tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56874184526788540102024-03-13T12:42:04.579-07:00Shippensburg Computer Science NewsAll of the interesting things going on in Shippensburg University's Computer Science DepartmentDr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-69522566838771762742012-04-03T07:28:00.002-07:002012-04-03T07:28:54.856-07:00PACISE 2012 - Victory!The Programming Team competed (as always) in this year's PACISE competition. PACISE is the annual conference for faculty who teach computer science or information systems in PASSHE schools and always includes a programming competition for our students.<br />
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Our first team, Ship Derezzed! (Jessica Burns, Steve Bussey, and Danielle Johnston) placed first solving 4 of the 6 problems (NOT the one I submitted!) Team Sigh (Josh Beck, Josiah Knoll, and Noah Kline) solved two problems and Hexadecimators (Emily Bruckart, TJ Dalious, and Fred Young) solved one problem.<br />
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As part of the conference, they got to see a presentation by one of the engineers who helped develop Watson, so it was a successful trip on all fronts!<br />
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Back row: <span class="fbPhotoTagListTag tagItem">Noah Kline</span>, <span class="fbPhotoTagListTag tagItem">Joshua Beck</span>, Danielle Johnston, <span class="fbPhotoTagListTag tagItem">Fred Young</span>, <span class="fbPhotoTagListTag tagItem">Josiah Knoll, </span>and <span class="fbPhotoTagListTag tagItem">Tj Dalious.</span></div>
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<span class="fbPhotoTagListTag tagItem">Front(ish) row: </span><span class="fbPhotoTagListTag tagItem">Matt Miller</span>, <span class="fbPhotoTagListTag tagItem">Steve Bussey</span>, <span class="fbPhotoTagListTag tagItem">Jessica Burns</span>, <span class="fbPhotoTagListTag tagItem">Emily Bruckart</span>, and <span class="fbPhotoTagListTag tagItem">Matthew Hydock.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-4581525724522211172011-12-09T07:35:00.001-08:002011-12-09T20:16:28.424-08:00Humans vs. Aliens in Design PatternsThis semester, the sophomores in our Design Patterns class created a game where humans battle it out with aliens.
You can watch it on our <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGp5WuZmlNc">YouTube channel</a>.<br />
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Here is a legend to explain the graphics (clearly, this course was NOT focused on game graphics!):<br />
Green Triangles = Alien<br />
Purple Circle = Human<br />
Black Square = Pistol<br />
Orange Square = Pulse Rifle<br />
Blue Square = Plasma Cannon<br />
Red Square = Chain Gun<br />
Bar along one side = remaining health points<br />
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The health bar represents the back of the Human or Alien and helps determine what direction the Human or Alien is facing. Each life form (e.g. Human or Alien) is using a state pattern to determine it's actions (Finding a weapon, Finding a target, Attacking a target, or Reloading). Lifeforms that die are replaced with it's corresponding type (e.g. Human for a Human). Each Alien is given a Linear Recovery Rate that recovers a random amount of health points at a random time rate. For example 5 health points every 4 time ticks. Each Human is given a random amount of armor. The Alien's state pattern has a special case that if the Alien gets hurt enough it will "run" away until enough health is recovered. The Human's state pattern has a special case that if the Human comes across a better weapon (it does more damage) it will swap weapons. The other patterns used in the program: Strategy for the Alien's recovery system, Observer for the time system, and Decorator for the weapon system.Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-74008123756263733252011-11-16T07:32:00.001-08:002011-11-16T07:32:19.709-08:00WiCS Shopping TripLast weekend, our Women in Computer Science took a trip to the Hagerstown Outlets with the goal of preparing for interviewing. Everyone got their makeup done so they could see what professional makeup looks like. A couple of seniors purchased suits and everyone else had fun shopping. In their words, "Now they just need the interviews at which to use the suits!"Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-16849032625877159742011-11-10T14:09:00.001-08:002011-12-09T20:16:59.377-08:00IEEE Extreme CompetitionIn October, the programming team competed in the IEEE Extreme Programming Competition - a 24-hour, worldwide, internet competition. And we were stellar!!! Four teams in the quarter of all teams competing! Two teams in the top 20% and one team in the top 10%.