I’ve enjoyed making a few little sites this month in my spare time. There’s no real theme to them, just some fun topics I wanted to explore a little bit.
Find it! Emoji Edition
This is like the game, “Spot it!”, only now it’s on the web, and it’s with emojis of course! While the game is simple (find the one emoji that’s on both cards), the math behind it is super interesting. Think about it—in a deck of 50+ cards, any two random cards will always have one and only one shared picture between them. Here’s an awesome article on the game’s underlying mathematics (with Python code), which I ported over to JavaScript and then added a basic game-play UI on top to round it out.
Hi-Lo Card Counting Practice
It’s probably a good thing that I don’t live very close to a casino, because I really like the games. Especially poker and blackjack. For blackjack, I stick with Basic Strategy to maximize my odds of winning (aka not losing as quickly). But I want to learn more and get better at counting cards to improve my chances even more. This is the start of that – a site where I can practice and get really fast & accurate at keeping track of the “running count” using the Hi-Lo system.
DC Metro Catcher
I love those big displays at the metro that track upcoming arrivals. But you have to be on the platform to read them. I want that information when I am a few minutes away, so I know if I should jog (or sprint) to catch the next train or if I can just leisurely meander over to the station. So I made DC Metro Catcher, which uses WMATA’s API for the train arrival data and the web’s Geolocation API to determine how far you are from the station and if you should start running!