Enhancing student interest by extending graphics applications (abstract only)

Computer science teachers strive for new examples and problems to interest millenials. The Media Computation approach has proven successful in attracting students in contexts from community colleges to R1 universities - students are clearly excited by writing programs that make images. In this workshop, we show how to go a step further and have write scripts and plug-ins in Python for open-source graphics programs such as the GNU Image Manipulation Program and Inkscape, open source alternatives to Photoshop and Illustrator. With this approach, students not only make images, they also write filters and features that they can share with others, even with non-programmers. For example, students have written filters that "fractalize" vector graphics or that turn images into something that looks like stained glass. The ability to make programs that others will use is particularly motivational.We will explore ways in which students can interact with both Inkscape and GIMP, from working with interactive programming consoles to writing plug-ins that can easily be shared with others. We will also consider the ways in which different models of image making can be used to motivate the major programming paradigms.The approach has been used with Python, Scheme, and C and for everything from a one-week module to a full course.