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Derezzed: 147th Overall (9.70%) </span><br style="line-height: 14px;" /><span style="line-height: 14px;">Harmony: 229th Overall (15.11%)</span><br style="line-height: 14px;" /><span style="line-height: 14px;">Hexadecimators: 291st Overall (19.20%)</span><br style="line-height: 14px;" /><span style="line-height: 14px;">HoneyBadgers: 342nd Overall (22.56%)</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">out of 1516 total teams.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Derezzed: 2nd (Region) </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Harmony: 5th (Region)</span><br style="line-height: 14px;" /><span style="line-height: 14px;">Hexadecimators: 7th (Region)</span><br style="line-height: 14px;" /><span style="line-height: 14px;">HoneyBadgers: 8th (Region)</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">out of 21 teams in the region.</span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Team Members:</span></span></div>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Derezzed</span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Jessica Burns</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Steve Bussey</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Danielle Johnston</span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Harmony</span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Jen Funck</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Nick Hydock</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Matt Hydock</span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Hexadecimators</span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Emily Bruckart</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Kevin Dederer</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Corbyn Johnson</span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">HoneyBadgers </span></li>
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<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Greg Battaglia</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Zack Lessie</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px;">Andrew Perterson</span></li>
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Yes, we are cool!Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-45538900099336252762011-11-09T10:26:00.000-08:002011-11-09T10:26:13.637-08:0011/11/11 Party This Friday!When I was eight (40 years ago!), I discovered that there was only one day in each century when all of the digits of the date as we write it are the same: 11/11/11. I vowed then to have a huge party when that date came around! Well, this Friday is the day!!!<br />
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We will be doing all sorts of fun things: watching movies (The Matrix, because Neo is The One and Ocean's 11, of course!), playing video games, playing board/card games (Uno! and others). There will be lots of good food and fun to be had and everyone is welcome! Please come!!!!!<br />
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The next date of this kind of party will be 01/23/45, but I doubt I will still be here . . .Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-61515505536115358362011-11-09T04:36:00.000-08:002011-11-09T04:36:17.153-08:00Accreditation VisitI have already missed one of these daily blogs, so I will do two today. This one is my excuse!<br />
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We had our onsite visit from our accreditors from Sunday through yesterday. They certainly looked at everything VERY carefully. They had meetings with all of our faculty, a set of students, support places like the library and the sciences, and a wide variety of administrators. We have a couple of things to fix up, but they said wonderful things about our students, our faculty, and the support we get from our administration. While I was exhausted at the end of the day yesterday, I always like bragging about what we do!Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-57479529025348601252011-11-07T14:25:00.000-08:002011-11-07T14:25:41.144-08:00ACM Regional CompetitionSaturday we were a site as part of the ACM Regional Competition. We hosted 22 teams from 8 schools. Out of about 170 teams, this is how we placed:<br />
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Derezzed 29th place<br />
Jessica Burns<br />
Steve Bussey<br />
Danielle Leonard<br />
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Something down 92nd place<br />
Garin Dangler<br />
Greg Battaglia<br />
Corbyn Johnson<br />
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Hexadecimators 101st place<br />
Emily Bruckart<br />
Kevin Dederer<br />
Zack Lessie<br />
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I am proud of this response for two reasons:<br />
