Once again, welcome to Exploring Computer Science!  I’m really looking forward to another fun semester learning about all kinds of technologies with you.
First of all, spend a second to create a folder for this class in your My Documents folder.  I’ll be coming by to make sure you’ve got that set up properly.
Then, spend some time answering this survey.  The first part is just background that will help me get to know you better and hopefully serve you better as an instructor.  The second part is to encourage you to get …

This is going to sound crazy, but I don’t have a reasonable way for you guys to turn in your websites!  We’re going to use another teacher’s public-writeable folder.  I know this is not ideal, but it should work.
Click on the following link:
S:\mablache\Writeable\1stPeriod\MS MARTIN WEBSITES
This should open up a folder.  Create a folder called your_name.  Put all of your website files in it.

Time to build a website composed of at least 3 pages!  As you know, being a self-learner is a theme in this class.  You will need to make heavy use of the tutorial to complete this assignment.  Have fun with it!
You will need to create a web site with exactly 3 pages to either sell a product or introduce someone other than yourself to the world.  I want to put these on the web, so please don’t include any identifying information beyond your first name (no last names, pictures, etc).
Look …

This text is remixed from http://wiki.roboteducation.org/CS110:Lab04.  Errors are my own.
Your robot has sensors that senses different aspects of its environment. The image below shows two types of sensors that your robot has – proximity and light sensors.  Notice that they’re on the opposite side of the robot as the camera so you will have to drive backward to use them!

The following is a list of external stimuli that the robot can sense and a description of how the robot senses them.

Light: There are three light sensors on your robot. These …

For the next couple of days, you will be working with Python functions, looping, random numbers and taking pictures.
Please make sure you have a comment at the top of your programs saying who is in your group.  Place all activities in a single file.  Feel free to play around and try things!  Just make sure all your group members get a turn at the keyboard and that you’re staying focused on Python.  Reading the news, playing games, etc, will severely lower your grade. There’s a lot to explore here.  If …

Movement
joyStick()
Pops up a window that allows you to move the robot using a mouse-driven joystick.
backward(SPEED, SECONDS)
Move backwards at SPEED (value in the range -1.0…1.0) for a time given in SECONDS, then stop.
forward(SPEED, TIME)
Move forward at SPEED (value in the range -1.0…1.0) for a time given in seconds, then stop.
stop()
Stops the robot.
turnLeft(SPEED, SECONDS)
Turn left at SPEED (value in the range -1.0..1.0) for a time given in seconds, then stops.
turnRight(SPEED, SECONDS)
Turn right at SPEED (value in the range -1.0..1.0) for a time given in seconds, then stops.
wait(TIME)
Pause for the given amount of …

Python is a modern, easy-to-use, full-featured programming language that we will be learning to use by programming scribbler robots.  These are simple little “tank” robots that have a number of sensors including a color camera, infrared sensors and light sensors.  Our computers will connect to them using bluetooth.

In order to start using your robot, you have to make sure that your bluetooth dongle is connected to the computer with the matching number in the upper right corner of the screen.  You also need to make sure the numbers on the robot, green …

Stuart Reges is a lecturer at the University of Washington who has written an excellent Java textbook, teaches really great courses and has played a large role in inspiring me to teach.  Stuart’s talk today touched on a number of intriguing topics he explored over the summer, some with direct ties to computer science and others with less obvious ones.  The goal was to give you an opportunity to come into contact with some fascinating, deep ideas you might not otherwise encounter.
Stuart started by showing us examples of fractals or infinitely …

We were honored to get a visit from Mike Dussault, a game programmer at Valve Software.  Mike talked about the game development process as well as how he and others he knows became good at what they do.  Like many of you, I’m not a gamer, but I learned a lot of interesting things about the creative and business processes of building software as well as some cool specifics about 3D animation.
Mike talked to us about his path to becoming a game programmer: he taught himself to program in high …

I spent about 15 minutes at the start of the period demonstrating some of Scratch’s interactive commands.  I showed using random numbers, changing backgrounds, reacting to clicks and key presses, conditionals, operands, the color touching sensor, broadcasting and copying scripts.  I then asked everyone to build me a racing game or some other program in which sprites were competing.  Everyone came up with great ways to practice the new constructs!
I forgot to give period 1 my survey but period 2 filled it out before getting to work.