our computer screens to light the way and general hatred for the world to fuel us.

An Introduction to AMD's Ryzen

By Steven Wang

If you are into computers at all, you probably have heard about AMD's new Ryzen line of processors that has demonstrated groundbreaking performance. It has been hyped for all while now but what does this all mean?

First off, what even is a processor and why is it so important? The central processing unit or CPU is essential the brains of the computer that uses electric signals to carry out interactions of a program by performing arithmetic, logical, and control operations specified by other parts or the user. In a computer, the CPU is located inside the motherboard under a fan to keep in cool.

Example of a CPU that has been properly installed 

What a CPU looks like (Intel)

For years, Intel has dominated the CPU market and is mainly known for its "core" line of CPUs such as the core i3, i5, and i7. Each has its own unique features such as number of cores and clock speed and are usually higher as you go up the line. In basic terms, the more cores a CPU has the more data it handle and higher the clock speed means it can compute tasks faster. Although AMD generally has more cores in their CPUs, Intel processors are still faster per core. When building or choosing a computer to purchase, often times people are recommended AMD processors only if you're on a budget. With the addition of Ryzen, however, the competition may change.

On March 2nd, three versions of the Ryzen 7 were released to the public: the 1700, 1700X, and the 1800X. Specifications and prices can be found in the image below:

Comparing to Intel's top of the line Core i7-6900k with similar specifications (eight cores and base clock speed of 3.2 gigahertz) priced at $1099, its hard not to go with AMD. Even its based model, which is nearly a third cheaper, it has the same number cores albeit with a lower base clock speed. Tests have also been done and proves AMD Ryzen can sometimes match or even outperform the 6900k in many tasks such as gaming and content creating.

These are extremely high end CPU and are targeted to consumers looking for the best of the best. However, if the rumors are true, AMD is planning on releasing lower end parts for the more average consumer and to compete with Intel's core i3 and i5.

Want to learn more about Ryzen? Watch a full detailed video here!
Links to benchmarks and other shenanigans:
1. UserBenchmark
2. Builds with the CPU
3. Pricing and Availability 

What is DirectX?

By Qingyang Li

Back to the time when computers were using Windows XP system,  at that time, when someone got a new computer, he had to install some basic software by himself, especially when run a computer game at first time, sometimes it would show a error that said you have to install a software named DirectX. This error is not common after windows 7 system, because almost every computers have already automatic installed this software.Anyway, why this software is so important that we can't run game on PC without it?

DirectX, first released in 1995,full name is Microsoft DirectX and is a collection of application programming interfaces(APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectSound, and so forth. The name DirectX was coined as a shorthand term for all of thses APIs (the X standing in for the particular API names) and soon became the name of the collection. When Microsoft later set out to develop a gaming console, the X was used as the basis of the name Xbox to indicate that the console was based on DirectX technology. The X initial has been carried forward in the naming of APIs designed for the Xbox such as Xlnput and the Cross-platform Audio Creation Tool(XACT), while the DirectX pattern has been continued for Windows APIs such as Direct2D and DirectWrite.

Direct3D (the 3D graphics API within DirectX) is widely used in the development of Video games for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox line of consoles. Direct3D is also used by other software applications for visualization and graphics tasks such as CAD/CAM engineering. As Direct3D is the most widely publicized component of DirectX, it is common to see the names " DirectX" and "Direct3D" used interchangeably.

Summary, DirectX allows software to write instructions directly to audio and video hardware, improving multimedia performance.Game that include DirectX have the capability of utilizing multimedia and graphics accelerator features more efficiently.

The DirectX software development kit(SDK) is available as a free download.While the runtimes are proprietary , closed-source software, source code is provided for most of the SDK samples. Starting with the release of Windows 8 Developer Preview, DirectX SDK has been integrated into Windows SDK. So this is why after Windows 7 ,we are no longer need to install DirectX by ourselves.

How Video Game Companies Have Changed Their Marketing

By Tanner Fred

In the early games of videogames, when they were nowhere near as popular as they are today, most companies made their as you would expect, through game sales. But as the companies have developed, so has their marketing strategies. Now most of the money that companies make are through microtransactions and DLC.

Now you're probably wondering what those words mean. In games there are instances were you can make purchases that will help to improve the gameplay. For example, in Call of Duty you can be crates that will unlock different weapon skins or character customization options that won't necessarily make you better at the game, but could make the game more fun. As these visual parts of a character have become a more important part of the gaming community, companies have realized that they could use this as a way to make additional profit. These instances would be considered microtransactions.




