Hello MecSimCalc Community 👋,

We're thrilled to introduce you to a wave of game-changing features that will transform your MecSimCalc experience. Our team of dedicated developers has been hard at work, and we can't wait to share what's new with you.

1. App Monetization 💸​

MecSimCalc has partnered with Stripe payments, opening up a world of opportunities for our app developers. Now, even with a free account, you can start earning by charging users a monthly fee.

Start monetizing!​

2. More Compute Resources 🖥️​

Do you crave more CPU power, memory, and storage? We've rebuilt our infrastructure from the ground up, giving you the power to configure the resources you need for each app execution. It's as simple as selecting your preferences above the 'Submit App' button. Start maximizing your computing capabilities today.

3. Enhanced Developer Tools 🛠️​

We've been listening to your feedback and are excited to unveil a set of features that take your development experience to the next level. Some highlights include:

1. Custom Python Environments: Install any Python 3 version and pip install any Python package. You can even add files to the filesystem. Learn more.
2. Private Apps: Share your apps with a select group of users. Learn more
3. Conditional Inputs: Create interactive apps with inputs that dynamically appear and disappear as users interact. Learn more
4. Dynamic Tables: Allow users to add more rows on-the-fly, unleashing the potential of your input groups. Learn more
5. AI Chatbot: Simplify app creation with our new AI chatbot. Learn more
6. New Tabs Layout: Display input groups as tabs for a more streamlined app experience.

Explore all the new developer features here and kickstart your journey with a 30-day free trial!

✨ Get started! ✨​

We can't wait to see the incredible creations you'll build with these new tools. Keep innovating, keep creating!

Yours truly,
The MecSimCalc Team

Streamlit and MecSimCalc both offer solutions to simplify app development and data visualization with Python. However, they cater to different user bases and provide unique features. In this article, we'll delve into a detailed comparison between Streamlit and MecSimCalc.

Overview​

Let's start with an overview of both platforms.

Features Comparison​

Now, let's explore the specific features and functionalities of both Streamlit and MecSimCalc.

The Workflow​

Next, we will briefly explore the workflow of both Streamlit and MecSimCalc, from creating an app to deploying it.

Streamlit​

Internally, Streamlit uses Tornado as its web server. Streamlit communicates with websockets, making it suitable for interactive real-time applications. [source]

Here is a simplified workflow for creating and deploying a basic Streamlit app:

Step 1: Download and start streamlit via the terminal:

# Prerequisite: download Python and pip, if not already installed
pip install streamlit
touch my_app.py
streamlit run my_app.py

After running streamlit run, a new tab will open on your browser with the app running at a localhost url. All the coding will be done locally on your computer and edits in my_app.py will automatically be reflected in the browser.

Step 2: Write the Streamlit code inside my_app.py. Refer to Streamlit docs for custom streamlit functions required to build the interface and layout.

# my_app.py

import streamlit as st

st.write("# a+b")

col1, col2, col3 = st.columns([6, 1, 6])
with col1:
    a = st.number_input("a", value=12)
with col2:
    st.write("# +")
with col3:
    b = st.number_input("b", value=34)

sum = a + b
product = a * b

st.write("The sum of the two numbers is " + str(sum))
st.write("The product of the two numbers is " + str(product))

Step 3: The inputs, code, and outputs are all handled in the single Python file. The localhost webpage looks like this:

Step 4: Before deploying the app, a Github account is required and then create a new Github repository. Save the code to this repository by downloading and using the Github desktop app or using the terminal:

# Prerequisite: download Git, if not already installed
git add .
git commit -m "saving my_app.py"
git push

Step 5: Finally, to deploy the app, create a Streamlit Cloud account and fill out the Deploy an app form with the Github repository link. Once submitted, the app will build for a few minutes before becoming accessible at a streamlit url.

MecSimCalc​

Internally, MecSimCalc uses serverless functions to run Python functions, making it suitable for computational simulations and calculations, which may require more compute power and longer runtimes.

