ANNOUNCEMENTS

The following are in reverse chronological order.

Wed May 6 10:58:47 EDT 2009

I am canceling office hours today, Wednesday, May 6, 2009, because I am probably contagious. Please contact me by e-mail or IM (PrfHartley). If you want to talk on the telephone, e-mail me for my number or see my home page. I plan to be in tomorrow and Friday for the 8am exams.

Tue May 5 08:07:08 EDT 2009

Final exam week office hours.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009, noon--4:00 pm.
Thursday, May 7, 2009, 10am--4:00 pm.
Friday, May 8, 2009, 10am--4:00 pm.

Tue Apr 28 15:54:28 EDT 2009

How and when you can pick up your USB drive after the final exam.

Later in the day, say after 11am, on the day you take your final exam. If you take your final exam on Thursday, then later in the day, say after 11am, on Friday is fine, too.
Starting Monday, May 11, 2009, check with the departmental secretary, Debi Coughlin, to pick up your USB drive.
Starting Tuesday, Spetember 1, 2009, USB drives will be in my office.

Tue Apr 28 15:08:35 EDT 2009

The final exam is scheduled as follows.

Section 3 (TR 10:50 am) final exam is 8:00--10:00 am, Thursday, May 7, in Robinson 325
Section 4 (MW 9:25 am) final exam is 8:00--10:00 am, Friday, May 8, in Robinson 312

The final exam might have a written part (definition, short answer) and will have a practical part (Alice initial scene and program code). Both parts are closed textbook, closed other books, closed notes, closed Internet, closed IM, closed neighbor. The final exam is cumulative and covers Chapters 1--7, Appendix A Parts 1 and 2, Tips & Techniques 1--7 at the ends of Chapters 1--7, the degrees C to degrees F example shown in class, the random hopping lemurs example shown in class, and all four ``physics'' examples shown in class from here (the links on this Web page work only from Robinson third floor).

Terms and concepts you should know for a written part and know how to use in Alice for the practical part from Chapter 6 are the following.

functions
conditional execution control statements
call a function
changing the state of the world
leave the state of the world unchanged
return statement in a function
If/Else conditional execution control statement
functions and methods as examples of abstraction
function return type
control structure
relational operators
logical operators and or not
nested If statements
random numbers
integer values (integers)
random number range
random motion

Ditto from Chapter 7 are the following.

loop control statement
definite number of times
counted loop
indefinite number of times
nested loops
conditional loop (While loop)
infinite loop
Begin-During-End (BDE) event

Ditto from Chapters 1--5 are below for exams 1--5.

You will need your USB drive with your name on an external label for this exam. I will give you exam directions. Then you will turn in your USB drive at the end of class. Your USB drive must have your name on an external label when you turn it in. Remember: no USB drive means no exam.

Tue Apr 28 15:07:52 EDT 2009

Upcoming meetings that will result in no office hours that day and time.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 10:50am--12:05pm
Monday, May 4, 2009, 10:50am--12:05pm

Fri May 1 15:47:26 EDT 2009

The Project 6 Section 3 team scores are as follows (except for those who receive 0 points because of not showing up or not turning in an evaluation form or being a slacker or missing the lab right before presentation day). Having no user-written functions is 10 points off, having too few user-written functions is 5 points off, having no beginning comment in all user-written functions/methods is 10 points off, having no beginning comment in some user-written functions/methods is 5 points off, having no While loops is 10 points off, having too few While loops is 5 points off, having no storyboard document is 15 points off, having no who-what-when-where-why-how comment at the beginning of world.my first method is 10 points off. Please let me know if I tallied incorrectly any of your categories.

team 1: 80 (no functions -10, no method comments -10)
team 2: 55 (no functions -10, no method comments -10, no who-what-when-where-why-how comment -10, no storyboard -15)
team 3: 95 (no function comments -5)
team 4: 75 (no storyboard -15, no functions -10)
team 5: 95 (no function comments -5)
team 6: 70 (no storyboard -15, no functions -10, not enough While loops -5)

Thu Apr 30 15:44:02 EDT 2009

The Project 5 Section 4 team scores are as follows (except for those who receive 0 points because of not showing up or not turning in an evaluation form or being a slacker or missing the lab right before presentation day). Having no user-written methods is 10 points off, having too few user-written methods is 5 points off, having no beginning comment in all user-written methods is 10 points off, having no beginning comment in some user-written methods is 5 points off, having no events with handlers is 25 points off, having too few events with handlers is 10 points off, having no storyboard document is 15 points off, having no who-what-when-where-why-how comment at the beginning of world.my first method is 10 points off. Please let me know if I tallied incorrectly any of your categories.

