Learn to Program using Alice

Slide Index for the Lesson Titled

Data Types and Variables

Published:  June 4, 2007
By Richard G. Baldwin
Instructions for viewing slides

File:  Alice0140SlideIndex.htm

Figures

• Figure 1. Coach reporting width without variables in program Alice0140a.
• Figure 2. Coach doing a little dance in program Alice0140a.
• Figure 3. Coach reporting width using variables in program Alice0140a.
• Figure 4. Coach reporting width using variables in program Alice0140a.
• Figure 5. Screen shot of edit pane for program Alice0140a.
• Figure 6. Dialog for declaring and initializing a new local variable.
• Figure 7. Numeric user input dialog.
• Figure 8. Input dialog for coach's name.
• Figure 9. Program output for coach's name.
• Figure 10. Input dialog for coach's age.
• Figure 11. Program output for coach's age.

Listings

• Listing 1. Source code for program named Alice0140a
• Listing 2. Source code for the program named Alice0140b.

Slides

• Alice0140aa Purpose of the lesson
• Alice0140ab Different types of animals
• Alice0140ac Think of data as dogs, cats, bears, etc.
• Alice0140ad Data types in Alice
• Alice0140ae Four types are general purpose
• Alice0140af Type Number
• Alice0140ag A single numeric type
• Alice0140ah Type Boolean
• Alice0140ai Type Object
• Alice0140aj Type String
• Alice0140ak Can only store data in compatible types
• Alice0140al Creating a new type
• Alice0140am That sums it up
• Alice0140an Variables
• Alice0140ao A special type of hanger for trousers
• Alice0140ap Special hangers for suit coats and shirts
• Alice0140aq Variables are analogous to hangers
• Alice0140ar The locations of variables
• Alice0140as Local variables, instance variables, and properties
• Alice0140at The lifetime of local variables
• Alice0140au The lifetime of object variables (properties)
• Alice0140av Preview
• Alice0140aw Properties or property variables
• Alice0140ax The program named Alice0140a
• Alice0140ay Coach displayed width in a comic-strip bubble
• Alice0140az It's time to simplify that code using variables
• Alice0140ba Procedure for writing the program
• Alice0140bb Screen shots from the program
• Alice0140bc Do a little dance
• Alice0140bd Results from code that uses variables
• Alice0140be More output from code that uses variables
• Alice0140bf Source code for the program named Alice0140a
• Alice0140bg Interesting new code
• Alice0140bh Declaring and initializing variables
• Alice0140bi Procedure for creating a new local variable
• Alice0140bj An aside:  Creating a new property variable
• Alice0140bk Create and initialize the new variable
• Alice0140bl Variables used in this program
• Alice0140bm Variables used in this program (cont'd)
• Alice0140bn Procedure for using local variables in program code
• Alice0140bo Procedure for using local variables in program code (cont'd)
• Alice0140bp Description of the program code
• Alice0140bq Description of the program code (cont'd)
• Alice0140br Behavior of the remainder of the program
• Alice0140bs The program named Alice0140b
• Alice0140bt Upgrade to produce program Alice0140b
• Alice0140bu Source code for the program named Alice0140b
• Alice0140bv Get the number of revolutions from the user
• Alice0140bw A modal dialog
• Alice0140bx Entry of non-numeric data
• Alice0140by Entry of numeric data
• Alice0140bz Using the user-input value
• Alice0140ca Otherwise no different
• Alice0140cb What's next?
• Alice0140cc Lab project
• Alice0140cd The processData method

Instructions

The above material corresponds to a particular tutorial lesson and consists of up to three separate lists:  figures, program listings, and slides.  .  The figures and listings are provided mainly to support the slides, but they may be viewed separately if desired.

The slides are intended primarily for use by instructors during classroom lectures, but they are also useful as a quick review mechanism for students who have studied the corresponding tutorial lesson and who have mastered the corresponding practice test.

Each slide consists of HTML files and JPEG files.  Therefore, you should not need any software other than the browser in which you are viewing this page to view the slides and to display them during your lectures.  A very effective approach is to open this index page in one tab of a tabbed browser and to successively open each slide in another tab to display it for viewing by the class.

The slides are designed so that you should be able to display two slides side-by-side on a display with a resolution of 1024x768 pixels in two separate browser windows.  This is useful for displaying the slide on one-half of the screen while displaying a figure or listing on the other half of the screen.

Copyright 2007, Richard G. Baldwin.  Faculty and staff of public and private non-profit educational institutions are granted a license to reproduce and to use this material for purposes consistent with the teaching process.  This license does not extend to commercial ventures.  Otherwise, reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission from Richard Baldwin is prohibited.

About the author

Richard has participated in numerous consulting projects and he frequently provides onsite training at the high-tech companies located in and around Austin, Texas.  He is the author of Baldwin's Programming Tutorials, which have gained a worldwide following among experienced and aspiring programmers. He has also published articles in JavaPro magazine.

In addition to his programming expertise, Richard has many years of practical experience in Digital Signal Processing (DSP).  His first job after he earned his Bachelor's degree was doing DSP in the Seismic Research Department of Texas Instruments.  (TI is still a world leader in DSP.)  In the following years, he applied his programming and DSP expertise to other interesting areas including sonar and underwater acoustics.

Richard holds an MSEE degree from Southern Methodist University and has many years of experience in the application of computer technology to real-world problems.

Baldwin@DickBaldwin.com

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