Nifty Assignments

The Nifty Assignments session at the annual SIGCSE meeting is all about gathering and distributing great assignment ideas and their materials. For each assignment, the web pages linked below describe the assignment and provides materials -- handouts, starter code, and so on.

Applying for Nifty is now done as its own track with a similar deadline to special sessions. The format and content of the .zip you submit is unchanged. See the info page for ideas about what makes a nifty assignment and how to apply for the Nifty session.

Please email any suggestions or comments to the new, central email: nifty@cs.stanford.edu

Nick's Home

Nifty Assignments 2020

Thanks to our presenters for getting everything together with the Corona virus chaos, and our apologies for taking even longer to get the hosting set up. Typing Test - John DeNero et al CS1 Fill in algorithm of fun typing-speed test. (Video) (intentionally silent) Color My World - Carl Albing CS1 or later: Students are given a data file, but no description about what it represents. Can they solve the mystery by generating a reasonable image? Bar Chart Racer - Kevin Wayne CS1 - use real data to make a animated bar chart - captivating! (Video) DNA - Brian Yu, David J. Malan CS1 or CS2 Neat DNA project. (Video) Recursion to the Rescue - Keith Schwarz Nifty recursion projects using tied to real-world applications. (Video) Decision Makers - Evan Peck Two hour exercise illuminating algorithms and life

Nifty Assignments 2019 Nifty Post It - Jeffrey L. Popyack CS0-CS1 Hands On Manipulative Hawaiin Phonetic Generator - Kendall Bingham CS1 Fun Text Motion Parallax - Ben Dicken CS1 Awesome Graphic Experience Gerrymandering - Allison Obourn CS1-CS2 Election Data Analysis and Visualization Code Crusher - Ben Stephenson CS1-CS2 Great Popular Game + Code Blocky - Diane Horton and David Liu CS2 Recursion Tree Fabulous

Nifty Assignments 2017 Falling Sand - Dave Feinberg CS1 Very engaging falling simulation 2048 in Python - Kunal Mishra CS1 The fantastic 2048 game works great as a CS assignment Fractal Sound - Josh Hug CS1 Amazing sound generation and visualization SAT Synonyms - Michael Guerzhoy CS1-CS2 Fun big data application to the familiar SAT word problems NBody Simulation - Kevin Wayne CS2 Captivating gravity simulation. Gravity .. it's everywhere!

Nifty Assignments 2016 Mountain Paths -- Baker Franke CS1 Neat simple algorithm in 2D arrays Restaurant Recommendations Yelp Maps -- Brian Hou, Marvin Zhang, and John DeNero CS1 Nifty data visualization of restaurant data Rack-O Game -- Arvind Bhusnurmath, Kristen Gee, and Karen Her CS1 Play and AI code for an easy game Movie Review Sentiment -- Eric Manley and Timothy Urness CS1/CS2 Neat word analysis from a surprisingly simple algorithm HugLife -- Josh Hug CS1/CS2 Grid simulation game that shows off testing Autocomplete-me -- Kevin Wayne CS2 Neat applied use of word storage and binary search

Nifty Assignments 2015 Counting Squares -- Mark Sherriff, Luther Tychonievich, and Ryan Layer CS0/CS1 Neat and easy squares activity Speed Reader -- Peter-Michael Osera CS1 Nifty Animation GeoLocator -- Stuart Reges CS1 Fun Geo Data Packet Sniffing -- Suzanne Matthews and David Raymond CS1 Eye Opening Networking Melody Maker -- Allison Obourn and Marty Stepp CS1 Fun with Sound Seam Carving -- Josh Hug CS1/CS2 Amazing Image Resize Trick

Nifty Assignments 2013 Twitter Trends -- John DeNero and Aditi Muralidharan CS0-CS1 Neat output with a hip big-data source Collage -- Mark Guzdial CS0 Novel media output by combining images Authorship Detection -- Michelle Craig CS1 Surprisingly effective data driven categorization with basic coding Recursive TurtleGraphics -- Eric Roberts CS1 Get at the essential recursive idea very easily Campus Shuttle -- David Malan CS1 Stunning graphical tour Estimating Avogadro's Number -- Kevin Wayne CS1/CS2 Surprisingly easy image processing of lab data to get a real-world result

