FHTW Berlin Fachbereich 4 Internationale Medieninformatik PROG1: Programmierung I Wintersemester 03/04

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Lab 0 : The Martian Story

Mars was extremely close to the earth the end of August and could easily be seen at night without a telescope. Being this close, we are of course expecting a Martian invasion any minute now. In order to be prepared, we are going to write a story.

Pretend that you are corresponding with a Martian pen pal. (Alternately, pretend you're corresponding with your Programming 1 professor, which can often feel the same.) Pick a system of some sort that you encounter in every day life and describe/explain it to your pen pal. You may choose a physical system, like a vending machine or a pinball game, or an organizational system such as the FHTW admissions office or the Einwohnermeldeamt. Your job is to explain this system to your pen pal. You may use words or pictures, as you choose. You should consider the following:

• What kinds of users does this system have, and what different needs might this system fulfill for each of them? (The same person may use the system for different purposes at different times. Each of these potentially defines a different kind of interaction.) For each user interaction (sometimes called a "use case", give the user-role and the system-function.
• What are the constituent parts of the system? For each one, give its name and a brief description of its purpose, function, or responsibility.
• How do these parts interrelate (and relate to users outside the system)? What interaction paths exist, and what kinds of transactions or information flow (or other transfers or communication) happen over these paths?

You may give more than one level of decomposition if it makes sense, but you are only expected to provide one level. If you find it easier to produce a diagram, this is fine, provided that it is either sufficiently self-explanatory or you also produce text that explains the diagram.

You can write in either German or English, Martians can read either language. The page can be written (legibly!) by hand or with a computer.

Remember that Martians (and Professors) know very little about life on Earth, so you should make your description fairly detailed and specific. The description should run approximately two paragraphs, and under no circumstances should it exceed one page. (Martians have notoriously short attention spans.)

Bring this writeup with you to the next lab. I will want to see this writeup as a part of lab check-in. What's check-in? You need to be prepared for all of the graded experiments. We will practice how this works for Lab 1. Be on time to the lab and have your Martian story out for me to check off.