Gridworld and more

These last few weeks have been pretty hectic; I've been out of school a few times recently, and my rarely present partner doesn't exactly help tip the scales in my favor. I found myself buried in a mound of worksheets and labs that I inherited even from the last unit about recursion. But the unit I need to master right now is something called "Gridworld."

The name initially took me back to the dog days of Jeroo, when I had to command a virtual kangaroo around a tiny island, picking up flowers every once in awhile. But once I started to delve into the mysterious new place, I found......nothing so far. Right now, Gridworld is just a 2D grid containing different 'actors,' which is lingo for the different classes scattered across the grid (bugs, chameleons, crabs, rocks, and flowers). Currently, I don't have access to these classes, but all I know is that they each behave in a unique way. On a recent lab, though, I changed the act() method of the bug class, which dictates a set path the bug will take on cue. It seems to me that Gridworld is just a way of getting practice with manipulating classes and such, possibly a good way to prepare for the AP test. Gridworld is, after all, some part of the AP exam, although I don't know which.

Last Friday the whole class worked on AP free response problems. The problems themselves aren't really difficult, but the main problem I have is remembering important details from past units. One example is the difference between lists and ArrayLists. On a basic level, I know that a list is just a collection of data types, and an ArrayList is an object which can contain a list of other objects. But I might be wrong. That distinction tripped me up a little bit, but I think with some practice I will be totally prepared for the AP.

- zk : out