Nifty Assignments 2012 Stereo Sound Processing -- Daniel Zingaro CS1 (early) - Fun and impressive early in the quarter - remove vocals from sound Guitar Heroine -- Kevin Wayne CS1/CS2, Extremely neat -- math model creates realistic guitar sound Uno -- Stephen Davies CS1, Strategy AI to play Uno. Image Editor -- Joshua T. Guerin and Debby Keen CS1/CS2 Code to experiment with images, but requiring only the ability to change text files. Igel Ärgern -- Zachary Kurmas CS2 Hedgehogs in a Hurry game Binary Bomb -- David O'Hallaron Post CS2 -- neat assignment puzzle to play with understanding of compiled code and memory as they truly are. On the linked page, see the README, Writeup, Release Notes, Self-Study Handout which all work without a password. To play with the code, email Dave and he'll send you what you need to get the binaries.

Nifty Assignments 2011 Image Puzzles -- Nick Parlante CS0 or later, great puzzles using images, tiny code required BMP Puzzles -- David Malan CS1, More and better image puzzles, looking at bytes of BMP file representation Book Recommendations -- Michelle Craig CS1, Like the Netflix movie-recommendation system, generate book recommendations. Surprisingly simple algorithms give a neat results. Generic Scrolling Game -- Dave Feinberg CS1, Project pattern which supports a variety of games. Easily allows students to customize rules, graphics etc. of simple game. Wator World -- Mike Scott CS1-CS2, Shark/fish simulation using GridWorld type abstraction. Neat simulation/modeling example working from simple rules. Hamming Codes -- Stuart Hansen CS2, Neat exercise with a real algorithm. Push the students to understand that it's really all bytes. Evil Hangman -- Keith Schwarz CS2 or late CS1 - Awesome variant of Hangman, where the computer cheats by dodging all the user's guesses

Nifty Assignments 2010 Picobot -- Zachary Dodds CS0-CS1, day-1 assignment -- neat environment to get students started, works in the browser Pig -- Todd Neller CS1, intermediate difficulty game to implement, but students love it and lots of variations Song Generator -- Daniel Zingaro CS1, implement filters with short bits of code, but it all works in the domain of sound, making in a novel and engaging domain for the students CSI: Computer Science Investigation -- David Malan The instructor accidentally erases the compact flash card containing their images. Students write code to recover the images, solve the treasure hunt using the images Encryption Chase -- Mark Sherriff CS2, encryption coding, embedded in a team active-learning campus treasure hunt Chatting Aimlessly (IM) -- Thomas Murtagh CS1, implement simple instant messaging client in CS1 -- talk about a technology near to the student heart!

Nifty Assignments 2009 Star Map -- Karen Reid CS1, neat drawing of the night sky and constellations -- simple file reading and drawing Face Pamphlet -- Mehran Sahami CS1, simple Facebook application built with just CS1 technology, students love it Secrets In Images -- Brent Heeringa, Thomas Murtagh CS1, hide secret messages inside images -- neat image manipulation with data as simple arrays Random Art -- Christopher A Stone CS1, build nifty images with recursive nested random symbolic math expressions (python) Enigma Encryption -- Dave Reed CS1-CS21, range of easy to complex cryptography projects, using paper/manipulation model to get started DNA Splicing -- Owen Astrachan CS2, surprisingly easy DNA manipulation, set up for the students to measure/experiment with their code

Nifty Assignments 2008 Catch Plagiarists -- Baker Franke CS1-CS2, typical CS2 data structures, difficulty can be adjusted. Search within a set of documents to find pairs with copied content Genetic Algorithm TSP -- Raja Sooriamurthi CS1-CS2, basic genetic algorithms. Use genetic algorithms to solve the traveling salesman problem Asteroids -- Dan Leyzberg, Art Simon CS1-CS2, objects, inheritance, abstract classes. An impressive implementation of Asteroids with OOP design and inheritance Huffman Images -- Morgan McGuire, Tom Murtagh CS1(late) or CS2(early). Labs to explore huffman compression in the context of image bitmap manipulation Maze Solver -- Don Blaheta CS2, stacks, queues, 2d arrays. Play around with algorithms to solve a maze. Works with gridworld Dice Flip -- Cay Horstmann CS1-CS2, prolog for advanced CS2, java for late CS1 variant. Explore simple but subtle dice game

