Colin Manning Munster Technological University: March 2012

Friday, March 30, 2012

SOFT6007 Class 26 DCOM1 Lab

We sorted out the dropbox and the vaidator.

Students worked on Assignment 2.

I talked a bit about setting up the dropbox and about using the validator. ITS1 students are welcome to come along to class at 1400-1600 if they need help with any of that. There is usually plenty of space in the lab.

We resumed our look at image formats. We saw GIF, JPEG, ad PNG and discussed transparency.

At the end we talked a little bit about Assignment 3. Students opted for a take away assignment over an exam, which was expected.

I will spec out the assignment today (or Tuesday.)

SOFT6007 COM1 Class 27

We resumed our look at image formats. We saw GIF, JPEG, ad PNG and discussed transparency.

At the end we talked a little bit about Assignment 3. Students opted for a take away assignment over an exam, which was expected.

I will spec out the assignment today (or Tuesday.)

Thursday, March 29, 2012

SOFT6008 Class 27

We looked at the style.visibility and how it might be useful for the pizza assignment.

I introduced HTML5's drag and drop but explained that it probably wasn't a profitable area of exploration.

We looked at the TimeGame case study, but didn't finish it.

SOFT6007 COM1 Class 28 Lab A

Students signed up to dropbox and shared a folder with me.

I explained about the doctype and how to validate webpages.

We discussed how very different pages could all use the same single stylesheet.

SOFT6007 COM1 Class 28 Lab B

Students signed up to dropbox and shared a folder with me.

I explained about the doctype and how to validate webpages.

SOFT6007 Validating XHTML

You will need to ensure that your code validates. You can check your code at http://validator.w3.org. Your pages should declare the document type correctly in order for it to validate. I recommend xhtml 1.0.

You will need to ensure that the start of your xhtml files look like this:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">

<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />

SOFT6007 Please sign up to Dropbox

Please sign up to Dropbox. If you haven't already done so you can follow this link or get someone who has signed up already to invite you. They will get extra space. Double your space at https://www.dropbox.com/edu

Make a folder called "SOFT6007-" followed by your mycit username. e.g SOFT6007-barack.obama2

Share that folder with colin.manning@cit.ie

From week 9 to the submission deadlines students will be expected to save the latest version of their assignment submission to the Dropbox at least once a week.

This will allow me to see how the work is progressing, and it will also allow me to help students out remotely if needed.

If youy are in the lab please check the screen to see if I you have shared folder. Afterwards you can check the screen shot here.

This is a requirement for the assigment(s). Failure to update your work will have a negative impact on your mark.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

SOFT6008 Spec updated

Following on from today's discussions, I updated the specification for the assignment so that the value of the various non-required features are firmer. Students who didn't get >40% in Assessment 1 will need more than 40% in assessment 2 in order to pass.

SOFT6007 Class 26 ITS1 Lab

I spent a little bit of time with students concerned about their assessment result.

Students worked away on Assessment 2. No many seem to be taking on JavaScript just yet.

SOFT6008 Class 26

We discussed the assessment. Students made some fair points.

We also discussed plagiarism at length and what is allowed an what is not.

I don't propose to put a recording of today's class online. But it doesn't seem right that only I should have a copy. If anyone wants a copy I can e-mail an mp3.

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

SOFT6007 Assessment 1 results

The results are now available here.

Use the last 4 digits of your ID number to find your mark. If the number if digits shown is less than four it's because there were leading zeros.

I couldn't find all the ID numbers. If your's isn't there, don't be alarmed.

Monday, March 26, 2012

SOFT6007 ITS1/DCOM1 Class 25

We looked at some more JavaScript. We saw loops, and rollovers, buttons, and getElementById.

There is no more JavaScript required to complete Assessment 2, whether it's an exam or a take-away exercise.

