Alan,
    When you do sketch out how to do this, can you mail it to this list (or
some other list and let me know)--I'd hate to not also benefit from your
effort.  Thanks.
-- 
Randy Siler               Coordinator, CIDR Computing
Center for Instructional Development & Research
396 Bagley Hall, BOX 351725               VOICE: 206/543-6588
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON           FAX: 206/685-1213
SEATTLE, WA 98195-1725                EMAIL: siler at cidr.washington.edu
> From: Alan Kay <Alan.Kay at squeakland.org>
> Reply-To: squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org
> Date: Sat, 13 Oct 2001 08:20:19 -0800
> To: squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org
> Subject: Re: I'm a beginner who has never used Squeak. Please Help.
> 
> 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):
>> 
>> &#61623; 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)
>> &#61623; 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
>> &#61623; The user in the beginning of the program will be prompted to input
>> user's name and will be referred to as such throughout
>> &#61623; There will be an animated character (very simple character) in
>> order to stimulate the user and to guide them and possible give helpful
>> hints
>> &#61623; 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!
> 
> 
> -- 
> 
> 
> 
>