Comments for William E. J. Doane PhD

Comment on The Law of Unintended Patterns by Kimberly

Kimberly — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:22:05 +0000

Yep, sounds like two steps are needed–one of generation, one of judgment (hey, just like SCIENCE–context of discovery, context of justification).

Comment on The Law of Unintended Patterns by William Doane

William Doane — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:05:40 +0000

Unfortunately, often (albeit not always) the “benefit” is adherence to best practices or language-specific idioms that, while reflecting what a seasoned programmer would do, may not offer functional or structural benefits in the constrained context of the example or exercise.

I think the explicit generation of multiple interpretations at least brings to the surface the implicit thought processes of the expert, i.e., that the unintended patterns have been considered and excluded based on training (“there’s a well known solution to this…”), quick thinking (“here’s a clever little solution…”), or forward thinking (“I’m also going to need to…”). Generation and filtering of alternative approaches is a desirable habit of mind, yes?

Comment on The Law of Unintended Patterns by Kimberly

Kimberly — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:49:02 +0000

“Best goal” is relative to all sorts of things. If your goal is problem solving in programming (a subject I’m QUITE ignorant about), then frame the problem (if possible) so that identifying the “right” pattern pays off for them in a way that finding the others don’t. What’s the benefit of the intended pattern? Can you set them up to recognize that payoff?

Or, let them generate all the non-intended patterns, and then ask them if they can identify what the intended one has that the non-intended ones do not.

Comment on “It’s the model that matters!” — Eric Mazur by bob p

bob p — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:01:06 +0000

The nuance that seems to me to be essential might take the form that ‘the production of language that expresses a sense of confusion” does correlate positively with understanding… to the extent to which the test on which students ‘did much better’ matters. I’m not sure what Mazur would say, but that seems to me to be a reasonable take away. No? (And THAT tends to conform w/ my experience: the seriously confused students will rarely talk.)

Comment on Dependent Sample Assessment Plots Using granova and R by Dependent Sample Assessment Plots Using granovaGG and R | William E. J. Doane PhD

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:48:21 +0000

[...] over one year ago, I wrote about creating Dependent Sample Assessment Plots (DSAP) Using granova and R. Since then, Brian Danielak has been developing a new, ggplot2-based version of granova named [...]

Comment on Thinking Through A Basic Pong Game in Processing by Elisabeth Goebel

Elisabeth Goebel — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 22:35:41 +0000

I'm just getting started in Processing, and this example was really helpful. I found the motion of the paddle to be really jerky, though. I also didn't like that my paddle could go off the screen. So instead of a keyPressed function, I put this into my draw function:

if(keyPressed == true) {
    if (key == CODED) {
      if(keyCode == UP) {
        if (paddleY >= 0) {
          paddleY = paddleY - paddleH*0.2;
        }
      }
      if(keyCode == DOWN) {
        if(paddleY <= height - paddleH) {
          paddleY = paddleY + paddleH*0.2;
        }
      }
    }
  }

Comment on IST301x: The Information Environment by Brian Sampson

Brian Sampson — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 17:49:34 +0000

I took this course a few years back with William Doane. The group project proved to be one of the most useful and rewarding experiences I had at UAlbany. If you’re in the Information Science program, definitely take this class!

Thanks again, Professor!

Comment on Reason I wish Apple wasn’t so secretive #43 by Mike Kaldenberg

Mike Kaldenberg — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 06:00:22 +0000

Wil, Wow! I did not know the iPad had such accessories. Does the ‘wallpaper’ and boarder flow that smoothly as an image across the front of the iPad? Interesting and intriguing. I see now why my wife may want one of these things!

Comment on CS2103.01: Social Nature of Information by William Doane

William Doane — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:31:08 +0000

Thanks, Devin. Folks seemed to like the course and enrollment for my spring course offering is strong.

Comment on CS2103.01: Social Nature of Information by Devin Gaffney

Devin Gaffney — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:03:12 +0000

This looks like a very interesting class – I wish you had started before the term I graduated – keep the good CS/Sociological blend classes around!