Now DLC is a bit different. DLC is an acronym that stands for downloadable content. What this means is that a company will release additional content to the game that either extends the games story or adds additional multiplayer options. For example, again using Call of Duty, they will release the base (called vanilla) version of the game and then will sell four additional multiplayer maps as DLC for $20. They will normally do this four times a year, or give you the option to buy the season pass where you will get all of the DLC for $50. Companies have made an absurd amount of money off of this strategy and at this rate will continue to do so.

Prompt 4: Considering Delivery and Style

By Tanner Fred

When reading through the blog of University of Texas student Eric Lee's blog, there are a lot of things that I learned when comparing to a scholarly written article or journal. Even if a blog is considered to be delivered in a serious matter, it is very difficult to deliver a blog in a professional manner that would be used by professionals. When professionals deliver their findings or the information that they have, it is mostly used in an article of some sort, an essay, or a journal.

The reason that the article version, written by professionals in the field, is more reliable and trusted is because these people have experience in the field and have more extensive knowledge of the information in the field. Although the writer of the blog, in this case Mr. Lee, may be quite knowledgeable on the subject, it is not comparable to somebody with years of professional experience. The audience of the two posts are also quite different though due to the method of delivery. The audience of the blog post by the student would be directed more at other college students, as well as possibly high school students that are considering entering the field. Meanwhile, an article written by a professional would most likely be to publish their work and therefore would be written for other professionals in their field. When reading through a blog we learn how the field is viewed from the perspective of somebody who has an outside view of the field, while with the article we have a much more professionally written perspective view from somebody in the field.

Click here to see Eric Lee's blog.
Click here to see the professionally written article.

Brain-Computer Interface and Mind Controlled Prosthetics

By Xavier Reinders

Jaimie Henderson and Krishna Shenoy of the Stanford research team

The keyboard may be a thing of the past according to a Stanford research effort. Well not really but your brain could be the keyboard of the future. The investigation, detailed here, demonstrated that they could create a brain to computer interface allowing the user to type with their thoughts.

So who cares? Firstly, you do because that is awesome and it is the future people have been talking about in sci-fi novels, movies and comics since the introduction of computers. Secondly, the entire investigation was based on helping those who are paralyzed to better interact with technology. Due to their paralysis it was impossible for these people to interact with technology and very difficult for them to interact with people. With this advancement it becomes easier for them to interact with the outside world through computers. The investigation specifically looked at typing with your mind a much more complex task than the mind controlled prosthetics discussed later. Instead of giving a basic command like "move" or "open" or "close" the researchers were able to give a command like "type s in this field." That is comparable to attempting to bend just one knuckle in a finger. They had to be able to pick out on specific brain pulse out of the millions that are occurring and relay just that one to the computer.

On a less medicinal note this is an amazing break through for computers as a whole. Creating an interface where our brain can instruct a machine is the pathway to advanced cybernetics, awesome video experiences and incredible ease of machinery.  Instead of sending a signal to your fingers and arms to move and hit keys your brain could send a signal to a computer that you want that letter put where ever and skip all the extras. We could develop exo-suits allowing paralyzed people to walk again or create robots controlled by our minds to do work for us. This could even be used to create entirely new body parts for people that do not have them and have them function as they would if they were flesh and muscle instead of fiber and metal.

In fact such a step has already been taken into practice with the existence of mind controlled prosthetics. Before these brain-computer links were developed the revolution in prosthetics was flex sensing, moving a prosthetic based on the measurement of muscles that were still there that would have caused this movement. i.e. if you lost the lower half of your arm, sensors would detect muscle movement in your upper arm and translate it to the prosthetic as if it were actually connected to those muscles normally. Now as computers and our understanding of the human brain improve prosthetics can be created that link to your nerves and brain pathways rather than your muscles. So like I said above a user might think move and the prosthetic would respond, this is an important step for people who lost the whole limb and don't have the remaining muscles to operate a muscle sense prosthetic. In fact these devices are at a point where thoughts can be used to preform the precise movements needed to operate a compute mouse and keyboard.

In the less developed field of feedback researchers and engineers alike are working to transfer information from sensors back into the brain in a way that the brain can interpret as a touch. These combined with the mind controlled prosthetics could lead to full robotic recovery of lost limbs, hands that not only grasp and hold but feel.

What Language Started It All?

John Backus

Behind any command of a programming language, there is code for it underneath. I was
working on a project for my programming class one night and the question suddenly hit me. Who created the first programming language and what was it like compared to modern day code?

