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This is my website
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Image of part of my code
Inspiration
My inspiration for my project is due to the abundance of species that I see outside daily but have no information about the specifics of the species. Tying this information stage with an environmental problem (Invasive Species) gave me my project.
What it does
My project is a layout for a database with an input where the user can either input the name of the species or input an image. If the name of the species is inside the database, the website will change to display the information about the species. Since I am not knowledgeable enough to make a model to identify a species from an image, I have just created a function which returns a random species from 4 choices. Then I use that species and check the database.
How we built it
I first created a version of this in python where I had a class which formats the species info, a dictionary to store the species, and functions to get the information. My database in python was a text file which had the information on each line. Once I had completed the python program, I realized that the interface was not the best so I coded the same logic in javascript. I then created an interface in HTML to implement the javascript code.
Challenges we ran into
The first challenge that I ran into was changing the code from python to javascript. Since I had limited experience with javascript, I had to learn a lot of things along the way to get everything to work properly. The next challenge was about storing the database as a file. I learned that to access a local file with javascript/HTML, you need the user to select it which is not what I was looking for so I just used a string variable. The final challenge that I had was using bootstrap. Since I have rarely used bootstrap, I had to learn the different classes and how to implement them to make them look nice.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
The first accomplishment that I am proud of is designing the website. My design skills are not very good and I prefer to work on the back-end part of the software. However, I am proud of using HTML and bootstrap to make the interface of the website. I am also proud of learning how to use HTML and javascript more than I did before.
What we learned
The first thing that I learned with making this project was bootstrap. Before this project, I have never used bootstrap and it was a new learning experience using bootstrap to design my website. The next thing that I learned many more functions in javascript allowing me to become more comfortable in it and to be more versatile with it than I was before.
What's next for Invasive & Regular Species Database
The next thing for my project is to create a machine learning network to identify the different species in the images. Another next step for this project would be to create a better database stored on a server rather than in the website's code.
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