hearts.hh

#ifndef HEARTS_HH

#define HEARTS_HH

#include <string>

#include <ctime>

#include <random>

#include "self"

#include "helloWorld.cpp"

namespace hearts {

    double getSatisfaction(time_t endOfWeek) {

        std::cout << self.thoughts(endOfWeek) << std::endl;

        /* Expected output:

Hello, everyone! I apologize for missing last Friday's post, as these last couple weeks have been hectic. However, I thought I'd provide a bit of an update on how my studies are going:

My physics class is going relatively well. I scored an 85 on the midterm without any real studying, and combined with my good grades in other areas of the class I think it's reasonable to expect an A. However, I still think I could improve the speed and efficiency with which I solve the problems, especially since they'll only get more complex as time goes on. Better safe than sorry.

Data science has been put slightly on the back burner to make way for my other classes, but I'll attempt to get some out of the way this weekend to make up for it. Lately, I've been learning about how to implement many data analysis practices in Python, which should come in handy for my team's upcoming robotics competition.

I'm about a month ahead on C++ classwork, leaving me with a bit of time to focus on other things. I might knock out one more assignment just to be safe, though. The last chapter we covered touched on inheritance and polymorphism in classes, and I'm excited to see where I take those concepts in the next few chapters.

And that leaves... calculus. I took the first test of the semester, and... like most of my classmates, I think... I didn't quite get the grade I wanted. A 60%, or thereabouts. There was a pretty large proportion of trick questions, but I think the issue was mostly on time. We had five questions and forty minutes, and I'd been averaging at a little under ten minutes per question previously. Panic mode was entered, with disastrous results. I think there are massive efficiency improvements to be made. I know I understood the subject material, so that wasn't an issue– in fact, most of my errors had to do with my reading of the questions. At any rate, I want to work with the professor more closely so I can do significantly better on the next quiz. He's also mentioned the possibility of dropping one test for some students on an individual basis, in the case that we "deserve it."

I want to try my hardest to deserve it. Not just for the sake of a good grade, but because I clearly have a lot to learn from him specifically. Apparently he used to work at a four-year university, but started teaching at a community college after he retired. In short, he teaches now more as a vocation than a career. He's a mathematician, with a doctorate and everything. A real mathematician. And that's a status I aspire to reach someday.

        */

        return self.rate(endOfWeek);

    }

  

    bool isValentines(time_t now) {

        struct tm dtToday = gmtime(now);

        if ( (dtToday.tm_mday == 14) && (dtToday.tm_mon == 1) ) {

            return true;

            /* Other thoughts:

On a quite different note, it's Valentine's Day today. I do have a Valentine, in case anyone's wondering. But the significance of today does have me thinking about the value placed on love in American culture in the modern era. 

Compared to most other languages, English describes "love" in a very vague fashion. Greek has at least seven words for love in its various forms, and many others have at least two. Off the top of my head, I know Spanish has at least two ways to say "I love you:" "Te amo" and "te quiero." (Literally translated: "I love you" and "I want you.") "Te amo" is typically reserved for romantic contexts, but "te quiero"– while not excluded from those contexts– is also used to express, for example, familial love. 

"Love" as a word expresses such a wide range of emotions in English that, if you stop and think about it for a moment, it's borderline useless without context... a context that common clichés such as "love always wins" and the like nearly always fail to provide. And yet, I can't help but wonder if the vagueness of the term "love" actually contributes to its pervasiveness in English. We see the constant reinterpretation of the word "love" written all over our popular culture.

I'll bring up the popular Disney movie Frozen as an example. Anna's fate at the end of the movie (and no, I won't spoil it in case you somehow haven't seen it yet) perfectly illustrates this sort of reinterpretation. So, for many people, Valentine's Day is simply a way to celebrate their friends or family rather than their crush or their partner. Cultural tradition carries on, while its application broadens. It's just interesting how our semantics affect our culture more heavily than we might realize. (Miscommunication is the heart of politics, after all!)

Before I sign off for the week, I'd like to mention that I'm currently ideating on a song about how to design a binary search algorithm. I won't give any promises as to whether my first nerdy parody song will actually end up covering this topic or not, but I thought it'd be a nice starting point. Hopefully after robotics concludes for the season, I'll have more time to actually work on it.

I'll try and post again next Friday, with the possibility of additional commentary after our FTC robotics team's Regional Championship competition the Saturday after next. My team is 25725 Raptor Force Engineering, if anyone feels like tuning in... and if anyone reading this would like to reach out to us about a sponsorship offer, we'll definitely need to raise a lot of money if we end up going to World Championships. ;)

Goodbye, adiós, and slán go fóill!

            */

        }

        return false;

    }

}