Mini Project Menu
================= 

Introduction:
-------------

Here is a list of possible skills you might consider mastering
before the end of the semester. The present list includes those
we've talked about in class. And to give your individual work some
focus, you might choose just a few to do as mini-projects over the 
next two weeks. Let me know which you choose, and I'll help you 
do them.

DPgraph Report
--------------

Write up a proper lab report on your DPgraph experiment. Prepare
a 5-10 minute demo in class to go along with the report.  

Learn Python
------------

In a few hours you could learn enough Python to complete a nano-project,
something you thought of and created. There are three ways of doing this.

From Stan Blank's Notes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Read your way into 10-15 pages of this book, do some of the examples.
You'll need to install some software on your computer, unless you work 
in the lab. If there are some takers for this route, I'll give a lesson
on what and how to install it.

Using visual.py
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is possible to investigate the python library that is at a higher level
than OpenGL in immediate and elementary deferred mode (our two lessons 
from Week 2) directly by "importing" the visual.py package. This route does 
depend on the 'integrated development environment' contained in Vpython,
below.

Using VPython
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Vpython is an superb package designed to teach college physics through
programming. It has many examples of sophisticated code, but primitive
3D graphics. This is good, when you want to learn to program graphics,
but not waste our time on uninteresting examples. The physics examples
here are really nice. We would use VPython for the entire course if there
were some way of attaching VPython to Syzygy (for the Cube.)

Drawing Figures by Hand
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There isn't a successful computer graphics practitioner who doesn't do
sketches by hand at times. There is a bag of tricks for sketching 
a surface you can model on a tool, like DPgraph or Grapher (on the macs).
A short tutorial can point you resources to start with. 

Typesetting with LaTeX
----------------------

The LaTeX mathematical typesetting tools for composing short documents
is accessible in a relatively short time. If you have the need, there is
a way. To get good at TeX takes about a year. But you can get started 
here. There are two 

LaTeX
--tools
--samples

I believe that's all you would be concerned about, but I did also write down
what you had underneath

Coordinate Changes: Implicit and Parametric
Simple Harmonic Motion
Time as the 4th dimension (or not)
Curvature of surfaces

Hope that helps!

John Hoffman