This poster submission explores the concept of nuanced dynamic music generation as a core game mechanic. The world in which this game is set is intrinsically musical. All events and actions in the world add to the music rather than being sound effects that are layered over top of a soundtrack. The music that is generated is often more of a rhythmic soundscape than a song in this game.

Since 2010, the Cal Poly Computer Science Department has required computing majors to select from a variety of CS0 courses to start their academic year. The broad objective of the course is to attract and retain undergraduates that have no prior experience in CS by using authentic problems that demonstrate the relevance and highlight the role of computers in solving "real world" problems. The course is offered in a variety of thematic "flavors" that leverage a student's pre-existing interests (e.g. in music or art), but all share the common goals of introducing students to the basics of programming, teamwork, and college-level study. While there is overlap in overall goals, the courses vary drastically in topic matter (e.g. robotics, gaming, music, computational art, mobile apps, security) and in pedagogical approach (e.g. principles of design, project-based student driven learning, and traditional topic-based programming modules). The introduction of this CS0 course has increased students' commitment to their major and success in follow-on classes. We present these successes and show that student GPAs in a follow-on object oriented programming course do not vary significantly for the differing subtopics and teaching pedagogies employed in the various flavors. Our report includes examining two student subgroups (those experienced with programming and those new to programming). Our evaluations suggest that the existence and goal of the course matter more than the specific content, with all subtopics and pedagogical approaches performing well.

Many computer science programs suffer from low student retention rates. At Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, academic performance and retention rates among first-year computer science students are among the lowest on campus.

Writing distributed programs is difficult. To ease this task, we introduce a new programming abstraction which we call a mobility attribute. Mobility attributes provide a syntax that describes the mobility semantics of program components. Programmers attach mobility attributes to program components to dynamically control the placement of these components within the network. Mobility attributes intercept component invocations and decide whether and where to move a component before the component executes. This allows the programmer to improve her program's runtime efficiency by colocating components and resources. We present MAGE, an object oriented distributed system, that supports mobility attributes and illustrates their utility.

Recent studies have shown significantly improved branch prediction through the use of branch classification. By separating static branches into groups, or classes, with similar dynamic behavior predictors may be selected that are best suited for each class. Previous methods have classified branches according to taken rate (or bias). We propose a new metric for branch classification: branch transition rate, which is defined as the number of times a branch changes direction between taken and not taken during execution. We show that transition rate is a more appropriate indicator of branch behavior than taken rate for determining predictor performance. When both metrics are combined, an even clearer picture of dynamic branch behavior emerges, in which expected predictor performance for a branch is closely correlated with its combined taken and transition rate class. Using this classification, a small group of branches is identified for which two-level predictors are ineffective.