From ewbrown at andrew.cmu.edu  Mon Aug 23 12:57:25 2021
From: ewbrown at andrew.cmu.edu (Eric Brown)
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2021 09:57:25 -0700
Subject: alice-teacher Alice 3.6.0.2 Released
Message-ID: <728B78A3-B28B-47B9-B06C-D6208060B6A3@andrew.cmu.edu>

Dear All,

I apologize that this release came a couple weeks later than intended so may not have come early enough for many school computer labs and machines.  It does have a number of good performance improvements but nothing that changes functionality drastically.  We did address many bugs reported to us from the community (release notes below).  I have moved the 3.6.0.1 download links into the archived section at the bottom of the page for those that will need students to use that version.  We did finally get a signed version for PC that should help with security settings (it is a reputation building CMU cert so will still show until we build that up but finally moving in the right direction).  Unfortunately we could not get the Mac cert from CMU in time.  We will continue to work on that and may push out a patch release when we can get them inserted to finally help us with that (we know this has been an issue for a long time).

In upcoming news:  We have been working hard on getting our player to work with webgl and made some other changes that we hope will lead to us pushing out a release soon that will allow student to publish their projects to the web.  The player code will also be open sourced which will allow us to publish a how to that will enable students to download the code, insert their world file and actually build using Unity and then release their own app and distribute however they would like (this will definitely be better than the current how to that I put out that shows them how to do this in a work around fashion).

Sincerely,

Eric

? Installers for the Raspberry Pi (arm architecture) along with other Linux build improvements. Downloading, Installing, and Running Alice has details
? Signed builds for Windows
? Newer version of JOGL (prerelease of 2.4.0) for Windows and Linux

Features
? Improved Collision/Proximity detection
? Tighter collision hulls for objects
? Reduced screen redraws to fight flicker
? Default save/export filenames
? More translations

Bug fixes
? Keyboard movement for [ and ] move in different directions
? Report some recognized states to users with simple messages, rather than the red queen
? Graceful handling when a model's vehicle is deleted or not present in the save file
? Thought bubbles no longer occluded by tail bubbles
? Prevent exceptions around Person generation
? Prevent closed dialogs from being treated as accepted
? Better handling of strange characters in identifiers
? And others

From litomd at gmail.com  Mon Aug 23 16:26:34 2021
From: litomd at gmail.com (Leonel Morales)
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2021 14:26:34 -0600
Subject: alice-teacher Alice 3.6.0.2 Released
In-Reply-To: <728B78A3-B28B-47B9-B06C-D6208060B6A3@andrew.cmu.edu>
References: <728B78A3-B28B-47B9-B06C-D6208060B6A3@andrew.cmu.edu>
Message-ID: <CAMuM=xwFpg0JWur2n6=58tcdWjbTkvNSwTdZVv=V0SbKDu-5_g@mail.gmail.com>

Hi Eric,

Great news!!! Went directly to download and install the new version.
Eager to test the new collision detection!

I was curious to see if a bug I stumbled upon recently was fixed and I
guess it was not. Is this.

Create a new project, add a character (capable of say) and make it say
"Hello [emoji]" like "Hello ?". It will run fine. Save and close the
project. When you try to open the project again it will show the red
queen and the file won't open.

People is starting to use emojis everywhere and eventually students
will want to include them in dialogues in Alice.

Best regards,

Leonel


2021-08-23 10:57 GMT-06:00, Eric Brown <ewbrown at andrew.cmu.edu>:
> Dear All,
>
> I apologize that this release came a couple weeks later than intended so may
> not have come early enough for many school computer labs and machines.  It
> does have a number of good performance improvements but nothing that changes
> functionality drastically.  We did address many bugs reported to us from the
> community (release notes below).  I have moved the 3.6.0.1 download links
> into the archived section at the bottom of the page for those that will need
> students to use that version.  We did finally get a signed version for PC
> that should help with security settings (it is a reputation building CMU
> cert so will still show until we build that up but finally moving in the
> right direction).  Unfortunately we could not get the Mac cert from CMU in
> time.  We will continue to work on that and may push out a patch release
> when we can get them inserted to finally help us with that (we know this has
> been an issue for a long time).
>
> In upcoming news:  We have been working hard on getting our player to work
> with webgl and made some other changes that we hope will lead to us pushing
> out a release soon that will allow student to publish their projects to the
> web.  The player code will also be open sourced which will allow us to
> publish a how to that will enable students to download the code, insert
> their world file and actually build using Unity and then release their own
> app and distribute however they would like (this will definitely be better
> than the current how to that I put out that shows them how to do this in a
> work around fashion).
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Eric
>
> ? Installers for the Raspberry Pi (arm architecture) along with other Linux
> build improvements. Downloading, Installing, and Running Alice has details
> ? Signed builds for Windows
> ? Newer version of JOGL (prerelease of 2.4.0) for Windows and Linux
>
> Features
> ? Improved Collision/Proximity detection
> ? Tighter collision hulls for objects
> ? Reduced screen redraws to fight flicker
> ? Default save/export filenames
> ? More translations
>
> Bug fixes
> ? Keyboard movement for [ and ] move in different directions
> ? Report some recognized states to users with simple messages, rather than
> the red queen
> ? Graceful handling when a model's vehicle is deleted or not present in the
> save file
> ? Thought bubbles no longer occluded by tail bubbles
> ? Prevent exceptions around Person generation
> ? Prevent closed dialogs from being treated as accepted
> ? Better handling of strange characters in identifiers
> ? And others
> _______________________________________________
> alice-teachers mailing list
> alice-teachers at lists.andrew.cmu.edu
> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
> https://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/mailman/listinfo/alice-teachers

