newest at the top...
Fri Nov 30
- planned visit to school
- discussed Sustainability Expo
- looked at Jeff's stuff and Justin's stuff
Wed Nov 28
- class evaluation
- discussed next spring
Mon Nov 26
Wed Nov 21
read two papers from the 11th IASTED International Conference on Software Engineering and Applications:
- “Model-Based Component Framework for Developing Domain Applications,” Jiang et al.
- “(U)CML—A Modeling Language for Modeling and Testing Compatibility,” Koss and Brandstatter
Mon Nov 19
- read chapter 12, Interface Segregation Principle from Martin
- looked at code from Jeff's applet
- viewed Jonah's new prototype
Fri Nov 16
Thu Nov 15
- read chapter 11, Dependency Inversion Principle, from Robert C. Martin, Agile Software Development.
Wed Nov 14
- Double Buffering stuff -- Changed by Will b/c old link was broken.
- read “Dog Food” chapter from G. Pascal Zachary's Show Stopper.
Wed Nov 7
We discussed Scott Ambler's article "Defining Success" (Dr. Dobb's Journal, December 2007):
- Why would his survey have such different success rates than the Chaos report?
- Have you personally been involved with a failed IT project?
Mon Nov 5
We discussed the "No Silver Bullet" essay from the Mythical Man Month.
Mon Oct 29
Fri Oct 26
Mon Oct 22
- planned game work; see notes
Fri Oct 19
- telecom with Bonnie to go over ideas; see notes in Game Concepts.
Wed Oct 17
- Joel class -- discussing dependencies and other SW Eng issues
Mon Oct 15
Fri Oct 12
Wed Oct 10
- Jim/Matt's game -- will kids be able to handle power/angle settings? Will pop up large when they're being adjusted. 1-button game, hold button down to sweep across selections; release button to move to next phase.
- Justin's game -- use 1-button dwell to make selections. particle explosion is not necessarily part of game. OK, it will be. (Selection will be made via dwell principle - object skins / interactions will be possible to build upon with later development).
- Ryan -- 1-button game.
- Jonah -- can kids read? use 1-button dwell to make selections. Jonah can narrate screens so that kids can listen for choices too.
- Dan's game - will use 1-button dwell. background will shift from green to red if they're not pressing, indicating the match is approaching.
- Tor -- what are screen resolutions
Mon Oct 1
Fri Sep 28
- we looked at everyone's sample code from Assignments 6.
Wed Sep 26
- we discussed people's Game Concepts
- we looked at software from http://rjcooper.com
Mon Sep 24
- unpacked tasks in getting up to speed with Java; gave implementation assignments to individuals (due Fri)
- discussed architects vs. implementers (ch 4 of Brooks) and 2nd system effect (ch 5)
Mon Sep 17
Looked at 4 games from the Game Links page.
Fri Sep 14
Discussed a Game Taxonomy.
Wed Sep 12
Bonnie Paulino visited from the Kennedy Day School at the St. Franciscan's hospital in Brighton, MA, and we discussed Creating games for disabled children.
Consider:
- speed
- collaborative control of game character
- vision skills
- finding the essential piece of information
- make goals clear
- less stuff on the screen, simple goals and objects
- moving progress bar
- time to react
- NO FLASHING
- something they can handle.
- GO FOR FUN!!!!
- adaptive/adjustable difficulty
- one or two switches
- exciting positive reinforcement
- multiple stages, have a part 2
- competitive or cooperative
- multiple kinds of interfaces
- clear objectives
(Thanks to Jeff for sending his notes.)
Mon Sep 10
- join Google Group for the class. See the main page near the bottom for a link.
- Register for Software Design Best Practices by September 12!! Please use UMass Lowell Computer Science as the company name. There is an option for a free expo pass -- choose it :-)
Fri Sep 7
- talked about our own experiences developing software, in reflecting on first two chaps of TMMM
- in general, thumbs-up to iJava
Wed Sep 5