FORTRAN was the world's first high level programming language and was developed at the International Business Machine Corporation (IBM) by a team led by John Backus, an American computer scientist. The language was released in 1957 and surprisingly, is still used today for large scale numerical calculations in science and engineering.

The initial release of FORTRAN contained 32 statements, examples are:
- if
- go to
- do
- write
- print
- continue
The six example statements listed above are still used in modern day languages such as Python, Java, and C++ and just shows how advanced FORTRAN was for its time.

Before the development of disk files, text editors and terminals, programs were often entered on punch card using a keypunch keyboard. A punch card with code would look something like this:

One punch card

Looking at the card closely, we can see there are nine rows and eighty columns of numbers. A keypunch keyboard would punch holes in specific places based on the code needed. Compared to a terminal or text editor, the card looks extremely confusing so in order to enhance readability, the columns were divided into four sections:
- 1 to 5 were used to determine command statements such as the ones listed above
- 6 was a continuation field. If a character other than a blank or zero was punched in, this caused the card to be taken as a part of another card. (Multiple cards can be used for one program)
- 7 to 72 were used for statements or the body of your code in today's era
- 73 to 80 were ignored since, at the time, the IBM could only read 72 columns. Since these columns were ignored, programmers could write on them in order to organize the cards if many were used.
When the punch cards were finally finished, they would be fed into a card reader for the computer to compile and run.

 Looking back, it seems like the only main difference between FORTRAN and modern day languages were the speed at which code could be read and functionality. Compared to a text editor, which can compile code in an near instant, the punch card method could take hours to create if huge calculations were need to be done. The cards would then have to be fed individually into the reader which could also take some time. FORTRAN was also mainly used for calculations, however, programming today takes on many other fields such as video game design and web development. Obviously, many changes were implement to commands as well as new ones added, but it shows how far computer science has come while still incorporating its original DNA.

Fun facts about computers

By Qingyang Li

Nowadays, computers have become the most important tools in our daily life. They are completely change our lives in so many ways. Although computers have been developed in decades, there are still some fun facts you may not know,and here I am going to introduce some of them to you.

1. The first electronic computer ENIAC weighted more than 27 tons and took up 1800 square feet.

2. Only about 10% of the world 's currency is physical money ,the rest only exists on computers.

3. Typewriter is the longest word that you can write using the letters only on one row of the keyboard of your computer.

4. Doug Engelbart invented the first computer mouse in around 1964 which was made of wood.

5. There are more than 5000 new computer viruses are released every month.

6. Around 50% of all Wikipedia vandalism is caught by a single computer program with more than 90% accuracy.

7. If there was a computer as powerful as the human brain, it would be able to do 38 thousand trillion operations per second and hold more than 3580 terabytes of memory.

8. The password for the computer controls of nuclear tipped missiles of the US was 00000000 for eight years.

9. Approximately 70% of virus writers are said to work under contract for organized crime syndicates.

10. HP,Microsoft and Apple have one very interesting thing in common-they were all started in a garage.

11. An average person normally blinks 20 times a minute ,but when using a computer he/she blinks only 7 times a minute.

12. The house where Bill Gates lives,was designed using a Macintosh computer.

13. The first ever hard disk drive was made in 1979, and could hold only 5MB of data.

14. The first 1GB hard disk drive was announced in 1980 which weighted about 550 pounds, and the price was 40,000 dollars.

15. More than 80% of the emails sent daily are spams.

16. A group of 12 engineers designed IBM PC and they were called as " The Dirty Dozen."

17. The original name of windows was interface Manager.

18. The first microprocessor created by Intel was the 4004. It was designed for a calculator ,and in that time nobody imagined where is would lead.

19. IBM 5120 from 1980 was the heaviest desktop computer ever made. It weighed about 105 pounds, not including the 130 pounds external floppy drive.

20. Genesis Device demonstration video in Star Trek 2: the Wrath of Khan was the first entirely computer generated movie sequence in the history of cinema . That studio later become Pixar.

Prompt 1: Asking Questions and Breaking Assumptions

by Steven Wang

Cover Page of Textbook

When high schoolers begin the transition to college and decide their major, the first step is
usually thinking about preconceptions about the field. What do people do? What do they say? What do people like and don't like? With the advancement of technology, Computer Science and Engineering is quickly becoming a more popular major choice. The textbook "The Practice of Computing Python" by William Punch and Richard Enbody will be use to test if certain preconceptions in the computer science field are true or not.

