Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 006 EAN: 9780131872899 ISBN: 0131872893 Label: Prentice Hall Manufacturer: Prentice Hall Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 375 Publication Date: July 25, 2005 Publisher: Prentice Hall Sales Rank: 31422 Studio: Prentice Hall
This guide supports an innovative approach to fundamental programming concepts. The authors use program visualization to create an easy relationship between program construct and the animation action in a 3D world. Final release is in full color. For consistency with Java, C++, and other commonly used languages, 'questions' are now 'functions.' Save and reload bugs have been fixed. Fonts can be scaled larger or smaller. High contrast mode is available for projection in the classroom. A much larger local gallery is now loaded with Alice; the CD with the book contains the complete gallery, so Internet access for downloading 3D models is no longer required. A useful how-to guide for programmers interested in learning Alice.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Should be required reading for every person teaching computer science
Since I first saw Alice demonstrated at a small college computer conference, I have remained convinced how innovative it is. Using the pre-existing objects a novice needs only a bit of direction in order to create functioning programs that generate animation. When I obtained a copy of this book I immediately started reading it and working through the programs. The Alice environment is very easy to use, there were very few times when I had to ponder my next move or consult the help.
I am also convinced that Alice is the way in which young people; especially females can be lured into computer science. There is the misperception that computer science is only for math nerds, yet a large number of people use their computer expertise to generate artificial worlds (movies) like those created in Alice.
The Alice development environment is free and is on the CD included with the book. If you want to see the ... Read More
Rating: - Great service but misread item
I got the books quickly and in good shape. However, I did not see the Brief Edition explanation. The brief only has 5 of the 10 chapters. If I had seen this I would have ordered the full version.
Rating: - Useless ... for a basic programmer
If you know the ABCs of programming already, this book is useless for you. Alice is soooo simple, it's absolutely easy for you to figure out on your own how each element in Alice works. On the other hand, if you don't know what "Java" or "C++" is, ummm ... buy this book.
Actually, even if you don't know any programming language at all, but are moderately smart, you can figure out how Alice works since Alice has an inbuilt tutorial, which is fairly simple to follow and covers almost everything you need to know in Alice. (The rest 20% that is left out in the tutorial, you can figure out by trial and error.)
Rating: - Doesn't Teach Alice At All
I will admit, there are some good definitions in here for the different concepts in programming. However, this is NOT a good way to actually learn Alice.
The exercises are not explained in the text unless they are an extension of the chapter problem. The text teaches very little about how to use Alice. If the Alice interface wasn't so clunky, it would be easy to figure out. None of the examples relate to any of the actual exercises. A case in point is the fish problem in chapter 2. There is no explanation given on how a fish can supposedly "jump" in Alice.
The CD does not include a Mac version of Alice. If the computers being used in a course do not have internet connectivity, this is a problem for Mac users. Also, the index is poor and there is no glossary.
Don't waste your money on this excuse for a programming manual. Get yourself a real textbook on the subject.
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- Should be required reading for every person teaching computer science
- Useless ... for a basic programmer
- Doesn't Teach Alice At All