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1) I watched Emily coach her teammates (who are relatively new to this), instead of taking the keyboard and writing code that would have been easy for her. The longterm benefit of that for the team is much higher than if she (a senior) had just coded the solutions.<br />
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2) Our teams showed excellent grace and sportsmanship. There were some challenges in the judging (which sometimes happens) that put our teams (and all of the teams at our site) at a disadvantage. In previous years, that would have sent some of our more competitive teammates into a frenzy. This year, while we were disappointed, we handled the situation much better.<br />
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All in all, it has been an excellent Fall for the team (I will post our previous results on other days), and I am very proud of their performance.Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-41731403524221333842011-11-04T09:17:00.001-07:002011-11-04T09:17:39.834-07:00Monthly Programming Team WinnersThe programming team has been running competitions in our practices and teams gain points throughout the month. The winners for October are freshmen Kevin Dederer and Tyler Dalius. Honor them with all the glory they deserve!Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-74427123841465329072011-11-03T06:26:00.000-07:002011-11-03T06:26:19.740-07:00Blog a Dayok - So I have been too distracted to keep up with our news, but we have had a huge number of things happen this term. I keep hearing about things that happen during November like Novembeard (apparently, some of our students have vowed to not shave for the month of November). Last year, a podcast I listened to did a "podcast-a-day" for November. That gave me an idea: ONE BLOG A SCHOOL DAY through November.<br />
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Feel free to complain if I blow it (and, yes, I already missed yesterday - picky, picky, picky!)Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-6112866235219103742011-04-28T21:20:00.000-07:002011-04-28T21:20:54.315-07:00Potato Gun. Really?!The programming took a break to shoot potatoes from a potato gun today. The videos made it look like great fun and, apparently, only one evil person hit the power lines!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pIgkjeN4Ug0/Tbo6Od1AJoI/AAAAAAAAAVM/5M1B-R8-KQo/s1600/IMG_1037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pIgkjeN4Ug0/Tbo6Od1AJoI/AAAAAAAAAVM/5M1B-R8-KQo/s320/IMG_1037.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="caption fsm fwn fcg"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span class="caption fsm fwn fcg">From left to right: </span><span class="fbPhotosTaglistTag tagItem">Chris Medykiewicz</span><span class="fbPhotosTaglistTag tagItem"><span class="separater">, David Kelly, </span>Steve Bussey</span><span class="fbPhotosTaglistTag tagItem"><span class="separater">, </span>Jessica Burns</span><span class="fbPhotosTaglistTag tagItem"><span class="separater">, </span>Danielle Leonard</span><span class="fbPhotosTaglistTag tagItem"><span class="separater">, </span>Emily Bruckart</span><span class="fbPhotosTaglistTag tagItem"><span class="separater">, </span>Philip Diffenderfer</span><span class="fbPhotosTaglistTag tagItem"><span class="separater">, </span>Jimmy Quinn</span><span class="fbPhotosTaglistTag tagItem"><span class="separater">, </span>Chris Beggs.</span></div>Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-23350318750988513282011-04-20T11:18:00.000-07:002011-04-20T11:18:54.257-07:00The Waterfall WorksCheck it out!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/OPR9Z90Yk1o?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-41803332938091372742011-04-10T15:04:00.000-07:002011-04-10T15:04:12.089-07:00PACISE ConferenceThis weekend we hosted the annual PACISE Conference. PACISE is an organization of the computer science and information systems departments in the State System schools, but I was happy to see participation from other schools like Dickinson and American University, too. Turnout was very good (about 140 participants). Here we are at dinner.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VIFGRA2Mc34/TaIoQFG15rI/AAAAAAAAAVI/tOYZQ0tvH28/s1600/IMG_20110408_184441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VIFGRA2Mc34/TaIoQFG15rI/AAAAAAAAAVI/tOYZQ0tvH28/s320/IMG_20110408_184441.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The programming contest was very well attended: 26 teams!! Dickinson and Millersville took first and second. Our best placement was Jessica Burns, Danielle Leonard and Steve Bussey in sixth place. The problem set was pretty tough and the competition was very good.<br />
