Homework before next class - finish notes for Turing Ch. 5

All notes for Chapter 5 (Variables and Constants) should be completed before the start of next class, Tuesday.

If you have not finished your notes for Ch. 5 yet and have to work at home, you may find it easiest to print the questions, then write the answers using pen or pencil.

There will be a homework check at the start of Tuesday's class, and it will form a part of your November report card mark.

During Tuesday's class everyone should be working on the exercises at the end of Chapter 5, writing programs in Turing.

Remember - when you work steadily in class without being distracted, you have less to do for homework.

 

Fri., Sept. 26 - Guest speakers

Sandy Graham and Dan Brown from the University of Waterloo will visit to present an activity on Data Compression and to talk about the university.

(Actually, Dan Brown came and spoke about what kind of work people do who have a degree in computer science.)

Turing, Ch. 5: Variables and Constants

The topic of variables and constants is not difficult, but it's important to learn it well in order to continue with programming.

1. Become familiar with how to declare a variable using var. For example:
   var maxTempDay1 : real
   
2. Know the three data types -- int, real, string.
   
3. Try to think of a variable as a named memory location, that is, an area of RAM the computer gives a name and waits for it to be given a value.
   
   

Work on Chapter 5 the same way you worked on Chapter 4:
        • read the chapter carefully
        • make notes from the question sheet in the Pickup Folder
        • try the programs as you read
        • do the exercises at the end of the chapter

Where to get your copy of Turing

To practise programming at home, you need a copy of the Turing program. Because of license restrictions, we can't give it away publicly through a Web link. However, the teacher will show you in class how to download a copy for your home computer.
-------------------------------------------------------.

schools.tdsb.on.ca/jarvisci/turing/turing.zip

-------------------------------------------------------.

Turing Chapters 2 and 4

Chapter 2: The Turing Environment introduces you to how to use the Turing program. Most of it is familiar to anyone who has used a computer before, so I demonstrated it quickly with the computer and projector. Your assignment is to try the programs on page 55, 57 and 58 #3.

Ch. 4: Simple Programs - In the Pickup Folder there is a file waiting for you entitled "Ch4Put_makingNotes.doc." Copy it to your Home Drive, then read through the chapter and fill in the blanks in the file. When you're done, print the file to have a set of notes for the chapter. As you're working through the chapter, be sure to try all the programs given as examples.

After reading the chapter, making the notes and trying the programs, do the exercises at the end of the chapter -- Questions 1-3 are so simple you might want to just read them, but you should certainly write programs for Questions # 4-10.

Once you are finished with the chapter, you can look at the second file in the Pickup Folder, entitled "Ch04_Selftest.doc." It quizzes you on some of the key points in the chapter. Answers are in the table, but they are white-on-white, so if the keyboard shortcut (Control key and the Plus sign on the numeric keypad) doesn't work, highlight everything in the Answer cell and change the format of the text to black.

We're studying the Turing programming langues because it's an easy entry to programming.

The text book we use is An Introduction to Programming in Turing by J.N.P. Hume (Holt Software Associates Inc.).



Students who are a little familiar with programming languages sometimes ask, "Why are we studying Turing? Why aren't we studying Java or C++ or C# or some other language?" There are a couple of good reasons for choosing Turing.

1. TURING IS SIMPLE TO LEARN
Turing is a good programming language to start with because it's one of the simplest languages to learn. For example, here's how to get Turing to show the words Hello, world! on the screen:

put "Hello, world!"

Simple, huh? The keyword put plus quotation marks around what you want to show on the screen. Neat! Now compare how much 'extra stuff' the language C++ needs to do the same thing:




#include

main()
{
cout << "Hello World!";
return 0;
}

Yikes, yuck! Look at that stuff - the #include, the angle brackets, the parentheses, the semi-colons, blah-blah-blah. With Turing you avoid all that.

So by learning Turing, you learn more more in less time with less pain.


2. TURING PREPARES YOU FOR OTHER LANGUAGES
In the coming years, many of you will go on to study Java or C++ or other languages. Is it a waste to start with Turing? No, not at all. Nearly everything you learn in Turing about variables, loops, selection, case statements, graphics, arrays, and so on is easily transferrable when you study another language.