Here is a simplified workflow for creating and deploying a basic MecSimCalc app:

Step 1: Visit https://mecsimcalc.com/create and select one of the templates to create a new app. Step 2: On the inputs step, use the drag-and-drop interface to add, position, and delete the inputs. Customize each input by clicking on it. Step 3: On the code step, write Python code that uses the inputs to calculate the outputs. No need to learn new functions nor any installations. Use the toolbar on the right to install Python packages, debug the code, and list the input variables. Step 4: On the outputs step, use the rich text editor to stylize the outputs section and embed the output variables generated from the code. Step 5: Finally, to deploy the app, simply click on the Publish button at the bottom of the Preview step and the app will be accessible and searchable on MecSimCalc within a few seconds. This is what the final app looks like:

Conclusion​

In the realm of Python-based app development and data visualization, Streamlit and MecSimCalc offer distinct yet invaluable solutions, each tailored to different user bases and varying levels of expertise. As uncovered in this comparison, Streamlit serves the needs of Python developers, providing a platform for swiftly creating interactive data applications. However, leveraging its functionalities demands a certain level of familiarity with custom Streamlit functions and the integration of terminal/GitHub for efficient deployment. Furthermore, Streamlit is ideal for data visualization and interactive tasks, but it lacks the computational power and runtime capabilities to handle more complex simulations and calculations, that MecSimCalc has.

On the other hand, MecSimCalc carves its niche by catering to non-technical users, providing an in-browser solution that doesn't necessitate altering existing Python code. Its user-friendly interface and simplicity in operation make it an attractive choice for individuals with less technical acumen. By eliminating the requirement for comprehensive technical know-how, MecSimCalc streamlines the app development process, offering a more accessible path for those less versed in the intricacies of coding and deployment processes.

The choice between Streamlit and MecSimCalc significantly hinges on the user's level of expertise and the specific project requirements. These tools epitomize the diverse spectrum of options available for Python-based app development, each serving distinct purposes and targeting particular user demographics. Whether one opts for the developer-oriented yet feature-rich Streamlit or the user-friendly, in-browser functionality of MecSimCalc, the decision ultimately revolves around the skill set and needs of the user, showcasing the versatility of available tools in the Python ecosystem.

In today's fast-paced digital world, the ability to develop web applications quickly and efficiently can make a significant difference for businesses and developers alike. Anvil and MecSimCalc are two tools that aim to simplify web app development, offering the power of Python without the complexity of traditional web development. In this article, we will compare Anvil and MecSimCalc across various dimensions to help you choose the one that best suits your needs.

Overview​

Before diving into the technical details, let's take a look at the basic information.

Features Comparison​

Now, let's dive into the specific features and functionalities of both Anvil and MecSimCalc.

The Workflow​

Creating web applications should be a straightforward process. Let's explore how Anvil and MecSimCalc facilitate the app building and deploying process.

Anvil​

Anvil runs a web server that communicates with a database and other processes.

Step 1: Create a new app by selecting an Anvil template.

Step 2: On the inputs page, use the side menu on the right to configure each input and use drag-and-drop to add more inputs from the toolbox. The inputs are linked to the code by selecting the appropriate code function within each input's side menu.

Step 3: On the code page, use custom Anvil functions to write Python code that executes commands, like interacting with databases, using the provided input values.

Step 4: Finally, to deploy the app, click on the Publish button and set the appropriate settings in the popup window.

Step 5: The app is now deployed and accessible at an Anvil url. Keep in mind that Anvil apps on the free tier come with a banner at the top.

MecSimCalc​

Internally, MecSimCalc uses serverless functions to run Python functions, making it suitable for computational simulations and calculations, which may require more compute power and longer runtimes.

