Intro to Programming

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Welcome to my intro to programming class! I am teaching today through GirlDevelopIt and in the future will be teaching through Skillshare. If you are unable to make it today, please join me in April! The Skillshare classes will have a smaller class size, more time to Play with Alice, and a focused learning environment.

We will be using Alice 3.1 to teach fundamental programming concepts. It is a nice tool because it helps you learn the fundamentals in a visual way without the headache of programming syntax (the way you write the lines of code so that a computer can read them).

Course Materials

Java

Although we didn’t do “real” programming on Saturday, Alice is a very powerful tool for learning programming concepts and programmatic thinking. This is much more important than learning a particular programming language. Once you have mastered these topics, you are ready to tackle any language! Luckily, Alice provides a nice pathway into Java once you feel comfortable manipulating objects, handling user input, and constructing your stories. I would encourage you to keep tinkering!

Using the NetBeans IDE, you can import an Alice world and extend your creations using Java! Written instructions and video instructions are both available.

I used this tool to generate my Java classes from my introduction movie (get them on github). The AdultPerson.java file has our introduceMyself function and Scene.java has myFirstMethod with questions. Scene.java also has the world set up and Program.java kicks off the scene.

You will find two of my example worlds in the movies folder.

Resources

There is no end to education. It is not that you read a book, pass an examination, and finish with education. The whole of life, from the moment you are born to the moment you die, is a process of learning.
-Jiddu Krishnamurti

Your TA, Dana Bauer, dug up some great links to help you explore the world of programming!