Tamika --

This is an interesting project, in that -- at least as you describe 
it -- almost all of it can be done by direct construction and just 
using the "etoys" authoring that we teach to children. I would 
suggest doing it this way, even though there is a level of complexity 
that will eventually require you to move from the "etoys" to the more 
extensive capabilities of the "expert levels of Squeak".

I will sketch out how to do this over the weekend and send the "hints 
and tutorial" to you on Monday.

Cheers,

Alan

------At 6:21 AM -0400 10/13/01, Knox, Tamika wrote:
>Hello! I was wondering if anyone here would be so kind as to help a helpless
>beginner (or a group of helpless beginners). :-(
>
>I'm currently in Senior Project at my university and me and my group mates
>came up with an idea to make a children's interactive learning software
>package. Nothing fancy, just something good enough to literally and
>figuratively make the grade. Anyway, we picked a project (well...our
>professor sort of did) and the language (well...our professor sort of picked
>that as well). The language is Squeak. Our professor feels that Squeak is
>the way to go. We'll have capability for .midi files and other things we
>would like to do.
>
>We decided to create a geography learning activity package which will have
>the following (adding bells and whistles if time permits after the initial
>program is executable):
>
> A main screen allowing the user (children ages 8-12) to go straight
>to the tutorial or take the quiz (which will be tri-leveled: beginner,
>intermediate, advance)
> The first screen on the tutorial will be a flat map of the world.
>The user can select a continent. From there, the user will be able to view
>information about that continent and can select a country. Then, specific
>details about that country is displayed such as an image of the country's
>flag, the population, the capital and other specifics
> The user in the beginning of the program will be prompted to input
>user's name and will be referred to as such throughout
> There will be an animated character (very simple character) in
>order to stimulate the user and to guide them and possible give helpful
>hints
> Images depicting the country such as wildlife and vegetation as
>well as sound effects will also be on the detail screens
>
>We have the data, we have the sources, and we have our screens all mapped
>out...flowchart and all. We will initially cover the first 50-100 highest
>populated countries and will add more data if time permits. This sounds all
>find and dandy for a group of seniors to tackle, right?
>
>Problem is, none of us know Squeak and we never programmed in Smalltalk. All
>of our members except myself (still waiting on Amazon to ship it) have
>purchased the Squeak book by Mark Guzdial. Those who have bought the book
>are having a difficult time grasping the concept. All of us mainly have
>knowledge in procedural languages such as Pascal and C. Not really strong
>OOP experience. Though I have scratched the surface almost five years ago
>with objects and inheritance in a C++ course.
>
>Can someone give us some helpful hints as to what we can do to accomplish
>our goals? My thing is I need some sample Squeak code...any code just to
>test run and get used to the new platform. I have read an excellent online
>tutorial about Smalltalk and with guidance from my aids, I think I can begin
>some simple code.
>
>Also, how should I arrange our data? Flat text files? If so, how does Squeak
>read outside data? I know that if you're using records in Pascal, you have
>to declare the amount of space for each record. From all of the Squeak
>information I printed out, I saw nothing that could aid us in this endeavor.
>I have no idea where to start as far as arranging my data on disc to be used
>by the program later. I at least want to have that part of the program under
>our belt.
>
>It would absolutely be appreciated if someone can help us out. Someone
>recommended that I subscribe to the list and that people here are extremely
>helpful. Our project is due in December. We may not get much accomplished,
>but I would like to be able to say that we put forth an effort to learn
>Squeak.
>
>Thank for reading and any and all suggestions will be GREATLY appreciated!


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