CIST1305 Program Design and Development
Carter's Video Recordings: Oh What is a VARIABLE

A Detailed Introduction To Variables Using Raptor

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What is a variable?

This training segment is designed to drill in the concept of computer program variables. We will cover some key concepts and then move into a Raptor demonstration. You will find that starting very simple projects with Raptor will help you get comfortable with this powerful programming tool and learn the terminology at the same time.

Video Segment #1

Project: Personal Information

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Objectives:

We will be demonstrating a very simple project that uses string data. Special highlights that look at concantenation when two strings are joined. This also introduces Raptor as a great programmers tool. Watch this video to get yourself started.

Time to Finish-it-up

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Raptor Details

Probably my favorate part about Raptor is that you can tell if you planned well when your Raptor Project runs. For this project you should already have the answer worked out in your mind. If Raptor gives you the same answer you can say you planned well. Although this is not 100% assurance you have the right answer it is a good indicator.

Project: Sales Prediction

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Introduce the project and talk about setup

A second project for you to look at. Here we use numeric data and include a calculation. See if you can build this project in Raptor. If you cannot get it to work you may need to come to campus for some help.

Now for the Raptor Solution

Remember, a Raptor Project should run as a real program. If you cannot get it to work you could also get help from some of your group members. Group project 1 will be coming up in our next LO (Learning Object). I am sure someone in your group will get a handle on Raptor.

Sum-it-up

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Logic terms

variable - a storage location in computer memory that can hold a value and the value can be changed

data house - another name for a variable or location to store data

string data - alpha-numeric data that is a mix of alpha characters and numbers. You cannot mathematically add a string.

numeric data - data that us purely numeric. Could be whole numbers or decimal numbers.

Raptor terms

assignment symbol - used to set a variable's value

output symbol - shaped like a parallelagram and has an arrow pointing out

start button - shaped like an arrow head that points to the right

stop button - shaped like a box

Assess Your Knowledge

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Take a few minutes and assess whether you learned anything. I may ask you to send me a screen shot that tells me how you did. I have several different methods to give extra-credit points for things like this. Pay attention and maybe you will get the points.

Show/hide comprehension question...