Visual programming 101: making robots

In the first LSI class, students were introduced to processing's environment (IDE). That is, after the introduction of some concepts and history about what is a program (algorithm, instructions,…) we move to direct action: what is it; and where the software is obtained; the sketching environment in text mode; console as interface / interaction of the program with the programmer; the first skecthes — "hello world!"; and finally the visual design in an application window.

After the introduction to println and "size()", the first exercise/challenge is to create a drawing of a robot. This challenge, or rather this week aims to explore the primitive 2D graphics and their properties. That is, know how to draw on the screen.

2D Primitives & Properties
arc() circle() ellipse() line() point() quad() straight() square() tri

angle()Color
Setting background() clear() colorMode() fill() noFill() noStroke()

stroke()
Attributes ellipseMode() rectMode() strokeHead() strokeWeight()

They were challenged to draw a robot so choose, but with extra "dots" for anyone who makes a Star Wars character —K2SO anyone?—, or even better the Mars Rover Opportunity!

The class ended at the beginning of the drawings. As extra curiosity, some students in class 2 (morning) wanted to know/explore the drawing of béziers.

Curves
bezier() bezierDetail() bezierPoint() bezierTangent() curve() curveDetail() curvePoint() curveTangent() curveTightness()

In class 1, in the afternoon, we still saw how the arches worked. It was interesting to explore autonomously in complex ways such as polygons (simple vertex shapes)