team 1: 100
team 3: 55 (no story board document -15, no beginning comment in user-writtem methods -10, not enough events with handlers -10, no who-what-when-where-why-how comment in my first method -10)
team 4: 95 (no beginning comment in some user-written methods -5, no story board document provided by assigned team member -15)
team 5: 100
team 6: 0 (no project presented)

Mon Apr 20 13:36:23 EDT 2009

The Project 5 Section 3 team scores are as follows (except for those who receive 0 points because of not showing up or not turning in an evaluation form or being a slacker or missing the lab right before presentation day). Having no user-written methods is 10 points off, having too few user-written methods is 5 points off, having no beginning comment in all user-written methods is 10 points off, having no beginning comment in some user-written methods is 5 points off, having no events with handlers is 25 points off, having too few events with handlers is 10 points off, having no storyboard document is 15 points off, having no who-what-when-where-why-how comment at the beginning of world.my first method is 10 points off. Please let me know if I tallied incorrectly any of your categories.

team 1: 100
team 2: 100
team 3: 100
team 4: 90 (no beginning comment in user-written methods)
team 5: 0 (no project to present)
team 6: 90 (no beginning comment in user-written methods)

Thu Apr 16 16:03:18 EDT 2009

The Project 4 Section 4 team scores are as follows (except for those who receive 0 points because of not showing up or not turning in an evaluation form or being a slacker or missing the lab right before presentation day). Having no user-written world-level methods is 25 points off, having no user-written class-level methods is 25 points off, having no beginning comment in all user-written methods is 10 points off, having no beginning comment in some user-written methods is 5 points off, having too few user-written world-level methods or too few user-written class-level methods is 5 points off, having no storyboard document is 15 points off, having no who-what-when-where-why-how comment at the beginnig of world.my first method is 10 points off. Please let me know if I tallied incorrectly any of your categories.

team 1: 0 (no project to present)
team 2: 90 (no beginning comment in user-written methods)
team 3: 90 (no beginning comment in user-written methods)
team 4: 90 (no beginning comment in user-written methods)
team 5: 90 (no beginning comment in user-written methods)
team 6: 95 (no beginning comment in some user-written methods)

Thu Apr 16 13:58:55 EDT 2009

Here are the code solutions for all the exams (except the final exam :-)

Section 3.
- Exam 1,
- Exam 2,
- Exam 3,
- Exam 4,
- Exam 5.
Section 4.
- Exam 1,
- Exam 2,
- Exam 3,
- Exam 4.

Thu Apr 9 10:23:54 EDT 2009

Exam 5 is Thursday, April 16, 2009, Section 3. The exam might have a written part (definition, short answer) and will have a practical part (Alice initial scene and program code). Both parts are closed textbook, closed other books, closed notes, closed Internet, closed IM, closed neighbor. The exam is cumulative and covers Chapters 1--5, Appendix A Parts 1 and 2, Tips & Techniques 1--4 at the ends of Chapters 1--4, the degrees C to degrees F example shown in class, the random hopping lemurs example shown in class, and all four ``physics'' examples shown in class from here (the links on this Web page work only from Robinson third floor). Terms and concepts you should know for a written part and know how to use in Alice for the practical part from Chapter 5 are the following.

interactive
computer-centric programming
user-centric programming
event
link an event to a method
event handling method
incremental development
driver method
list of possible events

You will need your USB drive with your name on an external label for this exam. I will give you exam directions. Then you will turn in your USB drive at the end of class. Save a copy of your exam Alice world on your backup USB drive. Your USB drive must have your name on an external label when you turn it in. Remember: no USB drive means no exam.

