CS 352 Lecture 7 – Karnaugh Maps
Dear students, We start today with a couple more exercises on building circuit diagrams. Let’s do these one a time. Write your diagram down on paper, and then we’ll construct it together up front: Diagram This #1 You will eat a cheap pizza if it has pepperoni without olives, or if it has olives with […]
CS 491 Meeting 3 – Prototypes
Dear students, Today is Paper Prototype Day. There are 8 of you, and we will operate like this: repeat 4 randomly pick a partner partner A shares game for 5 minutes, including discussion partner B shares game for 5 minutes, including discussion end To help us stay on schedule, here’s a little timer! Here’s your […]
CS 145 Lecture 6 – The String Class
Dear students, If this class was a book, the chapter we’re in right now is Computer as Calculator. I’d mentioned that computers got their start in the world of mathematics. Why exactly did computers start with the mathematicians? Lately I’ve been reading some graphic novels related to technology and computer science for a conference I’ll […]
CS 352 Lecture 6 – Transistors and Diagrams
Dear students, Today we close out our discussion of the low-level electronic circuitry and begin our ascent to higher levels of abstraction. We start by replacing relays with transistors. The problem with relays is that they tend to be slower to activate, harder to miniaturize, and have a shorter life span than other electronic switching […]
CS 145 Lecture 5 – Math Cont’d
Dear students, Here’s something that happens. Your professor, who has been writing code for a long time, walks through many coding examples with you in class. He carefully arranges everything to present a coherent and compelling story, intentionally leading you into problems but swooping in with some new idea to save the day. You feel […]
CS 352 Lecture 5 – Makefiles
Dear students, I’ve gotten some emails about homework structure, C++, and Makefiles. I had a completely different discussion planned, but I think our time is best spent addressing your concerns. Today, then, we will create a skeletal C++ project that can be built with a Makefile. You may want to check out a few tutorials […]
CS 145 Lab 2 – Math and String
Welcome to lab 2! If you have checkpoints from the last to show your instructor or TA, do so immediately. No credit will be given if you have not already completed the work, nor will credit be given after the first 10 minutes of this lab. You must work with a partner that you have […]
CS 352 Lecture 4 – Relays
Dear students, We looked last time at the elements of electronic circuits: switches, voltage sources, resistance, and some sort of output device—in our case, an LED. In putting these parts together in various ways, you can build a piece of technology with a very fixed purpose. If you want the hardware to do something else, […]
CS 145 Lecture 4 – Math Class
Dear students, Yesterday we had our first lab. I was very impressed by your positive attitudes toward learning and the way you helped each other. Lab days are a bit grueling for me, as I am on my feet from 8 AM to 5 PM being relied on by others, but your energy and friendliness […]
CS 491 Meeting 2 – Sketches
Dear students, Most of today will be spent by you giving sketches of your game ideas. Here are some questions to keep in mind as we discuss: How will it be fun? What will be learned? How can the challenges of the game be introduced in chunks? Here’s your TODO list: Your Create Task is […]