Here is a simplified workflow for creating and deploying a basic MecSimCalc app:

Step 1: Visit https://mecsimcalc.com/create and select one of the templates to create a new app. Step 2: On the inputs step, use the drag-and-drop interface to add, position, and delete the inputs. Customize each input by clicking on it. Step 3: On the code step, write Python code that uses the inputs to calculate the outputs. No need to learn new functions nor any installations. Use the toolbar on the right to install Python packages, debug the code, and list the input variables. Step 4: On the outputs step, use the rich text editor to stylize the outputs section and embed the output variables generated from the code. Step 5: Finally, to deploy the app, simply click on the Publish button at the bottom of the Preview step and the app will be accessible and searchable on MecSimCalc within a few seconds. This is what the final app looks like:

Conclusion​

Anvil and MecSimCalc present distinct approaches to simplifying web application development, harnessing the capabilities of Python without necessitating extensive programming expertise. Anvil, catering to comprehensive website creation, boasts an array of features, potentially introducing complexity, whereas MecSimCalc targets non-technical users, streamlining intricate computations.

MecSimCalc specifically excels in simplifying complex calculations using Python, offering a more straightforward learning curve due to its sequential layout and familiar Python code structure. In contrast, Anvil's robust feature set, while powerful for creating full-scale websites, may require a few hours for users to grasp the Anvil web layout and anvil code library.

Anvil suits businesses seeking database interaction within a website, while MecSimCalc serves as an optimal choice for non-developers aspiring to create simple web apps like calculators. Its strength lies in facilitating app development for non-technical users.

Ultimately, the selection between Anvil and MecSimCalc hinges on individual needs and the complexity of the intended web applications. Both tools leverage the capabilities of Python but cater to different audiences and offer distinct features.

At the beginning of 2023, MecSimCalc ran our sixth hackathon. This competition sponsored by 1984 Ventures and echo3D, was aimed to showcase MecSimCalc as a platform for creating web applications in Python. The theme for this hackathon was "Creating a calculator that you would use for one of your classes". Users created an app on the MecSimCalc website, tagged it as "Comp01212023" and published it for a chance to win $100. Throughout the competition there were 66 sign-ups and 8 submissions. This blog post is dedicated to the top 5 scoring apps from MecSimCalc's January 21st - January 28th, 2023 Hackathon 5.0. To view all apps submitted during the competition, you can check out this collection: Hackathon 5.0 Submissions.

Annualized Rate of Return (Grand Prize Winner)​

Philippe Saint-Amand​

About Me​

My name is Philippe and I live in Belgium.

I’m eager to learn and in my free time, I love playing around with Python and test libraries in various area : Data Analytics, Security, Web Development, Image processing, Geolocation/Geomapping, …

So when I saw a site where the key message is “Create and share your Python web apps in minutes for free”, I have of course to test it!

I added also an extra challenge by participating to my first hackathon. So I’m really astonished but very proud about the end result.

About my app and why I made it​

As the theme of the hackathon was creating a calculator, I was first thinking of traditional conversion calculator (like height, weight, distance, etc.) as I’m from Europe & you are from North America.

Meanwhile It sounds too simple & I want also to try the possibility to display some visuals (what sounds difficult with a conversion calculator).

Then comes to me this idea of Annualized RoR with also explanation of compound interest. Also, the Annualized RoR is really useful if you want to compare different possible investments & not so straight forward to obtain by doing mental calculation (at least for me 😉). So I can indeed rely on a tool for this calculation & this can be useful for others as well so a good reason to publish on a web site.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

I have to say MecSimCalc is really easy to use & it corresponds to my philosophy of working. Indeed, my side I prefer to work on the business logic part (backend side) of an app and don’t want to pass too much time developing the frontend part. So having a framework proposing me a no-code approach for the presentation part meets my expectations. Your idea to have a reach text editor, a collection of input fields with pre-validation of parameter values is really great.

For the input part, I was able to very quickly present/document the app using text editor (instead of HTML or Markdown that will takes more time). The default template of presentation is good. Of course there is no possibility to have too much customization but for me, at the moment I have a default nice layout, I have no problem to stitch to it. The only issue I have seen is related to the mobile view (see more details at the end of this e-mail)

For the output part, integrating Jinja to a rich text editor instead of HTML is just awesome.

Black Scholes (Top 5 App)​

About Amysoj J A Exson Joseph​

I am a computer science engineering student in my final year, hailing from Tamil Nadu, India. Building websites and native applications is a hobby of mine, and I am eager to take the skills and knowledge I have gained through my studies to the next level. I am excited to see where my interests in technology will take me in the future.