Mon Apr 6 15:35:32 EDT 2009

The Project 4 Section 3 team scores are as follows (except for those who receive 0 points because of not showing up or not turning in an evaluation form or being a slacker or missing the lab right before presentation day). Having no user-written world-level methods is 25 points off, having no user-written class-level methods is 25 points off, having no beginning comment in all user-written methods is 10 points off, having no beginning comment in some user-written methods is 5 points off, having too few user-written world-level methods or too few user-written class-level methods is 5 points off, having no storyboard document is 15 points off. Please let me know if I tallied incorrectly any of your categories.

team 1: 100
team 2: 90 (no method comments)
team 3: 100
team 4: 70 (no storyboard document, no method comments, only 1 class-level method)
team 5: 95 (some method comments missing)
team 6: 50 (no user-written class-level nor user-written world-level methods)

Fri Apr 3 16:13:37 EDT 2009

The Project 3 Section 4 team scores are as follows (except for those who receive 0 points because of not showing up or not turning in an evaluation form or being a slacker or missing the lab right before presentation day). Having none in a category (Ifs, Loops, functions, etc.) is ten points off, having too few in a category is five points off, having no storyboard document is fifteen points off. Please let me know if I tallied incorrectly any of your categories.

team 1: 70 (no storyboard document, only 3 Loops, only 1 function, only 1 what as a string)
team 2: 95 (only 1 variable actually used)
team 3: 100
team 4: 80 (only 1 what as a string, only 1 a joined with b, only 1 variable, only 1 random)
team 5: 90 (no what as a string)
team 6: 80 (no Ifs, no functions)

Wed Apr 1 09:50:20 EDT 2009

During the remaining exams and the final exam, we will do the following at the beginning of class.

Unplug the network cable, then boot Windows if the Novell login box is not showing.
In the Novell login box, check Workstation only.
Type student for the username.
Leave the password blank.
Click OK.

Since IT refuses to make sure all Robinson 312 computers can run Alice by using the Developer Tools menu, please remember this alternative way to start Alice if the Developer Tools menu does not work.

double-click My Computer
double-click Local Disk (C:)
double-click folder Program Files
double-click folder Alice2.0
double-click folder Alice
double-click folder Required
double-click file IfAliceFailsTryThis.exe

Sun Mar 29 21:01:41 EDT 2009

Exam 4 is Thursday, April 2, 2009, for Section 3 and Wednesday, April 15, 2009, for Section 4. The exam might have a written part (definition, short answer) and will have a practical part (Alice initial scene and program code). Both parts are closed textbook, closed other books, closed notes, closed Internet, closed IM, closed neighbor. The exam is cumulative and covers Chapters 1--4, Appendix A Parts 1 and 2, Tips & Techniques 1--4 at the ends of Chapters 1--4, the degrees C to degrees F example shown in class, the random hopping lemurs example shown in class, and all four ``physics'' examples shown in class from here (the links on this Web page work only from Robinson third floor). Terms and concepts you should know from Chapter 4:

class
object
instance
instantiate (create) an object
method
primitive (builtin) method
abstraction
method parameter (placeholder)
string
world-level method
call (invoke) a method
stepwise refinement
method argument
multiple parameters
when to use a world-level method and when to use a class-level method
method parameters of type number, Boolean, object, string, color, etc.
inheritance
save out an enhanced object as a new class
import an enhanced class
visible and invisible objects
isShowing property
opacity property
rotating around an invisible object

Tue Mar 17 20:40:12 EDT 2009

The Project 3 Section 3 team scores are as follows (except for those who receive 0 points because of not showing up or not turning in an evaluation form or being a slacker or missing the lab right before presentation day). Having none in a category (Ifs, Loops, functions, etc.) is ten points off, having too few in a category is five points off, having no storyboard document is fifteen points off. Please let me know if I tallied incorrectly any of your categories.

team 1: 90 (only 1 what as a string, only 1 variable)
team 2: 50 (``who:'' comment missing, only 2 Ifs, only 3 Loops, only 2 functions, no variables, no a joined with b, no what as a string)
team 3: 85 (only 3 Loops, no what as a string)
team 4: 70 (only 2 Ifs, no variables, only 1 a joined with b, no what as a string)
team 5: 95 (second variable is not used)
team 6: 55 (no storyboard document, only ``how:'' comment, no variables, no what as a string)

Mon Mar 9 14:42:26 EDT 2009

The Project 2 Section 4 team scores are as follows (except for those who receive 0 points because of not showing up or not turning in an evaluation form or being a slacker).

team 1: 85 (no functions)
team 2: 85 (no If/Elses)
team 3: 100
team 4: 100
team 5: 100
team 6: 0

Mon Mar 9 14:27:30 EDT 2009

The size of the letters in a character ``say'' cartoon bubble can be increased by clicking the ``More'' button on the right and picking 25 or 30 as the point size. Unfortunately, you have to do this for each ``say'' along with increasing the durations to 3 seconds in your projects. The point size of the code can be increased by clicking Edit then Preferences in the menu along the top.

