Falcon focus: Junior has passion for programming

He participates in the school Robotics team, Application Developers Club and the Zero Robots Programming team all for one purpose: to program. Versed in a number of higher-level computer languages, junior Eugene Che communicates with others in ways that transcend 0s and 1s.

“It’s fun because with coding, you basically tell the computer what to do. It’s a form of talking, that’s why it’s called a language,” he said.

Che started programming the summer after his freshman year because his robotics team needed a programmer. After taking AP Computer Science in his sophomore year, he continued learning different computer languages, including HTML, CSS, Python and C++, on his own.

The different applications on the iPhone had also influenced Che to start programming.

“The first time I wanted to start coding was when my mom got the iPhone and [I saw] these cool apps and I also wanted to make an app, so that’s was drove me to program,” he said.

Che immediately found programming an interesting hobby.

“You go on you computer and everything that is happening on your computer is basically code” Che said. “Knowing code, I can basically [recreate anything] anyone else [coded] because coding is universal.”

In the spring of 2009, the robotics team won regionals in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Robotics Competition (FRC).

The competition is split into three sections, with a mechanical, electrical and software division. The mechanical division is in charge of the building of the robot, while the electrical handled the wiring. Che participated in the software division, where he programmed the robot to do certain commands.

According to junior Daniel Ng, Che is the “trainer” for the new freshmen in Robotics. Although he is not the only programmer on the team this year, he is the de facto lead coder.

Last year, the Robotics team created a robot with a telescoping arm and omnidirectional drive, which the programming division and Che took two days to code.

Outside of robotics, Che is a part of the newly created Application Developers club, and has started to code a game for the club.

“[The] people [in the club] come up with the ideas, I put those ideas into code,” he said.
At home, Che also enjoys creating his own games and applications, such as a chess game with artificial intelligence (AI). The game itself took one weekend, but he has not finished the AI aspect of the game yet.

Additionally, he codes various applications that he puts to use in daily life. Che wrote and application that stores vocabulary words, which he uses to review for tests.

He also coded a microdatabase application for the Android, which stores information and allows users to browse for information.

Che hopes to continue with his passion for coding in the future, even though he currently is not considering a career in the field.

“I find it interesting because there’s all these future industries that have been making stuff with computer language, and I’m glad to be a part of it,” Che said.