Welcome to AP and CP Computer Science for the Academic Year 2014-2015

Welcome to my class. We will use this blog as one of many ways to communicate. Note the summer assignment in the following post. You can always contact me by email at csarkar@StamfordCT.gov

Summer Assignment for AP Computer Science for Summer 2014 (For Students Taking Computer Science in 2014-2015 Academic Year)

Here is  a list of four tasks you have to do over this summer to get ready for our AP Computer Science class in the fall:

1. Register for this blog (follow it by email). Look for instructions on the bottom of this page.
2. Post a comment on this blog introducing yourself, letting your peers know you have successfully registered.
3.   We will use JupiterGrades.com for most of our on-line homework assignments throughout the year. Log into your already-created JupiterGrades.com account using the temporary login and password found on the post titled "Temporary Passwords for JupiterGrades.com," on this blog. Update your password as required the first time you log into JupiterGrades.com. Then do all the summer assignments listed on Tests and Lessons section of the site.  Hint: Although JupiterGrades works with Internet Explorer, it works much better with Chrome, Firefox or Safari. I strongly suggest you use one of these browsers.
4. You must also download and install Java and BlueJ (both free) on your home computer or laptop. Java is the programming language we will be using in the course. BlueJ is a set of development tools we will use to help you learn Java. Both pieces of software work on both Windows and Apple machines. Instructions for downloading the software may be found on the following YouTube videos.

The first two videos, below, demonstrate how to download Java and BlueJ, respectively, on Windows machines. The third video teaches you how to download BlueJ on a Mac (Java already comes preinstalled on Macs).

            This first video will show you how to download Java on to your Windows PC or laptop:



       
             Also follow these instructions to download BlueJ if you own a Windows PC or laptop:





            Follow the following instructions for downloading BlueJ if you own an Apple PC or laptop:




All of the above need to be done before the first day of class or you will already be behind. Feel free to email me at csarkar@StamfordCT.gov if you have any questions.

I am excited about teaching this course starting in the Fall of 2014. Looking forward to meeting all of you.

Mr. Sarkar
csarkar@StamfordCT.gov
Westhill High School

Temporary Passwords for JupiterGrades.com

To log into JupiterGrades, go to www.jupitergrades.com and enter the information requested. Your temporary password can be found below. If it says RESET under your name, you already have a JupiterGrades password (likely from a previous class with me or another teacher). If you cannot remember this password, email me and I will reset it for you.

After you log into JupiterGrades.com and change your password, you should go to the homework/assignment portion of the website to view your summer work.

Student▼	ID	Password	Logins		Parent/Contact	Password	Logins
Brabham, Jackie	10300356	Reset	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	ig83 89bp	— —
Chase, Justin	10300818	a6r7	—		Mother Parent 2	th84 93sx	— —
Deluca, Jesse	10300819	d3h3	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	bc32 46sz	— —
Fiore, Nicholas	1018643	Reset	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	aq57 39zv	— —
Getman, Daniel	1040713	w4v7	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	dk55 96hj	— —
Inabathini, Meghana	1180003	Reset	—		Mother Parent 2	Reset 82ur	— —
Joseph, Joel	10300820	z8f6	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	qn87 26iu	— —
Lebedev, Peter	1032021	Reset	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	Reset 92rb	— —
MacDonald, Calvin	1035656	Reset	—		Mother Father	Reset 56ir	— —
Maitan, Amanda	1019501	j4z4	—		Mother Parent 2	Reset 97rt	— —
Malhotra, Michael	10300821	v3b8	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	ku76 29tb	— —
Nekritz, Jason	10300822	b8d5	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	jw55 77yf	— —
Patni, Abhinav	1023500	Reset	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	vk47 98hy	— —
Rough, Christopher	10300823	d8x3	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	hf93 52xy	— —
Russell, Sophia	10300824	v6n8	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	ng96 22zn	— —
Schlessinger, Joseph	10300825	w4y5	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	zx72 77hz	— —
Schwartz, Jacob	10300826	x4d4	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	ia43 68ac	— —
Sieminski, Sebastian	10300198	t2w4	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	bz47 83ig	— —
Sottile, Michael	1017326	Reset	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	jh86 64ay	— —
Yang, Xiaojian	10300827	a9r3	—		Parent 1 Parent 2	yq78 96hy	— —

