Programming in Alice.pptVIP

Programming in Alice ? 2006 Dr. Tim Margush Programming in AliceFunctions Tim Margush Department of Computer Science University of Akron ? 2006 Functions and Methods Both are collections of statements Have a name Have parameters Methods represent actions They affect the state of the world as in repositioning an object Functions represent a value They should not alter the state of the world Function Values The value returned by a function can be An object A number A Boolean Any other type recognized by Alice Direction, Color, … Abstraction Functions are used to abstract the steps needed to calculate a value into a single group called a function! There are built-in functions World level Answer questions about the world or objects in the world Class level Answer questions about the object of the class Built-In Functions The World provides general functions Math, comparison, … Every object has a collection of primitive functions distanceBehind, isAbove, … Custom functions often use these functions to do their work Rolling Example How many times must a ball rotate to roll forward d meters? In 1 revolution, the ball should move a distance equal to 1 circumference circumference 2*diameter #Revs d / circumference Abstract these details as a function ball.numberOfRevolutions distance ball.numberOfRevolutions ball.numberOfRevolutions distance return distance / 3.14 * ball.getWidth Notice how the primitive getWidth function answers the question What is this balls diameter? This is a class level function It refers only to the current object and a parameter Return Every function has a Return statement This specifies the value returned by the function when it is called The type of the return value is chosen when you create the function ball.numberOfRevolutions Note how the parameter is used in the calculation Note how the width function refers to the same object Using The Function A class level method to roll a ball might look like this ball.roll distance DoTogether