Learning Java Through Violence 225
Joe writes: "Someone introduced me to a new game called Robocode and now I'm hooked as well as my 17 year old son. We are both learning Java while playing the game or I should say while building our Java robots. The game is setup to teach you how to handle events, how to create inner classes, and other Java techniques to build more sophisticated Java bots. I have a c++ background so I've been helping my son with his bots, but he's catching on very fast. It's turning out to be a cool and easy way to get the kid clued into programming and best of all its free." I'll bet if the little Logo turtles shot at each other, I would have had more fun programming as a kid.
Another idea.. (Score:3, Interesting)
What about a programming puzzle game? You'd get a task and some constraints and have to write a program that meets the requirements.
from "Output the alphabet without using any character literals." to.. something more complicated. permutations of a string?
It'd just have to parse the source file to see if they followed the rules, see if it compiles (warnings not allowed!), and then run the program with whatever input it needs, and parse the output.
Just like Apple's RobotWars (Score:2, Interesting)
Anyways, I've been craving a modern version of this for some time now and haven't been able to find anything. I've thought of building one but I'll have to check this one out.
Lame! (Score:2, Interesting)
realtimebattle (Score:1, Interesting)
Learning vs. Imitating (Score:2, Interesting)
I notice now that I was merely imitating the coding practices found in the example code and the code that my friends and I shared.
I was learning interfaces and code structure in a very oblique manner.
I wasn't learning program structure or timing.
It was a lot of fun, but I didn't walk away from the experience with anything more than a cursory memory of what code is.
Re:Moral implications... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'll tell you what there is enough of though, self-righteous pricks who think they should be the thought police, and that they have the magical rules as to how everybody should raise their own children.
While I disagree with the poster's hand-wringing about violence, I have to defend his right to judge others. The biggest problem with society today is not sex, violence, the DMCA or any of that: It's the "who am I to judge" crap. It's everyone's responsibility to judge EVERYTHING and EVERYONE in society, but be willing and prepared to be judged by others.
Notice that the poster was not calling for laws to be passed, but it is his absolute right and responsibility to judge on a personal basis what he feels is right and wrong. When enough people feel the same way, society can be transformed.
RM101: Self righteous, and proud of it.
C++Robots (Score:3, Interesting)
Weighing the good Vs. Bad (Score:1, Interesting)
Even if this game is violent think of what it is doing, it's trying to get people involved in programming and computers in general. I attend an engineering school and have been amazed at the number of people that have no computer knowledge of any sort, especially in a technological field. Things like this could get people involved at a high school level in computers, so violence is bad, but sometimes the benefits are worth the cost.