Game Development:
Intro to Computer Science

CSC 105
Union College
Fall 2009

Exercises about dictionaries and to practice for the final are on Codelab.

Helpdesk in Olin 102, Sun-Thu 7-9pm.

Week-by-week Schedule

Below is a tentative class-by-class schedule.

week 1	what is CS? what is programming? intro to the notions of algorithms, programs, functions, variables
week 2	control flow; the game loop; intro to booleans
week 3	more control flow; lists
week 4	more on lists; functions
week 5	more on functions
week 6	data representation; multi-dimensional lists
week 7	objects; working with strings and files
week 8	dictionaries
week 9	networking
week 10	GUI and event programming
week 11	final project presentations

Class-by-class Schedule

This schedule is tentative and will be updated regularly as we go through the term. I will also post readings and links to files that we use in class here. So come back frequently to check for updates.

Week 1
Date	Topic	Assignments due at this date
WE	Intro. What is CS? Algorithms. Functions.
TH	Getting started with using the CS computer labs. Running python programs. Using built-in functions to draw pictures. drawing_with_shapes_more_comments.py drawing_with_shapes_less_comments.py	Please, fill in this survey by today.
FR	Variables. Datatypes.

Week 2
MO	More on using variables. Python's interactive interpreter. Reading: Gaddis, Ch. 2	Quiz 1 Solution to Quiz 1
WE	Control flow. Loops.	HW 1 due
TH	While loop. Game loop. Making sprites move. Reading: Gaddis, Chapter 5.2 (while-loop) game_loop.py
FR	Intro to if-statements. Reading: Gaddis, Chapter 4 (if-statements) moving_ball.py

Week 3
MO	More on if-statements.	Quiz 2 (Solutions)
WE	Boolean Logic. Intro to lists. Reading: Gaddis, Chapter 8.	HW 2 due
TH	Traversing lists. Using lists (and if-statements) to react to player input. click_the_ball_v0.py pop.wav
FR	Quiz review. Game design: What are games? What kinds of games do you like/not like?	What to prepare for this class

Week 4
MO	More on lists.	Quiz 3 (Solution)
WE	Functions: parameter passing and return values. Reading: Gaddis, chapter 3 and 6. (You can skip those parts that talk about "writing functions" or "defining your own functions".)	take home 1 due
TH	Intro to (using) objects. Practice using functions and lists. (pygame) Animated Pictures: instructions
FR	Quiz review. Can games influence peoples attitudes, opinions, real life behaviors? Defining functions. Reading: Gaddis, chapter 3 and 6. (Now, read all of these chapters, including the parts that talk about writing and defining your own functions.)	What to prepare for this class

Week 5
MO	More practice working with functions.	Quiz 4 (Solution)
WE	Variable scope.	HW 3 due
TH	Recursive functions. Drawing fractals. Gaddis, Chapter 11.
FR	More recursive functions.

Week 6
MO	Data representation.
WE	Data representation big_blinking_circle_v0.py	HW 4 due
TH	Multidimensional lists. (Game of life) gol_v0.py
FR	Multidimensional lists. (Game of life) gol_v1.py

Week 7
MO	Software errors - who is responsible? Software development strategies. Debugging strategies. To watch: An illustrated history of (software) failure gol.zip	What to prepare for this class
WE	Role of the operating system. Working with files.	take home 2 due
TH	Working with files. Keeping track of scores
FR		Midterm

Week 8
MO	Game design presentations. Dictionaries.	game design due
WE	Dictionaries.	HW 5 due
TH	Dictionaries. keeping track of scores with dictionaries
FR	Dictionaries. Review.

Week 9
MO	Networking: downloading web pages. A list of topics and questions to test yourself.	Code specifications due.
WE	Privacy. Networking.
TH	Networking. Multiplayer online pop-the-balloon
FR	Project work day.	take home 3 due

Week 10
MO	List searching and sorting. linear.py, binary.py
WE	Final project playtesting. More list seaching and sorting.	playable version of final project
TH	GUI programming. Some examples: a skeleton to start from, a GUI only consisting of labels, a simple GUI with some buttons, a GUI with a textbox for user input (input is echoed back in the console), a GUI with a textbox for user input (input is echoed back in the GUI), the web-based temperature program
FR	GUI programming. multiplication_game.py

Week 11
MO	Final project presentations.	final project due
Fri		Final on Friday, November 20, 8:30am in Olin 102