Assignment Group 1 (Week 2 Jan 27-31)

in Assignments (list page)

This is our first week of assignments (for the second week of class). It will be a “normal” content week - but since it is the first week we’ll need to work the bugs out of the mechanisms, and you’ll need to do some extra “getting started work”. The real work of the week are Workbooks 1 and 2, but as you do them, you need to be thinking ahead to Portfolio 1, and also looking at some supplemental resources.

A reminder of how a content week works: there’s a list of resources that you are required to read/watch; before Tuesday you fill out a Content Survey , and before Thursday, you turn in a Workbook Draft by pushing your workbooks to GitHub. While you are doing this, think about what you want to do for your Portfolio .

Your assignment for week 2:

  • Going through the course web and getting ready for class (see Getting Started) - but you should have done this last week
  • Workbooks 1 and 2 (links on Canvas)
  • Weeks 1 and 2 lectures from 2023 (or 2022)

The relevant assignments (on Canvas):

The relevant videos are:

When you “do” workbooks 1 and 2 (see Types of Assignments and Classes (How We Will Use Workbooks in the Honors Section)) focus on reading and understanding. The small boxes are useful checks to make sure you understand what is going on.

  • You need to go to The Canvas GitHub Classroom Links page to get the GH Classroom links that will create the repositories for you. We can’t put these links on the open web. (for students not enrolled, we’ll send you the links by email). Make sure to create (and clone) both workbooks.
  • In Workbook 1, there are lots of checks to make sure you understand how to use the workbooks - this is important (especially since we will be going through all of them at a fast pace!). Make sure you understand them.
  • In Workbook 1, there are lots of pointers to resources to learn JavaScript. If you are not comfortable with JavaScript, practice. There is a list of class resources at JavaScript Tutorials List. Take time to get used to JavaScript - it won’t go away.
  • In Workbook 1, there are basic web programming things that we will use a lot when we get to doing graphics. Try to do them (for example page 6) before we go over them in class.
  • Don’t worry about the “Advanced Points” problems on page 7. These are good challenges, but you can challenge yourself with more interesting things when we get to the Portfolio. The problems on this page are hard, for the sake of being hard. You’ll have other ways to demonstrate your mastery of the material.
  • In Workbook 2, I refer to the Textbook “Foundations of Computer Graphics” - I am going to try to avoid using the textbook, so you can ignore these readings (they were optional anyway).
  • In Workbook 2, a lot of the lessons come from reading my code, as opposed to writing your own. Make sure that you take the time to understand what is happening.
  • In Workbook 2, you should try the “easy” drawing assignments on page 4 and 7. Don’t worry about advanced things.
  • In Workbook 2, don’t worry about the Fireworks. This is the kind of thing that is replaced by the Portfolio (you can make fireworks or something like it later). We might do them in class on workshop day.

While it isn’t a requirement, I strongly recommend you do some “practice” programming to get ready for the bigger programming assignments. Look at the resources at JavaScript Tutorials List. Maybe watch the collection of “tips of the day” (I put a semester’s worth into one video). Maybe work through the debugger tutorial. Maybe try the tutorial on Functional Programming in Javascript. All these things will be useful.

Looking Ahead to the Portfolio

The first Portfolio isn’t due for a few weeks. And the full description is not available yet. But, you can start planning ahead: what kinds of things would you like to do in order to demonstrate that you’ve really learned the material for this week?

To show their mastery of the material, students in the regular section will do the “advanced” toy assignments (on page of Workbook 1) and fireworks. But the toy assignments aren’t very interesting, and CoPilot can make excellent fireworks. Of course, you could use CoPilot’s fireworks as a starting point for something truly excellent…

But, this class will give you a chance to be more creative… think about what you want to make. Because the portfolio will show off 3 weeks works of readings, you could do things that combine them. Or you could do separate things.

The things you will need to show off in Portfolio 1 (for this bundle of workbooks):

  • Graphics that respond to click events
  • Delayed actions
  • Actions that take time to unfold
  • Sets of graphical objects that come and go
  • Non-trivial 2D Canvas animation

The future workbooks will add extra requirements. Workbooks 3 and 4 will add transformations, hierarchies, and SVG. Workbook 5 will add curves. Your portfolio might have one program with them all, or several programs that show different things.