Michael Jay Lissnerhttps://michaeljaylissner.com/2007-12-12T21:29:57-08:00PCT Data Project - DONE2007-12-12T21:29:57-08:00Mike Lissnertag:michaeljaylissner.com,2007-12-12:posts/2007/12/12/pct-temperature-project-done/<p>I’m happy to announce that the <span class="caps">PCT</span> data project is complete! </p>
<p>Over the past several weeks/months, I have been slaving away over my
computer writing this program. When used, it will generate a dynamic
graphing area that will load up temperature data for one to six <span class="caps">PCT</span> hikers. </p>
<p>All those that are interested in the most complicated programming
assignment I have ever worked on <a href="https://michaeljaylissner.com/pct-temperatures">are welcome to check it out</a>.</p>
<p>I am officially a free man once again! Thanks to all who made this possible
with their encouragement and patience! </p>The Great Temperature Data Project2007-11-01T20:40:55-07:00Mike Lissnertag:michaeljaylissner.com,2007-11-01:posts/2007/11/01/great-temperature-data-project/<p>Back in ‘05 when I hiked from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail, I
carried a little device called an <a href="http://www.iButton.com">iButton</a>.
This little device contains essentially three things: a clock, a bit of memory
and a thermometer. It’s waterproof, accurate to 0.1 degree Celsius, and is about
the size of five dimes stacked one upon another. There are a bunch of silly
things you can do with these, but what I chose to do with mine was to have it
record the temperature every hour on the hour for the entire time I was hiking,
with the idea being to get some good data about the temperature out there on
the <span class="caps">PCT</span>.</p>
<p>All in all, you can figure that the temperature was recorded 24 times a day
for about 150 days, for an astounding 3600 data points, and about 150
oscillations from the daytime high to the nighttime low. I’ve spent some time
working with the data, and it’s pretty much impossible to make much use of….unless
you write a program to interpret it. You can
<a href="http://charityhikers.org/pct/temps.htm">see it for
yourself</a> if you’re interested.</p>
<p>Well, as fate should have it, I am currently enrolled in a Java programming
class, and I have the option of doing a final project of my own choosing.
Having not put this data to good use has been a burden on my soul for a
couple of years now, and I’ve decided to make my final project an applet that
will allow a user to plot this data on a graph for any date range and any time
range that they choose (e.g. 5pm to 10pm for September 20th to 23rd). </p>
<p>Once this is done, I will attempt to post it here, but here’s the question to
you dear reader, do you have any suggestions as to features that you would be
interested in seeing in an applet of this sort? Thoughts?</p>
<p>I’m quite excited about getting this info out there. Finally.</p>