Programming Games MAT 1420

General education: mathematics/quantitative reasoning
New Media: programming requirement
atSci, 3003. x6679.
Office hours: M 10:30 to noon, R 1 to 2:15pm, or by appointment /

The goals of this class are to introduce you to the concepts of computer programming and require that you use the concepts to produce working projects. The critical aspects of modern programming are the specification of logic, graphical user interfaces and event-handling. Computer games provide excellent examples of each of these and that is why we focus on games. The course is NOT playing games, but making games. The methodology used is lecture/discussion of concepts with demonstration of basic games (TAKE NOTES); you re-creating the basic games, using the lecture notes and tutorials and making use of your own ideas and creativity; and you designing and producing your own interactive applications. The technology we use is HTML and JavaScript (with focus on the newer features of HTML5).

Materials (weekly schedule, updated as necessary; lecture charts; working examples and step-by-step tutorials; guides to exams) are posted on-line (use links from In addition, we will make use of Moodle: You will be required to post your proposals for your projects on the designated forum. You also can post questions or comments at any time.

For standards relating to academic integrity, and this relates to your programs, see Please review this.

Students with documented physical, learning, psychological and other disabilities are entitled to receive reasonable accommodations. If you need classroom or testing accommodations, please contact the Office of Disability Resources(Student Services third floor, x6035, ) or the Counseling Center (Humanities basement, x6390)

Grade Allocation

Favorite sites, coin toss projects, canvas drawings, dice game, slide show, your credit card or other project using a form, your virtual something / 20
Midterm Exam / 10
Midterm project: proposal, project, presentation / 15
Bouncing ball, (cannonball), video projects, Google Maps API projects / 15
Pop quizzes / 10
Final project: design proposal, stage 1, complete project, presentation / 15
Final Exam / 10
Notebook / 5

Projects must be shown in class on the due date. Attendance is required. There will be pop quizzes. You are expected to check the on-line materials prior to each class & to check your email daily. You are required to upload your projects to your student purchase server account. You must do your own work. You must keep a notebook.