I was planning on assigning a project in Java Lab to my APCSA students after the AP exam is over. My thought was to allow students to develop a more a project using the Theater and Scenes in the Theater sandbox, or for them to create a text-based game or ChatBot in the Console sandbox. However, after playing around in the Console sandbox, I realize that Java Lab times out much too quickly to allow a game or Chatbot to be realistically developed there. Any suggestions? Is there a way to increase the timeout or disable it in Java Lab? Thanks in advance.
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Hi Tony,
At this time, there is not a way to increase the time or disable the time out for Java Lab . An option to consider using is repl.it , which is an online IDE that can be used to create java projects, or to code in a number of other languages.
I hope the project goes well for you and your students!
Lindsay
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Hello, Lindsay. Thanks for the quick reply. I used replit last year, but didn’t want to take the time to teach it to my students this year since we have very little time after the AP exam. Also, I had some issues using replit on the school computers last year and had to get with I/T many times to get it to work.
That’s too bad, I’m sorry you had a hard time with repl.it! Another option would be to download an IDE if your classroom devices allow it. I have used Blue J in the past and it was a pretty simple set up, but it does have the issue of being a different environment that the students would have to learn, which might not be worth the lift at this point in the year.
Your theater idea sounds a lot like the unit 7 project. If you didn’t have time to do that project before the AP exam, you could go back into unit 7 and use that resource. The project planning started in lesson 1, so that is where the planning guide is. Unit 8’s project is similar but instead of being in the theater, it is in the console. I am giving my students the option of doing either one of these projects, or going back to unit 1 and making an even cooler painter project with their full years worth of coding skills, or researching a topic of their choosing for their post AP project.
Best,
Lindsay
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@tlsmith2 I am also giving a text based game final project for my students for after the AP exam. I use Eclipse as the IDE and frame this as a “professional tools” project. Getting them into a more formal IDE and framing it like the next little step toward the students becoming a software engineer. I definitely have to build in the time for just a “Hello World” day where I work with students downloading the IDE and having them just get something to work. I then give them a project that can be done in a day like have them write a program that calculates compound interest or BMI. So after those two days of having them play with Eclipse I can then give them the final larger project which I do a choose your own adventure style text based game.
Hope these ideas help or give another perspective.
-Sam
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