About my App​

I built a Black-Scholes option pricing calculator app to provide a simple and user-friendly interface for determining option prices. My goal is to support informed decision-making in finance by combining my technical and financial knowledge.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

I recently started using MecSimCalc and I am thoroughly impressed with its capabilities. As a Python developer, I appreciate the ease with which I can create and share web applications with just a few clicks. The platform's intuitive interface and streamlined process have saved me so much time and effort compared to other similar tools I have used in the past. I highly recommend MecSimCalc to any Python developer looking for a fast and simple way to create and share web applications.

We are hosting another hackathon from March 18th - March 25th 2023. For a chance to win $100, please check out the DevPost to find out more!​

During December of 2022 MecSimCalc ran a hackathon the week before Christmas. This competition sponsored by 1984 Ventures, was aimed to increase the number of users and showcase the versatility of the platform, as well as give one lucky winner some cash for the holidays. Users created an app on the MecSimCalc website, tagged it as "Comp12172022" and published it for a chance to win $150. Throughout the competition there were 141 sign-ups and 21 submissions. This blog post is dedicated to the top 5 scoring apps from MecSimCalc's December 17th - December 24th, 2022 Hackathon 4.0. To view all apps submitted during the competition, visit this collection: Hackathon 4.0 Submissions.

Financial Portal (Grand Prize Winner)​

Braxton Diaz​

About Me​

My name is Braxton Diaz and I am currently a Senior at the University of Washington Bothell. I am studying computer science and hope to land a job as a full-stack engineer. I worked with a team of 3 other students to complete this project.

About our App​

Financial portal is a dashboard that allows users to calculate their monthly expenses, savings goals, and calculate the future value of their investments. We made this app to let people easy track and visualize their spending so they can improve their financial habits.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

MecSimCalc was a great, easy-to-use platform for developing web applications. It was very intuitive and allowed for creating applications without the need for HTML/CSS or JavaScript. This allowed us quickly ship a full stack application only using python.

Nicole Encinas​

About Me​

My name is Nicole and I am a graduate student studying Human Computer Interaction. I am passionate about using technology and design to simplify complex issues.

About our App​

The Financial Portal helps people manage money better and make smart financial decisions. Our team recognized the universal relevance of financial management and wanted to create an app that could address a common issue.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

We found MecSimCalc intuitive and easy-to-use.

Kim Ngoc Thien Phan​

About Me​

I go by Kim Phan (she/her). My major is Computer Science. Besides, I also learn UX/UI design because I like making template for the website.

About our App​

Our financial portal app is a great tool to help people calculate the percent of expense you spend in a month. We also help you figure how long you will reach your saving goal based on your current contribution each month. The last feature is to calculate the power of compound interest when you invest. Finance is really important in our life. Knowing how to manage it will bring you to a successful future.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

This is the first time I use MecSimCalc to do a Hackathon. It is a user friendly tool and convenient to design template for the input, output.

NYC Vehicle Collision Visualization​

About Tanya Sabarwal and Piyush Mohan​

Hey! I am Tanya Sabarwal from Chennai, India. I am in the final year of my Computer Science and Engineering undergraduate degree. My passion for Machine Learning, Data Science, and Visualization drew me to this hackathon and I also intend to pursue my master's degree in this field.

Hello! I’m Piyush Mohan from India and I’m a student currently in my final year of B.Tech. I enjoy taking part in various hackathons and bringing innovative ideas to life via projects such as the one mentioned here. My area of interests lie in fields of Data Analytics and Visualisation and I also like to work with Machine Learning & Deep Learning.

About our App​

As soon as we decided to take part in the hackathon, we hopped onto MecSimCalc’s explore page and also went through the list of supported libraries. While doing so, we realised that there weren’t enough apps made with Folium and having worked with it before in previous hackathons, we decided to go with it.

