Hypercompendia

…or rather, would I be? 

Your programmer personality type is:

   DHSC

You’re a Doer.
You are very quick at getting tasks done. You believe the outcome is the most important part of a task and the faster you can reach that outcome the better. After all, time is money.

You like coding at a High level.
The world is made up of objects and components, you should create your programs in the same way.

You work best in a Solo situation.
The best way to program is by yourself. There’s no communication problems, you know every part of the code allowing you to write the best programs possible.

You are a Conservative programmer.
The less code you write, the less chance there is of it containing a bug. You write short and to the point code that gets the job done efficiently.

Take the quick quiz here. (Thanks to J-Walk for the link)

Now that’s service, from a third party dealer through Amazon; ordered on Monday, got it by Friday: Learning to Program with Alice (Dann, Cooper and Pausch).

Got it minutes ago–like three–and just flipping through it came across the answer to my walking question–Repetition with a Loop.  I know I did click the Loop tab but a calculator came up so I wasn’t sure what to do with it.  Besides, I also would have had to know enough to drag it to the Editor.

This is exciting!

I may still be too old to want to be a mom, but this might make a good grandchild.

I wonder if it’ll like gardening and framing and washing dishes and making dinner and vacuuming while I play on the computer.

Here’s where I hit a block to overcome before I proceed further.  I found a separate module to have the Mad Scientist, now named Dr. Roderick V. Sheutzenheimer, walk rather than the glide I was using, but two little problems came with it.  First, he only takes a couple steps in the pre-coded module and I’m not sure how I get it to continue for a further distance (ah, just got the thought that maybe distance rather than repeat is the way–I’ll have to check).  The second glitch is that the code has him moving his head left and right as he walks, and that’s not something I want.  Actually, that gives me the idea right now that i could just make a new module that doesn’t include the head swinging.  And that would eliminate the third problem–where to make the edits.

For one thing, it looks like I can edit it right from the Methods window, but will that edit that method forever, both within the scene and within the program?  Another way seems to be when it is open in the large window that details each movement that constitutes the walk.  The head swing is there and I may be able to take it out.  The concern is again that I don’t want to mess something up and change the original but rather just to change it for this one segment.

I’ll be looking at other projects to see what the coding is for a smooth, maybe ten-step walk.  And I’m patiently waiting for the textbook to come in which I hope to have by the weekend.

In the meantime, I am working on Socrates.

Got a character walking and talking–although the walking is really only a gliding movement and the talk is a cartoon bubble.  I’m sure there’s a way of recording sound and inserting it in place so that we can have some munchkin audio conversation going here.

There are the tutorials, and one of the most useful elements of them and the fact that you can download any of the user videos is that it allows viewing the script to see how things have been accomplished.  It would have been helpful to have a help index of at least some of the simpler moves, such as my question about sound or walking for example.  Because I’m enjoying this so far and realize that while it is actually quite a powerful program, it can be manipulated easily enough to make some simple yet interesting and nice-looking videos, I have ordered one of the texts, Learning to Program with Alice, from Amazon, used.  There will be a new version of Alice coming out and along with it, updated text, I’m sure.  On the forum it was mentioned that there had been a downloadable version of this original text, but I haven’t found it and buying a used version seemed reasonable since I’m anxious to have the info quickly and easily available.

So now I’m going to get Socrates to lift his arm and greet the Mad Scientist, welcoming him into the garden environment.  I need a bench, and I imported a table thinking I may be able to size it about right for use as such.

This isn’t going to be a week-long project; it’ll likely take a while to first produce a simple short clip, and then work to tweak it out to a bit more elaborate (decent-looking) piece, and then move on to a continual learning process and create new projects. 

Progress meaning I fixed the decapitation I performed on the Mad Scientist (will come up with a name for him shortly) but I did watch it a few more times just for giggles.  Working now on making him take a few steps into the garden after he spots Socrates standing there.  Will then have Socrates greet him and a dialogue begin.

That’s the part I’m curious about, the speaking.  I can record a voice, I think, but I need more info than the four tutorials offer.  I’m looking into getting one of the textbooks since I think that even with the FAQ and forum, it would be easiest to have a place to find an answer quickly when something comes up.

While Alice looks like it can get quite complicated, I think that if I keep it simple to start and don’t go off on a tangent about details and such, it’s do-able, even for one such as I who loves to play but is easily frustrated by complicated instructions when the creative spirit strikes.

In my first attempt at assigning motion to a character, I did the right procedure–it’s easy enough–but didn’t really know what the actions (and distances) would do.  I have the Mad Scientist entering the garden area (that’s him on the right) and upon seeing Socrates (by the tree), he’d shake his head left, then right, then focus on Socrates.

Well, his head jerked off to the left, zipped to the right, then flew forward and landed on the ground beside Socrates! Notice the lump laying at his feet.

What I should have done, of course, is rotate his head–not move it! This is a case of learning the language. I’m done laughing and am getting serious now.  What do you think the philosophical Socrates would have to say at this point in the story?

Leave it to me to find a way to stall the process; with Socrates and the Mad Scientist, just think what an interesting dialogue I can write.

So now there’s story to think of first.

Though I haven’t done anything with it for a long time, I believe that if I ever get back into writing and working on my hypertext project, the decision to use Storyspace as a base in laying out the stories will be the way to go.

I’ve played with cheaper but similar programs, CAD programs, programs meant to make company flowcharts, plain old pencil and graph paper, but Storyspace is really best geared for what I was planning to do with the least amount of compromise and effort.  Though I can’t justify the expense for the software now, especially if I’m not mentally into creative writing, this will be the software I’d plan on getting.

I laughed out loud.  I’m still giggling with a silly-ass grin on my face.

I decided to change the characters in my world as the first row of loops begins to macrame into a story.  Hadn’t realized that there was a grouping of people available beyond the fairies, so I imported Socrates and a mad scientist. Since the fantasy figure LichenZenspider didn’t quite fit the scenario forming in my mind, I deleted him.

Well.  He jerked his head around to stare out of the screen at me, glared, spun around and disappeared!

I love it!

There’s also, I believe, base characters of a female and male that look to be something that can be shaped and moulded into more original characters.  These are available for download from the Alice site, as are many more objects and environments, through the courtesty of users willing to share their creations.