Monday, December 1, 2014

SOFT6007 This Week

I will be in the labs this week in case people have any questions or anothing they would like to go over.


But you are not exected to go unless you want to.


There will be no SOFT6007 lecture on Tuesday.


If I don't see you in the meantime good luck with your assessments and enjoy the break. If there were any modules that you struggled with this semester, do a bit of study during the break so that you are not behind when you come back.

SOFT6008 this week

I'm not expecting to see anyone this week. But I will be going along to the labs and class anyway, just in people have any questions or anything they would like to review.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

SOFT6008 COM2.B Class 43

Students worked on the assignment. I met with each student (that wanted to meet me) and identified some strategies for maximizing marks.

SOFT6007 ITM1 Class 44

Students worked on the assignment. There were only four students in class. I was expecting more.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

SOFT6008 COM2.B Classes 41 & 42

Students worked on the assignment. I thought there would be a bigger turn out.

SOFT6008 Class 44

We used the time for labs. Lots of brave students tackling cookies!

SOFT6008 COM2.A Class 43

We tacked cookies and most students wrote code to write the forename and surname to the cookies. Students will expected to take it form there themselves. But the recording of the 5 Nov class covers all that.

SOFT6008 DWEB2 CLASSES 42 & 43

Students worked on the assignment.

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

SOFT6007 ITM1 Classes 42 & 43

Students worked on the assignment

SOFT6007 DWEB1 Classes 43 & 44

Students worked on the assignment

SOFT6007 Class 41

We had an exam.

I have emailed the results.

SOFT6007 DWEB1 Class 42

Some students worked on the assignment, but most prepared for today's exam.

Monday, November 24, 2014

SOFT6008 Lecture -> Lab Wednesday

On Wednesday we will use the time for labs instead of a lecture as we did last week. I expect there will be room in C218 and C134x again.

As with last week, students are welcome to come to any of labs for which I am timetabled. The full list is below.

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Class 41

Students worked on the assignment

SOFT6008 COM2.A Classes 41 & 42

Students worked on the assignment.

Very few students came to class, despite my advice.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

SOFT6008 Luhn Algorithm Original Specification



This is just in case you are interested. You can find the patent for the Luhn algorithm here. http://www.google.com/patents/US2950048


SOFT6008 COM2.B Class 39

Students worked on the assignment.

Only 5 in class today.

SOFT6007 ITM1 Classes 39 & 40

Students worked on the assignment.

Only 4 students came to class.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

SOFT6008 COM2.B Class 38 & 39

Students worked on the assignment.

Attendance was poor, but those that were there got some good work done. Well done.

SOFT6008 Class 40

I answered a few question in class and then we moved to C128 and C134x, to make better use of our time.

There was plenty of room, but not everybody was interested in staying.

SOFT6008 COM2 COM2.A Lab Class 39


Students worked on the assignment.

There were 4 students in class

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Classes 38 & 39

Students worked o the assignments.

Only three students in class today.

SOFT6007 Exam Reminder

We will have an exam on Tuesday 25 November from 1100-1200 in the Melbourn Exam hall.You will be in Rows F&G.

Please enter the hall quietly as there will be students already inside in the middle of an exam.

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

SOFT6007 ITM1 Classes 38 & 39

Students worked on the assignment. Some a a good bit behind schedule.

There were 5 students in class

SOFT6007 DWEB1 Classes 39 & 40

Students worked on the assignment.

Attendance was very good.

SOFT6007 Class 37

There is no recording of today's class.

I reminded students of the URL of the PHP server where the form details are to be sent for the assignment.

I discussed fonts and told students about Google Fonts. But that was just for information. There is neither the requirement nor expectation that students will use Google Fonts for the assignment.

We looked at HTML entities for coding special characters such as €, ñ, Ă©

We looked at Unicode and how UTF-8 distributes the code point payload across several bytes. (People looked really bored by this)

I gave students a chance to leave early and I explained how Japanese writing works to those who stayed.

SOFT6007 DWEB Class 38

Students worked on the assignment.

Monday, November 17, 2014

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Class 37

Students worked on the assignment. 

Attendance was good, but some students are behind schedule

SOFT6008 COM2.A Classes 37 & 38

Students worked on the assignment.

Attendance was poor


Friday, November 14, 2014

SOFT6008 Class 36 Extra : Some tips for the Assignment



Attendance at COM2 labs has been very poor over the past few weeks. (DWEB2 attendance has been good). Working from home is perfectly fine and I'm sure many of you have fewer distractions at home than at CIT. 