The application provides an insight to the Vehicle Collision problem in New York. It provides an easy way of simplifying and analysing the data with interactive maps that can be customised on the basis of user inputs. Apart from spreading awareness about the issue, the app also helps in visualising and learning more about the problem which would eventually lead to better solutions and regulations to road safety.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

MecSimCalc is a very good platform for beginners and its flexibility also makes it a wonderful tool for experienced developers to create apps of any kind. The website's samples and tutorials were quite helpful and beginner-friendly which is always a great kickstart. We loved being able to write code and test it directly in the browser. The drag-and-drop interface for input widgets is simple to use and helped in adding or changing elements quickly. Overall, we are glad to have tried it and will definitely continue using it for future projects.

Indonesia Tourism Destination Recommendation System​

About Rafka Imanda Putra​

12th-grade student from SMK Negeri 4 Bandung majoring in software engineering. I started learning programming in early 2021 and have an interest in machine learning and back-end development. Apart from that, I am also active in coaching students to become skilled by taught basics of web development and personal branding for members of the IT extracurricular at my school.

About my App​

The Indonesia Tourism Destination Recommendation System aims to provide recommendations on tourist attractions for tourists who want to visit the top 5 cities in Indonesia, especially on the island of Java. This recommendation system is built with content-based filtering which will return locations based on the similarity of the category the user wants.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

It is an excellent platform for building computing tools and even implementing machine learning. At first, the app that I had only ran on a local notebook, where the user had to run all the code to get recommendations. But with MecSimCalc, users can directly input what they want and quickly where recommendations will be displayed.

Statistics Helper​

About Akshay Kumar Sharma​

Hi! I'm Akshay Kumar Sharma. I am a full-stack web developer. I am currently in 11th standard. I love maths and coding.

About my App​

I made the Statistics Helper app in Mecsimcalc Hackathon 4. I made this statistics problem solver app to automate some of the hard work to do when we are solving stats. This app can provide quick results via tables, graphs, formulas etc. This app is also a great resource to learn stats for newcomers as it explains every step of it's solution.

I built this project because there's been a lot of times when I have solve lengthy questions on stats and one silly mistake can make all the efforts go into vain. So, to learn myself and to help others learn stats, I made this app. Stats is a very interesting subject, It can reveal many fascinating outcomes but before that you have to do some hard calculations if your data is big. There are many calculators on the internet but a very few of them provide solution and nothing is like "Statistics Helper" which also provides tables, graphs, what formula was used etc.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

I really enjoyed participating in the mecsimcalc hackathon and thought that the event was very well-organized. I appreciated the opportunity to work on my own projects and get help and support from the mentors and organizers when needed. The prizes and incentives were also motivating, and I felt that they added an extra level of excitement to the event. Overall, my experience at the hackathon was excellent and I would definitely participate in future events hosted by mecsimcalc. Thank you for putting on such a great event!

Color Pallet Generator​

We are hosting another hackathon from January 21st - January 28th 2023. For a chance to win $100, please check out the DevPost to find out more!​

Being the second competition of our monthly Fall/Winter Hackathons of 2022/2023, this competition sponsored by 1984 Ventures, was aimed to increase the number of users and showcase the versatility of the platform. Users created an app on the MecSimCalc website, tagged it as "Comp11052022" and published it for a chance to win $100. Throughout the competition there were 57 sign-ups and 8 submissions. This blog post is dedicated to the top 5 scoring apps from MecSimCalc's November 5th - November 12th, 2022 Hackathon 3.0. To view all apps submitted during the competition, visit this collection: Hackathon 3.0 Submissions.

Linear Algebra Genie (WINNER)​

About Vaibhav Thalanki​

I am Vaibhav Thalanki from Chennai, India. I am currently pursuing my undergraduate in computer science at VIT University. Some things I am very much interested in are deep learning and product development. I have participated in quite a few hackathons before this one. I also attended the previous MecSlimCalc buildathons. (Vaibhav has participated in 3/3 MecSimCalc hackathons so far!)

About My App​

As a computer science undergraduate at university, I encountered the linear algebra course. It included heavy use of matrices and operations on them, which can get a little out of hand as they are not easy to calculate and comprehend. I used many online calculators for matrix operations to save time. I then decided to create this app titled "Linear Algebra Genie". This can prove extremely useful to other university students and professors.

