Design | Media Arts 189

DESIGN | MEDIA ARTS 189 - Winter 2003

Interfacing the Real and the Computational
Interactive Multiagent Spatial Simulations and Games

Syllabus

Nicholas Gessler - gessler@ucla.edu - Office hours after class.
Osman Khan - osman73@ucla.edu - Office hours Thursday 1-3 in Kinross South at the front desk.
Dave Niebuhr - dnieb@aol.com - Whenever you can catch him.

~~CLICC PC Classroom "A" (Powell 307) - Fridays 10:00 - 1:00~~
changed to
CLICC PC Classroom "C" (Powell 320) - Fridays 11:00 - 2:00

Synopsis

A hands-on introduction to the methods of making computers aware of and reactive to their physical and social environments. Participants will learn to connect sensors and actuators to microcontrollers and PCs as well as the basics of languages required to design and build interactive projects. Additionally, participants will survey, critique and write a variety of multiagent simulations and games in Borland's Graphical C++ for Windows programming. These applications will explore the entailments of complex models of multiple causation connected to the analog real and digital virtual worlds. This course provides the elemental building blocks from which larger immersive realities may be imagined, planned and created. No previous programming experience is required. (grad/undergrad)

Borland	We will focus on Borland C++ Builder and work with real-world interfaces.
ER1 Robot	Lego RCX Microcontroller
EZIO A/D and I/O Interface big photo	Garmin GPS-12

No Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites other than an interest in artificial (and natural) worlds. You will have an advantage if you are comfortable working with PCs, HTML, browsing the Web, computer games, and sending and receiving E-mail. We will spend some time on these skills if necessary and you should have your own website up and running by the end of the first week. Make sure to contact Bruin-On-Line to get your own identification, password, email and website. Please familiarize yourself with the services (including classes) that they offer. We will introduce you to new visual tools with drag-and-drop components. It is really not that difficult. Check out the participant reviews and the instructor's profile.

Please arrive on the first day of class with:

A Bruin-On-Line ID, Password, E-mail account, and Website information.
20 Floppy Diskettes and one ZIP-250 Cartridge.
$10.00 for your print account. Printouts cost about $0.10 per page for black and white and $0.40 for color.

Readings:

required
readings

Good books on this subject are few and far between. They are usually expensive, have low print runs and go out of print quickly. I will simply Xerox articles for you to read or make them available on the Web.

REQUIRED: All handouts which will be Xeroxed or available on the Web.

Begin with Computer Models of Cultural Evolution, by Nick Gessler.

another list of useful and interesting books

recommended readings	These will inspire your class discussions, challenges and quarter project.
	RECOMMENDED: Evolutionary Design by Computers, by Peter Bentley (Editor) List Price: $62.95 amazon.com = $62.95 plus shipping and handling available from ASUCLA
	RECOMMENDED: Artificial Life, by Christopher G. Langton (Editor) List Price: $35.00 amazon.com = $35.00 plus shipping and handling available from ASUCLA
	RECOMMENDED: The Pattern on the Stone – The Simple Ideas that Make Computers Work, by Danny Hillis. Basic Books, New York (1998). An easy and enjoyable read. List price $13. available from instructor = $10.00

	RECOMMENDED: C++ Guide. BarCharts, Quick Study - Computer. A six-page cheat sheet on the C++ programming language. List Price = 5.95 available from instructor = $4.00
	RECOMMENDED: Growing Artificial Societies – Social Science from the Bottom Up, by Joshua Epstein and Robert Axtell. MIT Press, Cambridge (1996). A quick read for the overall strategy by week three. More in-depth reading will be assigned. List Price = out of print amazon.com = $24.00 plus shipping and handling available from instructor = $25.00
	RECOMMENDED: ATLAS OF CYBERSPACE Martin Dodge & Rob Kitchin List Price = 39.99 amazon.com = $27.99 plus shipping and handling available from instructor = $30.00
	RECOMMENDED: The Computational Beauty of Nature – Computer Exploration of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and Adaptation, by Gary William Flake. MIT Press, Cambridge (1999). Readings will be assigned each week. amazon.com = 32.95 plus shipping and handling available from instructor = $30.00 MIT Press Website Java Applets and more...
	RECOMMENDED: Blondie24, by David Fogel. Morgan Kauffman (2001). Tells the story of a computer that taught itself to play checkers far better than its creators ever could by emulating the principles of Darwinian evolution and discovering innovative ways to approach the game. amazon.com = 17.46 plus shipping and handling

Grading:

Since participant standing ranges from Freshman to Graduate and programming exprience ranges from none to extensive, your grade will be base on what you have accomplished as an individual. Based upon previous courses I have taught with the same participant make-up, everyone has an equal chance to earn an "A."

8 Weekly Challenges: 5% each = 40%

Class Participation: (30%)

Class Project (30%)

Challenges will be mostly simulations for you to write, explore, and enhance in code, pseudocode and procedural ideas. Please keep your own copies since I will keep what you turn in so that I can impress my colleagues with your work. We will return comments and suggestions separately, or better let's meet me over lunch or coffee (my treat).

Please turn in the following for each programming challenge:

Label everything with your name and challenge number.
Cover Sheet - A printout of the screen image of your application (with your name, class and assignment number).
Source Code - A printout of your source code (e.g. the unit1.cpp file).
Floppy with your executable and 6 project files (yes, they will all fit):

Includes:

Presentations to the class.
Discussions in the classroom
Meetings during office hours and over coffee.
Assistance you may give your fellow participants.

We are always interested in epistemological issues (how do we know what we think we know), the evolution of representations (simulations and models), and what may be possible just around the corner. We would always like our discussions grounded in technological fact.

Can computers think?
Is my brain a computer?
Why do I hate computers?
Why are computers stupid?
Is reality itself a simulation?
Can we bring coffee to class?
Are characters in a computer game alive?
Can computers have feelings and emotions?
Is the world deterministic but unpredictable?
Can we build computers out of DNA or RNA?
Are we simply agents running on some enormous computer game?
What are the issues raised by the movies DARK CITY, THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR and AI? How close is fact to fiction?
If what we know of the world is represented by an image on our retina which in turn is represented by neurons firing in our brains, how many levels of representations are there between ourselves and the external world? Can we ever know that world directly?

These sources may give you
ideas for your class project.

TRW
electronics swap
last Saturday 7-noon