SOFT6007 COM1 Class 25

Friday, March 23, 2012

SOFT6007 ITS1/DCOM1 Class 24

We looked at an alternative Three Column Layout (fancy5.html fancy5.css)

We looked at JavaScript.

SOFT6007 COM1 Class 24

We looked at an alternative Three Column Layout (fancy5.html fancy5.css)

We looked at JavaScript.

SOFT6008 Assessment 1 Results

The results for assessment 1 are now online. They are sorted by the last 4 digits of ID number. If there's only 3 it's because there's a leading zero.

I was disappointed by the results. They suggest that students are not as on top of things as I thought they were.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

SOFT6008 Class 24

We looked at transparency and how it might be used to visualize the pizza for the assignment. I talked through the Mr. Tayto Head example.

SOFT6007 Class 23 Lab A

We discussed assessment 3 a bit and and warned against the dangers of over-sharing.

We looked at forms.

[I forgot my mic so there is no recording of this class]

SOFT6007 Class 23 Lab B

We discussed assessment 3 a bit and and warned against the dangers of over-sharing.

We looked at forms.

SOFT6008 Update to Dropbox

I asked student to work from their dropbox so that I can see their progress. Most student have been doing this. However, from Week 08 this is a requirement and will form part of the assessment.

Please check that I have your dropbox shown below. If I don't there is a problem.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

SOFT6007 ITS1/DCOM1 Class 23

We looked at forms.

Slides:
html-12-forms.pdf (courtesy of Gary Couse)

Examples:
form1.html
form2.html

SOFT6008 Class 23

We looked at form validation.

FormValidation.html

Monday, March 19, 2012

SOFT6008 Class 22

No class today because it's a holiday. But I want to keep the class numbering consistent. So we'll call the next one 23.

SOFT6007 Class 22

No class today because it's a holiday. But I want to keep the class numbering consistent. So we'll call the next one 23.

Hogeschool van Amsterdam

A list of what is on offer at Hogeschool van Amsterdam is available at the link below. Depending on what course and stage you are at there might or might not be suitable options available to you.

https://www.international.hva.nl/programmes/exchange-programmes-minors/information-technology

Friday, March 16, 2012

SOFT6007 ITS1/DCOM1 Class 21 DCOM1 Lab

We looked at float and position

SOFT6007 COM1 Class 21

We looked at how to do a Three Column layout in CSS.

Someone asked me if we could use a header tag for the header instead of a div. Yes we can. The header tag is new-ish.
http://www.w3schools.com/html5/tag_header.asp

Thursday, March 15, 2012

SOFT6008 Class 21

We had an in-class exam.

SOFT6007 COM1 Class 20 Lab A

I explained how the float and position properties worked and asked students to play around with them.

Most students weren't that interested because
1. It's not that interesting
2. They had an exam coming up in the next class and just wanted to chill

SOFT6007 FC Class 21

We looked at how to do a three column layout

SOFT76007 COM1 Class 20 Lab B

We looked at float (but not clear) and position. I asked students to experiment with different properties to see how they work.

It was a fairly pointless class really. I should have brought something more interesting to show.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

SOFT6007 FC Lab Group B

Only four students turned up. Students go to grips with classes, IDs, and float. Some even played with positions.

SOFT6007 FC Lab Group A

I had hoped to move on with the CSS but because we didn't get a chance to implement the classes last week, I held off.

A good few students watched videos of the classes they missed. But that's something they could have done before today.

SOFT6007 ITS1/DCOM1 Class 20 ITS Lab

We looked at the float property and the position property. I went to C128 and added some images with transparency to the set of graphics for use in Assignment 2.

I will look into moving us to C128, even if only for an hour a week.

Educational Triage

I was discussing a student with a colleague a few weeks ago and she made a comment that got me thinking. She said “Oh, I’m not a bit worried about him. He’s not going to be here next year anyway”. That reminded me of triage.