The app has operations like matrix multiplication, matrix inverse, row-space,column-space, and null-space calculations, QR decomposition, and eigenvector solving. You can input any 3x3 matrix into the app for any of the operations mentioned above and click "Submit" to get the answers. The Output page also consists of definitions and formulae which is used to calculate the same.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

MecSlimCalc is an amazing platform to work on and explore. The professor and the students behind the MecSlimCalc project have succeeded in their goals. The website is simply brilliant and I would be using it for a lot more stuff.

Car-cation​

About Sankalp Saini​

Hello, I’m a fifth year Computer Science Undergraduate student at the U of A.

About My App​

I made this app because my family loves to go on road trips and we’ve always had to calculate/estimate our trips by hand. I wanted to create a calculator that could just do this for me!

My experience with MecSimCalc​

I enjoyed using MecSimCalc a lot and I think with more libraries, it has tremendous potential!

Counting and Binomial Distribution​

About Zouhair Fakhoury​

Hi, this is Zouhair. I'm a Lebanese senior high school student passionate about coding and motorsports. I started programming at 14 years old with Python. I'm interested in various tech disciplines, such as Cybersecurity, Arduino, and multi-platform app development. I plan on following a major in Computer Science to specialize in Software Engineering.

About My App​

As I continuously improve and advance in mathematics, I tend to consolidate my knowledge by various means. In this case, it's programming. Thus, I built a Counting and Binomial Distribution tool for MecSimCalc's Hackathon 3.0. The app accomplishes two majors tasks:

• Return a customizable list of combinations, permutations, etc., with given arguments of any character set
• Calculate binomial probabilities with their means, variances, and standard deviations

My experience with MecSimCalc​

I am a recurring MecSimCalc user. What kept me going for this platform was its intuitiveness and ease of use. The features of all types help you build computational tools regardless of what you're dealing with. Remarkably, it's accessible by users from any device without the constraints of deploying your applications. I always am hyped to see its future improvements.

CipherBot​

About Rishi Sandrana​

Hello! I'm Rishi and I'm a junior at Walter Payton College Prep.

About My App​

Cryptography has been a passion of mine for some time, so I thought that creating CipherBot, a program that could encrypt/decrypt in multiple ciphers, would be a fun project that'd utilize my Python knowledge.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

I thought that MecSimCalc was a good platform for making your own web application and I liked its simplicity and beginner-friendly interface, though multi-file support and more customizability for the home page would be fantastic.

Complex Number Solver and Grapher​

About Akshay Kumar Sharma​

Hi! I am Akshay.

About My App​

I built this app to show the properties of complex numbers and to take part in mecsimcalc hackathon 3.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

I had a great experience building this all on MecSimCalc platform.

We are hosting another hackathon from December 17th - December 24th 2022. For a chance to win $150, please check out the DevPost to find out more!​

After the success of MecSimCalc's first hackathon in July, we had decided to run a Hackathon each month starting in October. This competition sponsored by 1984 Ventures, was aimed to increase the number of users and showcase the versatility of the platform. Users would create an app on the MecSimCalc website, tag it as "Comp10082022" and publish it for a chance to win $100. Throughout the competition there were 56 sign-ups and 16 submissions. This blog post is dedicated to the top 5 scoring apps from MecSimCalc's October 8th - October 15th, 2022 Build-A-Thon 2.0. To view all apps submitted during the competition, visit this collection: Build-a-Thon 2.0 Submissions.

Quadratic Equations Solver (WINNER)​

About Zouhair Fakhoury​

Hi, this is Zouhair! I'm a Lebanese senior high school student passionate about coding and motorsports. I started programming at 14 years old with Python. I like other tech disciplines such as Cybersecurity, Arduino, and multi-platform app development. I'm planning on following a major in Computer Science to specialize in Software Engineering.