Fri Mar 6 15:14:26 EST 2009

I have meetings scheduled for

Monday, March 9, 2009, 10:50am--12:05pm.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009, 1:00--2:00pm.

Fri Mar 6 15:08:48 EST 2009

To be fair to the other members of a team, a team member who is absent from lab in Robinson 312/325 the class meeting before project presentations are made in class will receive a maximum grade of 80. This is effective with the last three projects of the semester: Group Projects 4, 5, and 6.

Thu Mar 5 14:35:14 EST 2009

Exam 3 is Thursday, March 12, 2009, for Section 3 and Wednesday, April 1, 2009, for Section 4. The exam might have a written part (definition, short answer) and will have a practical part (Alice initial scene and program code). Both parts are closed textbook, closed other books, closed notes, closed Internet, closed IM, closed neighbor. The exam is cumulative and covers Chapters 1--3, Appendix A Parts 1 and 2, Tips & Techniques 1--3 at the ends of Chapters 1--3, the degrees C to degrees F example shown in class, the random hopping lemurs example shown in class, and all four ``physics'' examples shown in class from here (the links on this Web page work only from Robinson third floor). Terms and concepts you should know from the fourth ``physics'' example, the degrees C to degrees F example, and the random hopping lemurs example:

random number generator, minimum, maximum, integer (whole number) only
number variable
set the value of a variable to something
what as a string
using the value of a number variable in a move instruction for example
using the value of a number variable in a say instruction for example
a joined with b
ask the user for a number and set the value of a variable to it

Mon Mar 2 08:33:32 EST 2009

Rowan is closed today due to the snow. Section 4 look at the syllabus for the change in the schedule: no exam Wednesday and group presentations of Project 2 will take place on Monday, March 9, 2009. Exam 5 and Group Presentations 6 are cancelled, unfortunately.

Fri Feb 27 14:02:23 EST 2009

The online grades file is available. So far it contains scores for exam 1 and project 1. Please report any discrepancies.

Fri Feb 27 13:46:46 EST 2009

The Project 2 Section 3 team scores are as follows (except for those who receive 0 points because of not showing up or not turning in an evaluation form or being a slacker).

team 1: 50 (no If/Elses, no Loops, no functions)
team 2: 100
team 3: 100
team 4: 100
team 5: 100
team 6: 100

Fri Feb 27 10:26:55 EST 2009

A reminder: if you come to class to take an exam and you do not have your USB (flash) drive with you, you will be turned away and receive a zero on that exam.

Wed Feb 25 11:00:36 EST 2009

The first three ``physics'' examples have been added to Exam 2.

turning ``as seen by'' to go around something
moving forward and left or right simultaneously to go at an angle
moving forward and turning simultaneously to go on an arc or semi-circle

Wed Feb 25 10:54:48 EST 2009

A ``word to the wise'' to teams: All team members should come to class on presentation day with copies of the Alice world and storyboard document on their USB drives even though only one of those drives per team needs to be handed in. Why? It has happened that the only person in a team with the files did not show up on presentation day, stranding the others members of the team. Team members should make sure, such as by e-mailing as attachments, all team members have copies of the files before presentation time! From now on, no excuses accepted about someone who had the file not showing up.

Tue Feb 24 15:51:55 EST 2009

The Project 1 Section 4 team scores are as follows (except for those who receive 0 points because of not showing up or not turning in an evaluation form or being a slacker).

team 1: 50
team 2: 100
team 3: 100
team 4: 85
team 5: 75
team 6: 0

Tue Feb 24 15:09:08 EST 2009

The Group Evaluation Form has been revised to include a question about willingness to let other class members see your team's Alice world. So please print off a new copy for your next presentation.

Tue Feb 24 09:16:03 EST 2009

Hmmm, this article accurately reflects my own experience with college students regarding expectations and grades: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/education/18college.html.

Mon Feb 23 20:45:14 EST 2009

My office hours for Tuesday, February 24, 2009, will start late, around 1pm, and will be extended until about 4pm.

