-
QuaZar interface
Inspiration
We were inspired by the struggles we have faced whilst pursuing our degrees in physics. We are all first year undergraduates, and we would have needed this website at the beginning of the semester. On the front end side of the product we were inspired by the AmEx challenge to create a user interface heavily influenced by the aesthetics of the 1990s.
What it does
The program numerically simulated scenarios in physics where forces act upon masses.
How we built it
We built it with a computational framework in python, and data visualisation using matplot. The front end was connected through CGI and ran with html.
Challenges we ran into
The biggest challenge was to connect the front and back end. Overall, only one out of three team members had experience with programming that exceeded the python thought in the first semester of a physics degree. Because of this a big challenge for us was that the unexperienced coders had to continuously learn how to code in javascript and html, whilst the experienced team member was working out the more advanced back end code in python.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are very proud that we were able to connect the front and back end of our final product as this was the biggest challenge we faces. We are also proud that we were able to make a product that will help us in our studies, and that we made a product which can easily be modified to continuously fit our needs as the physical systems we study grow more complex. In addition we are proud of ending up with a working product in our first hackathon (this applies to two out of three team members).
What we learned
We learned a lot about web-development and coding using html, CSS, java-script and CGI. We also learned a lot about deprecated html functions as we were building a "throwback to the 90s"-website.
What's next for QuaZar
The next step for QuaZar is to further develop the back end of the product, especially with focus on adding further options for simulations and calculations completed by the program with limited user input. As this prosess is continued, the website should we able to handle increasingly more complex and chaotic systems, making it more relevant for students in university as a study tool. It would also be fun to bring QuaZar into the 21st century.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.