Homework 0
Due date: Thursday, February 4th at 11:59pm EST
The goal of this homework is to introduce yourself to the class and the teaching staff, and to prepare you for future assignments. Think... fun and easy!
Part 1: Class Forum & News Blog
Register for the class forum. Please use your full name in the Name field of your profile. Once your account has been approved by the forum admins, go to General Discussion-> Introductions and create a new post. In this post, introduce yourself to the class, making sure to include your name and affiliation, and tell us something interesting about yourself.
Part 2: Installing Processing
Install Processing. Go to the Processing website, and download the appropriate version of the software. Once you have installed Processing, open the application and take a look around. Run a few of the included examples by going to File->Examples --- to run an example, press the play button on the upper left side of the Processing window. Try speficially running File->Examples->Basics->ColorWheel example. You should get a window that looks like this:
If you have problems with installing or running Processing go to the online faq, which contains many possible solutions.
Due date: Thursday, February 4th at 11:59pm EST
The goal of this homework is to introduce yourself to the class and the teaching staff, and to prepare you for future assignments. Think... fun and easy!
Grading
No write-up is necessary for this week's problem set. We expect you to sign up for the forum, the news blog, to install Processing and Protovis, and to fill out the survey. The homework will be graded on a pass (4 points) / fail (0 points) basis.
Part 1: Class Forum & News Blog
Register for the class forum. Please use your full name in the Name field of your profile. Once your account has been approved by the forum admins, go to General Discussion-> Introductions and create a new post. In this post, introduce yourself to the class, making sure to include your name and affiliation, and tell us something interesting about yourself.
Sign up to the course News Blog. On this news feed we will tell you when lecture videos and slides are online, if class is canceled, and other important announcements. To sign up you need to obtain a newsreader (also called a feedreader, or RSS aggregator) and subscribe to the RSS feed. This will enable you to get instant updates instead of visiting this course web site each time. Two free services I recommend are Google Reader and Bloglines. There are also stand-alone applications you can install on your computer, and a few Firefox add-ons.
Part 2: Installing Processing
Install Processing. Go to the Processing website, and download the appropriate version of the software. Once you have installed Processing, open the application and take a look around. Run a few of the included examples by going to File->Examples --- to run an example, press the play button on the upper left side of the Processing window. Try speficially running File->Examples->Basics->ColorWheel example. You should get a window that looks like this:
If you have problems with installing or running Processing go to the online faq, which contains many possible solutions.
READING: For an introduction to the Processing environment, read chapters 1 and 2 in the Fry book, and optionally, chapters 1 and 2 in the Shiffman book. Note that the Shiffman book has many paper and pencil exercises that are highly recommended, especially if you are new to programming and graphics. It also has an excellent website with many online tutorials.
Part 3: Downloading Protovis
Download Protovis. Go to the Protovis website, and download the appropriate version of the toolkit. Once you have unzipped Protovis, open up the folder of examples and start browsing through them.
READING: Familiarize yourself with the basic marks in Protovis (especially Areas, Bars, Dots, Labels, Lines, Rules, and Wedges). Read through the Introduction to Protovis and take a look at the syntax.
Part 4: All About You
Fill out the class survey below. These questions are to give us a sense of the background and computing needs of the class. You will also being visualizing the survey data in a future assignment!
Part 3: Downloading Protovis
Download Protovis. Go to the Protovis website, and download the appropriate version of the toolkit. Once you have unzipped Protovis, open up the folder of examples and start browsing through them.
READING: Familiarize yourself with the basic marks in Protovis (especially Areas, Bars, Dots, Labels, Lines, Rules, and Wedges). Read through the Introduction to Protovis and take a look at the syntax.
Part 4: All About You
Fill out the class survey below. These questions are to give us a sense of the background and computing needs of the class. You will also being visualizing the survey data in a future assignment!
Introductory survey