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The goal of Alice is to change the first experience students get with computer programming

Alice is an easy program to use.

Let me show you how!!

Outline:

• System Requirements• Introduction of Alice• The Alice Approach

– Key Features

• Helps Motivate Students• How is Alice Being Used?

System Requirements:• Operating system requirements:

– Windows ME– Windows 2000– Windows XP – Macintosh OS 10.3 or 10.4

• Minimum PC hardware requirements: – A Pentium running at 500 MHz or better – a VGA graphics card capable of high (16 bit) color – 128 MB of RAM – Video resolution of 1024x768 – A sound card

• Recommended PC hardware requirements: – A Pentium running at 1.0 GHz or better – 16 MB 3D video card (TNT, i810, Rage 128,

GeForce, Radeon equivalent or better) – 256 MB of RAM

Introduction

Creation of Alice motivated by a desire for ease of learning to program

Goal: Change the first experience students have with computer programming

- Remove unnecessary frustration- Provide an environment for students – both

genders – to create compelling programs easily

Basics of Alice

• Removes typing removes frustration and syntax errors

• Students can see the objects – no abstract visualizing required

• Almost all changes are animated – debugging is much less obscure

- You know when you’ve made a mistake as soon as you make it. - Easily undo to correct the mistake

The Alice Approach• Capturing one’s attention is important

when trying to teach them– Alice is a fun program– Best impact

“We feel that providing a more expressive medium in which to construct programs will help to interest a wider audience.”*

*www.alice.org

• Drag-and-Drop• Appeals to wide audience

– Story Telling– Interactive Computer Games– Confidence Builder for those people

who do not find programming very easy

The Alice Approach

Helps Motivate Students

• No syntax-based frustration• Changes are animated – visible

You see what you make; if you make a mistake, immediately undo available

• Promotes creativityIt’s fun to play with and graphically

pleasing

How is Alice Being Used?• Informational course for students

considering a major in computer science and programming

• Transitional course to the computer science major

• Introduction to programming • Computer literacy – problem-

solving component• Pre-AP class for high school

students

Short Little Movie

Conclusion• Why does Alice work?

– It’s an interactive, fun program– Gain experience with a wide variety of

programming elements– It’s FREE!!! (OpenGL)

• Recommendation– Try Alice for yourself. It is a very

easy program to use, and can be great fun! I’ve been able to learn more about computer programming by researching Alice.

Alice Alice CommunitCommunit

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Alice Alice CommunitCommunit

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www.alice.org/community/

Questions??www.alice.org