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The keynote speaker was Clif Kussmaul from Muhlenburg College and his talk was on Using Free and Open Source Software in the Classroom. It was relevant and insightful. I'm hoping to leverage some of it in my selected topics course this summer.Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-63127569994489779142011-04-07T21:46:00.000-07:002011-04-07T21:46:31.650-07:00Computer Engineering is Approved!Yesterday, Dr. Briggs and I had to get all dressed up to present our department's proposal for a B.S. in Computer Engineering. Much to my surprise, my students didn't make fun of it at all (they didn't even seem to notice!). The presentation went well even though there were so many suits in the room that I got nervous. Here we are in our fancy clothes:<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Today, the Board of Governor's gave the final vote of approval required for the creation of our new B.S. in Computer Engineering. We couldn't be more excited and we owe thanks to the Dean (Dr. Mike), the Associate Provost (Dr. Schoolcraft), the Provost (Dr. Lyman), and the President (Dr. Ruud). </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Check out the <a href="http://www.ship.edu/News/2011/04/University_receives_OK_to_begin_computer_engineering_degree/">official announcement</a>!Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-54435977132456871252011-03-31T11:44:00.000-07:002011-03-31T11:44:31.298-07:00PossibilitiesIncoming students often ask me how the job market is. For Computer Science students, it is surprisingly strong as evidenced by this <a href="http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=134236010&m=134253833">recent story on NPR</a>. I have to admit that I haven't heard tales of shrimp cocktail, but I believe all of last year's graduates have software development jobs that are productive and interesting. They have been hired by places locally, in Pittsburgh, and outside Washington and many had multiple opportunities. It's a good time to be a geek!Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-47338663969513625002011-03-25T17:54:00.000-07:002011-03-25T17:54:10.999-07:00Council of Trustees Approves Computer EngineeringOur Computer Engineering proposal passed one more milestone today: the Council of Trustees approved it. Check out the <a href="http://www.ship.edu/News/2011/03/Trustees_OK_new_computer_engineering_program/">University's news release</a>. This means we have one more hurdle to pass: the Board of Governors. Dr. Briggs and I will be presenting it at their next meeting on April 6th or 7th. We are hopeful and I will keep you posted on our progress!Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-40602686225021515382011-03-18T08:48:00.000-07:002011-03-18T08:49:47.019-07:00CS Games ResultsThe Programming Team/WiCS have returned from their great adventures north of the border. You can find results at <a href="http://www.ship.edu/News/2011/03/Programming_team_adapts_to_Canadian_competition/">Ship's news</a> and <a href="https://sites.google.com/a/cs.ship.edu/progteam/competitions">The Programming Team's website </a>and <a href="http://www.csgames.org/2011/">the CS Games website</a>.<br />
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It was a great experience and I'm proud of how well they adapted to a completely different kind of contest than we are used to. Thank you to everyone who bought a shirt and to the alumni who supported this trip. The students learned a lot!Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-9067338776937629702011-02-28T09:00:00.000-08:002011-02-28T09:00:18.594-08:00Changes to CSC110 Computer Science IWe have made a significant change to our Computer Science I course that we are very excited about. It is currently a four-credit four hour class and our classes run almost full to 32 students per class. We were concerned because 32 students makes it difficult to get to everyone when we are doing hands on activities, so we have decided to split the course into separate lab and lecture sections in much the same way other science classes are run. The lecture section will be a normal three-credit three hour class and the lab will be a smaller section (limited to 22 students) containing the hands on work.<br />
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In addition, we are creating two versions of the lab: a three hour lab for majors and a two hour lab for non-majors. We hope this will improve things for both student populations. For non-majors, this will let us focus on the challenges the material provides to students whose skills and focus may not be in this area. For majors, we are going to use the extra hour to provide a freshman seminar experience including material about potential careers, study skills, college life skills, team building, etc.<br />
