Register your product to gain access to bonus material or receive a coupon.
• Supports either an objects-first or an objects-early approach, with an optional early introduction to events - Enables professors to select a sequence of chapters to suit his/her curriculum demands.
• Object-oriented programming concepts are introduced in the context of complete working animation programs - Shows students how their animated programs run.
• The concept of an "object" is made visible and tangible in a 3-D world that is compelling to students - Makes the concept of an object more intuitive; makes properties (data) and actions (methods) easier to teach.
• A "Java-like" syntax switch - Allows students to view their program code with a syntax that is very close to actual Java code, easing a transition to Java or other languages.
• "Tips & Techniques" at the end of each chapter - Covers animation in Alice, laying the groundwork for using these techniques in programming examples.
• Mouse-based editor provided - Ensures that beginning programmers cannot make syntax mistakes, and the environment helps students learn the underlying syntax rules.
• Animated programs can be viewed on a web page - Allows students to show off their work to peers, friends, family; a strong motivation factor.This guide supports an innovative approach to fundamental programming concepts. The authors use program visualization to create an easy relationship between program construct and the animation action in a 3D world. KEY TOPICS: Final release is in full color. For consistency with Java, C++, and other commonly used languages, "questions" are now "functions." Save and reload bugs have been fixed. Fonts can be scaled larger or smaller. High contrast mode is available for projection in the classroom. A much larger local gallery is now loaded with Alice; the CD with the book contains the complete gallery, so Internet access for downloading 3D models is no longer required. MARKET: A useful how-to guide for programmers interested in learning Alice.
Table of Contents iii
Preface to the Instructor
Part I: Introduction to Alice
1 Getting Started with Alice
1-1 Introduction to Alice
1-2 Alice Concepts
Tips & Techniques 1: Special Effects: Text and 2D Graphic Images
2 Program Design and Implementation
2-1 Scenarios and Storyboards
2-2 A First Program
Exercises
Summary
3 Programming: Putting Together the Pieces
3-1 Built-in Functions and Expressions
3-2 Simple Control Structures
Tips & Techniques 3: Engineering Look and Feel
Exercises
Summary
Part II: Object-oriented and Event-driven Programming Concepts
4 Classes, Objects, Methods, and Parameters
4-1 World-level Methods
4-2 Parameters
4-3 Class-level Methods and Inheritance
Tips & Techniques 4: Visible and Invisible Objects
Exercises and Projects
Summary 123
5 Interaction: Events and Event Handling
5-1 Interactive Programming
5-2 Passing Parameters to Event Handling Methods
Tips & Techniques 5: Events
Exercises and Projects
Summary
Part III: Using Functions and Control Statements
6 Functions and If/Else
6-1 Functions
6-2 Execution Control with If/Else and Boolean Functions
Tips & Techniques 6: Random Numbers and Random Motion
Exercises and Projects
Summary 190
7 Repetition: Definite and Indefinite Loops
7-1 Loops
7-2 While – An Indefinite Loop
Tips & Techniques 7: Events and Repetition
Exercises and Projects
Summary
8 Repetition: Recursion
8-1 Introduction to Recursion
8-2 Another Flavor of Recursion
Tips & Techniques 8: Camera and Animation Controls
Exercises and Projects
Summary
Part IV: Advanced Topics
9 Lists and List Processing
9-1 Lists
9-2 List Search
Tips & Techniques 9: Poses
Exercises and Projects
Summary
10 Variables and Revisiting Inheritance
10 -1 Variables
10-2 An Array Visualization Using an Index Variable
Exercises and Projects
Summary
11 What’s Next?
Appendix
Appendix A: Using Alice
Part 1: Running virtual worlds in Alice
Part 2: Using Popup Menus to Create an Initial Scene
Appendix B: Managing the Alice Interface
Index