Notes on A5 Here are some notes on A5.

1. toString in GTurtle. As you know, toString is not defined in class GTurtle. Suppose you have done the following in the interactions pane:

a= new A5();
t= a.getTurtle();

Then

Typing t in the interactions calls the toString function in superclass GObject of GTurtle and prints its output.

Typing t.toString() produces an error.
But if you write t.toString() in a method in class A5, it works.

We do not understand this behavior. We suspect it is a problem only with the interactions pane. The solution is: don't try typing t.toString() in the interactions pane; just use t.

2.Turtle direction. When drawing the triangle, you may end up adding 360 to the turtle's direction. For example, if the turtle is looking at direction 5, it will end up looking at 365. This is OK. Think of 5, 365, 725, ... as the same direction.

3. Class Color. Class Color is in package awt. Look in the text and CD for information about it, but also get in the habit of looking at the API package for information. java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/ . Read in the text about packages.

If you want to reference class Color in the interactions pane, you have to give its package name too, e.g. to reference its static field red, use java.awt.Color.red.

In a .java file, import java.awt.* in order to be able to abbreviate java.awt.Color.red by Color.red.

4. The ACM graphics package itself has a small bug that means that in order to be sure that the last all actions that a GTurtle or GPen undertakes happens, you may need to resize the drawing window.

For example, in the Interactions pane, try typing "a= new A5(); t= a.getTurtle(); t.setDirection(180);". The GTurtle obstinantly continues to face east until you resize the window.

The problem is that some of the ACM methods don't call the repaint() method correctly.

5. The zip file includes the "student view" ACM javadoc, which omits some information. If you are curious, you can view the complete documentation here: jtf.acm.org/javadoc/complete/

6. Loop invariants. You do not have to put in loop invariants for your for-loops. However, we encourage you to think in terms of loop invariants and write them as comments just before the loops because the process of doing so will help you get the loops right and also give you practice with loop invariants.

7. In the handout, we may mistakenly have example calls for multiPolygons with speeds greater than 1. Also, your multiPolygons method, which has a speed parameter, calls drawPolygon, which doesn't but always goes at the fastest speed. Do not alter the code for drawPolygon; just write the code for multiPolygons to set the speed to its input speed and then restore the original speed as if this would actually matter. Sorry about that!

8. You do NOT have to call method demo and check it. It was put in there so that we could demo the assignment to you when we handed it out. If you do run it, you may want to change the first call on radiate. It doesn't do anything seeable at the moment and takes a long time.

Notes on A4 Here are some notes on A4.

1. You do not have to write an assertEquals statement to test function objectName. In fact, do not try to write an assetEquals statement. It's pretty hard to do.

2. When writing toString, please make sure that each part of the time --hours, minutes, seconds-- appears using exactly two digits, as the handout requires. The specification of toString contains an example in which the seconds is given in only 1 digit; disregard that example, or change the "5" to "05" in two places.

3. In toString output, there is no space before "AM or "PM", and there is always one space before the time zone (e.g. " GMT").

4. Please note that field disp24 has absolutely nothing to do with how the time is stored in the fields. It is used ONLY in toString to help determine the format of the toString output.

VideoNote Beginning Tuesday, 15 September, the 11:15 lecture will be filmed and place on www.cs.cornell.edu/videonote/cornell. Along with the video comes a table of contents; click on an item and the video changes immediately to the place corresponding to the item you clicked.

Use VideoNote as a supplement to the course. Look at a video if you want to go over some part. If you have to miss a lecture because of the flu, anther illness, an interview, a sports roadtrip, use VideoNote to see the lecture.

Don't use VideoNote to skip class regularly, as a prop to allow you to postpone studying, and so on. That will hurt you in the long run. Our study of the use of VideoNote shows that it can hurt rather than help the C- student who misses lots of lectures and procrastinates on studying because they feel they can catch up later with Videnote.

Together, the provost's office and the College of Engineering are spending $5,000 so that you can have access to VideoNote. Appreciate that.

