This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.The official web page for this course is GAME2302.htm
This document may be modified as the semester progresses in order to incorporate new instructions or clarify existing instructions. Therefore, you should review the instructions periodically and then immediately before submitting each assignment to confirm that you are in compliance.
Failure to comply with the instructions usually results in a failing grade for the assignment, often zero.
The assignments for this course are take-home assignments. You may use any reference material that you have available. However, you are instructed not to obtain assistance from anyone.
Assignments are posted in Blackboard. You can access the assignments by selecting the Assignments item in the left-side menu on the main Blackboard page for your course.
Each assignment is associated with and refers to one or more of the modules at GAME 2302 - Mathematical Applications for Game Development. (Some of the material may not display properly using the view produced by this link. In that case, you will need to open the Legacy Site view from the upper-right corner of the webpage.)
(Note that the first four assignments will not be visible until you have taken and have scored at least 80-percent on Test00. See Online Orientation.)
The zip file for each assignment contains the following as a minimum:
In many cases, the zip file will also contain all of the class files for my version of the program along with a Windows batch file named run.bat. In those cases, you should run your version and my version side by side and confirm that the outputs from the two versions match before you submit your version. To run my version under Windows, simply extract the class files and the batch file into an empty folder and double-click the batch file. If you are using a different operating system, it will be up to you to determine how to use the class files that I provide to run my version.
Each assignment requires that you write one program. Extract the contents of the zip file into an empty folder. Then open the ProjXX.htm file in your browser to view the programming specifications for the assignment.
NetBeans, Eclipse, and other high-level IDEs are excellent productivity tools for programmers in the workplace who are working on large projects, who know exactly what they are doing, and who have a need to become more productive in their programming efforts.
However, to write the simple programs required for this course, you should need nothing more sophisticated than a text editor (preferably with Java syntax color coding) and the Oracle Java Development Kit (JDK). You shouldn't need a high-level IDE to serve as a crutch to help you write these simple programs. The use of a high-level IDE to write the programs required for this course is overkill, can lead to problems, and is not recommended. For example, you might want to consider using the simple DrJava IDE or Notepad++ for writing the programs required by this course.
Even if you use an IDE such as DrJava, you should make certain that you also know how to compile and run your programs from the command line.
You may submit each assignment up to two times before the deadline shown in Blackboard. Your highest score among the two scores for each assignment will be used to compute your final grade.
Each assignment requires you to write one Java program illustrating your understanding of certain math and physics concepts.
Submit source code files only
You must submit only your Java source code files encapsulated in a zip file. (Source code files have an extension of .java.) Do not submit class files or image files. If you do submit them, they will simply be overwritten when I compile and execute your programs. The zip file must contain all of the source code files required to compile and execute the program, such as files having the following names:
None of the files may include a package declaration.
In all cases, your zip file must contain a driver file named ProjXX.java and that file must contain the definition of a driver class having the same name. The driver class must contain the main method. (Replace XX in the class definition and the file name with the two digit project number such as 03 or 14. Note that the project number is not intended to match the assignment number. In some cases, they may match. In other cases, they may not match.)
Your name in the zip file
Include your name in the name of the zip file that you submit to help me avoid getting your zip file mixed up with another student's zip file when I retrieve them from Blackboard. A suitable example file name is:
Asg01_baldwin.zip
Code compatibility
The source code files that you submit must contain code that is compatible with the version of Oracle's JDK installed in the NRG laboratory on the due date of the assignment. Among other things, this means that your source code must be compatible with the 64-bit version of Oracle's JDK 8 (jdk1.8.xxx) or later.
Testing your programs
Don't rely on the DrJava IDE (or any other IDE) to test your programs. Test your source code for each program from the command line using Oracle's javac.exe and java.exe programs to confirm that your programs conform to the program specifications before submitting your assignments. In case you don't know how to do that, see Compiling and running Java code.
To avoid possible class file problems, delete all of the class files (files with an extension of .class) produced by one version of your program before testing the next version of your program or before testing your next program.
No partial credit
I will score your programs from the Windows command line. (In case you develop under a different OS, make certain that your programs are compatible with the version of Windows installed in the NRG computer labs.) Each program will be graded either right or wrong. Partial credit will not be given for source code that does not fully conform to these instructions and to the program specifications. If one of your programs doesn't conform, don't bother submitting it.
