I work in a behavioral neuroscience laboratory as an undergrad research assistant. The PI programs applications in Basic. He has taught one of the graduate students the fundamentals of Basic so that he can design programs for his own research. I spent some time with the grad student going over his program and trying to understand the fundamentals of it.
I would really like to slowly develop my own version of one of the programs used in the laboratory. My skills in programming are very limited. I started working through some tutorials over winter break, but this semester has been extremely difficult and time consuming. However, I would like to continue learning how to program in Xcode, regardless of how slow my progress is.
My question is, how would I go about developing an application with features that I have never read about in tutorials? I would need to learn how to add a timer, link the arrow keys with particular "areas", and have the application store all the data for each subject until the researcher was ready to analyze the data.
The application is used to measure of the subject's behavior in a particular paradigm. The paradigm consists of a large rectangle that is divided into a "left", "right", and "center" area. The experimenter is the individual who determines what area the subject is in. I envision the arrow keys as the means of telling the application where the subject is (left arrow for left, right for right, and down for center). The GUI does not need to be complicated or attractive. I know it will require a few text boxes for inputting the subject number, trial number, and other basic information.
The purpose of the application is to record whether or not the subject has a preference, and if it does, what side it chooses. Once all the subjects have been tested, the researcher needs to access the saved data and begin doing statistical analysis.
I realize this is a long post, and I appreciate the help of anyone who is willing to read through it and offer his/her advice. I have no intentions of making any profit off this application. It is merely a proof of concept and to show the PI the extent of my interest in the research. I understand this is a long term goal, and I am merely looking for guidance from those who know more than I do.
I would really like to slowly develop my own version of one of the programs used in the laboratory. My skills in programming are very limited. I started working through some tutorials over winter break, but this semester has been extremely difficult and time consuming. However, I would like to continue learning how to program in Xcode, regardless of how slow my progress is.
My question is, how would I go about developing an application with features that I have never read about in tutorials? I would need to learn how to add a timer, link the arrow keys with particular "areas", and have the application store all the data for each subject until the researcher was ready to analyze the data.
The application is used to measure of the subject's behavior in a particular paradigm. The paradigm consists of a large rectangle that is divided into a "left", "right", and "center" area. The experimenter is the individual who determines what area the subject is in. I envision the arrow keys as the means of telling the application where the subject is (left arrow for left, right for right, and down for center). The GUI does not need to be complicated or attractive. I know it will require a few text boxes for inputting the subject number, trial number, and other basic information.
The purpose of the application is to record whether or not the subject has a preference, and if it does, what side it chooses. Once all the subjects have been tested, the researcher needs to access the saved data and begin doing statistical analysis.
I realize this is a long post, and I appreciate the help of anyone who is willing to read through it and offer his/her advice. I have no intentions of making any profit off this application. It is merely a proof of concept and to show the PI the extent of my interest in the research. I understand this is a long term goal, and I am merely looking for guidance from those who know more than I do.
