Chapter 5: Methods and Parameters Alice


The following programs are to be completed in the Alice developers environment.

Gallop and Jump, Due Thursday 11/16
Kelly (people) has entered an equestrian show as an amateur jumper.  She is somewhat nervous about the competition so she and her horse (animals) are practicing a jump.  Create an intitial scene with a horse and rider facing a fence (Buildings).  Write two world level methods, one named gallop (horse and rider gallop forward one step) and another named jump (horse and ride jump the fence).  In the gallop method the horse's front legs should lift and then go down as the back legs lift and the horse moves forward.  Then the back legs should go back down.  The jump method should be similar, but the horse should move up far enough to clear the fence in mid stride.  Test each method to be sure it woks as expected.

Helicopter Flight, Due Friday 11/17
Create a world with a helicopter (vehicles in web gallery), airport (buildings), and a control tower (buildings).  Create a circleTower method that makes the helicopter fly toward the control tower and then around it.  In my first method, call the circleTower method twice and then make the helicopter land on the airport landing strip.

Magic Act, Due Monday 11/20
A magician is performing a levitation illusion, in which objects seem to rise mgically into the air.  The magician (people) points a magic wand (objects) at his assistant (Girl from people folder) and she gently rises into the air and floats back down to her original opision on the table (furnature in web gallery).  The magician performs the same trick with the rabbit (Animals).  The rabbit, being a lighter object, floats up higher than the magician's assistant.  Because the magician's assitant and rabbit are each to levitate in the same way, use a single method and use parameters to communicate which object is to float and the distance the object is to move upwards (and back down).

Funky Chicken Dance, Due Wednesday 11/23
Starting with a basic chicken, create a class-level method walk that will have the chicken perform a relalistic stepping motion consisting of a left setp followed by a right step.  Create a second method to make the chicken perform a funkyChicken danse, where the chicken walks and twists its body in all different directions!  Save the chicken as a new class named CoolChicken.  Create a new world and add a CoolChicken to the world.  In myFirstMethod, call the walk and funkyChicken methods.  Play a sound file or use a say instruction to accompany the funky chicken dance animation.

Clean Up Act, Due Monday 11/27
Create a scene of a room with toys scattered around the floor.  The gorilla robot (SciFi) can be programmed to pick up things in the room and around the floor and put them behind the door in the closetRoom (environments on web gallery).  The initial scene for this animation the robot is standing in the center of the room near several objects scatttered around the floor.  Write a program to teach the robot to pick up one object at a time and put it in the closet.  Write three class level methods named pickup, putdown, and putInCloset.  The methods should have one parameter identifying the object to be picked up or put down.  The pickup method should make the robot put the object in his hand.  The putdown method should have the robot put the object down.  The putInCloset method should make the robot turn one half revolution and move to the door.  The door opens and the robot puts down the object.  When these methods have been written, then write instructions in myfirst method to make the robot pick up objects and put them in the closet.

Typing Tutor, Due Wednesday 11/29
In this exercise, you are to create a typing tutor that encouages beginning typists to type a specific set of letters.  Use 3D text letters (3D text folder) to create a word in the world, (for example you could create the word ALICE with the letters A, L, I, C, and E.  and create a method for each letter that spins the letter two times.  When the user types a letterkey on the keyboard that matches the letter on the screen, the letter on the screen should perform its spin method.  Also include an additional method, spinWord, which spins all the letters when the user presses the space bar.

Snow Festival, Due Thursday 11/30
Your team has created a snowman as the centerpiece of an entry in the winter snow festival competition.  To attract to your display, you have set up colored spotlights that will turn the color of the snowman any one of the four different colors.  Create an initial world with four spotlights (spheres from the shapes folder) and a snowman.  Write only one method to change the color of the snowman.  When the user clics on a spotlight pass the color of the spotlight to the method and make the snowman change to be that color.