Mon Feb 23 12:21:10 EST 2009

Exam 2 is Thursday, February 26, 2009, for Section 3 and Wednesday, March 11, 2009, for Section 4. The exam might have a written part (definition, short answer) and will have a practical part (Alice initial scene and program code). Both parts are closed textbook, closed other books, closed notes, closed Internet, closed IM, closed neighbor. The exam covers Chapter 3, Tips & Techniques 3 at the end of Chapter 3, that is, the stuff done for Group Project 2, and the first three ``physics'' examples physics1.a2w, physics2.a2w, and physics3.a2w available here (the links on this Web page work only from Robinson third floor). You will need your USB drive with your name on an external label for this exam. I will give you exam directions. Then you will turn in your USB drive at the end of class. Save a copy of your exam Alice world on your backup USB drive. Your USB drive must have your name on an external label when you turn it in.

Terms and concepts you should know from Chapter 3 and Tips & Techniques 3.

control structures (statements)
built-in functions in the tab to the right of methods (proximity functions, size functions, etc.)
number value
Boolean value (true or false)
function value (number, Boolean)
collision avoidance by subtracting object widths from movement amount
expressions using arithmetic operators + - * /
relational operators < <= > >= == !=
conditional execution (decision)
`If/Else' control structure
repetition (looping, iteration)
`Loop' control structure
loop count
whole number
truncate a number that has a fractional part resulting in a whole number
moving the camera
dropping dummy (invisible) objects
setting the camera's point of view
setting the camera's vehicle

Terms and concepts you should know from the first three ``physics'' examples:

turning ``as seen by'' to go around an object in a circle or arc with the object at the center of the circle or arc
moving forward and left or right simultaneously to go straight at an angle
moving forward and turning simultaneously to go on an arc or partial circle

Fri Feb 20 17:33:31 EST 2009

If I were a student looking for a job this summer, I'd jump on this.

Summer Employment - EOF / MAP
The EOF/MAP office is currently accepting applications for summer employment. Positions available are Tutors, Interpersonal Skills, and Programmers. All applicants must obtain a 2.5 cumulative GPA by the completion of the spring semester. Tutors must have a 3.0+ GPA in the subject they are tutoring.
Those individuals selected to work the program must be available to live on campus from June 25 -- August 9, 2009. Housing, Food, and a salary are provided.
Applications are available at www.rowan.edu/studentaffairs/eofmap.
Contact: Tricia Switzer, EOF/MAP, switzer@rowan.edu, Extension: 4087 (from off-campus, 256-4087)

Fri Feb 20 11:03:29 EST 2009

Here is a free video conferencing tool. I found out about it through the February 20, 2009, 20090220 Scout Report. I haven't tried it yet, though. You guys do that and let me know how well (or not) it works.

Camfrog Video Chat 5.2 http://www.camfrog.com/
Talking to people online can be a great deal of fun, and even holding a videoconferencing meeting for work can be a real treat. Both activities are possible with Camfrog Video Chat 5.2, and the online support for this application is very good. Visitors looking to meet new people can join live webcam chat rooms, or they can feel free to create their own. This version of Camfrog Video Chat is compatible with computers running Windows 2000 and newer. [KMG]

Wed Feb 18 14:26:53 EST 2009

Section 3 will have a surprise guest attending class on Thursday, April 16th: an eight year old Alice programmer named Ethan.

Mon Feb 16 13:28:49 EST 2009

I have a meeting Wednesday, February 18, 2009, 10:50am--12:05pm.

Thu Feb 12 13:43:19 EST 2009

Section 3 Project 1 grades are as follows. Each student receives 100 points except for the following.

If you did not attend class on the day your team presented, you receive 0 points.
If you did not turn in your properly filled out evaluation form at presentation time, you receive 0 points.
If there was no MS Word document containing your storyboard on the USB drive your team turned in, each student in the team is docked 15 points. The only exception to this is if the person who was assigned by the team the task of creating the document does not create it and ``disappears'' (does not answer e-mail or the phone or knocks on the door and does not show up at presentation time).
If there is no who, what, when, where, why, how comment at the beginnig of the Alice code, each member of the team is docked 10 points.
If the evaluation forms clearly show that one or more of the team members was a real slacker, as judged by me, then that person's score will be docked accordingly.

The Project 1 Section 3 team scores are as follows (except for those who receive 0 points because of not showing up or not turning in an evaluation form or being a slacker).

team 1: 85
team 2: 100
team 3: 100
team 4: 100
team 5: 100
team 6: 90

Wed Feb 11 08:19:53 EST 2009

Section 4 will have a surprise guest attending class on Monday, Presidents Day: an eight year old Alice programmer named Ethan.