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This is a big change that was initiated as the result of our assessing the retention and failure rates in CS1 and we are hopeful that we will see significant improvement in both of those measures as a result.Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-60852458906342981502011-02-17T13:12:00.000-08:002011-02-17T13:12:18.216-08:00Update on Shirts and Travel<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Today, the programming team is creating their "flash" video for the CS Games. Here they are in their team shirts:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jfFYp_DivlM/TV2NUDg87KI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/k1sKUNm9sww/s1600/IMG_20110217_153237.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jfFYp_DivlM/TV2NUDg87KI/AAAAAAAAAUQ/k1sKUNm9sww/s320/IMG_20110217_153237.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>David Abrams, Danielle Leonard, Brian Ettinger, Emily Bruckart, Rob Koch, and David Kelly (not pictured: Jada Williams, Logan Kennedy, and Steve Bussey)<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--d_rYO8goAc/TV2NKjrwkBI/AAAAAAAAAUI/o8TuN6QHtQw/s1600/IMG_20110217_153254.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--d_rYO8goAc/TV2NKjrwkBI/AAAAAAAAAUI/o8TuN6QHtQw/s320/IMG_20110217_153254.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>And their team name: Getting Our Codon!<br />
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(look up codon if you don't know what it is . . .)<br />
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The department shirts will look like theirs without the special team name on the back. They are still available if you want one . . .Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-205111156638033342011-02-15T12:53:00.000-08:002011-02-15T12:53:57.557-08:00Programming Team Travel and Department T-ShirtsThe Programming Team is traveling a bit further than usual this spring. They will be going to<a href="http://www.csgames.org/2011/"> The CS Games</a> at Concordia University in Montreal. This event lasts three days and includes a wide variety of competitions. Nine of our students will be competing as a team led by Dr. Armstrong. It will be an adventure and I will let you know how it goes.<br />
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While we are supporting this trip with moneys from our alumni and the Dean has offered his support as well, not all of the expenses are covered. The team has designed department T-shirts to raise some money. Check out the cool designs! The QR codes take you to are department's web site. White shirts are $10 and red ones are $15. If you are interested, let me know what to order!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5tc0Vsgpn6s/TVrlsF05wqI/AAAAAAAAATw/0bAPy2yKEJ0/s1600/FinalShirtWhite.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="94" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5tc0Vsgpn6s/TVrlsF05wqI/AAAAAAAAATw/0bAPy2yKEJ0/s320/FinalShirtWhite.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ikdauR7YdE0/TVrl0-ksmzI/AAAAAAAAAT4/P-B6T80dNBY/s1600/steveWhite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ikdauR7YdE0/TVrl0-ksmzI/AAAAAAAAAT4/P-B6T80dNBY/s320/steveWhite.jpg" width="178" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mDCWNlY2eMY/TVrl5snXYoI/AAAAAAAAAT8/R0wsH-bY00E/s1600/JessRed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mDCWNlY2eMY/TVrl5snXYoI/AAAAAAAAAT8/R0wsH-bY00E/s320/JessRed.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">On a side note, Steve Bussey (pictured with the white shirt above), is the member of a jazz band: Jive Turkeys on the Loose. They will be performing at McFeely's lounge in the lower level CUB, this Saturday from 9pm to 11pm. The band will be performing some jazz standards for the first 50 minute set and doing a more impromptu "jam" style performance for the second 50 minute set. The music will be a mix of blues, bebop, funk, and ambient styles. </div>Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-59995000964758322082011-01-28T18:20:00.000-08:002011-01-28T18:21:49.337-08:00Tech Support!Recognizing that our technical support needs are different from the rest of the campus, the university has funded a full-time tech support person for our department's equipment. In December, we hired Tim Boyum and he is doing an excellent job! Our server/lab configuration is a complex combination Mac and Linux workstations, three physical servers and 15 virtual machines; all of which share a file space and single log-on capabilities. Tim has shown an incredible understanding of Kerberos, LDAP, and a bunch of other technologies that I don't begin to understand.<br />
