Work completed 07/14 - 07/20

Incorporated functionality for producing semi-circular arcs (an enhancement to the existing functionality that produces parabolic arcs in the wigwam applet).  The idea is to utilize this functionality for producing bucky balls. However, coincident with this, embarking on an effort to port the wigwam applet to the pCSDT application framework and to create bucky ball functionality within that environment, as well.

Met with Jed Williams on campus on Monday, 07/18.  Discussed his application, the break dancer applet and its design, given it is built within the pCSDT application framework.  The design is based around 3 major ideas:  first, there is a gui class that extends a framework gui class that establishes the container frame and initializes gui settings; second there is an engine that provides the functionality for objects to be managed and programmed within the pCSDT framework, and third, there are the application-specific objects themselves to be managed within the environment (e.g., the human class and the torus class are both objects of this type within the break dancer).

Next steps include the following:

1.  Port the wigwam applet into the pCSDT application framework.  This involves recreating the grid display, arc production, and arc removal within the context of the pCSDT platform.

2.  Build the functionality for creating tori in the pCSDT application framework in order to support building bucky balls.  Some questions around this issue exist:  Should this functionality be built using the same grid display backdrop that exists for the wigwams?  Or should it be totally separate?  This begs the question of what the students are supposed to be doing with the bucky balls - does the software provide a model for some real-life production of a bucky ball much like the wigwam applet provides coordinates for creating model wigwams?  What aspects of the bucky ball functionality should be programmable?

3.  Make the wigwam functionality programmable.  Questions here include what aspects should be programmable?  One idea is to provide the user the ability to set a number of arcs and an angle between them and then the software automatically creates the defined number of arcs spaced according to the input angle.