Program Design

The purpose of today's mini-lab is to practice working through the design of a complex program, as you develop a design for your first programming project. You may work by yourself or with a partner. Your design should include the following information:

A drawing (or screen-shot) of the initial world. Each object in the world should be labeled with its name and its class.
A list of all world level methods.
A list of all world level functions.
A list of world level variables.
A list of all new classes you will create. For each class you should list the class level variables, methods and functions that it will include.
A list of all events along with the methods that they will call.

For both class and world level methods you should include:

A list of parameters with their types.
A clear description of what the method will do. Initially this can be a brief statement of what this method is intended to accomplish. As you refine your design, this should start to look more like a detailed set of Alice instructions.

For both class and world level functions you should include:

A list of parameters with their types.
The return type.
A clear description of what information the function is supposed to return.

Once you have a design that seems reasonable, take some time to carefully think about it and discuss the decisions you've made. One advantage of working out a design before you start coding is that it is generally easier to revise the design than it is to revise code. Take this opportunity to try to think of ways to solve the problem more effectively. If you are completely happy with your design, ask the instructor or a TA to take a look at it.