Fri Feb 6 14:49:32 EST 2009

Those of you interested in learning more about moving the camera, dropping dummy (invisible) objects, setting the camera's point of view, and setting the camera's vehicle should look ahead to Tips & Techniques 3 on page 76 of the Alice textbook.

Thu Feb 5 14:23:41 EST 2009

Exam 1 is Thursday, February 12, 2009, for Section 3 and Wednesday, February 18, 2009, for Section 4. The exam might have a written part (definition, short answer) and will have a practical part (Alice initial scene and program code). Both parts are closed textbook, closed other books, closed notes, closed Internet, closed IM, closed neighbor. The exam covers Chapter 1, Appendix A Parts 1 and 2, Chapter 2, and Tips & Techniques 2, that is, the stuff done in Group Project 1. You will need your USB drive with your name on an external label for this exam. I will give you exam directions. Then you will turn in your USB drive at the end of class. Save a copy of your exam Alice world on your backup USB drive. Your USB drive must have your name on an external label when you turn it in.

Terms and concepts you should know from Chapter 1 and Appendix A.

microworld (virtual world)
goals of the Alice project
what computer programming is
algorithm
decomposition
problem solving
class (3D model)
object
difference between a movie style animation and an event-driven or interactive animation
what using ``quad view'' is particularly good for
sequential processing
conditional execution
iteration (looping)
divide-and-conqueror (top-down design, problem decomposition)
concurrent (parallel) programming
six degrees of freedom
bounding box
distance from one object to another
object position
object properties
scene editor
class gallery
initial scene setup
object subpart

Terms and concepts you should know from Chapter 2.

scenario
syntax
visual storyboard
textual storyboard
pseudocode
program (script)
implementation
method (instruction)
method (instruction) arguments
robot's move method (instruction)
robot's turn method (instruction)
robot's say method (instruction)
control statements (Do in order, Do together)
nested control statements (nesting)
trial and error
read-design-implement-test
bug (debug)
comments
property such as color property
set a property at runtime as opposed to in the initial scene
center of mass of an object
when the ``center'' of an object is not its center of mass
object orientation
orient to method
vehicle property
clicking more... for duration, style, and as seen by additional arguments
turn to face method
point at method
move to method

Thu Feb 5 13:05:31 EST 2009

Some information about e-mailing Alice worlds as attachments.

When receiving an e-mail message that has an Alice world as an attachment, save the attachment as a file.
Check the extension of the file. If the extension is .zip or .ZIP then change it to .a2w.
Make sure the ``hide file extensions'' check box is not checked (see below for how to uncheck this box).

Thu Feb 5 12:56:01 EST 2009

This article from today's New York Times describes using the skype software (free download) for free video chats: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/technology/personaltech/05pogue.html. Unfortunately, only one-to-one video chats are possible with Skype. The article mentions other software that can be used for video conference calls. This might be a useful team collaboration tool for your group projects.

Wed Feb 4 08:16:14 EST 2009

Section 4 of Introduction to Programming: there is no lab today. To keep us from getting behind, please do on your own the following. Use the textbook's Mac or Windows CD to copy Alice to your own machine. Then do as much of Group Project 1 as you can on your own or with your team members (see this list for who is in your project 1 team). This is Appendix A, Parts 1 and 2 (pages 311--330). Then do the Exercises at the end of Chapter 1 for initial scene creation. Then read Chapter 2 and follow along on your own computer or with your team the creation of the alien and robot movie or animated story. Exercise 2(b) at the end of Chapter 2 is an excellent one to do.

Wed Feb 4 06:52:30 EST 2009

Rowan (Glassboro campus) is closed today (Camden campus is open). My office hours are canceled today, February 4, 2009. I can be contacted by e-mail and IM. The points earned schedule for the mandatory office visit is changed to the following.

100 points if completed by 3:00pm Monday, February 9, 2009, Section 4 only.
No change for Section 3 and all other dates remain the same.

Wed Jan 28 08:00:53 EST 2009

My office hours are canceled today, January 28, 2009. I can be contacted by e-mail and IM.

Wed Jan 28 07:10:23 EST 2009

Rowan decided at 7:00am today to cancel morning classes for Wednesday, January 28, 2009. Classes will start at 12:15pm today. Section 4 of Introduction to Programming: there is no lab today. To keep us from getting behind, please do on your own the steps in Appendix A of the textbook, pages 311--330. This is what we would have done in lab today. When you finish that, read Chapter 1 of the textbook and try some of the exercises at the end of Chapter 1, pages 19--21. Exercise 5 on page 21 is a good one!

