alice-teacher Text version of Alice Objects

[Francis, Howard]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for a Java implementation of Alice Objects in text form. Now, before you think I'm crazy, let me explain. 

Alice has proven to be to be a great teaching tool, but I, like many others, have found it difficult to guide students through the transition from Alice to Java. There aren't many resources - I'm aware of just two books (Adams' "Alice in Action with Java", and Lewis/DePasquale's "Programming with Alice & Java") - and neither seemed to work for my students.

However, one of my best lab meetings ever in that class was after working an example from Chapter 4 of Adams' book, I redid it in Java, with my students following along. We put the code side by side to show the similarities and different. This simple text example (output shown below) I think really reinforced how Alice and Java are related.

I plan on doing activities all through my course the next time I teach it, so having a library of Alice classes implemented with bland text in Java would provide an intermediate step between a traditional Alice program and a traditional Java one. 

I plan on writing such an implementation over winter break, but if someone perhaps has already done that, then that could save me a lot of time.

Thanks,

Howard


Mr. Howard V Francis
Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science
Pikeville College
Pikeville, KY 41501

OUTPUT OF SIMPLE PROGRAM BELOW ---- (I can provide source files if anyone wants them)

Hello!


Can you understand me?
     *** nods YES ***
Can you speak?
     *** shakes NO ***
Can you only answer yes or no questions?
     *** nods YES ***
Are you a tame dragon?
     *** shakes NO ***