SOFT6008 Timetable Change

This week is the first week of the changed timetable. Today we have classes at 11, 13, 14

SOFT6007 Class 16

We looked at color systems. The projector in the classroom wasn't working so we had to improvise a bit. We looked at the RGB system and the CMYK system.

Students should see the online classes for a more lavish production than today's performance.

Slides: media08.pdf

SOFT6007 Class 15 A

I spoke a bit about Erasmus and then students got back to work.

SOFT6007 Class 14 A

Image map exercises.

Images needed for the pages
iberia.jpg
imagemap-exercise.jpg


Attendance was quite poor.

Online resources are a useful way for students to catch up on classes they may have missed. However it's best to catch up in advance of the lab classes. It is not an optimal use of students' time to spend 30 minutes in a lab catching up. Labs are best used for coding so that studnets can get help if they are stuck.

SOFT6007 Class 15 B

Colin spoke about Erasmus for a few minutes and then left everyone get back to work.

SOFT6007 Class 14 B

Image map exercises.

Images needed for the pages
iberia.jpg
imagemap-exercise.jpg

SOFT6008 Timetable Change

The timetable has changed for this module. The timetabling system was
not at all keen because it identified a clash that would prevent DNET2
students from attending the classes. However when the change was
proposed by students, all the students in the room said they were free
at the proposed times.
If you are in DNET2 and are taking this module you should contact me.
You should also come to class more.

SOFT6007 EV Week 04

We looked at digital color systems and how color is specified in HTML.

Students worked on exercises: Image maps mostly.

I neglected to mention that for image maps to be fully compliant with the standard they must include the alt attribute in the img tag (as usual) and alt attributes in each of the areas.

Erasmus Opportunities

The Erasmus program allows students to study abroad and have it count as time at CIT. Students study in another EU country for one or two semesters. Funding is provided to help cover the cost. Many college offer courses in English.

Computing students can find more from Cliona McGuane. She has some useful Erasmus information online.

SOFT6007 Class 13

We looked at image maps.

I gave out an exercise for students to do between now and the next class.

There will be no more online classes available until CIT pays the $70 I need for the software to capture the lectures.

SOFT6008 Class 16

Students continued working on the various exercise.

I met with each student to evaluate their progress do date. I am a bit concerned that students are not completing the exercises. Some students have no finished exercise to show for their four week's work. This is worrying. Other students are doing well.

SOFT6008 Class 15 - Helsinki talk

Outi Grotenfelt gave a talk on Erasmus study opportunities in Finland in B217. Some students preferred to stay in the lab and work on the exercises.

SOFT6008 Class 14

Students worked anyway on the various exercises. The mobile phone cost calculator is causing a lot of confusion.

We were joined for this class by Outi Grotenfelt of Metropolia, Helsinki.

SOFT6008 Class 13

Students are still working on the mobile phone bill exercise, so I changed mt plan for the day.

I showed students code to visualize money values, but I recommend that they write iterative code.

I showed students the rolling assignment 1 specification.

SOFT6007 Class 12

I couldn't get the projector working in C170. I should have checked in advance, but I was feeling rotten today and so I stayed in bed as long as I could,

I couldn't really talk either because I have a sore throat.

I gave a preview from my laptop of what we would be doing next and gave out an exercise sheet that it meaningless at the moment.

I will have to ome up with some sort of plan for C170. If I can't improve the room or move the class, perhaps we will make it a tutorial.


We finished up before half-past.  Apologies to those students who hawled their asses out of bed to get to class.

SOFT6007 Class 11 A

Many students left before this class started.

Those that stayed continued working, on tables mostly.

SOFT6007 Class 10 A

Few students seemed to be interested in working. Must be the excitement of Rag Week.

I asked them to make sure they were up to speed with tables.

SOFT6007 Class 11 B

Students worked on HTML exercises. Mostly on tables.

SOFT6007 Class 10 B

Studenst worked away on their HTML exercises. This class was change for people to catch up.