Can't open the DrJava jar file. When ou double-click on the DrJava jar file, that application is supposed to open up. However, there may be a problem with your Windows Operating system, especially if it is WIndows 7. If you have this problem, try visiting this website and downloading and installing application JarFix:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Miscellaneous/Jarfix.shtml

About labs. Please read these guidelines for labs carefully.

1. You are expected to attend a lab session each week. You do not have to be formally registered in the lab you attend, but you should regularly attend the same lab. If you miss more than 3 labs (or don't do the assignment for 3 labs) without a reasonable excuse given to the Lab TA beforehand, we reserve the right to lower your grade a notch (e.g. from B to B-). We don't do this very often, but we reserve the right to do it.
2. If you do not complete a lab the week on which it is handed out, complete it at home during the week and show it to your Lab TA the next week.
3. Labs that are not completed by the next week will not be counted.
4. Please do not email Profs. Gries or Lee about who to see or what to do if you missed a Lab. Talk to your LAB TA.

Haven't received CS1110 email yet but able to login to to the CS1110 CMS website? The problem may be that you've set email forwarding improperly; we've received a few email bounce messages. Check that you are having mail to <your netID>@cornell.edu forwarded to a valid addresss. (If you also can't login to the CMS website, then the problem is that you aren't entered into the system; email Maria Witlox, as described in the CMS announcement below.)

No serial number/device ID on your iClicker? This number, needed to register the clicker, can be recovered by bringing your clicker to (a) the Academic Technology Center Room 123, Computing and Communications Center on the Ag Quad, open 9-5; (b) the ATC's G27 Stimson Hall office near Day Hall, open 12-5; or (c) Prof. Gries and Lee's office hours, 167 Olin Hall, Tuesdays and Thursday 10:10-10:55.

Register your iClicker, even if it's used. Do so by visiting http://atcsupport.cit.cornell.edu/pollsrvc . You'll login with your netID and password, and you'll need the serial number, or device ID, of your clicker, which can be found, perhaps near a "bar code", on the back (you may wish to put some invisible tape over the serial number or write it down somewhere, since the numbers can rub off). Note that each individual student in CS1110 needs their own clicker.

Complete Quiz 1 ("First Day Survey") on the CMS. It's available by logging in at this URL: http://cms.csuglab.cornell.edu/. If login fails or you don't see the course "CS1110" listed, it may be because you are not entered into the CMS, in which case, email Maria Witlox at mwitlox@cs.cornell.edu, letting her know your netID and that you are in CS1110.

About the CMS (Course management system). We use a CS-designed "course management system" to manage assignments, tests, etc. The CMS for this course is at this URL: http://cms.csuglab.cornell.edu/.

When you visit the site, you will have to give your Cornell netid and password. The CMS is not yet populated with the enrolled students. We will let you know when this has been done. For now, don't concern yourself with the CMS.

H1N1 flu preparations. See this link

Fix your PCs so that extensions (like .java and .doc) ALWAYS appear. To do this, do the following: Open an explorer window. Use menu item Tools / Click on Folder Options. Click the view tab. Uncheck the box "Hide extensions for known file types".

Summaries of lectures
Please look courseOutline.html, which summarizes what we did in lecture each time!

Seeing consultants, TAs, Gries

Check here for office hours of TAs and Gries.

The TAs have office hours. If you need some conceptual help of any kind, go the the TAs during their office hours. Choose any TA whose office hours are convenient for you; you don't have to limit yourself to your Section TA.

TAs have a closed office hour and an open office hour. If you want time alone with a TA because you just don't understand or are falling behind, then arrange a closed session contacting a TA individually. If you just have a question, go see a TA during their open office hour; there may be other people there at the same time, and you can all hear each others' questions/answers. The closed hours will act like open hours if no one has made an appointment.

You can make an appointment for a one-on-one session with any TA. Contact the TA.

Consultants for CS1110 hold hours in the green room of the ACCEL Lab, which you get to through the Engineering Library in Carpenter Hall. You may spend a good deal of time programming there. The consultants are there to answer your questions. If you need help downloading and setting up DrJava, if you have a misunderstanding on an assignment, if you are having trouble debugging a program —in all such matters, ask the consultants for a quick answer. However, they will not write your program for you.