Posts

In this post: Intro JSON File CSV File Python Script Writing the Python Script I was recently tasked with automating the replacement of key:value pairs in a JSON file. The goal was to take the output of a CLI command listing key:value pairs and place those keys/values in specific places within a JSON file. I decided to convert the output of the CLI command to a CSV file and have a python script use that CSV to create a new JSON file with updated keys/values. ...

Until now, the blog I use to document my projects has been hosted on WordPress. To cut down on the cost of running my blog (and to complete a cool project), I’ve made my blog a static website. Most websites we visit are dynamic websites, meaning that a web server generates the site with content that can change and be interacted with by users. Static websites are the opposite, they display the same content for every user and are shown exactly as they are written (usually using HTML). ...

Once you get past your first “Hello World” Python script, it’s good to learn how to use Python methods and classes. Methods and **functions **are a self-contained block of code that can be reused over and over. There are built-in functions that beginners in Python may already be familiar with, like print() and sum(). A user can also define a function (called a user-defined function) that executes a task they need done in their script multiple times. This is especially useful because it keeps the user from having to write that same chunk of code repeatedly. Variables that exist outside of the function can be passed to the function as parameters, but they are not required. The format of defining your own function is below: ...

Over the next year, I will be completing a research project exploring how biased training data effects the machine learning algorithm of self-driving cars. This project, which I’ll detail in a later post, involves deep neural networks (DNNs), computer vision, linear algebra, and more. Is this project a massive undertaking? Yes. Will that stop me? Absolutely not. Let’s get started. Neural Network Basics First, what is artificial intelligence (AI)? AI is a field of computer science pertaining to programming computers so that they demonstrate human-like intelligence. ...

In my first Capstone post I gave a rundown of basic AI terms and how to use Tensorflow to create your own machine learning (ML) script. I’m using Tensorflow to write a script that can process images of roads and determine whether there is an obstacle in the road or not. Since I’m studying self-driving cars, I’d like to see if using biased data to train an object detection script affects the model’s performance. To do this, I’m using a training dataset of clear, bright road images to train a neural network and then testing that script with corrupted images of roads. If the model can’t recognize obstacles in images that are corrupted, then the biased training dataset did have an affect on the model. ...

Bash, or the Bourne-Again SHell, is named after the creator of the Unix shell Stephen Bourn. Bash is a command language interpreter that can execute commands and process text files as input. Shell scripts are, basically, files containing a series of commands. You can schedule Bash scripts to run at certain times to automate tasks for you. If you are using a Linux machine, you can write and execute Bash scripts in terminal. Through the terminal you can use your preferred text editor (nano, vim, etc.) to write your script and save it with the extension .sh. If you are using a MacBook, like me, you can use the terminal or Visual Studio Code to write Bash scripts- just save them with the .bash extension. ...