On the battlefield, or where there are mass casualties, medical treatment is rationed so that it does the most good. Incoming casualties are sorted into different categories. Systems vary, but generally there are those casualties who are likely to be fine without immediate treatment, those who would benefit from treatment, and those who are so badly injured that they are likely to die irrespective of the treatment they receive. They are usually assigned green tags, red tags, and black tags respectively.

I wonder do lecturers (myself included) engage in educational triage. Does there come a time in our dealings with students we categorize them into those who will be fine anyway, those who need our intervention, and those who are so far gone that there is no point wasting our time on them. Are students walking around with invisible triage tags attached, that only lecturers can see? Is this fair? Or is it just pragmatic? Like battlefield medical attention, lecturers’ attention is finite. And as class sizes and workloads increase, it is becoming scarcer.

Should every student get the same amount of attention? Should those who need the most get the most, or should it be allocated where it can make the biggest difference.

What if we make mistakes? On the battlefield being classified as beyond help is fatal. If a student is written off in error and not given much assistance, he is likely to fail.

It’s interesting to think what signals or vibes we might be using to categorize students, consciously or subconsciously. For me the question “what am I supposed to be doing?” is like bullet wound to the head. YouTube and Facebook during lab time are like serious infections.

And of course educational triage requires an additional category not seen on the battlefield. Those seriously injured students who refuse medical treatment by not turning up to class, put themselves beyond the reach of the help they need. What colour tags should we use for them?

SOFT6008 Class 20

We discussed tomorrow's exam a little.

There will be 3 questions.
Q1. (50 marks) Will be a checksum validation and DOM manipulation, with some code missing. Fill in the blanks. Having implements all the checksums from the notes, would have been good practice. If you didn't getting a look at someone else's would be good. [If you use dropbox to swap code make sure you identify it as someone else's so that I don't feel like you are passing it off as yours]

Q2. (25 marks) Will be about cookies

Q3. (25 marks) Will be write a javascript function that does ... It's something that could be in any language, but just happens to be in javascript.

In designing the exam I have tried to give average students a good chance of passing, while giving excellent students a change to do very well. Weaker students may feel time pressure. So we will try to start on the dot at 1700 and go all the way to 1800.

Monday, March 12, 2012

SOFT6007 ITS1/DCOM1 Class 19

RGB recap. LAB, CMYK, GIF

SOFT6008 Class 19

I gave out a printed version of the sample exam that was online. I talked through some parts of it, but didn't give much away.

I said "you wouldn't want to make assumptions about the length, based on the size of the box" and actually expected to get away with it.

Module Design Course

We looked at how to write learning outcomes and the different taxonomies. There's more than one!

First part of the assignment is due Friday week, so I must actually start working on it. Like most students, I have codded myself into thinking having it done in my head is enough.

SOFT6008 Sample Exam

Completing this exam would be good practice for the in-class exam this week. However completing all of the exercises would be the best practice.

Students should complete all the DOM games, try to get cookies working, and implement all the checksums outlined the notes.

SOFT6007 COM1 Class 19

We revised RGB, and then looked at Lab and CYMK. Then we started to look at GIF. I think I lost the crowd today. Maybe the slides are a bit disjointed. We'll pick up again with GIF in the next class.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Animated GIFs: The Birth of a Medium | Off Book | PBS

SOFT6007 DCOM1 Class 17 Lab

We added CLASSes to the TDs in the timetable to color code the lectures. Students were on the ball and got this done very quickly.

SOFT6007 ITS1/DCOM1 Class 18

We looked at how to represent color digitally. We discussed Hue Saturation Brightness (HSB) and Red Green Blue (RGB)

SOFT6007 COM1 Class 18

We looked at how to represent color digitally. We discussed Hue Saturation Brightness (HSB) and Red Green Blue (RGB)

Thursday, March 8, 2012

SOFT6008 Class 18

We looked at the HTML5 Canvas. It's more of a gimmick really. But it might be possible to do some interesting things with it. I'll put links to the site, and examples here later. I promise! If I don't, hassle me.

