DD's coming to class..

-=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- (c) WidthPadding Industries 1987 0\|112\|0 -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=- -=+=-
Socoder -> Off Topic -> DD's coming to class..
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 11:25
JL235	any ideas on games that could be live coded to a group of students within an hour?
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 11:25
shroom_monk	And then it turns out I was one of that group of students! Unfortunately I did not pluck up the courage to come and say hi, but I did enjoy your session. -=-=- A mushroom a day keeps the doctor away... Keep It Simple, Shroom!
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 11:30
Jayenkai	Awesome!!!!!!!!!
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 11:33
shroom_monk	My face when 'PlayMyCode' was one of the items on the timetable. Then I remembered the above post, and it all slotted into place! -=-=- A mushroom a day keeps the doctor away... Keep It Simple, Shroom!
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 12:50
rockford	Pong. BreakOut. Space Invaders. Tetris. Tanks. Snake. All those should be able to be done within an hour, including graphics.
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 12:52
blanko1324	Shroom, DD taught your class and you didn't even say hi?! -=-=- My Twitter
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 13:04
shroom_monk	I was going to, I really was! But people were talking to him and I was shy and scared and regretted not doing it afterwards. -=-=- A mushroom a day keeps the doctor away... Keep It Simple, Shroom!
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 13:13
blanko1324	Well that's when you say, "Move it, fellow SoCoder member coming through," and push them out of the way. Then, you get the respect of all your peers and phone numbers from all the ladies. Also, does he look anything like Columbo? -=-=- My Twitter
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 13:16
JL235	!!! OMG !!! It's terrible, because I didn't have time to do my hair in the morning. It was a complete mess. Were you in the first session, or the second one? The second one went better. I really got into my stride with barking out things for my brother to code, and the class got a little further, with less technical problems. Did we talk at all? I'm really curious as to which student was you. Were you the one in the far corner with glasses and the rainbow square? Eventually though, if we had enough time, it would have ended up like this: [pmc]joe/cat-box[/pmc] In hindsight, that is two lessons worth. However most of the pupils managed to get to the half way point; many with no prior knowledge of programming. Pretty much every child also did something slightly different as they went along; different colours, different sizes, different speeds, and some even made an elliptical version instead of the squares we were using. That really impressed all of the teachers there. All of the hard bits had been done by the end of the session, namely the collision detection (where a lot of people make typos). I'm pretty confident people would have gotten the whole thing done if we had double the time. Again, given that many had no prior experience, that is pretty impressive. I am also typing up this lesson into an online book I'm putting together, plus some more bits. rockford Pong. BreakOut. Space Invaders. Tetris. Tanks. Snake. All those should be able to be done within an hour, including graphics. The problem is that you don't really get an hour. First you lose 5 minutes at the beginning and end for people walking in and out, so your already down to 50. Then you have the intro, and other places where you just need to talk about what we are using. So your down to around 40. Now you need to explain each section, and even each line of code, as you write it out, one at a time. Some of the students have never coded, so you have to take this real slow so they can keep up. Once you've coded a section, you then need to go round and check if they are up to scratch. After each block of code you usually get at least two or three who have a problem. Often a syntax error, and they don't know how to deal with it (since they are new). Plus any question that get asked. So everything takes about 4 times longer. So ultimately whatever you plan to do, you should be able to do in no longer then 10 minutes. Any longer, and you will run out of lesson time. But you could do Pong in that time.
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 13:37
shroom_monk	I was in the second session. From your perspective, I was on the far right, at the front of the row. We didn't really talk, although I did hover for a bit (trying to find good moment to interject, not finding one). Remember after the second session, someone asked if they could ask a technical question, and you spoke about Javascript and browsers while walking to the dining hall? That was themadproff, if anyone remembers him from years and years ago. The slightly shorter guy with black hair who floated behind was me. \|edit\| (also, you didn't get the delightful pleasure of meeting andrewsoltan, who buggered off before your talk ) \|edit\| -=-=- A mushroom a day keeps the doctor away... Keep It Simple, Shroom!
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 13:47
JL235	I might know who you were. There was someone in that location, where I kept thinking they looked like they needed some help, but actually their code was all working fine on their screen so I always walked past. How did you find the lesson?
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 14:02
shroom_monk	I thought it was good, although as you've mentioned, an hour isn't quite enough time to get things to the stage where you can do some more interesting / complex things. But you kept things going at a good pace, which was good. My teacher (the guy in glasses and a grey suit sitting opposite me) was very impressed. I'd shown him PMC a few months ago (I think he mentioned it to you), but having had the chance to get to grips with it in your lesson he's thinking of using it with his lower years in the near future. -=-=- A mushroom a day keeps the doctor away... Keep It Simple, Shroom!
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 14:14
JL235	Ah, I remember him, nice guy. I thought he looked a lot like Jay.
Tue, 13 Mar 2012, 14:29
rockford	Well if you wanted a 10 minute game you should have asked for a 10 minute game! Glad it went well - would have loved to have seen it