Question of the Week - Due 11/212008

Cell phones are one of the most popular electronic devices in the United States. Even though people do not know that cell phones are harmful to your hearing, people still use them all day and every day. If cell phonesewere taken away from everyone around the world, what are some other ways you can communicate with your friends, family, etc.? How would your life be different? Would it be hard? If so, why?

(Question of the Week author: Roneisha Foster)

Question of the Week - Due 11/28/2008

If you were stuck on an island and only had $100.00 to last for three months, in which you won't have a cell phone or any electronics, how would you survive? What would you do?

(Question of the Week author: Roneisha Foster)

ICA-CP: 11/12/2008-11/30/2008

Good afternoon!

We will be finishing up Karel the Robot today. Then, the class will be moving onto two new activities. We will be learning how to keyboard better and running Alice, a new 3D graphics simulator which uses Java. There will not be a quiz.

I will be on leave of absence from school until 12/1/2008. While I'm away, you will be working on Learning To Type and Alice. Please read the Learning To Type and Alice blog entries right before this one. There are 8 assignments in Learning to Type with a total points value of 175. Completing the Alice tutorials is worth 100 points. In addition, I will be posting the Question of the Week, still due at 5:00 PM every Friday, and still worth 25 points per week.

I will be available by cell phone. I believe you all have my cell phone number. Brain food for a few days will be in the closet. After today's class, I will be seeing you in December. So, seniors who are going to the retreat: you will have one day less to do all of the typing and Alice assignments. The Learning To Type program may accessed from any computer that has Internet access. If anyone needs more time, then do the Learning To Type exercises from home, the public library, or the ERC.

Alice

You will be learning a new Java simulator while I am gone. The name of the simulator is Alice. Alice was invented as a first programming language at Carnegie-Mellon University. For more information see: http://www.alice.org/

While I am on leave, you will be installing Alice and completing four tutorials. The points are:

Install Alice - 20 points
Tutorial 1 - 20 points
Tutorial 2 - 20 points
Tutorial 3 - 20 points
Tutorial 4 - 20 points

All four tutorials are due before 12/1/08. You must have Roneisha sign-off your checklist to get credit.

To install Alice, go to the R Drive under my name. Copy the Alice.zip to your My Documents (DO NOT DRAG and DROP IT! Right click, copy, paste it instead.) Right click on the Alice.zip file and select Extract All from the drop down menu. Let the extract program run. To run Alice, go into the folder you extracted and left click the Alice icon. When the Alice simlator starts, click on the Select the Tutorial icon.

If Alice does not work on your computer, install the three programs on this web site:

http://www.alice.org/index.php?page=applet_instructions/applet_instructions

Be sure to login as administrator for This Computer to be able to install.

Learning To Type

You will be learning how to keyboard at Learning2Type.com. In order to login, use this address: http://SCHOOLS.Learn2Type.com/Login

Your LoginID is your student number.
The password is: Spartans
Our Class ID is: 9702

There are seven lessons and a typing test. Here's how you will be graded for Learning To Type:

Touch Typing Basics - 10 points
Exercise 1 - 15 points
Exercise 2 - 15 points
Exercise 3 - 15 points
Exercise 4 - 15 points
Exercise 5 - 15 points
Exercise 6 - 15 points

Typing Test (submit your highest score before 12/1/2008):
10 words per minute - 30 points
15 words per minute - 40 points
20 words per minute - 50 points
25 words per minute - 60 points
30+ words per minute - 75 points

All of this is due before 12/1/2008. The six exercises, plus the Basics and Typing test total eight assignments. You may access the web site from any computer on the Internet, whether at home, at school, or at the library. With my teacher login, I will be able to see which exercises you complete on which days along with your scores. You must complete two exercises per class period.

ICA-CP: 11/3/08 - Part 1 of semester project

Good morning!

Today we begin part one of our semester projects. Each person will be assigned a unique maze. The mazes are on the R drive in a folder called 26 Karel the Robot Mazes. The goal is to write a program that lets Karel navigate the maze, picking up every beeper along the way. At the end of the maze, Karel will drop all of the beepers, then turn off.

Your program must include the comment lines with your name, program version, date, name of the program, goal of your program, and description of the program. You will be graded on whether your program was designed to run at a basic (67%-76%), intermediate (77%-86%), advanced (87%-95%) or elegant level (95-100%).

Basic: Karel gets through the maze, picks up all beepers, and drops all the beepers at the end without error. Each primitive command to direct Karel to turn, move, etc. is written into the program.

Intermediate: The program uses if, while, and define statements. The program creates new commands, like turnright or mymove. It uses some conditions (like, frontIsClear) with the control statements if and while to direct Karel through the maze.

Advanced: The Karel program allows the robot to navigate almost he entire maze by detecting conditions and then responding. For example, if frontIsBlocked and leftIsClear, Karel makes the decision to turn left.

Elegant: Karel navigates the maze completely by making decisions. Your program is so automated that it will run on a different maze with less than 10% code changes.

OK, now to begin . . .

Step 1) Get your maze assignement.
Step 2) Copy the maze from the R drive to your computer.
Step 3) Open up the maze in Karel. Trace the maze, and make sure there are no dead ends.
Step 4) Start designing your program. You may use code from YOUR previous Karel programs.