Grading Scale for Free Response Question Portion of Exam

There were two questions on your FRQ exam. Each question is worth 9 points so the maximum total raw score possible is 18. Here is the conversion scale from errors to a score out of 5:

Score       Major Errors
5.0           0 or 1
4.5           2
4.0           3
3.5           4 or 5
3.0           6 or 7
2.0           8 or 9
1.0           More than 9

To get a score out of 100, use the following table:

Final Score    Score
100                5.0
93                  4.5
90                  4.0
85                  3.5
80                  3.0
70                  2.5
60                  2.0
50                  1.5
40                  1.0

Overall, the class did well.

Getting your AP Scores During the Summer

Dear Colleague: AP® Students Will Get Scores Online in July To ensure that students are prepared to access their scores, they must follow the steps outlined below. We ask that you help your students get ready, particularly those who have never taken an AP Exam before. Please share these important steps with your students: • At exam time or during a preadministration session, fill inAP answer sheets carefully and consistently. Especially important are name, date of birth, sex, mailing address, and email address. • As early as possible, sign up for a College Board account at apscore.org. Students must have an account to access their scores.   ◦ Some students may already have an account. Have them confirm this by signing in. • Remember the following information, which will be required to see their scores in July:   ◦ College Board account username and password   ◦ 2014 AP number (or student ID number if they provided it on their AP answer sheet) Score Release Schedule The score release schedule will be available at apscore.org in early May, and students will receive an email in early July at the email address they put on their AP answer sheet reminding them when they can access their scores. Tips to Help Students Get Ready • Spread the word with posters and flyers, available in our downloadable awareness toolkit. • Give your students a homework assignment of creating a College Board account by April 30. • Encourage students to visit apscore.org, where they can sign up for their account and access FAQs, AP Exam practice, study tips, and more. Learn more Thank you for your support in helping students get ready for their scores in July. Sincerely, Advanced Placement Program

Bluster, Stockpile and Giraffe Critters Now Due Friday at the End of Class

Due to the assembly, the due date for the critters is being pushed out one more day to Friday at the end of class.

Some Additional Hints on Giraffe Critter

I "borrowed" the following from an internet article:

Overriding the correct methods is an important part of this problem. As with all creatures that extend Critter, you must not override act.

GiraffeCritter gets a different list of actors to process than Critter, so it must override getActors. Specifically, GiraffeCritter gets flowers within NECK_LENGTH rows and NECK_LENGTH columns. You cannot get the list of actors to process in processActors since you would violate the postcondition when removing an actor that is not in the parameter actors.

GiraffeCritter processes actors differently than Critter, so it must override processActors. Specifically, GiraffeCritter attempts to eat a certain number of flowers and keeps track of how many flowers have been eaten. The postcondition of processActors permits the state of GiraffeCritter to be changed, so you can update the instance field that tracks how many steps the GiraffeCritter has been hungry.

GiraffeCritter moves differently than Critter, so it must override at least one of the methods that control movement. Overriding selectMoveLocation results in code that does not violate the postconditions of any method. Since the postcondition of selectMoveLocation prohibits changing the state of any actor, the private instance field cannot be updated. You cannot call removeSelfFromGrid in selectMoveLocation. Doing so would violate the postcondition that prohibits changing the state of any actor.

It is not possible to achieve the desired behavior without violating any postconditions by overriding only makeMove. The postcondition of makeMove requires that a call to getLocation immediately after a call to makeMove return loc (the parameter to makeMove). You cannot make a decision about whether to move or not in makeMove. You must move to the parameter loc.