Preconception #1 - Computer Science is All About Programming

Surprisingly, this is not completely true. Although the major is revolved around learning and executing code, I believe the main skill that is taught is simply how to approach and solve a problem. This idea can be backed up in the textbook, where the preface states that "Our goal is that after the course, students when presented with a problem will think, 'Hey, I can write a program to do that!" (Punch, Enbody XXIII). This is also the reason why in many colleges a intro computer science course is required for all engineers, as knowing how to problem solve is an essential skill. 

Preconception #2 - Computer Science is Slow and Difficult For Beginners
Yes, at least from my perspective. I say this as you would be surprised how easy and natural computer science is for some people, being able to just code without even hesitating. For many students, their first experience in the field is often a mixture of frustration and confusion. The textbook wastes no time diving right into creating a program that calculates the area of a circle. Its a simple task on paper, but coding it is different.

Area of a Circle, Written in Python

Immediately, you see statements such as "import" and "print" that haven't been taught before and sometimes are you told "Worry about those later, just memorize it now". Although it does go into detail, the explanation of just eleven lines of code is two pages long, which can easily be off putting to someone who wants to learn quickly.

Preconception #3 - Computer Science is a Part of Every Day Life
This preconception can be tied with #1. We all know that computers are everywhere, millions of them. "What were once rare, expensive items are as commonplace as... any commodity you can imagine" (Punch, Enbody 3). Computer science surrounds us and there are a multitude of examples but to name a few are social media, smartphones, cars, and the internet. Many computer science textbooks have a preface explaining its importance because many students never consider anything outside of what they code.

Overall as a resource, this textbook is highly recommend for students are you starting from the bottom. It teaches the importance of computer science, its uses, and how to code with arguably the most basic language. Even if you think its dense and slow, this is as easy as its gonna get and the learning process will definitely speed up as you go on. 

Oh The Places You'll Go

By Xavier Reinders

So you are looking into pursuing a Computer Science or Engineering degree as a part of your research into this you might wonder what you can do with such a degree.  While I can't give you every possibility I can give you a few big ones and what they might entail.

Software Developer
Software development is a wide and diverse profession and possibly the biggest residence of CSE degree holders. These developers make everything computer related that does any actual computing. This means they make the video games, phone apps, work programs (Microsoft Office), vehicle systems and web applications we see every day.  Due to this variance in work developer pay spans a wide range from $50,000 up to $200,000 and beyond depending on importance.

Computer Systems
Computer systems engineering deals with the interaction between machines, each other and their users. These professionals design, analyze and improve this communication as well as helping non-engineers interact with them. These engineers spend a lot of time interacting not only with these systems but also with the software developers mentioned above helping their programs smoothly move across your systems. Median pay for this kind of work falls around the $82,000 mark.

Database Handlers
Database engineers and analysts work in information; understanding, manipulating and distributing massive amounts of information. Engineers design and build the data storage connecting it to a system where it needs to be in order to allow access to the information. Analysts criticize everything the engineers do, they work to improve system efficiency and the overall quality of the system. These professionals rake in an average pay of $80,000.

Analysts 
Do you hate people and think you can do everything better than anyone else, welcome to the position for you. Not really though analysts preform an incredibly important job that helps to serve the rest of the professions on this list. Essentially their business is problems, finding them and reporting them to however can fix them, however a problem could be as simple as 'this doesn't work as well as it could'. Analysts tend to have a a very wide base of knowledge able to at least partially understand every part of a computer system from software to system to database so as to diagnose issues in each and between all parts. Expected pay falls at $83,000 for these professional criticizers.

Testers
Is your favorite tool a wrecking ball, do you often find yourself destroying "indestructible" items or accomplishing "impossible" feats, boy do I have an opportunity for you. As a tester your job is to find problems, use the computer system in every way possible and find out where it doesn't do what it's supposed to. You act as a digital "breaker" helping others achieve their goal of "idiot proofing" their product by using your to become the smartest idiot ever. These hero's can expect a wide range of pay centered around $83,000.

Network Administrators
You survey your kingdom in search of flaw and those in need of your all powerful influence. In actuality network admin's act as the gate keepers of a system allowing access where it should be allowed and denying it where it shouldn't.  This goes for those inside the system as well as those attempting to access it from the outside. You do however land a little lower on the pay spectrum than others at $77,000 despite your divinely mandated rule.