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</div><div>In addition to his technical skills, Tim's demeanor serves him well. He wants the machines to work well, reacts quickly when something is not working, is very open to suggestions, and has patience in helping all of our students and our faculty. He is developing a working relationship with campus technical support that will be critical to his success. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Tim's arrival has allowed Dr. Briggs to return to teaching full time and he has the real-time/embedded students engaged in programming the FPGAs. We are happy to have his focus returned to our students! Over the last week, his office has once again been taken over by long conversations with students about research projects and current technology news.</div><div><br />
</div><div>For now, this new position is funded only through the summer, but we are actively working with administration to find ways to convert it to a permanent position.</div>Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-41793965124106488652010-12-07T18:12:00.000-08:002010-12-07T18:12:52.631-08:00Google's AI ChallengeGoogle sponsored an AI challenge this fall. The goal was to build a player for a game that would beat all other players. The game was called Planet Wars and ran in a 2-dimensional universe with a random set of planets. Each player gets 100 member army and the goal is to capture and hold as many planets as possible. You can see the rules and a demo of the game <a href="http://ai-contest.com/problem_description.php">here</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vOCoywd3P5E/TP7plmhVQTI/AAAAAAAAATg/5ss02IRudkw/s1600/plantewar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="249" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vOCoywd3P5E/TP7plmhVQTI/AAAAAAAAATg/5ss02IRudkw/s320/plantewar.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Over 4600 people from all over the world competed including three of our students: David Kelly led coming in 1328th. Emily Bruckart was 1790th and Rob Koch was 1544th.<br />
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This is a great example of our students pursuing interesting things on their own. I had no idea this was going on until David posted his result on FaceBook. I'm really proud that our students are this engaged. However, I wish I had been able to compete, too!Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-3438036812016410452010-11-26T22:25:00.000-08:002010-11-27T18:59:53.260-08:00Updates . . .I have been (rightfully) nagged that our news needs updating, so here goes.<br />
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As usual, there is (almost) always programming team news. They have competed in two more competitions recently: the ACM regionals which are like the rest of our competitions and the IEEE Xtreme competition that lasted 24 hours. We had two teams compete: Jessica Burns, Danielle Leonard, and Steve Bussey finished 179 out of 971 teams by finishing 9 of 17 problems. Emily Bruckart, David Kelly, and Logan Kennedy finished 6 problems and cam in 272. Having competed this year, we'll be more prepared for next year! And our thanks to Dr. Armstrong for being willing to stay for the entire 24 hours!<br />
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We had three teams that competed in the ACM regionals. Three teams with all of them solving a problem shows great depth in our team; the problems were very hard this year! Here they are showing off the balloons they earned:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vOCoywd3P5E/TPHEknmFfLI/AAAAAAAAATY/M7WVT8m87MU/s1600/ACM2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vOCoywd3P5E/TPHEknmFfLI/AAAAAAAAATY/M7WVT8m87MU/s320/ACM2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Emily Bruckart, Phil Diffienderfer, and David Kelly</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vOCoywd3P5E/TPHEiB3XYgI/AAAAAAAAATU/F3kzv0hV_SE/s1600/ACM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vOCoywd3P5E/TPHEiB3XYgI/AAAAAAAAATU/F3kzv0hV_SE/s320/ACM.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Jessica Burns, Danielle Leonard, and Steve Bussey</div><br />
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We have a couple of other projects that are nearing completion:<br />
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Our Women in Computer Science team is almost finished with their computer controlled waterfall. We've been madly plumbing and Dr. Briggs helped us by designing a circuit to connect the processor to the valves. We may have a dry run (pun intended!) before Christmas break.<br />
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We are also developing a video for prospective students. We're hoping to have it by January. We'll post it on the website and we're going to burn some to hand out at open houses. Here's hoping it's as cool as I imagine it can be!<br />
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Next time I'm late with a post, feel free to nag. There is ALWAYS something going on!Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-16470226350055310092010-10-26T17:37:00.000-07:002010-10-26T17:37:49.907-07:00More Programming Team Success!This week our programming team competed in two more programming competitions:<br />
