hw-2-02
Kind of late to be putting this in, but hopefully, you've been following up from class discussion and trying mini-projects that were suggested out loud, or expanding on some ideas that were pointed to in the notes.Here are specific assignments to be ready by Wednesday:
- Read the revised Squeak How-To page. Now choose TWO topics that are covered or mentioned, and IMPROVE them to level 3, or level 3X. One person whose name is Dave may, as one of their choices, produce the two-line summaries requested in the "Our Goals" section on our how-to page.
- Read the Pedagogy Place page, especially including recent exchange between Kathleen Harness and Lenny Pitt.
- Pick two objects that you're clueless about from the object catalog or supplies bin, and learn what they do. Use them together in a project, perhaps gratuitiously.
- If you need more direction in how to keep learning squeak, try one or two of these:
- make bubblesort happen in place in a holder
- simulate a chain reaction with a small number of initial particles flying around, every collision splits each into two identical ones. Suggested approach: A particle has a variable "mydouble" which is of type player. When the particle collides, it does: particles mydouble (assigned value of) particle's copy. Then particle's double executes a script getmoving which sets it in a random direction, with the same speed (boring) or random speed (more interesting). The particle itself should also bounce in some directions, perhaps changing speed. BONUS: instead of identical particles, simulate a real atomic reaction, with atomic models neutrons, protons, etc. VERY BIG BONUS (this sounds like a good first project) guide kids through the process of doing this simulation.
- program euclid's algorithm for finding greatest common divisors (gcd of a,b where a > b is the gcd of b and the remainder of a div b.
- look at the "Lenny factor trees" project that is posted on our squeak projects page, if you didn't see it in class last Wed. Understand everything about it.