Sandy Graham

Beckwith Tech Coding Camp – Feedback from Sandy Graham

Overall notes for the participants. The presentations were very creative, but as they go forward they should be careful about the use of copyrighted material.

Adriana

The Flying Puppy Game

What I liked:

There is a nice consistency with the game, where the basic goal is the same, but you have different levels which make the game progress nicely.

There idea of tracking collisions with different objects uses an essential part of algorithm design which is the idea of conditionals. There is a nice level of sophistication with this idea.

Where to go from here:

I can't see your code, but from what you described it looks like you have explored lots of features of the Lynx environment. One thing to think about going forward is are there places where you can reuse procedures. As your projects get bigger, you want to be able to organize things in a way that will avoid duplication whenever possible.

Alexis

The Covid-19 Game

What I liked:

You have clearly identified your procedures and have a good naming convention for your buttons. I like that you included some documentation in your code. This is very important as your projects get more complicated.

Where to go from here:

Look for opportunities to make things more interactive with the user. Rather than the user just trying the different routes, is there some way for them to predict which route would work. For example, could they see the route first without the obstacles, and then have a second screen where the obstacles appear and they have to pick the route they think will work and get rewarded for the correct guess.

Bella

The Cat Game

What I liked:

Very nice use of "Easter eggs" in your game. You have shown you can use one of the fundamental elements of algorithm design: conditionals (if statements). There are lots of interesting elements to the project, including the use of sound.

Where to go from here:

Looking at your code, I think you could rewrite the Cat88_ procedures in a way that is similar to what you did with the Cat88_touch procedure. There are four procedures that move the same way, just the heading is different depending on if it is "yes", "maybe", "ree", or "DarthVader". Look for more opportunities to create more flexible procedures that can avoid duplicate code.

Charlotte

Quaranteen Time

What I liked:

One thing I tell people about why I like Computer Science is that you can combine an interest in CS with almost any other interests you have. You have done this very nicely in your project. You looked for interesting content with pictures, movies, and music.

Where to go from here:

Think about ways to organize your code so it would be easy to find different procedures and make updates. Comments may help with this. You have many procedures that are similar, is there a way to avoid having the repetitious code?

Dalal

Pandemic 2020

What I liked:

There is a lot of very good content here. I like that you applied your specific experience to the general information. One of the reasons it is important to get more diversity in the field of Computer Science is that everyone has different experiences and that makes for better and more interesting creations. I like that you have a plan for going forward.

Where to go from here:

Look for different kinds of interactions with your project.

Hope

Quarantine Life 2020

What I liked:

It looks like you created your own graphics here. This is very well done. Your graphics are very interesting.

Where to go from here:

Look for more and different kinds of interactions with your project.

Johanna

Before and After COVID-19

What I liked:

Nice use of "text to speech"; accessibility issues are something to be concerned with as a developer. You did a nice job of giving credit for sources in your project. I really like the quiz element of your project.

Where to go from here:

Look for situations where you have very similar procedures and see if there is a way to reuse code rather than duplicating it.

Kate

Murder Hornets

What I liked:

This is very well organized. I like the opening screen button options. I can't see your code, it but it looks like you have done some interesting algorithmic things in your project. It looks like you have some randomization in your project – this is very impressive.

Where to go from here:

Continue to learn how about different ways to interact with users.

Molly

Animals

What I liked:

You have a very nice and consistent user interface. User interface design is a very important part of good software development. I liked the different elements of the presentation – sound and visuals.

Where to go from here:

Look for more ways to interact with the user – beyond button pushes. If you are aiming this at a younger audience, consider using both text and images on your buttons to make it more accessible for them.

Tahlia

Austrailian Fires

What I liked:

I really liked the water buckets element of the project. I also appreciate the subject matter you have covered. The graphics are excellent.

Where to go from here:

I can't see your code, but look for opportunities to consolidate similar procedures into a single procedure. This is an advanced topic, but I could see the buckets in a line and this makes me think of an array or list that you might see in some programming languages.

Sarah

Hamilton

What I liked:

You have a nice introduction to what I would call object-oriented programming. Here you have created different "objects" – the sisters, and they have different abilities connected with them.

Where to go from here:

Look for more features that you could add to the project to make it more interactive. As you add elements, think carefully about how to organize things to keep similar elements together.

Haley

The Bunny's Adventure

What I liked:

I had some difficulties seeing all of the elements of your project. What I heard seemed like you had some interesting interactions for the user. I really like that you went beyond just clicking on buttons.

Where to go from here:

I can't see your code, but make sure you organize it in a way that will make it easy to find and modify different elements of your project. Continue to investigate different ways to interact with users.

Moyo

Trivia

What I liked:

Unfortunately I didn't see the interactive parts of your game. You have a very nice consistent interface. I like the general idea of using this platform

for this type of project.

Where to go from here:

If you learned more advanced CS concepts, you could make a more flexible game where you can easily add more questions and answers without actually having to add more code.