• Author: Drew King (they/them)
• Email: [email protected]

Welcome to the official documentation for the ASCII Art project. This endeavor was undertaken as a creative pursuit, inspired by an assignment observed tutoring a student for Bellevue College CSC 209. The primary goal of this project was to explore the realm of ASCII art by developing an application that generates customizable ASCII animals, each adorned with strings of characters within their mouths.

Originally developed within the IntelliJ IDEA environment, this project was intended as a learning exercise for students interested in ASCII art and basic programming concepts. During its creation, the author was in the nascent stages of using version control, which led to a linear development approach without branching. As of now, this project is inactive. Noteworthy planned features that were not implemented due to time constraints include:

• Graphical User Interface: A visual interface designed using the Java Swing library to enhance user interaction and customization.
• Expanded Animal Support: Inclusion of additional ASCII animals to diversify the artistic output.
• Interleaved Printing: Enabling the printing of interleaved ASCII animals while preserving the integrity of the printed string.

Hindsight reveals that extended development between academic quarters would have facilitated better project maintenance. However, this endeavor also prompted the realization that while the author possesses the capability to engineer software, their true passion lies within Data Science projects pursued during my leisure time.

This project serves as evidence of my ability to conceive and construct well-documented, object-oriented programs. The author learned the significance of employing branching strategies, even when working on solo projects, to foster a more organized development process. As the author charts future path, they plan to assimilate the lessons learned from this endeavor into well crafted software solutions that align more closely with their evolving interests.

Thank you for engaging with this project's documentation. The author looks forward to translating these experiences into compelling software ventures in the days ahead.