Features
Easy, welcoming, approach to programming – Teaches programming using Alice, an innovative programming environment designed to simplify key concepts and welcome non-programmers. With 3D graphics and a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, Alice has been proven to help computer science departments improve student motivation and reduce attrition, especially amongst underrepresented groups. Using Alice and this book, far more students can successfully take the first step towards a career in software development.
Visual movie-style storyboarding simplifies program design – Demystifies complicated program design concepts by making program design completely visual, and providing instant visual feedback on the program changes that students make.
Fun, accessible, visual environment – Provides a 3D graphics-based, drag-and-drop programming environment that’s easy for novices to use, and rewards students immediately through visual animations they can instantly see and understand.
Separation of object-oriented concepts and program syntax – Enables instructors to teach objects and syntax separately, to choose among objects-first and objects-early approaches, and to teach events early if they wish.
Broad coverage of object-oriented, event-driven, and advanced programming concepts – Introduces students to a broad cross-section of the concepts and techniques contemporary programmers need to master, including classes, objects, methods, parameters, events, functions, control statements, list processing, inheritance, and more.
Focus on elegance, algorithmic thinking, and abstraction – Helps students quickly understand how successful programmers need to think.
Exercises and projects in every chapter – Includes comprehensive hands-on opportunities for students to test their knowledge and gain confidence in their abilities.
Support for easy 3D animation uploads via YouTube — Easy animation uploading is a powerful motivator to students, who can now show off their work on the Web. Coverage of camera controls, both during scene set-up and during run time of the animation.
Collection of Alice 3D “example worlds” on CD-ROM — Students can load an example world and enter their own code to make it work.
Extensive Instructor Materials Available - Access syllabi/calendars, lectures, labs, assignments, sample worlds, sample exams, sample projects, online support forums, and more.
- Copyright 2012
- Dimensions: 8" x 10"
- Pages: 400
- Edition: 3rd
-
Book
- ISBN-10: 0-13-212247-2
- ISBN-13: 978-0-13-212247-4
Learning to Program with Alice, 3e is appropriate for all one-semester pre-CS1 and computer literacy courses, and for integration into the first weeks of many introductory CS1 courses.
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Alice was designed to make programming concepts easier to teach and learn. In the Third Edition of Learning to Program with Alice, Alice’s creators offer a complete full-color introduction to the interactive Alice programming environment. The authors make extensive use of program visualization to establish an easy, intuitive relationship between program constructs and the 3D graphics animation action in Alice. Students discover how Alice blends traditional problem-solving techniques with Hollywood-style storyboarding. Fundamental object-oriented programming concepts and language syntax are taught independently. Programming concepts can be taught from either an objects-first or an objects-early approach, with an optional early introduction to events. The book’s Java-like syntax allows students to view their program code, simplifying their transitions to Java, C++, C#, or other object-oriented languages. This new edition includes over 60% revised exercises and a "sneak peek" at Alice 3.0.
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Collection of Alice 3D “example worlds” on CD-ROM – Students can load an example world and enter their own code to make it work.
Table of Contents
Foreword xi
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xxi
About the Authors xxiii
Part I: Introduction to Alice 1
1 Getting Started with Alice 3
1-1 Introduction to Alice 3
1-2 Alice Concepts 8
Tips & Techniques 1: Special Effects: Text and 2D Graphic Images 15
Summary 18
Exercises 19
2 Program Design and Implementation 22
2-1 Scenarios and Storyboards 22
2-2 A First Program 29
Tips & Techniques 2: Orientation and Movement Instructions 43
Summary 57
Exercises 59
3 Programming: Putting Together the Pieces 62
3-1 Built-in Functions and Expressions 63
3-2 Simple Control Structures 68
Tips & Techniques 3: Camera and Animation Controls 76
Summary 81
Exercises 83
Part II: Object-Oriented and Event-Driven Programming
Concepts 87
4 Classes, Objects, Methods and Parameters 89
4-1 World-Level Methods 91
4-2 Parameters 100
4-3 Object-Level Methods and Inheritance 110
Tips & Techniques 4: Visible and Invisible Objects 121
Summary 127
Exercises and Projects 129
5 Interaction: Events and Event Handling 140
5-1 Interactive Programming 140
5-2 Parameters and Event Handling Methods 147
Tips & Techniques 5: Creating Your Own People Models 156
Summary 158
Exercises and Projects 159
Part III: Using Functions and Control Statements 171
6 Functions and If/Else 173
6-1 Functions 173
6-2 Execution Control with If/Else and Boolean Functions 180
Tips & Techniques 6: Random Numbers and Random Motion 196
Summary 199
Exercises and Projects 201
7 Repetition: Definite and Conditional Loops 213
7-1 Loops 213
7-2 While—a Conditional Loop 219
Tips & Techniques 7: Events and Repetition 225
Summary 228
Exercises and Projects 229
8 Repetition: Recursion 239
8-1 Introduction to Recursion 239
8-2 Another Flavor of Recursion 244
Tips & Techniques 8: Engineering Look and Feel 254
Summary 257
Exercises and Projects 258
Part IV: Advanced Topics 265
9 Lists and List Processing 267
9-1 Lists 267
9-2 List Search 273
Tips & Techniques 9: Groups 277
Summary 279
Exercises and Projects 280
10 Variables and Revisiting Inheritance 289
10-1 Variables 289
10-2 An Array Visualization Using an Index Variable 300
Tips & Techniques 10: Debugging with Watch and Text Output 308
Summary 312
Exercises and Projects 313
11 What’s Next? 322
11-1 Transition to Java 322
11-2 Alice 3 327
Tips & Techniques 11: Poses 328
Appendix A: Using Alice 331
Part 1: Running Virtual Worlds in Alice 331
Part 2: Using Popup Menus to Create an Initial Scene 345
Appendix B: Managing the Alice Interface 350
Index 363