Project Manager
Congratulations you've successfully done your job long enough and well enough that you get to do that and tell other people how to do their jobs. Project managers set deadlines, outline plans and assign responsibilities for a team of other computer scientists and engineers. Since you're so good at your job you can expect a pay around the upper middle of your team whatever that may be. What? Why aren't you making the most if you're the manager? Because someone on your team is the best at their job, a very specific one that few understand, and they are harder to come by then a project manager. Anyone can be a project manager not everyone has what it takes to write an AI on their own.

Well now that you know all of that I hope your time in CSE leads you to the career you're hoping for whatever it may be.

All pay information pulled from here.

Character Introduction - Alan Turing

By Qingyang Li

Alan Mathison Turing(23 June 1912-7 June 1954) was an English computer scientist,mathematician,logician,cryptanalyst and theoretical biologist.He was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science,providing a formalisation of the concept of algorithm and computation with Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general purpose computer.And he is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence.

The most famous story about Turing is during the World War Two, German scientist developed a machine called Enigma and Nazis force used it to communicate with each troops, this machine and code was unbreakable at that time which caused Allied many losses. Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School,Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he led Hut 8,the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for speeding the breaking of German ciphers, including improvements to the pre-war Polish bombe method, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine.Turing played a pibotal role in cracking intercepted coded messages that enabled the Allies to defeat the Nazis in many crucial engagements, including the Battle of the Atlantic; It has been estimated that this work shortened the war in Europe by more than two years and saved over fourteen million lives.

After the war, he worked at the National Physical Laboratory,and he designed the ACE here, and it was the first designs for a stored program computer. He helped develop the Manchester computers in 1948.
But unfortunately ,Turing was prosecuted in 1952 for homosexual acts, when " gross indecency" was still criminal in the UK. He accepted chemical castration treatment, with DES(a synthetic,non-steroidal estrogen of the stilbestrol group,from about 1940 to 1971 ,DES was given to pregnant women in the mistaken belief it would reduce the risk of pregenancy complications and losses). Turing died in 1954, Police determined his death as suicide,because they found a bit apple which was covered by cyanide poisoning, but it has been noted that the known evidence is also consistent with accidental poisoning.

In 2009,following an Internet campaign,British Prime Minister Gorden Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for "the appalling way he was treated." Queen Elizabeth granted him a posthumous pardon in 2013.The Alan Turing law is now an informal term for a 2017 law in the United Kingdom that retroactively pardons men cautioned or convicted under historical legislation that outlawed homosexual acts.

If you want to know more about Turing's story of Enigma, recommend to watch the movie "The imitation Game"

Nintendo Switch And Its Early Release Flaws

The Nintendo Switch is the most anticipated game release console in 2017 and is the sequel console to the Wii U. It is the newest advancement in console technology as it allows the gamer to not only use the console as a stationary console, but it also allows the gamer to take the controller from its portable station and use it as a handheld device. It is making many great advances in the gaming community and will definitely impact future gaming consoles to come. But just like all things, it has its flaws, and some of them are pretty major.

The first issue with the console is that, right out of the box, the console is very boring. The game console comes with no games included, so the only thing to do is scroll through the menus and create your mii, unless you decided to buy a game with the console. In addition to that, there is no backwards compatibility offered with the system, so gamers cannot play any of their old Wii or Wii U games. The Switch will be the very first Nintendo console since the GameCube to not offer backwards compatibility. In addition to all of this, virtually downloading games will not be available at release date. What that means is gamers cannot buy games digitally from the Nintendo eShop at the release of the console and would cause gamers to buy their games on cartridges. Another problem adding to the game problem is that the internal storage of the console is only 32GB, which is extremely small for gaming consoles.

These game issues as well as issues with the controllers and battery issues add to the many continuing problems resulting for the Nintendo Switch. For more information about the Nintendo Switch click here.

Intro to Programming: C++

By Xavier Reinders

Contrary to the title C++ is not the language you should be learning if you are looking for an introduction into the world of programing. While it was the first full programming language I learned it is more often used by schools in an upper level course after students have already learned some introductory programing. The language was created in 1983 by Bjarne Stroustrup with an emphasis on efficiency and performance.

C++'s creator on the 'advantages' of his language

The efficiency part of C++ does not come on the coding end of things but rather on the computing end, so while there is often more work for the programmer, there is much less for the computer or system, ideal for large systems or programs. C++ is often referred to as a mid to low level programming language, these levels denote closeness to machine language, the stuff computers use to communicate and operate.  Since it is a mid to low level language it is closer to the ones and zeros used by the machines which means it is sometimes a bit tricky and difficult for humans to understand. However this human inconvenience allows for a much faster and efficient system using only a few more ones and zeros than are necessarily needed to tell a machine something.