From hkunselman at d92.org  Tue Aug 31 13:03:00 2021
From: hkunselman at d92.org (Heidi Kunselman)
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2021 12:03:00 -0500
Subject: alice-teacher SOPPA restrictions, java and security
Message-ID: <CAAR8Rs8HGZJb=wU8zTc8E0oqAj8+qNqDjyj+kiRdUNDxtS=igQ@mail.gmail.com>

Donald and Eric
I have been using Alice for 10 years and have built 2 middle school
curriculums  around alice 2 and 3. I teach at a Chicago suburban school but
I am originally from PA and a true Steeler and CMU fan. (If you remember
Don, I took the training course in the summer a few years back.) I love
this program, along with the challenges and learning benefits it gives to
my students.   I was wondering about the security risks using Java as the
backbone of this program. They are tightening up the types of software and
apps we can use because of SOPPA. I do not have a lot of knowledge in
regards to networks and security risks.  Can The Alice program be run
without a high security risk? Any explanation would be appreciated so I can
validate the use to my new district tech administrator and continue to keep
students engaged in programming with Alice.

Any Help would be appreciated
Heidi Kunselman

Heidi Kunselman
Technology Teacher
First Tech Robotics Mentor
Oak Prairie J.H.
Will County School District 92
815-836-2724 ext. 3248

*"If you can dream it, you can do it !"*  ~Walt Disney
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From wbarnum at elmhurst205.org  Tue Aug 31 23:14:28 2021
From: wbarnum at elmhurst205.org (Barnum, William)
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2021 22:14:28 -0500
Subject: alice-teacher SOPPA restrictions, java and security
In-Reply-To: <CAAR8Rs8HGZJb=wU8zTc8E0oqAj8+qNqDjyj+kiRdUNDxtS=igQ@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAAR8Rs8HGZJb=wU8zTc8E0oqAj8+qNqDjyj+kiRdUNDxtS=igQ@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAMDLx6E24neeuYYaYHfdJ7qJG=LBXucqOusZ0+H_e2CurQqeDQ@mail.gmail.com>

Heidi,

I work in Illinois and am familiar with some of the things that you
mentioned.

Alice is definitely not affected by SOPPA because students don't create
online accounts.

This is not my area of expertise, but I believe Java security risks come
from Java operating in a web browser. Your IT people could disable Java
from operating in the web browser, which should protect you from
vulnerabilities. Alice would still be able to function as a stand-alone
application. Perhaps someone who knows more about this could weigh in.

Bill Barnum
Computer Science Teacher
York Community High School

On Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 5:37 PM Heidi Kunselman <hkunselman at d92.org> wrote:

> Donald and Eric
> I have been using Alice for 10 years and have built 2 middle school
> curriculums  around alice 2 and 3. I teach at a Chicago suburban school but
> I am originally from PA and a true Steeler and CMU fan. (If you remember
> Don, I took the training course in the summer a few years back.) I love
> this program, along with the challenges and learning benefits it gives to
> my students.   I was wondering about the security risks using Java as the
> backbone of this program. They are tightening up the types of software and
> apps we can use because of SOPPA. I do not have a lot of knowledge in
> regards to networks and security risks.  Can The Alice program be run
> without a high security risk? Any explanation would be appreciated so I can
> validate the use to my new district tech administrator and continue to keep
> students engaged in programming with Alice.
>
> Any Help would be appreciated
> Heidi Kunselman
>
> Heidi Kunselman
> Technology Teacher
> First Tech Robotics Mentor
> Oak Prairie J.H.
> Will County School District 92
> 815-836-2724 ext. 3248
>
> *"If you can dream it, you can do it !"*  ~Walt Disney
> _______________________________________________
> alice-teachers mailing list
> alice-teachers at lists.andrew.cmu.edu
> To change settings or unsubscribe visit:
> https://lists.andrew.cmu.edu/mailman/listinfo/alice-teachers

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