Discover Programming Languages

Today we are starting our journey into the history of programming. We are going to develop a discovery game. Each of you will be joining an expert team to explore one stage of the history of programming languages.

Homework
Read the article: "A Brief History of Programming Languages".

Reminders for our field trip to EA

• Meet on Friday, April 3, 09 at 11am at WCCS.
  We take public transport.
• Dismissal at 2pm from EA, 4330 Sanderson Way in Burnaby.

Want to Become a Game Programmer?

Today we are exploring what it takes to become a successful player in the game developing industry. This is a preparation for our field trip to the Burnaby location of Electronic Arts on Friday, April 3, 2009.

Reminder
Without permission slip you cannot join us to EA on Friday.

From Alice to Java

Today you will be exploring more about the Java language. You will get to know how to express the control structures you have been using in Java and how methods and functions look like. Maybe you will discover even more. Use the worksheet More on Java.

Have a great spring break!

Java Code behind the Scenes

Now as we have learned how to program with Alice we want to look behind the scenes. Alice is based on the Java programming language, and today you will be exploring this language using the Java-like editing style in Alice. You will learn about syntax, the rules of a programming language, and discover some of Java's syntax rules.
In the lab you work on your incomplete tasks like the recursive solution of the butterfly chase and the click-a-cow project on page 254.
For those who have completed all assignments: Form a team and work on project 1, page 252: Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

Reminder: All permission slips for the field trip to EA on April 3, 2009 need to be in by tomorrow.

Recursion for Problem-Solving

Here is our new programming technique again:
This time we are using recursion for solving a special kind of difficult problems. Those problems can be divided up into smaller sub problems of the same kind that eventually are easy enough to get solved. The Towers of Hanoi puzzle is a typical example of such a problem. We will observe how to animate this game in Alice using a recursive method.
In the lab you can be a game programmer: Animate and play the Click-a-Cow game, project 4, page 254. Parts of the solution will be provided.

A screen shot of the online implementation
of the Towers of Hanoi from NLVM:

Homework

• Read pages 236-240
• Review questions section 8.2
• Have your parents/ guardians sign the consent form for our field trip to EA on Friday, April 3, 2009.
  

Repetition with Recursion

Today we will be touching a new programming technique known as recursion.
A method or a function is recursive if it calls itself.
Recursion can be used to replace repetition. We will see how the while loop in the shark chase can be replaced by using recursion.
In the lab you can try to solve the butterfly chase recursively as described in exercise 2, P.250-251.

Homework

• Read pages 231-232,
• Review questions section 8.1.
• Play the Towers of Hanoi puzzle.