LCC 6310
The Computer as an
Expressive Medium
Lecture 1
Overview
Go over the syllabus
Brief introduction to me and my work
Art, programming and Java
Syllabus
Signup sheet
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Handout
Online
http://lcc.gatech.edu/~bmagerko6/classes/LCC6310/
Books
Required Optional / recommended
Background
Some of my past work…
ida
percepts
ai
user actions player
actors
direction
story content
haunt 2 director author
ida
percepts
ai
user actions player
actors
direction
story content
haunt 2 director author
Scribe
digital improv studio
explicit
s.c.r.u.b.
content
score
pause
button
play vs.
watch
malleable
GUI
Some directions
I’m someone to chat with about…
Interactive Narrative
Artificial Intelligence
Improvisation
Cognitive Science
Game Design
Board Games
Introduce yourselves
Name & place of origin?
Background, academic & other?
Research & other interests?
Programming experience?
Something interesting about yourself?
Programming languages
An abstract "human understandable" language for telling the
computer what to do
The abstract language must be translated into the low level language
understood by the machine
This translation is accomplished by an interpreter or compiler
We will be learning the compiled language Java
Some definitions:
A compiler is a program that processes statements written in a
programming language and converts them into machine language,
binary code, that a computer processor uses. E.g. Java, C, C++
An interpreter translates code one line at time, executing each line as it
is translated. Generates binary code that is never compiled into one
program entity, but interpreted every time the program executes. E.g.
BASIC, JavaScript, Perl (can also be compiled)
A simple Java program
Human readable?!?
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
println(i);
}
Just prints the numbers 0 to 9 on the screen
"Human readable" is relative
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
println(i);
}
Java compiler translates this into…
Java VM assembly code
public static void 24: invokevirtual #34
main(java.lang.String[]); 27: iinc 1, 1
Code: 30: iload_1
0: iconst_0 31: bipush 10
1: istore_1 33: if_icmplt 5
2: goto 30 36: return
5: getstatic
8: new test.PrintLoop();
11: dup Code:
12: ldc 0: aload_0
14: invokespecial #23 1: invokespecial #43;
17: iload_1 4: return
18: invokevirtual #27
21: invokevirtual #31
Programming paradigms
A programming paradigm is a style of programming, complete with
concepts & common practices that determine how the programmer
will structure the program and think about its execution
Different programming languages advocate different programming
paradigms
Not necessarily a one-to-one mapping, since some programming languages can support
multiple programming paradigms
Some examples
C - Procedural programming
Java - Object-oriented programming
C++ - Supports elements of both
More about these paradigms…
Object Oriented vs. Procedural Languages
Procedural (e.g. C) Object Oriented (e.g. Java)
We create some data We create a class that contains
representing an image (array of an image AND a routine draw it
pixels to draw on the screen)
The data and the behavior
We write a procedure than can (ability to draw) are in one
be passed the image and that "container"
will draw it
Encourages programmers to
Encourages programmers to think of their programs as sets
think in terms of data and the of interacting "objects" that can
functions that can be used to operate on each other
manipulate the data
A couple of Java’s relatives
Smalltalk
Invented by Alan Kay and a group of
researchers at Xerox PARC in the 1970s
Designed for programming the Dynabook, a
concept handheld computer that would enable
learning, reading, and creative expression with
different kinds of media (graphics, audio, etc)
Centered on the concept of objects
C++
Bjarne Stroustrup developed C++ in 1983
at Bell Labs as an enhancement to the C
programming language
Used object-oriented programming to
ease the management of big C programs
Java
Developed at Sun Microsystems in the early 1990s
Designers started with C++
Smaller
Simpler
Safer
Programming embedded systems
Toasters, microwave ovens, TV set top boxes
Reliability very important--avoid costly recalls
Web programming
Incorporated into web browsers at critical moment
The virtual machine
Since Java was designed to run on embedded systems, it was
designed around a virtual machine
"Write once, run everywhere"
Java VM Java VM Java VM
Windows OS X Phone OS
x86 G3/4/5 Processor
Java Machine
“Java OS”
Java VM
But we’re using Processing
Processing is built on top of Java
Supports script-like coding
Easy to get simple programs up fast
But allows transition to full Java programming
Has built-in methods and classes to make drawing easy
Easy to export program to applet
The Processing environment
Menu
Toolbar (run, stop, new, open, save, export)
Tabs
Text editor (this is where you type code)
Message area (feedback, errors)
Text output (print commands)
Drawing in Processing
Automatic creation of display window
Window has a coordinate system for drawing
0 50 100
0 x
50
100
y
Let's draw a point: point()
point(x, y) – draws a point at the location x, y
Let’s try it in Processing:
point(50, 50)
Unexpected token: null – what the #@#$ !?!
Compiler errors appear in the bottom pane
All lines must be terminated with a semicolon ;
Drawing several points
point(30, 20);
point(85, 20);
point(85, 75);
point(30, 75);
Comments
Comments are non-program text you put in the file to describe to
others (and yourself) what you’re doing
Important for being able to look back at your code and understand it
Single-line comments begin with //
Multi-line comments begin with /* and end with */
Commenting and uncommenting lines useful for figuring out code
Drawing shapes: some primitives
line(x1, y1, x2, y2)
triangle(x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3)
rect(x, y, width, height)
rectMode() – CORNER, CENTER_DIAMETER, CORNERS
elipse(x, y, width, height)
ellipseMode() – CORNER, CENTER_DIAMETER, CORNERS,
CENTER_RADIUS
Controlling color and line
Colors represented as Red Green Blue (RGB) values
Each one ranges from 0 to 255
Can also use Hue Saturation Value (HSV) space, but we won’t worry about this for now
background(R, G, B) – set the background color
stroke(R, G, B) – set the colors of the outline (default black)
noStroke() – no outline drawing around shapes
fill(R, G, B) – set the fill color for shapes (default white)
noFill() – don’t fill the shapes (background shows through)
strokeWeight(w) – line width for outlines (default 1)
Playing around
To learn how to program it is necessary to play around with code!!!
Don’t just wait for me to show you things
Processing makes this easy
Use the Reference in the Help menu (local version of website reference)
Play with the examples
Saving your work
You should install Processing on your own machine
Do this for Thursday!
If you use 'save' and not 'save as' Processing will save your project in
a default directory
If you do this, remember to copy your code to your local disk
Don't depend on your project remaining undisturbed on lab machines
Things to do for Thursday
Readings
Three students: present one reading each
Everyone else: prepare one discussion question for each reading
From Software: Exhibition at the Jewish Museum (NMR p.247)
Four Selections by Experiments in Art and Technology (NMR p.210)
Concepts, Notations, Software, Art (Linked from course website)
Processing
Download and install on your own laptops or home machines
http://www.processing.org
Programming concepts this week:
Processing, pp. 58-75, 109, 340-349
Processing, pp. 85-88, 482-486, 564-570, 603-605
Or you can start reading the Reas & Fry book
