CPSC 110-08: Computing with Mobile Phones
Reading 1: App Inventor, Create Your Own Apps, Chapter 1
Due: Friday 9/9 (before class)
CS Principles
This activity addresses the idea that computing is a creative activity
and focuses on the following learning objectives:
- IAI: The student can use computing tools and techniques to create artifacts.
- IB3: The student can use computing tools and techniques for creative expression.
- IC4: The student can use programming as a creative tool.
Textbook
You can purchase a copy of the text book
Wolber,
Abelson, Spertus, and Looney, App Inventor: Create Your Own Android
Apps. It costs around $25. We will be having reading assignments
from this text throughout the semester.
There is a
pre-publication version
of this book available for free download. However, it is not as complete
as the published version.
Reading Assignment
Read Chapter 1 of App
Inventor, Getting Started with Hello Purr (16 pages). This
chapter describes the basics of the App Inventor environment and walks
you through the creation of the "Hello Purr" app. You can read it
quickly. The material covered here is also covered in a step-by-step
fashion in the next two parts of this homework.
Reading Questions. Keep these questions in mind as you read
the assigned chapter. For each question, write a short answer. Don't
worry if you think you don't know the right answer. Just give it your
best shot. Bring your written answers to class. We'll discuss these
in class and then you can revise them. On subsequent assignments your
answers will be posted to your portfolio.
- Think about the difference between Hello Purr's data
and its behavior, or what it does with its data. How does App
Inventor's Component Designer and Blocks Editor fit into
this difference?
- Writing an app is a little like baking a cake. In what ways
does the Hello Purr app resemble a recipe?
- An event handler is a block that handles a certain type
of event. It's a piece of software. It's not the same as the
event itself, which is an actual physical occurrence that happens on
the phone. Give an example of an event and an event handler from the
Hello Purr app and explain the relationship between them.
- The Sound.Vibrate block contains a slot
labeled millisecs that lets you plug in a number that
determines how long the phone will vibrate. This slot is known as
an argument. Give an example of something akin to an argument
from a recipe. Do you see how such 'arguments' make the recipe more
general? Explain.
In Class on Friday
Bring your answers to the reading questions to class on Friday. In
class we will get the Hello Purr app running on the lab machines.