Requirements for all Simulation Programming Challenges
What I want is for you to
attain a sense of entitlement, a sense of ownership, mastery and control
over what the computer can do for you by continually improving your skills in
coding, experimenting with and evaluating simulations.
ENHANCE - EXPLORE - EXPERIMENT - EVALUATE - ENJOY
You can do this by:
Enhancing the functionality or visualization of the application with suggestions
in code or pseudocode.
Exporing the range of behaviors it explains - the spaces of possible and impossible
consequences.
Experimenting with its behavior under specific different configurations and
conditions.
Evaluating its strengths and weaknesses relative to other competing forms of
representation.
Enjoying worlds which are only limited by your imagination.
IDEA -> PSEUDOCODE -> CODE
When you beging to think
about some Human Complex System, ideas bubble up in your mind in some sort of
mental model or cognitive representation.
To get a better grasp on that idea you try to articulate it in natural language.
If you are an artist, you may try to express it as performance, music, or imagery.
If you are a humanist, you may try to express it as an essay, literature or
poem.
As a scientist, you may try to espress it mathematically, diagrammatically,
or as a physical or simulated model.
Think about all these different ways of re-presentating (representating) your
ideas as you
express them in intervening media (pseudocode) on your way to writing valid
code.
Code - is the valid "source
code" that can be understood by a computer.
Pseudocode - is an intermediate step between natural language and valid code.
HERE IS WHAT TO HAND IN: All of the following inside a clear sheet protector. |
Please be prepared to demonstrate your work in class... |
COVER SHEET Your name, challenge number and title clearly at the top. A color screen shot highlighting the most impressive aspect of your work. A brief executive summary of everything that you have done. |
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NARRATIVE REPORT Explore
- Thoroughly familiarize yourself with the application. Briefly
review how the simulation works. |
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YOUR SIMULATION A CD-ROM containing your complete project folder, labelled in ink with your name and challenge number and placed within its own protective sleeve. A printout of the code blocks that
you have created, modified and changed. Mark these clearly with comments: |
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