Students who were on top of things worked on the table exercise from last class.

SOFT6007 EV Week 03

I gave out a table exercise for students to do, to be told that they had already done it. However, when I went around few students had it actually finished. For the first hour or so of class students worked on this and other exercises. Students are at very different levels, with some only starting for the first time tonight. I wanted to give people a chance to catch up, but also keep other student busy.

Since most students had completed the table exercise within the first hou I asked them to take a look at imagemaps. This was bad planning on my part, however, since they could have done that at home in advance. I gave them an exercise.

Image used for the exercise
usacities.jpg


We looked at how image maps could be coded more simply with a bit of thought. The usacities image can be done with just one polygon. We looked at an actual map (iberia.jpg) and talked about ow that could be coded.


For next week students should take a look at online Classes 08, 09, 10, & 11.

SOFT6007 Class 09

I gave students a table exercise to do. I wanted to see if students are keeping on top of things. Most students are doing fine.

I think I have been going a bit fast. we have plenty of time. So I might chill for a bit this week and let students catch up in the labs.

SOFT6008 Class 12

I asked students to continue working on the bar chart exercise, but to make it work for any set of values. This means that the maximum value will most likely be 600 pixels and the other values will be scaled accordingly. This will invlove some maths.

I asked students when that was done to write a mobile phone call cost calulator beased on the number of minutes and texts a peron uses per month. The calculator should visialize the different phone company plans in a bar chart. Students might want to make use of the company colors or logos.

Some hazzards to be avoided:

Math.max is a useful function.

When is 1200 < 300? When they are strings! To force a string to be an integer use the parseInt function.

The fun never stops!

SOFT6008 Class 11

Students continued working on today's and previous day's exercises. Some students are a bit behind.

SOFT6008 Class 10

We looked at alerts and prompts. We saw how to prompt the user for data and use the input in the webpage.
Prompt example

We looked at how JavaScript might be used to visualize numeric data using variable cell sizes in tables. I gave a handout of the scores example. This only works as long as the scores are less that the width of the table. I asked students to modify the code so that the scores are assigned space in the correct ratios irrespective of the actual values.
Scores example

Video of the class

Some day soon I will write up a specification for the first assignment. However I already know it will be a compilation of the various exercises we are doing in class.

SOFT6007 by RPL

Hi

I will be holding a short exam on Wed 17 Feb for any students that are interested in doing SOFT6007 by RPL. We will start in IT2.3 at 1800.

It will be a written closed-book exam.

SOFT6008 Class 09

Discussed nothing new. Students carried on with their rollovers.

I explained that it was important for students to help each other out, but that it was not appropriate for code to change hands.

SOFT6007 Class 08

Colin out sick today

SOFT6007 Class 07A

We looked at some of the issues that came up while coding the timetables.

We say how to do accented characters, and how to change the background color of a cell.

We looed at colspan and rowpan.

I asked students to color code their timetables and to make double classes span across one large cell.

I asked students to take a look at online Class 05 before tomorrow's class.

SOFT6007 Class 06A

We looked at lists again briefly and students typed up the nested list exercise from the last class. Some students have missed a lot of classes already, and it's only week 2!

We looked at tables and I asked students code their timetables in HTML

SOFT6007 Class 07B

We looked at tables in more detail. We examined colspan and rowspan, and students used one of them to display 2 hours classes in the timetable.

We saw how to add color to cells.

We saw how to code spaces and special characters like é ß Ñ

I asked students to look at online class 05 to review tables

SOFT6007 Class 06B

We looked again at nested lists. Students typed up the nested list exercise from the last class. Some students still didn't have the hang of nesting correctly, but I think most are clear on that now.

We looked at tables. I asked each student to make a webpage of his/her class timetable using a table.

SOFT6007 EV Week 02

We did an exercise on nested lists. It didn't go especially well so we went over the details of lists again. The hard part is making sure everything fits together properly.

