Computational Media - Week 5 (24-10-03)

Making functions functional (-ish?)

This week we were tasked with simplifying our draw() function with simple lines of other functions. Function-ception?

I gotta say, naming the functions were quite fun. I did find the logical aspect of it frustrating. In my head, what I think is obviously simple turns out to be more complicated than I expected. At this point in time, I'm just following the path of least resistance.

When I look at the bounceBall() function (top image on the right, I see a formulaic pattern where there are a couple repeating components that have varying inputs - a position (x or y), a bottom limit (0), a top limit (width or height), and a variable that changes direction (xspeed or yspeed).

So in my head, I should be able to create parameters that can be put into a predetermined structure? (see bottom image on the right) Well, it doesn't work as is, but I think I might be because there are some other necessary components in the structure of the code to make it work? Either way, I was taught a simpler way to make the bounce function more flexible, which was to use string parameters

I essentially made functions for aesthetic, (draw and) repeat, growth, and bounce. Then in these functions I created if statements so that when a specific string is typed in, it would run the designated code. 

What I found really interesting about this was that the order in which these functions are called in draw() matters. It was a "no-duh" moment, but it was quite exciting when I realized I could consolidate the code that do similar things together - color and fill code are organized together in the pretty() function, etc...

Above is the pattern sketch reorganized into functions. I had wanted to make the scaling of the circles to increment at and offset order so that it would create a cascade effect. But I couldn't figure out how to do it with the cleaned up draw() with functions, so I reverted back to the spelled out organization of 2 separate loops (one for the circles, one for the crosses) so that I could create an offset incrementation to the shapes with-in their respective loops.

Even though I broke it down even more, I still couldn't figure it out how to do it in the bounce function code, but was advised to use trigonometry. I still don't quite understand it, but will probably need to get a little deeper into it during an office hour session.