For your first assignment, I would like you to think about programs that you would like to write. Suppose you were an experienced programmer, and you had lots of time to devote to writing a truly great program. What would that program be? Of course, there are probably lots of things that you might be interested in working on.
For this assignment, I'd like you to choose two possible programming projects and say a little about each of them. Describe what the program will do. What task will it perform? How will the user interact with it? Then say a little about what you imagine the program code might be like. In particular, what are some aspects of the programming that you don't yet know how to handle?
You don't have to write a huge amount. About a half-page to a page for each program will be long enough. The programs can be anything you want. They don't have to be original ideas -- if the thing that you really want to write is a spreadsheet program, then talk about that. Don't be afraid to pick an ambitious project; I'm not going to ask you to actually write the program. The only requirement for the subject matter is that at most one of the programs can be a computer game.
The assignment is due on Wednesday, August 29, the second day of class. If you sign up for the class late, you should still do the assignment, and you should turn it in at the second class that you attend.
I will grade the assignment, but the grading will not be very rigorous. As long as you take the assignment seriously, you will get full credit. The main point of this assignment is to get you thinking about programs that you might like to write and about techniques that you might need to complete those programs.