This class has been reassigned. It will NOT include these textbooks. It is now being taught by Janet Drake because of the need to cancel another low enrollment class.

Look for my Computer Skills and Concepts class at 11 TTh if you want to learn Flash and Alice animation concepts.

1. Alice in Action: Computing Through Animation by Joel Adams. $27.95 List Price; $18.45 is current price at www.amazon.com.

   Author Joel Adam's Calvin College textbook web site for Alice in Action: Computing Through Animation.

   • The Alice 3D Authoring software is free. It is a gentle instroduction to all major programming concepts developed at Carnegie Mellon University. There is some research to support the idea that spending part of a class using Alice to introduce programming concepts will result in the following:
     1. More complete learning of basic programming concepts and skills.
     2. Better grasp of and skill with the main language of the course, whether it be Visual Basic 2005, Flash ActionScript, Maya MEL, Java, C++, C, or Scheme. Taking time to learn and experience some Alice often means better learning of the Visual Basic 2005 or whatever the main language is. We will spend about 9 class days or three weeks on Alice and about 36 class periods on Visual Basic 2005. Three weeks and 12 weeks, but not separate chunks of the semester. The two languages will probably be taught in a spiral fashion where a concept is introduced in Alice, and then followed up with Visual Basic.
     3. A higher percentage of students discovering that programming is lots of FUN and very creative.

   • What is Alice and what is Alice good for?

2. Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition Programming for the Absolute Beginner by Jerry Lee Ford. List Price: $29.99 Current Price: $19.79 at www.amazon.com.