BRETT ALTENA
"There are 10 types of people in the world, those who know binary and those who don't."
 |  |  |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
Completed during my time at Iowa State University (ISU): Fall 2015 - Spring 2019
PROJECTS
CHOOSE YOUR ADVENTURE AT ISU
August 2017 - December 2017
This project was started in August 2017 with the following team members Grant Duncan, Ethan Fornero-Green, and Nathan Mazarelo. We created a 2D Role Playing Game of the first month of being an incoming freshman at Iowa State University utilizing Java, Python, and SQL.
​
The user is presented choices during registration, and throughout the gameplay will have to make decisions that will decide how the game will end. In game, the user will have to attend classes, fight off bullies, and go to club events while maintaining good health, a good GPA, and low stress levels. To win the game, all the player needs to do is survive the 4 weeks the best that they can, but to excel you need to put in 110% effort. The game is run by the client, and can be accessed by the player, a spectator, and an admin at the same time through the use of a web server and SQL database.
​
This is by far one of the most advanced projects I have completed; by teaching myself to use Python to connect to a web server and then to a database, rendering the game in real time so that the game will go on whether the player is doing anything or not, and using Git to communicate and coordinate with my teammates on who is completing each task. A majority of the time we each worked independently to accomplish our tasks; doing so we made a modular design so that each class can be used by others with a few lines of code, exemplifying good coding skills. The parts I worked on was setting up chat functionality for users to talk to each other, retrieving and sending information from the database, the start menus, and completing quest functionality. The project taught time management skills, leadership, and discovering strengths and weaknesses in others as in myself. This game could be played by anyone such as potential students looking at ISU, freshmen just starting out, or for anyone just looking for a fun game to play.
MARS ROVER
April  2016 - May 2016
The Mars Rover was a school project that started in April 2016 with the following team members Jase Grant and Nathan Mazarelo. Throughout the semester we have been using a iCreate Roomba to demonstrate different coding practices, and the final project was to navigate through a maze of obstacles only using the available sensors.
​
This semester was the first time learning C programming while interfacing with hardware in a robot. The obstacle course consisted of pillars, small objects out of the sensor’s range, a hole in the ground, and taped off boundaries. We programmed the robot to send data to our computer through wifi. The infrared and sonic sensors would tell us where the pillars were, a light sensor for the boundaries.wheel sensors for the hole, and bumpers for the small objects. My team never saw the course until we were able to accomplish along with my run setting the fastest time for my class section. I was the leader of the group, and assigned tasks to my teammates so that it will be done quickly and efficiently based on their experience. I worked on the wifi connection, and the ability to send and receive signals from the robot along with helping others to give a new perspective on an issue.
​
Many challenges came up during this project due to the lack of experience, and a limited amount of time to test code with the robot. My strategy for debugging the code was to make minor changes to the code and run multiple tests to find the common error between them. My teammates and I worked to make each of the sensors as independent as possible so that our code could be ran from one main file. My dream ever since doing the robotics team in high school was to create and program robots in the future to help with automation. Leading this project taught me how to be an effective leader and how to identify the strengths of my teammates, and setting priorities accordingly when have a limited amount of time to complete a task.
MAJIK SCREEN
January 2016 - May 2016
Majik Screen was started in January 2016 with the following team Erin Elsbernd, Lisa Kaenofski, Joey Rochford, and Austin Keen. Our team specifically was tasked by our professor to produce an android app, which would display his office info, information coordinating with his classes, set up an appointment, and the capability to send an email to him.
​
Before this I had no experience in app development, but we were able to infuse Java coding into Android Studio. This app would be displayed on our professor’s office door for when he is not available, by connecting it to a power source and locking the tablet to permanently stay on the app. The app needed to have admin, and normal user settings so that no one walking by could easily change the information. Our professor had a set username and password, which would easily allow him to change the information pertaining to office hours/ homework, his free and available time, or the format emails were sent in.
This being the first project I completed at Iowa State, it was challenging to learn a new language in a short amount of time, and connect emailing services to the app. This project taught me the skills of being on a team of colleagues, developing android code, and merging languages together in order to efficiently run the app. We worked more together on this project due to us being freshmen, and the app not having as many individual tasks. I worked on displaying the professor’s information, and adding in the login feature for the professor. Our professor now displays this outside his door, so that students and faculty know when to find him or send an appointment request if need be. This can be mass produced so that all teachers may use this tablet instead of their office nametag to allow better communication with their students.