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Last Thursday was the UD Unnamed Internet Contest 2010 in which we had three teams competing. The Fairy Queen Princesses (Emily Bruckart, Philip Diffenderfer, and David Kelly) came in second solving six problems and Something Down (Rob Koch) came in third solving five problems. The Hexadecimators (Jimmy Quinn and Stephen Bussey) came in sixth solving four problems which is very impressive since they both are freshmen! Rumor has it that the winning team (Charlie the Dinosaur from Dickinson) honed their skills by attending a programming team camp last summer. We will have to work to beat them at regionals!<br />
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Friday we competed in a new type of competition: the IEEE Xtreme programming competition that lasted 24 hours (8 pm Friday to 8 pm Saturday). Competing against 971 teams from around the world, Jessica Burns, Stephen Bussey, and Danielle Leonard solved nine problems coming in 179th and Emily Bruckart, David Kelly, and Logan Kennedy solved six problems coming in 272nd. Special thanks go to Dr. Armstrong who supervised for the whole 24 hours! <br />
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All of this is great practice for the ACM Regional competition coming up on November 6th. I'll let you know how well we do!Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-26366566127441054802010-10-17T17:53:00.000-07:002010-10-17T17:53:12.244-07:00Fourth is a good start to the season!This weekend Emily Bruckhart, Philip Diffenderfer, and David Kelly competed in a programming competition at the Consortium for Computing Science in Colleges East conference. While they got off to a quick start by solving two problems before anyone else did, they ended the competition in fourth place. They were close to solutions to two other problems and had strategies started for two more. I think they learned some important strategy tips and will do even better at the Delaware Internet competition this Thursday. This team will be together for that competition and the Mid-Atlantic regionals, so their experience with each other will certainly improve.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vOCoywd3P5E/TLuaLKqhEMI/AAAAAAAAATQ/HGI4gxe0Jbc/s1600/IMG_20101016_081858.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vOCoywd3P5E/TLuaLKqhEMI/AAAAAAAAATQ/HGI4gxe0Jbc/s320/IMG_20101016_081858.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Emily, Philip, and David</div>Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5687418452678854010.post-22604782166705113422010-10-11T12:49:00.000-07:002010-10-11T12:49:53.977-07:00Upcoming EventsThe next few weeks will be VERY busy for us.<br />
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Next weekend (the 15th to the 16th), three faculty and three students are going to Conference of Consortium for Computing Sciences in Colleges - East. The students will be participating in a programming competition and faculty will be attending sessions focused on issues in teaching computer science. It's a great place to get ideas from places that are similar to Ship.<br />
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The following weekend is Homecoming! We will have our semi-annual meeting with our Industrial Advisory Council. They come visit us twice a year to give us feedback on what we are doing and where we are heading. In addition, six students will be participating in the <a href="http://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/students/competitions/xtreme/index.html">IEEExtreme</a> competition: a 24-hour programming competition. Thanks to our alumni because your donations are funding this event in its entirety!<br />
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October 27th to October 30th, Dr. Armstrong and I will be attending Frontiers in Education 2010. This is the premier national engineering education conference and we will be presenting our results from a preliminary study in which we used videos to explore how students learn to program. We are hoping we will find a partner school or two so that we can generalize our findings.<br />
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Finally, November 7th will be the annual Mid-Atlantic Regional Competition of the International Collegiate Programming Competition. We are one of six sites and we will host about 20 teams. Judging is run in Virginia and this is one of the largest competitions in the nation. <br />
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Clearly, I'll have plenty to blog about for the next month! I'll keep you posted!Dr. Wellingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15818112036850503825noreply@blogger.com0