George Washington University's introductory computer science class, CS51 -- Introduction to Computing teaches Ada to the students to help them solve procedural problems. Unlike many of the other universities analyzed, GW does nothing with Java or OOP in their intro class.

A favorite quote of Andy Van Dam is that he could not believe that he did not have to cover Math until the 5th week of the semester with OOP. This is far from CS51. Besides having a math prerequisite of single variable calculus, by the second program (they use array numbering so it is called assignment 1), a miniature calculator is created by the students. This is the first "real" programming that the students have because getting their account and sending the professor e-mail is the first assignment.

I did not find very much that I would want to bring into cs15 except for the fact that the professor is _very_ on top of the material. The class is 2 lectures per week along with labs at varied times. As I've argued before, labs are something that I believe should be brought into cs15 and are used by cs51. Besides that, there are weekly small programming assignments that I will expound upon in my adaptation. The class has a late policy of 20% off per week that a program is late. Overall, it seems to be a pretty standard, procedural cs101 class that does not use any "special" tools to help the students learn. It also uses a relatively obscure programming language to start teaching the students.

Here, I will adapt one of their assignments as a lab for cs15. This first assignment is indicative of many of their other assignments.

Adaptation

Here is the silly premise provided by the professor. This needs work as well

Not only that, but speeds are measured in furlongs per fortnight (fpf). Each fortnight is two weeks or 14 days (really). The highway speed limits are, of course, given in these units.

Worse still, the speedometers on the cars show miles per hour (mph) as is used here in the United States. So how do you know if you are exceeding the speed limit?

What you need is a quick calculator program, so that if your speedometer reads, for example, 65 mph, you can input this number and the calculator will tell you immediately what your speed is in fpf, so you can compare it with the speed limit signs.

Your job is to design and code such a program, testing it with some typical highway speeds. For details on what to turn in, please read the handout Preparation and Grading of Programming Projects: the Importance of Professionalism.

This premise is located here: Project 1.

And now, without further ado, is the addition of this project as a cs15 laboratory assignment:

CS15 Laboratory Assignment 3

Using Math in Java to solve simple conversions

Silly Premise

You are in Canada. Because Canadians are so bass ackwards, they thought it would be amusing to change the national speed limit in their stupid country. So Canada, great inspiritors of Curling and Mounted Police, has decided to go with the furlong per fortnight system. A furlong is 1/8 of a mile and a fortnight is 2 weeks. Now, as you drive along the barren, downtrodden, crime-free Canadian road, all the speed limit signs are in FPF.

Worse still, the speedometers on the cars show miles per hour (mph) as is used here in the United States. So how do you know if you are exceeding the speed limit?

What you Have to Do

What you need is a quick calculator program, so that if your speedometer reads, for example, 65 mph, you can input this number and the calculator will tell you immediately what your speed is in fpf, so you can compare it with the speed limit signs.

Your job is to design and code such a program, testing it with some typical highway speeds.

Topics Covered

• Math
• Receiving user input

In order for you to handle student input and output, you will need a GP.Components.TextLine. Ways to get a number out of this could be done like this:

String numStr = _textLine.GetString();

Integer num = new Integer(numStr);

int val = num.intValue();

Now that you are able to get a number from a user, you are capable of finding out your current speed in mph in fpf. Please make sure you tell the user at what speed in FPF they are traveling for any mph entered. GOOD LUCK.

The TA's are here to help you. This is not a coding intensive project, but more a manipulation of numbers using java. You will have 1 hour of lab time for this project.