This study guide provides the objectives, requirements, and timetable for this course.

Contact Information.

Introduction

The fusion of various media (sound, pictures, animation, movies) into the computer has occurred. Today it is relatively easy to create applications that allow users to navigate among various media. This course is about designing these applications. We use a high level programming language and various media specific tools to create media and then to allow users to access the various media.

In this course you will be learning how to use many diverse computer tools and to program in the language Lingo. You will be required to create asthetically pleasing graphics, innovative animation, and combine the results with appropriate sounds. You will also learn how to write scripts that allow your program to interact with a user and to determine when to display movies, graphics, etc.

Warning. This is a difficult course. The first 4 weeks are straightforward if you have used computers before. When we begin to talk about Lingo, however, the course becomes much more difficult. There are a myrid of intricate details that must be mastered. Though each detail is in itself easily grasped, the sum of details can be staggering and you will spend a lot of time on the computer completing assignments.

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Required Textbooks.

Macromedia Director 8 Shockwave Studio, Illustrated complete, Steven M. Johnson, Course Technology/Thomson Learning, 2001. This book will be your primary source for labs in the first part of the course.

Director 7 Demystified, Jason Roberts and Phil Gross, Peachpit Press, 1999. We will use this book extensively during most of the course as a reference.

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Communication

• Class lectures will not exactly follow the texts. You are expected to attend all classes and attendence will be taken.

• You are accountable for all material covered, all announcements made, and all handouts given out during class.

• Ways to reach me:

  • Come during office hours!!!

  • Send electronic mail to barr@ithaca.edu or call me at 274-3579.
    

  • Leave a note (including your name, schedule, phone number and userid) either under my door in 401A Williams or in my mailbox in the Math/Computer Science Department Office (212 Williams).

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Grading

Grading will be based on the following events:

Labs and postLabs (10-12 total of each; each 10 pts) 30%

Exams (2 exams; each 100pts) 30%. Exams will take place at night on Thursday, 6 March and Thursday, 24 April.

Projects (2; 200pts) 30%.

Class Participation 10%.

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Assignments

1. Class attendance is mandatory. You are responsible for all material and announcements given in class. If you miss a class you are responsible for obtaining the missed material/announcements. Missing 4 classes will lower your grade by one half of letter, e.g., an A becomes an A-. If you miss more than 8 classes I will withdraw you from the course.

2. All assignments other than Labs are expected to be INDIVIDUAL work. Thus postlabs, projects, and exams must be completed individually. All work handed in must be original. Duplicate or very similar assignments receive negative grades. Flagrant cheating (on an exam or project, or on laboratories) will result in (at minimum) a FAILING GRADE for the course. General discussion is allowed, but not sharing of answers, algorithms, or scripts.

3. SAVE your intermediate work until an assignment has been graded, returned, and recorded. KEEP backup copies of the final versions of your labs and projects. NEVER leave script listings lying around or throw them away in public areas.

4. Assignments are to be turned in either before or after class by placing them into the appropriate directory. You may work on any platform in any lab, but your final product must run on Macintosh computers. I will run all labs, postlabs and projects myself on a Macintosh computer.

5. Graded assignments will be returned in class. Work unclaimed in class may be picked up later from outside my office. If you have a question on a grade, bring it to my attention within one week of the assignment's return.

6. Periodically, I will electronically post grades as we have them recorded. It is your responsibility to check these listings to ensure their correctness, within one week of the posting.

7. You are responsibile for checking your grades on the class gradesheet and verifying that they are recorded correctly. If a grade is recorded incorrectly, you must present the graded assignment with the correct grade. So keep all your graded assignments until you have verified that they are correctly recorded.

8. Handwritten assignments should be neat and easy to read (Or else type them!). Include your name and section number on every page and in every movie (as an opening sequence).

9. It is more productive to use the computer for entering, editing, and running scripts, and then spend time AWAY from the machine debugging a script.

10. Good movies include using asthetically pleasing and functionally elegant interfaces. Your grade is not solely determined by whether or not a program "works", but on the overall "look and feel" of the movie.

11. Every movie must contain an opening sequence giving your name, section and the assignment number. This introductory sequence should briefly describe the purpose of the movie, describe how to navigate within the movie, etc.

12. A late assignment will have 33% of the points deducted from the grade if it is turned in within 24 hours after the due time, 67% deducted if within 48 hours. After 48 hours an assignment will be marked but no credit will be given. Always turn in whatever work is done at the due time. You should have something FINISHED (i.e., functioning and commented), even if the entire assignment isn't completed. Individual exceptions should be discussed with me in advance.

13. Don't get behind in this class! Start each assignment as soon as it is handed out, so that you have time to ask questions and can use your time wisely.

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Last updated on January 16, 2003 by John Barr