Cellular Automation
Here Simon played with cellular automation (a model used in computational science). A cellular automation consists of a regular grid of cells, each in one of a finite number of … Continue reading Cellular Automation
Author: Geeks out of the Box
This is a blog about Simon, a young mathematician and programmer, and his little sister Neva. We write this blog together, share their projects and thoughts on their journey towards self-dicovery. They’re growing up in a supportive non-coercive learning environment. We deeply believe in interest-based, self-paced education and have had to move countries to make this possible as a family.
Visit Simon’s website at https://simontiger.com/
We are a family from Amsterdam who moved to Antwerp because homeschooling is illegal in The Netherlands.
This blog started as https://antwerpenhomeschooling.wordpress.com in March 2016. Over the years, most of our entries have gravitated towards exploring together with Simon as he has developed an insatiable passion for programming, math and science. His sister Neva is treading on his heals. We changed or name to Geeks of the Box in May 2021.
Gradients in Java
Simon showing gradients in Processing (something he learned via w3schools). Linear and radial gradients: Metaballs: He also wants to create multiple metaballs, but that hasn’t been a success yet. He … Continue reading Gradients in Java
Twitter Bots
Yesterday some of my Facebook and Twitter friends thought that I had gone mad or, at the very least, that my account had been hacked: there were strange postings appearing … Continue reading Twitter Bots
Mom, can you read me a story?
This is what Simon begged me to read to him tonight: The Nature of Code by Daniel Shiffman. Daniel Shiffman is Simon’s hero. Simon completely owns his knowledge of English, … Continue reading Mom, can you read me a story?
Simon’s first own code: Archimedean spiral in Processing (Java).
This is so exciting! Simon has written his first Java code completely on his own! It’s an animation of the Archimedean spiral (well, we only found out later that it’s actually called … Continue reading Simon’s first own code: Archimedean spiral in Processing (Java).
2D and 3D Transformations in Processing (Java) Continued
Simon continued his lectures about transformations in Processing (Java). Processing has built-in functions that make it easy for you to have objects in a sketch move, spin, and grow or shrink: … Continue reading 2D and 3D Transformations in Processing (Java) Continued
3D Earthquake Data Visualization Coding Challenge
The earthquake data visualization coding challenge by Daniel Shiffman went further than just a 2D map – it went 3D! Simon managed to complete the challenge, except for the very last … Continue reading 3D Earthquake Data Visualization Coding Challenge
Forests and Flower Fields
Simon showed me 3D trigonometrical functions (like tan(x) or cos(x*y*9^10) in his Solve calculator app and we were surprised at their incredible resemblance with forests and flower fields. I mean, is there anyone … Continue reading Forests and Flower Fields
Inverse Kinematics Continued (Fixed Point and Multiple)
Simon went on with the third and the fourth coding challenges by Daniel Shiffman on inverse kinematics in Processing (Java) this morning, producing a beautiful animation of two robotic hands … Continue reading Inverse Kinematics Continued (Fixed Point and Multiple)
Inverse Kinematics in Processing (Java)
On Saturday Simon was mainly busy with the Inverse Kinematics Coding Challenge: Simon watched two out of Daniel Shiffman’s four kinematics videos and studied forward inverse kinematics in Processing (Java) to create a … Continue reading Inverse Kinematics in Processing (Java)
Mapping Earthquake Data Coding Challenge
On Friday Simon finished another beautiful Daniel Shiffman coding challenge called Mapping Earthquake Data. The purpose of this coding challenge was to visualize earthquake data from the USGS website (http://earthquake.usgs.gov/data/) by mapping … Continue reading Mapping Earthquake Data Coding Challenge
2D Transformations in Processing (Java)
In the two videos below Simon is talking about 2D transformations in Processing. Transformation functions in Processing (Java) make it easy to have objects in a sketch move, spin, and grow … Continue reading 2D Transformations in Processing (Java)
Geeks out of the box 