We looked at tables and did an exercise, and then added colspan and rowspan to make irregular cells. And we did an exercise on colspan and rowspan too.

We saw how special characters like á ß and ñ are coded in HTML

notes
Nested list handout and solution
Sample page 4
Question 5

SOFT6007 Class 05

Colin used his mac instead of a PC and he couldn't figure out how to
ensure the file he saved as ASCII. So after a few minutes he gave up
and switched to the PC.
We looked at how to nest lists, and did an exercise in class.

Notes: nested list exercise

SOFT6008 Class 08

Students contuinued working on their navigation bar rollover project.

SOFT6008 Class 07

Some strudents were struggling  a bit with Photoshop and The GIMP trying to make slices that fitted together perfectly. we looked at how to manually do slices in Photoshop with a simple example. Photoshop actually has a slice tool. But it is a bit complicated to use.

Video of class

For a bit of humour you could take a look You Suck at Photoshop

SOFT6008 Class 06

Students continued working on the navigation bar with the sample images provided. Some students made a start on their own page.

SOFT6008 Class 05

We looked at how we might make a website navigation bar with rollovers in JavaScript.

Sample Images available here

To complete this exercise students really need to know their tables.
Some revision material is available:
http://mcom.cit.ie/staff/computing/cmanning/pod/ISWD05a.mov
http://mcom.cit.ie/staff/computing/cmanning/pod/ISWD05.pdf
http://mcom.cit.ie/staff/computing/cmanning/pod/ISWD19c.mp4

CMOD6001 CIT Repeat

The next repeat CIT Module class will take place in B132 (Media Communications Dept) from 4.30pm to 6pm tomorrow (Monday, February 8). I would like to meet with all those who wish to take the repeat module this semester.

SOFT6007 Class 04

We looked at lists.

I asked students to go through online classes 1 to 4 in time for the
next class. We will see more about lists next class.

Colin Manning, Dept. of Computing
Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

SOFT6007 Class 03 A

We looked at how to include images in a web page.

I asked students to watch online Class 02 and Class 03 before our lecture tomorrow. The mostly deal with stuff we've already done so far.

I advised students they could use some of today's class time to work on their blog if they wanted.

SOFT6007 Class 02 A

I told students they needed to continue their blog.

I told students where to find my blog.

We looked at how to download the online classes in iTunes.

We built a simple web page (Example 2) and added links to it (Example 3)

I showed studens how to turn off the "hide extensions of known file types" option

SOFT6007 Class 03 B

We looked at how to include an image in a web page.

I advised students to uncheck the "hide extensions of know file types" option on their personal machines.

SOFT6007 Class 02 B

I told students that they need to continue with the blogs they started last semester. Students who don't have blogs should start one and send me the URL.

I told students that my blog is colinmcit.blogspot.com, but of course you know that if you are reading this :-)

I showed students where to find online classes using iTunes. I asked students to have worked trhough Class 02 and Class 03 before out next class together.

We looked again at the example from last class and typed it up in notepad to see it in the browser. We saw how to add a link to a page.

This lab group is full. A number of machine weren't working so students had to share. If you would like to vonunteer to move from Group B to Group A just for this lab class, please let me know. A few students had finished working for the day, so I asked them to give up their machines and leave.

More thoughts on Free Choice module

If students are to take a free choice elective without timetable clashes then there would need to be enough capacity to accomodate them all.

Is my back of the envelope maths reasonable or am I missing something? 
The number of electives * average no of students in each = total number with an elective.

30ish x 30ish = 900ish

Isn't that roughly an order of magnitude out? Or am I missing something major?

SOFT6007.EV Week 01

We looked at the origins of the Internet and the implications they
have nowadays. We say that HTML files are raw ASCII. I gave advice on
naming conventions for HTML files.

Students build a simple webpage (example 2) and added 2 links.

We saw how to subscribe to the module podcast and download classes and
notes.