SOFT6007 COM1 Class 17 Lab A

We looked at how to classes and IDs work and I asked students to color the subjects in their timetables by adding class attributes to the TD tags. A number of students completed this work and left early. Others who did not finish it left early also. That's not very wise.

SOFT6007 FC Class

We had a 1 hour lecture. Only about 10 students turned up, which is interesting seeing as there are people trying to get into this class and can't because it's full.

I offered to do some revision in advance of the exam, but students seemed happy enough. So we looked at how to add class attributes to the td tags of the timetable.

The exam on Tuesday should take about 40 minutes to complete. I don't expect anyone will be stuck for time.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

SOFT6007 FC Lab B (2 hours)

Students coded an image map.

In the second hours I flew through CSS and asked students to apply styles to their timetables. Some managed to make a start in the time that we had.

SOFT6007 FC Lab A (2 hours)

We coded up image maps for the first ~half of the class.

In the second part I tore through CSS, and asked students to maybe try applying to their timetables at home.

SOFT6007 Class 17 ITS1 Lab

We added classes to the TDs in the timetable. This allowed us to target individual classes with seperate colours.

SOFT6008 Checksums Handout Typo

There's a typo on the Checksums handout. On page 3 the indexOf() should evaluate to 15, not 10.

SOFT6008 Check Digits

Here are some data to use as test cases for the check digit exercises.

IE-PPSN

These numbers are valid in theory
5313197L
1234567T
1234567t
0000000W
0000071w

ES-DNI

These are valid numbers
03457393-X
03457393X
03457393x
03405999-K
70240341-C
70259948-P
70259948p

If these test cases give you trouble read the small print on the ParseInt box!.

I have noticed that in real life Spaniards tend to insert separators between groups of digits to make the DNI number easier to read and it is common to put a dash before the letter (as above). To accommodate this your code should strip out all useless characters from the input before looking at it more closely.

Ensure that your code insists on the correct length
007-X is not valid. But 00000000-X is.

Euro Banknotes

Just take some from your wallet. There are fewer than 26 countries that issue Euro banknotes some some letters never appear at the start of a serial number. Accounting for this would require some very inelegant code. We can't have inelegant code!

Be sure to check some serial numbers that have a zero immediately after the letter. If that gives you trouble ParseInt may be to blame.

SOFT6008 Class 17

I wasn't feeling well, so I didn't bring very much to the party. Students worked on the various exercises.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

SOFT6007 FC

Took Meabh's class. We did image maps.

Monday, March 5, 2012

SOFT6007 ITS1/DCOM1 Class 16

We had an in-class exam

SOFT6008 Assessment 1

There will be an in-class on Thursday 15 March at 1700. All students taking this module this semester should attend.

The exam will be a written closed-book exam that will cover all of the topics and examples we have seen in class

The slides and examples are here.

SOFT6008 Class 16

Students worked away on the various exercises.

There is quite a gap opening up between the students who are up-to-date and those who are behind.

The DOM slots, cards, and dice should be done or nearly done by now. To be on schedule students should be looking at cookies or checksums.

I wouldn't start work on Assignment 2 just yet.

SOFT6007 COM1 Class 16

We had an in-class exam.

If you don't have a watch you should probably buy a cheap and cheerful one. Bringing a phone to class and using it as a watch is against the rules. It can lead to an automatic zero in the exam. So be careful.

It's inconsiderate to make noise while other students are still working on their answers. And staying in the room after you have finished to have a chat is not very nice.

Sunday, March 4, 2012

SOFT6007 Digital Color (HSB) Online Lesson

Online lesson on Digital Color: Hue Saturation & Brightness (HSB)

Friday, March 2, 2012

SOFT6007 Class 14 DCOM1 Lab

We linked a style sheet to the timetables completed in previous classes. I asked students to experiment with various attributes.