Repeat?

Fri Feb 21 09:22:06 PST 2003

Kim,
Once again your advice is invaluable, however, I also see that I could 
be using Stack/cards instead of Book/pages. What's the difference?
I'm inclined to use the Stack since I used to work in and teach 
HyperCard.

Alan has referred to the "widgets" flap several times. Is that 
synonymous with the Supplies flap that I see?

Phil

On Thursday, February 20, 2003, at 05:32 PM, Alan Kay wrote:

> This allows the pages in a book to be of a difference size. However, 
> there is also a menu command on the book to make all the pages in the 
> book the size of the page that is currently showing. I would advise 
> looking at the balloon help in the book UI (at the top), to click on 
> the "more options" button (diamond shaped to the right) and to look at 
> the main menu (the big dot in the center).
>
> If you want to have separate environments for etoys on each page, 
> these can be obtained from the "widgets" flap and have the label 
> "scripting".
>
> Cheers,
>
> Alan
>
> -------
>
> At 11:17 AM -0800 2/20/03, Kim Rose wrote:
>
> Hi, Phil -
>
> Yes..a "book" would work for want you want.  When resizing be sure you 
> have selected the handles for the "page" -- that is the part of the 
> book which can be resized (as opposed to the "book").  Clicking once 
> (and holding alt or Command) will reveal the handles for the "book".  
> Clicking a second time will show the handles for the "page" -- this is 
> what you will/can resize. (Clicking on the top will reveal handles for 
> the "page controls".)
>
>  -- Kim
>
>
>
>
> OK, now that I've gotten control of the speed my object moves and I 
> can see (using a watcher) the value of the slider which determines the 
> number of "steps" my object moves,  I'm ready to move on to the next 
> stage of this project. I need another "page" or "screen." What are my 
> options here? I found the Book element in the Supplies bin. I haven't 
> done it yet, but I'm assuming I can drag all of the objects I've 
> created thus far on to a page in the book and then create new pages. 
> I'm having difficulty resizing the page, though. The standard resizing 
> tool isn't working...I've looked through the Book menus but haven't 
> found an option that allows me to resize.
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, February 19, 2003, at 11:48 AM, Alan Kay wrote:
>
>
> Hi Phil --
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> At 11:00 AM -0500 2/19/03, Phil Firsenbaum wrote:
>
>
>
> Thanks much for the help with repeating a script...I think I've got 
> the idea now. Any script can be repeated by using a conditional (test) 
> statement (if that's the right nomenclature).
>
>
>
>
>
> Not exactly. Any script can be repeated (period). You can get it to 
> repeat by clicking on the clock (on the script, in the viewer, or on 
> the go, step, stop button found in "Widgets"), or by holding down 
> where it says "normal" and choosing "ticking", or by sending it a 
> message - to start up script "car foo":
>
>                  car start script foo
>
> These tiles are found under the category "scripting".
>
>
>
> Looking at your picture, I see that the scripts "startRepeat" and 
> "setup1" are both paused, which means they must once have been 
> ticking. But neither of these scripts should be looped. They are both 
> designed to be run once, they should be set to "normal".
>
>
>
> So, here's my project thus far. Activating the first script moves the 
> object (Roam1) based on the value of the slider (light blue 
> rectangle). Now, I'd like to be able to show that value without using 
> the object's Viewer.
>
>
>
>
>
> Go into the viewer and look at the menu associated with the slider's 
> "numericValue" property. The menu includes choices for a "simple 
> watcher" and a "fancy watcher". The first just gives you a number that 
> will reflect the the value of the property, the second will give you a 
> UI for this value that includes a label and the ability to set the 
> value from the UI (this is the option that is usually most useful for 
> children).
>
>
>
>  My initial goal with this project (in addition to learning how to 
> create it for myself) is to have 1st and 2nd graders work with 
> estimating distance and number values...they will set the value of the 
> slider as they attempt to get the object to land in the box at the top 
> of the track.
>
>
>
>
>
> forward 30 is too long a distance -- it will be about 1/3" on some 
> screens.
>
>
>
> I've also been trying to slow down the movement of the object so that 
> kids can see more clearly what is happening. Haven't figured that one 
> out yet either.
>
>
>
>
>
> Press down on the clock in a script and hold it until a menu appears. 
> This will allow you to set how many ticks per second the script will 
> execute. (This can also be programmed by hand using a variable to hold 
> a delay count.)
>
>
>
> Another way to slow it down and get some precision would be to just do 
> "Roam1 forward 1".
>
>
>
> I think there might be a somewhat richer approach to this project, 
> that allows the children to do some scripting rather than just use 
> what the teacher has provided. Let me know if you are interested in 
> exploring this.
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
>
> Alan
>
>
>
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>
> On Monday, February 17, 2003, at 10:38 PM, Alan Kay wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> Well, each script can repeat over and over -- so this is quite doable. 
> However, there is not a case tile (like Test) for parameterized 
> Repeats (though we could certainly make one). However, I think that 
> part of the wide spread success of the current system is how few 
> features it has -- it relies mostly on having a good object system 
> plus a few programming features.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Here's how to do it. Suppose you know how many steps of 30 that need 
> to be traversed and you have that number in a variable called 
> "steps"....
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Then you just have to build the three cases of the loop -- startup, 
> looping, and ending.
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> <image.tiff>
>
>
>
> This can be done in one script, but it is clearer and cleaner to use 
> two scripts.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> There are many ways to write these scripts. This one makes it quite 
> clear how many iterations have been done.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Now, having shown how to do this, it is rarely the case that a student 
> will need to write a script like this, especially for robots. You are 
> much better off having them write a script that finds the destination 
> rather than measures it. This is simpler, clearer, and more general. 
> You can see some of these ideas in the feedback projects on 
> squeakland.org (particularly those that get cars to follow roads). 
> Here is a simple example of what I mean:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> <image.tiff>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> This script will work regardless of the distance between the two blobs.
>
>
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>
>
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Alan
>
>
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>
>
>
>
> ---------
>
>
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>
> At 8:46 PM -0500 2/17/03, Phil Firsenbaum wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> I'm working on a little project (i'll use it with younger students if 
> I get it to work). It involves getting an object move a certain number 
> of "steps" (each being a forward 30) in order to go from one point to 
> another. It's actually a simulation of work being done with Roamer 
> floor robots.
>
>
>
> Anyhow I want the students to be able to figure out how many "steps" 
> the object needs to take...I thought if I could script a repeat tile I 
> could accomplish this part of the project pretty nicely. I haven't 
> seen anything about repeats, though, in the etoy environment. Does it 
> exist? If not, any thoughts anyone?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Phil
>
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> --
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>  
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> --
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> -- 
>

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