About My App​

Being a math passionate, I've always wondered if I could automate some mathematical processes of solving problems. I knew there was something that we use more often than we realize: the quadratic functions. Hence, on the occasion of MecSimCalc's Hackathon 2.0, I made a Quadratic Equations Solver. As its name suggests, it solves quadratic equations in their standard form: ax² + bx + c = 0, providing you with analytical and descriptive results to help you find solutions easily.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

I'm so grateful for joining MecSimCalc. I've had a wonderful experience working in its coding environment. MecSimCalc solves the hard side of creating GUIs with a drag-and-drop solution. The interface is very intuitive and easy to understand. It has more features than I expected like the integration of LaTeX, geospatial utilities, handling files and processing images, etc... The best part is that you don't need prior experience in web development. You can simply create a Python web app and deploy it instantly within minutes!

Quality of Life App​

About Anika Krishnan​

I am a high schooler in Redmond, WA, USA. I love to build social and community apps, especially apps that use data science/analytics.

About My App​

At this time, Air quality in my area is poor and some of my friends that have asthma/allergies are having to temporarily move to other locations. This was the inspiration for the idea. When one moves to a city, many things are important for your quality of your life, eg.: Air Quality, Safety, Traffic, Covid Risk, Cost of Milk and Eggs, Housing costs and more.. Wouldn't it be nice to know how the city measures on all the things that are important to you? The Quality of Life app uses many sources to gather data and calculate scores in different areas like air quality, pollen, job climate so you can visualize all the data and make informed decisions.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

It was very easy to get started. The examples and tutorials were very helpful. It took very little time to have the triangle example working. While building the application, I really appreciated being able to write the code and test it directly in the browser and was able to build a good app with some UI during the hackathon. Things that would make this platform more powerful include being able to more during inputs ( html/js), more support for additional libraries ( maybe allow users to add). It was a bit hard to debug ( being able to step through Jupyter notebooks may be useful). Overall I really enjoyed this experience and being able to build an app with UI and inputs/outputs without having to learn about all the other systems.

Your Trip Buddy​

About Vaibhav Thalanki​

I am Vaibhav Thalanki from Chennai, India. I am currently pursuing my undergraduate in computer science at VIT University. Some things I am very much interested in are deep learning and product development. I have participated in quite a few hackathons before this one. I also attended the previous MecSlimCalc buildathon.

About My App​

The app that I created for this hackathon is called 'Your Trip Buddy', it gives you information about the weather, airports, and time zones for your trip's destination. I used a few APIs for building the app. It eases the process by collecting information from different sources and putting it in a friendly format for the user to read.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

MecSimCalc is an amazing platform to work on and explore. The professor and the students behind the MecSlimCalc project have succeeded in their goals. The website is simply brilliant and I would be using it for a lot more stuff. Ciao!

Auto Base64 Decode​

About Noah Ergezinger​

I graduated in December 2021 and started working full-time at Ezoic this past February. I actually worked on this website during one of the summer breaks while in university, so I was very excited when they announced the Buildathon. It was great to see the progress made since I had last worked on it and that it was seeing lots of use.

About My App​

In a nutshell, Auto Base64 Decode takes a string, finds any base64-encoded portions, decodes them, and inserts them back into the original string. I made my app because it was actually something I needed at work. Many of our web requests contain encoded data, and when debugging, we constantly need to copy the data into a decoder, which gets tedious. I thought it would be great to be able to automatically decode the relevant portions without needing to copy each one by hand. I've shared it with my team, and we've already been using it a ton.

My experience with MecSimCalc​

Building a script or tool and easily sharing it was precisely the original use case for MecSimCalc, and I'm happy to see that come to fruition. I look forward to what comes next, and I hope the MecSimCalc team sees nothing but success!

We are hosting another hackathon from November 5th - November 12th 2022, please check out the DevPost to find out more!​

The following blogposts were written by John Yu for apps he had created on MecSimCalc. John Yu was a student researcher working with MecSimCalc for 8 months. We will miss you John!

Algebraic Operation on Complex Numbers​

This blog post is dedicated to the Algebraic Operation on Complex Numbers app created by John Yu.

