POS 371 Week 2

Individual Assignment: Basic Alice Programming

Here, you learn basic Alice programming components. You create variables, worlds, characters, and objects. The assignment also teaches various motion, simple repetition, and proper object and character placement commands.

Submit an Alice A2W file and either a flowchart or a pseudo-code for each of the following projects:

Road to Hana: Create a world with a convertible (Vehicles) and a person of your choice (People) that will determine the drive time to Hana. The user is asked the number of miles between the current location and Hana, and the speed limit for the road to get there. Set up variables for the values. Create a third variable to hold the calculated hours for the trip. The formula for hours is as follows: miles divided by speed limit. At this point, the person should approach the camera, and the convertible should come into view, stopping next to the person. The person should look at the convertible, turn to the camera, and say a message in bubble text that includes the time in hours it will take to reach Hana. The car should drive away, and the person should walk in the opposite direction.

Mad Cow Disease: Create a world with a cow (Animals) and a stretcher (Furniture). The world should start with the cow facing the stretcher. The cow should begin swishing its tail, using the tailSwish method, and at the same time jump up in the air, move over to the stretcher, and come down on top of it. The cow should face the camera, swish its tail five more times, and say something about wanting to see a doctor.

Discussion Questions

Hogans (2007) article discusses many software development issues. Pick one of these issues, explain its significance, and critically examine the article's discussion.

Structured programming techniques may not be necessary or as helpful today as in the past. Do you agree or disagree with this perspective? Explain why or why not.

Differentiate between primitive and user-created methods of programming. Provide a scenario in which each method is preferred.

Crosss (2007) article discusses the advantages for a software company to release beta versions of products instead of final versions. What is the authors reasoning? Do you agree? Why might some companies prefer purchasing final releases to beta releases from other companies?