Try saving your worlds on one of your USB drives. In order to do this, you must plug in your USB drive to a USB port on your computer before starting Alice. Whenever you use a USB drive, you must click the ``Safely remove hardware'' icon on the system tray (lower right) before removing it in order to avoid losing data.

You should copy Alice from the textbook's CD to your own computer if you have one. If you have a laptop and are having trouble doing that and getting Alice to work, bring your laptop to my office and I'll be glad to help you.

Thu Jan 22 12:25:26 EST 2009

If you install Alice on your own personal computer using the Mac or Windows CD-ROM from the back of the book, you will notice a Textbook tab between the Examples tab and Open A World tab in the dialog box when you start Alice. Clicking on this tab allows you to access the initial scenes and example worlds discussed in the textbook.

Unfortunately that Textbook tab is not present on our lab computers. When using a computer without the Textbook tab, you can access the textbook examples from the CD-ROM in the back of the textbook. Insert the Alice CD into the CD drive of your lab machine before starting Alice. Start Alice and use the Open A World tab to maneuver to the CD-ROM drive, then folder Alice, then folder Required, then folder textbookExampleWorlds, then finally select the textbook example world from the list.

Thu Jan 22 09:57:05 EST 2009

Items about your digital picture file.

Directions for the digital picture file.
- Find a picture file or have a friend take a head (passport) portrait shot of you with a digital camera.
- Put the picture in a file named picture.jpg on one of your USB (flash) drives.
- Log into a Rowan computer using your user name and password.
- Double-click My Computer.
- Find your USB drive, probably E: or F:, double-click it and then find file picture.jpg.
- Right-click picture.jpg and select Copy.
- Back up in My Computer to where the drive letters D:, E:, F:, etc., are.
- Look for H: and double-click it.
- Look for public.www and double-click it.
- Right-click in the part of My Computer showing the files in public.www (there are probably none unless you have put some there before) and select Paste.
- Make sure it all worked by opening a browser (do this part off-campus, too) and entering Web address http://users.rowan.edu/~username/picture.jpg where you replace username with your Rowan login name.
Some people are storing their digital photograph as picture.jpg.jpg or Picture.jpg (instead of picture.jpg). I think picture.jpg.jpg comes from the ``hide file extensions'' folder option that you should uncheck. I'll (try to remember to) show how to uncheck ``hide file extensions'' in class: in My Computer, use Tools > Folder Options, View tab, to uncheck the box for Hide File Extensions, then click the Apply To All Folders button. After unchecking ``hide file extensions'' look at the file name again and remove the extra .jpg if it is there. Also make sure everything is lowercase.
When you enter the Web address http://users.rowan.edu/~username (replace username with your Rowan network login name) into a browser address box, you should see something that looks like this (click the link to see), not something like this or this or this. Do you see the problem in each of the bad ones?
When you enter the Web address http://users.rowan.edu/~username/picture.jpg into a browser address box, you should see your picture without any additional clicks. If not, then you need to fix the problem. You will not get any office visit points until a click on your link below brings up your picture.
If you have had your Rowan network login name and password for a while, you might not have a public.www folder in your H: drive. Go to the Help Desk in Memorial Hall and ask them to set one up for you to hold your picture file.

Wed Jan 14 17:48:13 EST 2009

Recent news article about Alice http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_605800.html.

Wed Jan 14 14:00:50 EST 2009

Randy Pausch's home page is available at http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/. From there, you can reach

the complete history of his health status,
a video of his ``Last Lecture'' http://www.youtube.com/v/ji5_MqicxSo (alternatively http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo),
a video of his lecture on time management http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-5784740380335567758 (alternatively http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0),
a video of his interview with Diane Sawyer on ABC http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=265263428002185148,
and information about his Last Lecture book http://www.thelastlecture.com/.

A transcript of his ``Last Lecture'' talk is available at http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/Randy/pauschlastlecturetranscript.pdf.

Wed Jan 14 13:22:49 EST 2009

I run Ubuntu Linux on all my computers, available for free download at http://www.ubuntu.com/. See http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/business/11ubuntu.html for a recent news article.

Sat Jul 26 07:55:15 EDT 2008

Randy Pausch's NY Times obituary: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/us/26pausch.html.

home page: http://elvis.rowan.edu/~hartley/index.html
e-mail: hartley@elvis.rowan.edu