My grading procedure
After copying your source code files into a folder identified by YourName on my computer , I will test your program by executing a batch file containing code in that folder similar to the following:
del *.class javac Proj02.java java Proj02 |
What does this mean?
In case you don't understand what the code shown above means, it is time for you to do the necessary research to learn what it means.
Briefly, it means that I will delete any compiled class files in the folder identified by YourName. Then I will attempt to compile and execute your program using the required version of Java.
As of this writing, a fairly good tutorial on the Windows Command Prompt is available here.
With respect to the graphic programs and the display frame containing the graphics, different versions of Windows or the same version of Windows with different appearance options may produce slightly different visual output formats for the same program. The images shown in the assignment specifications correspond to only one version of Windows and one set of appearance options.
Except for those differences, you must match the specified screen output in every significant way for every program. Extraneous characters on the screen, extraneous images that are not shown in the assignment specification, extra blank lines, missing blank lines, different colors for output images, etc., are grounds for disqualification. In other words, your output must be an exact image of the specified output.
You must also match the specified operational aspects in every significant way such as: shape, size, color, shading, labels, interactivity, etc. If they don't match, your version is not correct.
Every semester there are one or two students who are surprised and saddened to learn that I really do mean that you must follow the instructions and meet the specifications exactly or you won't get credit for the program. Don't be one of those students.
You should study all of the material in my e-book titled GAME 2302 - Mathematical Applications for Game Development. You should also study the material in the interactive tutorial by Dr. Bradley P. Kjell (Vector Math for 3D Computer Graphics) called out in the modules in my e-book. (You can also download a copy of Kjell's tutorial in a zip file using a link that is provided here.)
(A collapsible index to all the modules in my Ebook appears on the left side of this Legacy page or under Contents on this Openstax page.)
Pay particular attention to the sample programs that are explained in the various modules. You will find that those sample programs are similar to some of the programming assignments.
You should also make certain that you know how to compile and execute the programs from the command line.
Submit your assignment by uploading your zip file using the Blackboard Assignment feature.
If I am unable to successfully unzip the file that you submitted, or if it contains the wrong material, you will not get credit for the assignment.
Extraneous Material
Do not allow your programs to display screen images that do not appear in the assignment specifications. If you do, you won't get credit for the programs that display extraneous images.
Do not submit extra files such as readme.txt files and expect me to pay attention to them. I won't pay attention to them.
Don't expect me to pay attention to text that you may choose to enter into the Blackboard Comments field when you submit your assignment file. I am not interested in them, and I won't pay attention to them.
Do not put comments in your source code and expect me to pay attention to them. I am not interested in them, and I won't pay attention to them.
Do not submit javadoc documentation for your programs. It causes the zip file to be very large and I don't need it.
The required material
All I expect to receive from you when you submit your assignment is the set of one or more required source code files. There is no reason that you will need to communicate any information about your assignment to me when you submit it. Any need to discuss the requirements of the assignment must be satisfied prior to your submission of the assignment.
Encapsulate an electronic copy of the required material in a zip file and submit it as a Blackboard assignment, not later than the deadline given in Blackboard. If you are running Windows, you don't need a special program to create the zip file. The Windows file compression utility is entirely adequate.
The zip file must be one that I can unzip using the Windows de-compression utility with no effort required on my part other than to open the file and extract the material contained therein. There must be no requirement for any sort of special decoding. If there is such a requirement, I will not accept the assignment.
The submission deadline for each assignment is provided in Blackboard each semester. In most cases, the assignment will expire and disappear from Blackboard when the deadline passes.
The penalty for failing to meet the submission deadline is simply that you won't get credit for the assignment.
Before you ask, let me tell you that a temporary Blackboard outage, business travel, problems at work, extreme work pressures, divorce, depression, receipt of a "Dear John letter", automobile repairs, flat tires, computer problems, power failures, total eclipses, extremely high outside temperatures, high pollen count, broken lawnmowers, the Super Bowl Schedule, and other assorted and interesting circumstances are not valid excuses for failing to meet the submission deadline. About the only excuse that I might be willing to accept would be something on the order of extended hospitalization or extended serious illness on the part of you or an immediate member of your family. If your excuse is not on that order of magnitude, I really don't want to hear it.
-end-
File: GAME2302AsgInstructions.htm
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.