About the app​

The Algebraic Operation on Complex Numbers app is intended for students taking a linear algebra course. This app helps students better grasp how operations are performed with complex numbers. The app lets you perform 4 types of operations: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Addition and subtraction using complex numbers is best performed using vectors and the app walks users through the steps using visual aids. Multiplication and division using complex numbers is best performed using euler form and the app provides excellent visual aids to assist students in learning the step-by-step process. Learning how to perform operations on complex numbers is very important for any engineering student. Complex numbers have many practical applications particularly in electrical and computer engineering where these skills will be invaluable. Students who use this app will find themselves better prepared for their future engineering courses.

Understanding Vector Fields​

This blog post is dedicated to the Understanding Vector Fields app created by John Yu.

About the app​

The Understanding Vector Fields app lets you visually generate a vector field. The app takes in an equation representing your vector field and plots each vector on a graph. It is useful in a variety of applications. Vector calculus is a very important skill and many engineering students take a calculus class dedicated to this subject. You can plot simple equations like the flow of a river with the equation . You can plot more complicated vector fields like a magnetic field using the equation .

This blog post is dedicated to the MecSimCalc Workshop for the Vivid Hacks v1.5 Hackathon on August 6th, 2022. For more info on Vivid Hacks visit Vivid Hacks and to see the project gallery for the hackathon visit their DevPost.

This is a recording of the workshop detailing how to use MecSimCalc. In this workshop, I create a simple app that returns the product of two variables and prints a message in the output specified by the user. The entire process for making an app on MecSimCalc from start to publishing is shown and takes around 10 mintues. Make sure to visit the MecSimCalc YouTube Channel and subscribe.

The following blogposts were written by John Yu for various apps he had created on MecSimCalc.

Pairwise Testing Generator​

This blog post is dedicated to the Pairwise Testing Generator app created by John Yu.

About the Pairwise Testing Generator​

The pairwise testing generator is an app that can generate a set of test cases with up to 5 independent variables. The app uses a technique called Taguchi Orthogonal Arrays such that every pairing of variables appears in at least one test case. This method is significantly more powerful and more efficient compared to brute-force testing. You can get full testing coverage of your program using significantly less test cases. This can save you a lot of time and a lot of money depending on the size of your program.

Why I made this app​

Software testing is a critical step in the software development lifecycle. There are countless opportunities for mistakes and defects to come up at any point in the development of software. Fixing code is equally as important as creating code. Finding these bugs early in the development lifecycle will help to mitigate issues that come up later. The hard part of testing code is generating test cases. Full code coverage often comes with a huge set of test cases which is expensive and time consuming. A small set of test cases is cost effective but lacks code coverage. I made this app to help software engineers generate test cases that can provide adequate code coverage in a reasonable amount of test cases. This saves you a lot of time and money and improves the quality of your code.

Simple Linear Regression and Discrete Probability Distribution​

This blog post is dedicated to the Simple Linear Regression and Visualizing Discrete Probability Distributions apps created by John Yu.

About the Simple Linear Regression and the Discrete Probability Distribution App​

The simple linear regression app can generate a regression line from your set of data points. The app is intended to be a helpful tool for Statistics students to understand how the linear regression line is calculated. There are no statistical libraries used in the calculation of the regression line. All calculations are done using equations from my statistics textbook. The app will calculate the regression line as well as show you how the calculation is performed. In statistics, there are many formulas that can calculate a regression line. This app uses the simplest equation to help students gain a better understanding of how the regression line is calculated.

The Discrete Probability Distribution app can visualize common probability distributions in Statistics. This app is intended to be a helpful tool for students taking Statistics to understand how these probability distributions work. The user can play around with the parameters of the distributions defined in the app inputs to understand how these parameters impact the graph.

Truth Table Generator​

This blog post is dedicated to the Truth Table Generator app created by John Yu.

About the Truth Table Generator App​

The truth table generator is an app that can generate a truth table by defining a logical expression. You can define a logic expression simply by typing it into the app inputs. The app will evaluate your expression with each possible combination of inputs and return the expected output. This app is intended to be used by students taking a digital logic class who need to quickly generate a truth table. Sometimes a logic expression may be very complicated to evaluate by hand. This app can generate a truth table with any expression no matter how complicated it is. Students will find this app by helpful for verifying your truth table. The app has been tested multiple times to ensure that the expected outputs are correct.