Nifty Assignments 2007 Media Manipulation -- John Cigas CS0-CS1, spreadsheet use or basic code. Transfer media data to spreadsheet form to make manipulation easy ASCIImations -- Dave Reed CS0-CS2. ASCII animations make fun, creative output with surprisingly simple code (Javascript, Java, ...) Mindreader -- Raja Sooriamurthi CS1, CS2. basic logic, map interface (arrays or Hashmaps). Build a surprisingly good computer opponent for a guessing game Solitaire OOP -- Robert Noonan CS2, OOP and patterns to explore family of solitaire games Sliding Blocks Puzzle -- Mike Clancy CS2, significant recursion and data structures. Recursive and heuristic work to solve the sliding blocks puzzle. Fire -- Angela Shiflet CS2, 2-d arrays, simulation. Neat, real-world example simulating spread of fire across a terrain, depending on humidity etc.

Nifty Assignments 2006 Book Code (ISBN) -- John Motil CS1, basic logic to play with ISBN numbers. Fun because we are surrounded by these numbers .. use them for basic examples Natural Prestidigitation -- Steve Wolfman CS1, basic logic, loops, arrays. Appears dull, but has a neat surprise ending. Breakout -- Eric Roberts CS1, basic logic, loops using ACM graphics early in the term Dancing Turtles -- Chris Nevison CS1, inheritance with dancing turtles and ACM graphics Solitaire Encryption -- Lester I. McCann CS2, list manipulations, algorithmic code, file reading. Implements a very novel type of encryption. Anagram Solver -- Stuart Reges CS2, recursive backtracking ... a very fun application of recursive search RSS Reader -- Jerry Cain CS2, data structures, networking ... neat to implement a client for a real protocol

Nifty Assignments 2005 Test Me -- David Levine CS0-CS1, students write tests to examine black box code -- nifty and no code writing Grid Plotter -- Alyce Brady and Pam Cutter CS1, neat way to learn and practice loop code Complementary Currency -- Paul Kube CS1, OOP by creating a currency ... has a community/social aspect among the students Name Surfer -- Nick Parlante CS1, loops, arrays, files. Graph baby name data for the last 100 years. Nifty because the data is nifty. Photomosaics PPT (PDF version) -- Rich Pattis CS2, create image made of many little images .. but there is a patent on it Image Lab -- Aaron Gordon CS2, framework to allow students to write filters on 2-d data and see them applied to images

Nifty Assignments 2004

Nifty Assignments 2003

Virtual Pests -- Jeffrey L. Popyack -- a fun CS1 assignment using JavaScript

Pong -- Grant Braught -- a neat "objects first" assignment

Lunar Lander -- Stuart Reges -- another fun "objects first" assignment

HTML Browser -- Scott Dexter and Chaya Gurwitz -- CS2 assignment to render HTML

Backtracking -- Stephen Weiss -- CS2 all about backtracking

Random Writer -- Joe Zachary -- a neat CS2 data structure problem

Nifty Assignments 2002

Blurbs from the proceedings

Shall We Play A Game? -- Dan Garcia -- A system where students can play around with game playing AI (CS0)

Neat Javascript projects -- Dave Reed -- Using Javascript as a simple introduction to programming (CS0)

Adventure -- John Estell -- Using the classic adventure game as a largish project (CS2)

Sorting Detective -- David Levine -- A fun variation on the old "sorting algorithms" homework (CS2)

Boggle -- Julie Zelenski (in cahoots with Owen Astrachan) -- Using the Boggle game to explore recursive algorithms and data structure tradeoffs (CS2)

Nifty Assignments 2001

Blurbs from the proceedings

Windows and Regions -- Mike Clancy -- an algorithmic problem using 2-d regions. An excuse to do some linked-list (or ArrayList) type manipulation. Give the students a feel for "window" manager region operations.

Personality Test -- Stuart Reges -- sort and match the personality data of the class (more fun than it sounds!)

Quilt -- Julie Zelenski -- a fun, drawing-intensive CS1 project that emphasizes decomp

Word Ladder -- Owen Astrachan -- a string manipulation puzzle

Tetris -- Nick Parlante -- a large OOP project, with a tetris board, tetris piece, tetris game, and a pluggable tetris brain . Can be used as a small project where students just write a Tetris brain and plug it in, or can be used as a large CS2 OOP project. The nifty materials include a runnable JTetris.jar sample, and an Instructor's Guide

Nifty Assignments 1999