C++'s biggest advantage is rooted in its memory manipulation abilities and its use of pointers and references. One of the biggest memory pit falls of other languages is their use of copies, when passing around information between places they make a copy of that data each time it goes somewhere new. As you might imagine this can quickly take up a lot of space, so C++ approaches this problem differently using pointers and references. Although they are often very complex to implement the concepts behind these two things is pretty simples. Pointers are like a trail sign or a highway sign, they tell you where and what something is in a place totally separate from the original thing. References are like nicknames for a person,  like 'Bill' and 'William', they both mean the same thing and refer to the same person its just 2 different ways of saying it.

I hope this has introduced you to some of the differences between C++ and other languages. If you are interested in programming I would recommend a higher level language like python first, which can be found here. However if C++ is really what you want this site can help you get started into the language.

HTML: Developing Your Own Website

by Steven Wang

My introduction into web development was seeing an ad on YouTube about Squarespace: an all in one solution to create a your own website. Recently, I had the idea to create an "about me" website where companies can access my resume, contact info, and any other important information when networking. As a computer science major, however, I realized it would be ill suited for me to have a website that I didn't code myself so I decided to tackle HyperText Markup Language (HTML), the standard language for creating web pages and applications.

The beauty of creating your own website is having the advantage of deciding how complex or simplistic you want it to be. A website can range from single page plain text to having graphic images or animations. An easy visualization is comparing a website such as Wikipedia to Facebook: Wikipedia is mainly composed of text while Facebook requires video input, large scale images, and chat animations. Although my website will be a one man operation, many websites that represent larger companies may require hundreds of developers that work for hours on a single page.

As mentioned earlier, HTML is the main language in web development. Unlike any other programming language, HTML uses elements in order to create headings, paragraphs, links and other items. Elements are represented as tags, written using angle brackets. Any website generally starts with a heading. HTML has six levels of headings which use the elements <h1>, <h2>, <h3>... <h6>.

Example code

 <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title> Heading Example </title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>This is heading 1 </h1>
<h2>This is heading 2 </h2>
<h3>This is heading 3 </h3>
<h4>This is heading 4 </h4>
<h5>This is heading 5 </h5>
</body>
</html>

Result

This is heading 1
This is heading 2
This is heading 3
This is heading 4
This is heading 5

Note that as you have more headings, the font becomes smaller. Elements that contain a '/' in them indicate the ending of the heading or body. Text is just the beginning of what you can do with HTML and I plan on learning more as I believe web development is an essential skill for a computer science student like myself.

How Gaming and Desgin Can Effect Peoples Lives

By Tanner Fred

Most people use gaming as something fun to just pass the time, something they enjoy doing when there is nothing else to do and want to kill some time. Then there are some people who take it a bit more seriously and care about the games they play, try to best their very best at every game that they play. There's a level above that of people who adopt gaming as their livelihood and put nothing else above it. There are two different categories when it comes to these types of people, professional gamers and game designers.

Professional gamers are those who play esports, most popularly, Smite, Call of Duty, League of Legends and CS:GO. These people are mostly in their mid to late 20s and have been play competitively and when you get to watch them play it almost seems unreal about a person could be that good at a video game. The way they are able to maneuver characters in ways that don't even seem possible to the common player. But a lot of these players devote their young adult lives to playing these games and even go as far as to move from their own homes and live with the rest of their team. Most of these people walk away from professional gaming and move onto normal jobs or continue their gaming careers on youtube or twitch.

I personally think that game designers are much more devoted and invest a bigger part of their lives to gaming. There is a game that one of my friends encouraged me to play and I have recently played it with him. It was unlike any game I had ever played because in itself, it really wasn't a game, it was a story. The narrator tells about his friend Coda who was a game designer and used to deign very obscure games where the motivation and objective of the game was often unclear or nonexistent. This lead the narrator to believe that Coda was becoming deeply depressed and his work indicated that he may have been correct. To avoid spoiling the ending of the game, this caused a split between Davey, the narrator, and Coda to the point where they no longer speak. When being a game designer it takes a lot of time and effort to go through and make sure that every detail of your game is exactly how you want it and the frustrations of that can sometimes appear as depression. Designing something that intricate can take a lot out of somebody and can cause those around them to appear as if they are depressed or losing motivation, but rather that is all just part of the process.