Homework 3 (Doodle / Circles) FAQ

How do I download DrawingPanel.java?
Do I really need to have those 2 methods on the assignment sheet? Can I have additional methods?
How picky are you going to be in grading Doodle.java? Is this creative enough?
How many pixels can my image differ by?
My program says, Cannot find symbol: Graphics, or Color. What is wrong?

Q: How do I download DrawingPanel.java?

A: There's a link to it on the homework page from the course website.

Right-click on the link for DrawingPanel.java and click "Save Target As..." (in Internet Explorer) or "Save Link As..." (in Firefox). Then save the file in the same folder where your Java programs are being stored. Keep the file name the same, or it will not work.

Q: Do I really need to have those 2 methods on the assignment sheet? Can I have additional methods?

A: Yes, you need to have those two methods if you want full credit. Many students solve the program with only one method, but this solution doesn't follow our spec and therefore wouldn't get full credit.

You can have more methods besides those two if you want, but honestly you don't really need any others. A solution with many more methods is probably misunderstanding something about the assignment requirements. For example, creating four separate methods, one for each of the four grid figures, is not a good idea.

Q: How picky are you going to be in grading Doodle.java? Is this creative enough?

A: In general we're going to be very lenient with the grading of the Doodle.

The reason we ask for a few shapes and colors is so that a student won't just turn in a blank panel (or a totally trivial picture, such as one black line) and say, "Well you told me I could do anything I wanted. Ha ha ha." We just ask for two colors because we want you to call setColor at least once.

In general if you're drawing any sort of figure that you've created, you will get the points. The guidelines listed are just there so we can mark off people who clearly didn't even try to submit anything nontrivial.

Your Doodle will not be graded on style or internal correctness.

Q: How many pixels can my image differ by?

A: The number isn't important. You should get the credit as long as your image doesn't have any differences noticeable to the naked eye.

Q: My program says, Cannot find symbol: Graphics, or Color. What is wrong?

A: Remember that you need to include the command "import java.awt.*;" at the top of your program.