!Shopper is an opportunity for children to practice moneyary skills in a variety of forms. If you are the sort of person who only reads the top paragraph of documentation you would be well advised to also look at the defaults file within the application directory!
Starting off:
Load up the program by double clicking on !Shopper. At this point you will need to wait as the program loads up and places its symbol on the icon bar. From here click on the icon to use the program.
The choices:
There are a lot of choices in this program to give the maximum use from what, after all, is a "drill and practice" program that I wouldn't recommend except in a well thought out enhancement or special needs policy or for children at KS1 who need extra /different practice.
Info
Gives details of the version you are using
Calculator
An option where you can add coins together by clicking on them. The total is shown in the "Till" window.
Buying has three options on the sub menu:-
Exact
Buying items (which are specified in the translate file in the form:-
Number of item
description (eg Bunch of grapes)
top price
bottom price
This is a practice of making up monetary amounts to a given total. The coins tendered must be exact (if you try and give too much money you are told that this is too much!)
With change
The same as exact except here purchase with excess money resu;ts in the prompt- How much change do you require. Again click on the coins to the required change (which will be shown in the till)
Multiple
This is buying multiples of the same object- really difficult mental maths or practice with a calculator!
Count
A random amount (maximum given by the first amount in the default file) is shown as coinage on screen and the pupil needs to enter the amount present.
Add On
This is a difficult idea for children to get around- that coins have more than a unitary value! eg 2p= 1p and 1p even though its only one coin. This option allows "counting on" from any coin value with any other coin.
MENU add_on- Menu with-
Start
£1 £1
50p 50p
20p 20p
10p 10p
5p 5p
2p 2p
1p 1p
with
It is advised that you follow the menu structure to the second coin, select it with the right mouse button then choose the first coin similarly before choosing "Start". The default file has 50p and 1p set up for users that merely choose to start.
This option will allow children chances of adding on in pennoes to start, then 2p's or whatever path you want to follow or practice.
Shopkeeper
It occured to me that some classrooms may have a computer in a shopping corner so this option is an emulation of a till. The shopkeeper can put in the amounts from a click on the keypad that is then shown on the till. Functions for clearing the till or adding / subtracting amounts are available (for all those 4p off vouchers that your customers bring. Sorry- no option for bar code reading from the product but its a good introduction to Applications and Effects!
Target:
This is one to make your children think! You have to buy an item but with a given number of coins - no fewer or more
User
The user menu includes options to add your name and to clear the score form the program. Each time you correctly respond to a problem the score will go up by one (perhaps a way of limiting a turn?!)
In this new version (from 1.5 onwards) there is an option to add your name to the top ten scores for that particular type of use. Obviously you can only get a score if you are using Change,Exact tender,Counting or adding on so its not appropriate if you are using the program as a calculator or shop simulation.
Start-up mode:
This section of the documentation was added because I suddenly realised that I had forgotten all the codes in the defaults file!!
exact - exact buying
targ - coin targets
multiple - multiple purchase
shop - shop keeper
change - buying with change
calc - calculator mode
count - count the coins
addon - add on mode
Also note that from version 1.58 there is a new entry in the defaults file to turn maximum amount on and off. The purpose of this is so that sometimes you may wish to have items with real prices (set by top and bottom limits in translate file) whilst at others you can accept that everything is to be a random amount up to the child's ceiling of capability. This comes into operation only when the program starts, as the file is read on start up..
Quit
I'll let you experiment with this one!
Another menu is available from the main screen by pressing the middle menu button. It has user options such as adding name, seeing scores or adding scores. It is duplicated on the icon menu.
If you choose to see scores all irrelevant windows are closed. To recommence use select over the icon bar program.
Adding scores resets the score to zero (of course) although this is not immediate but after the next calcualtion update.
The menu over the till is similar to the coin window option on the main menu. It simple allows the coin window to be re displayed if it has been closed down in some other operation.
Future developments:
These crossed my mind:
1. A little "till sound" on the till!
And finally... known bugs:
1. I'm not sure whether Helix basic suffers every now and then with its interface to RISC OS and gets an abort on data transfer message. Certainly if you try and zoom through the options an error can sometimes occur.Its either a limitation of my programming ( a probable cause) or the interface. Either way its a rare occurrence but it has been seen. I have to report though that the disc provided with helix basic has three demonstration programs on it and two of these crash on my machines.!
2. Sometimes the program can get VERY confused by lots of clicks all over the place... this is exactly the sort of thing that children do and the solution seems to be to stop and let the program catch up with itself again (sometimes it may take a whole minute!)
3. If the program is trying to sort out the next problem and you open the scores menu it is possible for an "end of file" message to be generated. This, unfortunately, is fatal and the program will leave your icon bar in a huff!
4. The language in the multiple purchase window can become rather stilted if you are not careful with your items. Please do change the ones that I have given to your own choices. If you press SHIFT over the !Shopper directory whilst clicking the select button it will magically open. Do the same over the items directory and load the file Translate into your word processor. Change the items at will then save the file back.The structure of the file is:-
Item number
What it is
What its lower cost will be
What its top price would be (0 if you want the max option to work)
Remember to change the defaults file in the directory !shopper (again through !Edit) to reflect your new number of items or the program will not find them!
5. If you are using the count option and then change to the exact/change or multiple purchase the program will hang unless you have left and then re loaded- sorry this is one that will be rectified asap!
And finally..... finally
If you make a terrific application suitable for distribution as an example on the disc, let me have a copy and I'll send you an update of the program!
Dave Walsh
iTa
Information Training and Advice
37 Gainsborough Drive
Beltinge
Herne Bay
Kent
CT6 6QJ
This program is public domain. It was written to support schools in the East Kent Archimedes User group but the copyright to the program/code and views outlined in the documentation are mine. The documentation and program should not be separated off the disc before distribution. The program is "as is" and although I would be interested to hear suggestions for improvement/bugs found I can't give any commitment to repairing the program or altering its code.
