We have released 0061.
Release notes:
Installer for Linux (Sims and all)
Key events now can check for which key was pressed
NetBeans plugin code generation for events
NetBeans plugin fix for code generation of fields declared as getters and setters in Java (e.g. get/setColor)
General bug fixing
Things have changed a bit in Alice as we try to separate classes and instances. The following screencast shows you how to create a method on a class in the latest version.
You can also download this video in MPEG-4 format for offline viewing:Creating a method on a class (8.2MB)
There are a lot of reasons why Alice is still in beta. Gabe and I estimated that if we can make 1001 improvements, then Alice3 will cross over into the “good” realm. To date, I’ve gotten 3 of the 1001, so there’s still a long ways to go. For most of the [...]
0060 is up. For the first time in Alice 3’s brief history (brief on an astronomical time scale, anyway) one should be able to teach a semester long without the absolute necessity of being able to update the system mid-semester. We will still be fixing bug reports and making updates, of course. However, the hope [...]
I first got a chance to see Kodu in action at this year’s SIGCSE conference. It was easily the most exciting thing I saw at the conference (and yes, that includes Alice3 .
Kodu is a project created at Microsoft Research now available via Xbox LIVE for the 360. I had the chance to check [...]
A lot of people have been asking if they should jump right in and use Alice3 for the upcoming Fall Semester. My answer would be “Today’s version of Alice3 is certainly not for everyone.” As many of you know, Alice3 is in beta… and not some perfectly functional beta like Gmail. It [...]
The Alice team is back from our trip to JavaOne in San Francisco.
Our friends at Sun set us up w/ a station in the Change (Y)our World Playground where we demoed what I tried to describe as “a sneak peak at the future of Alice”. I’m not sure how accurate the desciption of “sneak peak” [...]
Since Java 1.5, you can set the default uncaught exception handler:
Thread.setDefaultUncaughtExceptionHandler( new Thread.UncaughtExceptionHandler() {
public void uncaughtException( Thread thread, Throwable throwable ) {
// fill in code here
}
} );
When combined with the JavaMail API, Alice-3 can now submit bug reports on uncaught exceptions and attach things like the stack trace, the system properties, the user’s project, the [...]
You can also download this video in Quicktime format for offline viewing:
Alice Screencast #2 (54.5MB)
(Right-click and select “Save Link As…” from the submenu)
Alice’s story begins back in the early 90s at the University of Virginia. Randy Pausch, then an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at UVa, started a user interface research group. The Alice system was built to support rapid prototyping of virtual environments. Simulation was performed on a Sun SPARCstation 5 which [...]