danadiletta.com

Courses

Here's what I teach and what I'm studying, written out where I can animate the lessons and track the like I always wanted to. May this project model an honorable approach to new-wave teaching.
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Writing

Craft courses — what I have worked out about writing fiction, and who I took it from.

From the collection

Today's curio, and six pieces taken straight from the units. The ones that move work here just as they do there, so go ahead and try them.

1 of 7
Grace Hopper seated at the UNIVAC console with a manual open on her lap, three colleagues standing around her.

Today's curio

Grace Hopper wrote the first compiler, and argued for years that programs should be written in something closer to English than to machine code. She is the reason you can write total += i at all.

Smithsonian Institution, neg. 83-14878, via Public.Resource.Org · CC BY 2.0

One blueprint, many objects

Press new and watch what changes and what doesn't. The drawing on the left is the class. Every robot on the right is an instance of that class.

class Robot

staticRobot.totalCount=0

One counter for the whole class. Not one per robot.

Empty yard.

    Nothing built yet. The blueprint is not an object — you cannot paint it, and you cannot point at it and say "that one".

    Robot factory

    Press new and a robot rolls out of one blueprint. Paint one and only that one changes. Empty the yard with dumpAll() and the class still remembers how many it made.

    CS in JavaUsing Objects and Methods →

    Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa: an enormous cresting wave with boats beneath it and Mount Fuji small in the distance.

    The Great Wave

    Most people remember a wave. Look again: three boats full of people, and Hokusai puts you down at sea level with them. Point of view does the same thing in prose.

    NovelistImmersion →

    After Katsushika Hokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1831 · Public domain

    Lock what works, roll the rest

    Lock a color you want to keep, then press Generate. Everything unlocked rerolls around it.

    • #264653
    • #2A9D8F
    • #E9C46A
    • #F4A261
    • #E76F51
    Generated
    0

    Palette roll

    Lock the colors you like and roll the rest. Underneath is the check a palette generator never makes: can anyone read text in these colors?

    Intro to Web DesignType, Color, and Image →

    One loop, one question

    Your teammate is parked in the lane. Press Drive test, then press A to stop before you hit them.

    motor.setPower(0.5);while (motor.getCurrentPosition() < 2000) {    // wait for the wheel to get there}motor.setPower(0);if (gamepad1.a) stop();   // the first look at A
    Checked the wheel
    0
    Checked A
    0
    Brakes
    0

    Blocking drive

    A teammate is parked in the lane and you have one button, A, to stop. Run a drive test and press as hard as you like. The program is busy, not broken, and busy with only one question.

    Robotics ProgrammingThe Command Pattern →

    Two shallow wooden trays on a printer's stand, both empty. The upper tray is tilted up and divided into a regular grid of small square compartments; the lower one is divided into compartments of markedly different sizes. Two printed layout charts headed Upper Case and Lower Case are propped between them, and a few compartments carry paper labels reading e, h, t and SPACES.

    Upper case

    A printer kept capitals in the upper tray and small letters in the lower one. That is why Java spells it toUpperCase(): it's an instruction about furniture.

    CS in JavaSelection and Iteration →

    Maggie McCain · CC BY 2.0

    GoalConflictDisasterReactionDilemmaDecisionscene& sequel

    Scene · drives the plot

    Goal: The character wants something in this scene.

    Concrete and scene-sized, not the book's want, this one. Physical or abstract, or simply to escape. If you cannot name it in a sentence, the scene has no engine.

    Scene and sequel

    Drag the wheel or tap a beat. A scene's goal, conflict and disaster push the story forward; the sequel's reaction, dilemma and decision make the next goal believable.

    NovelistStructure →

    After K.M. Weiland, Structuring Your Novel

    NovelistSampleWhat I actually believe about writing fiction — stated plainly enough to argue with.
    1. StudyWriting challenges patience
    2. StructureA story is how we manipulate our brain's immersive survival simulator to deliver catharsis.
    3. CharacterReaders don't need to like your character
    4. ImmersionWe don't get lost in a story to escape reality
    5. SentencesTrust is won or lost one sentence at a time
    6. DialogDialogue is action wearing words
    7. MagicLimits are more interesting than powers
    8. HumorComedy is structure wearing a funny hat
    9. CritiquesA critique is a diagnosis, not a verdict
    10. CraftA professional is someone who writes whether inspired or not
    PlannerWriter

    Computer Science

    What I teach in the classroom, written up so it works without me in the room.

    Computer Science in JavaLockedA college-level dive into Java, modeled on the College Board framework for the AP® Computer Science A exam.Intro to Web DesignLockedHTML, CSS, and building something a person wants to use.Robotics ProgrammingLockedSoloTutoring for the team: the robot's code from the ground up, so you get in the game.