I asked students to work through classes 1-4 by next week, and build a
page with images and a page with a nested list.

Notes: www1 (link to follow soon)

Colin Manning, Dept. of Computing
Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

COMP7004

If you are interested in signing up for this module you'd want to get
a move on. It is slated to be taken off the menu.

Colin Manning, Dept. of Computing
Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

Electives

I am very unhappy with how the Free Choice system is being implemented.

From a student's point of view it is very confusing. The list of Free Choice modules contains at least one module that in not in fact running. Students are expected to make their choices with very little information. To register they need the CRN for the module which they are supposed to get from the lecturer. Ideally students would attend the first one or two classes to get a feel for the subject and get the CRN there. As it is, however, each student is expected to track down the lecturer concerned and request the CRN. There is no published timetable for the modules that might allow the students to find the class.

From a lecturer's point of view it is also very unsatisfactory. I have been assigned a Free Choice module to teach. When I went to my account on the registration system I could not see it. I later found that not only was the module not associated with me, it did not even exist in the system. So it was impossible for any student to register. This week, at a minimum, I should be meeting students and explaining to them what the course is about. Ideally I should actually make a start. I don't know where to go. If this module has been timetabled in a classroom, I have no way of finding it, despite being the only person that is teaching it. I have asked and no one will tell me where to go.

SOFT6007 Class 01

First class. We looked at origins of the Internet. We discussed what happens
when a user clicks on a link. We looked at 2 simple web pages.


I wasn't happy with the conduct of students during class.

Notes: www1 (link soon)

SOFT6008 Class 04

There are clearly more students want to take this subject than there are places. Students who want to take it should register as soon as possible. I will get firm information on the numbers and post the information here.

We looked at how to do a rollover. It wasn't very practical for me to help out students because the room was a bit crowed to get around. Students who didn't have computers left early.

notes JS02.ppt

COMP7004 Computing Ethics CRN

If you want to register for COMP7004 Computing Ethics the CRN is 21108.

PDF Movie

SOFT6008 CRN

If you have not automatically registered for this module, you may need the CRN to do so. It is 15395.

SOFT6008 Class 03

I asked students to combine the different things discussed today to make a page that displays a different image depending on the time of day. Image of the Eifel Tower at different times of the day would be easy to some by. Webcam archives might also be useful.

I helped a number of students debug their code. They learned the hard way that JavaScript is not very forgiving. Some students are using Notepad++, which helps them identify typos more quickly.

SOFT6008 Class 02

We looked at how random numbers work in JavaScript and built a page that displayed an image chosen randomly from a selection. The quotes inside quotes proved especially confusing.

I asked why do some images occur less frequently than others. If you think you know leave your answer as a comment.

Notes
random Image page

SOFT6008 Class 01

Introductions.
We talked about JavaScript & what it is.
Time based greeting page

Notes
Time Based Greeting page

CMOD6001 Repeat CIT Module

Colin Manning, Dept. of Computing

Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Frank ODonovan" <Frank.ODonovan@cit.ie>
Date: 1 February 2010 13:15:58 GMT
To: "CIT" <cit@cit.ie>
Subject: Repeat  CIT Module

Hi All,

Students who are taking the repeat CIT module are asked to meet with me in
B132, Department of Media Communications, at 4.30pm today for the first
class. This will take the form of a question/orientation session. A more
permanent location for the class will be confirmed at a later date.

Regards,

Frank O'Donovan
Media Communications

Free Choice Modules

A list of Free Choice modules and the procedures for signing up are online at
http://www.cit.ie/freechoice/

Erasmus students should note that nothing else is running in the free choice time slots, so they might as well sigh up for something.

I am plugging my module COMP7004 Computing Ethics. PDF Movie

CMOD6001 CIT Module Repeat

Students who failed CMOD6001 should contact Frank.ODonovan@cit.ie to secure a place in the repeat of this module that is being offered in Semester 2.