However I think it would be a good idea if you could make it to at least one lab next week, just so I can make sure that you are on the right track. Also I might be able to outline for you the shortest route from where you are to where you want to get to. Even if you have very little done, I can advise you on the best way to go. 

Here is the full list. There is generally plenty of room. But if the lab fills up I might have to ask you to leave.

Mon 10 C120
Mon 11 C128
Mon 15 IT2.1
Wed 09 IT2.1
Wed 10 IT2.1
Wed 11 C128
Wed 13 C214 (Lecture)
Wed 16 C128
Wed 17 C128
Thu 12 C134x

I am proposing that we use the 1300 class on Wednesday as a Q&A session. I have a few more JavaScript party tricks to show you, but none that will help you get the assignment done better.


Some advice:

If you are still working on things in Photoshop it's time to stop, cut your losses, and go with the pizza. 

Like I said in class during the week, I recommend that you use a single function to change the elements on the page so that it looks like it's suppose to look, and ultimately calculate and display the price. Using individual functions to modify individual elements can make things more difficult when it comes to calculating the price later on. 

Figure out how to use CSS to style required inputs, and for new HTML5 input types both the valid and invalid. It's all done in the CSS. This is a very easy set of marks to get. (see video)

If you are using code that you didn't write yourself, ask yourself if you really need it. (You really DO need credit card validation, for example). If you are using code that you didn't write from scratch all by yourself, then use comments to clearly identify the code that isn't yours. 

Make sure that when the form details are submitted that all of the data is sent to the PHP sever. The sever will send you back everything it has received. A pizza order, for example, must contain all the toppings required to make it. You don't need to send the price. 


I have put a video online that goes over some of the important points about user input validation and the HTML5 CSS validation. [I'm just waiting for it to process. By the time you read this you should be able see it on the blog and Google+.]

Thursday, November 13, 2014

SOFT6008 COM2.B Class 35

Students worked on the assignment.

Only 5 students turned up.

SOFT6007 ITM Class 36

Students worked on the assignment.

Only 5 turned up.

SOFT6007 Simpler Three Column Layout

I put a simpler three column layout example on the blog notes page today. If you already have you already have a three column layout that you are happy with, there is no need to change it. But if you haven't started it yet, this simpler version makes for a better starting point.

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

SOFT6008 CLASS 36



I went through a suggested solution for the question posed in the exam and outlined how the marks were allocated.

Afterwards (not on recording) we went through the marking scheme for  Assignment 2 and I identified what I considered to be low hanging fruit. I also explained a bit about the HTML5 invalid psuedoclass

SOFT6008 COM2.A Class 35

Students worked on the assignment

SOFT6008 DWEB2 34 & 35

Students worked on the assignment

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

SOFT6007 Digital Colour

Some more information about digital colour systems, for those who are interested.


Hue Satuuation Brightness (HSB) system



Red Green Blue (RGB) system
Cyan Magenta Yellow Black (CMYK) system

SOFT6007 ITM Classes 33 & 34

I explained the need for DOCTYPE and charset declarations.

I showed students how to do a horizontal navigation bar using a tags and display:inline-block

[If you missed this class. See class 33 for DWEB]

SOFT6007 DWEB Classes 34 & 35

Students worked on the assignment

SOFT6007 Class 33 Digital Colour



At the start of class I gave students grey colour chips to sort. Then I gave them colour chips.

We looked at the Hue Saturation Brightness (HSB), Red Green Blue (RGB) and Cyan Magenta Yellow Black (CMYK) colour systems. I spoke a little bit about Pantone too.

SOFT6007 WEB Class 34



I explained the need for DOCTYPE and charset declarations.

I showed students how to do a horizontal navigation bar using a tags and display:inline-block

Monday, November 10, 2014

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Class 33

Most students seem to be doing fine, but a few are a good bit behind. A few refuse to take my advice. 

I met with everyone once, but there were few questions otherwise. 

SOFT6008 COM2.A Classes 33 & 34

Attendance was poor. Students (who were there) seem to making progress, but for some it is a bit slow. 

I spent the class debugging and explaining

SOFT6008 Deadline Extension

The deadline for Assignment 2 is now
noon on Friday 28 November 2014.


Thursday, November 6, 2014

SOFT6008 Assessment 1 Results



I finished correcting the exam we did last week. I have sent an email with the results anonymised. This histogram of the results looks something like the bar chart above. They are very disappointing.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

SOFT6008 COM2.B Classes 29 & 30

Students worked on the assignment

SOFT6008 Class 32


We looked at cookies

SOFT6008 COM2.A Class 31

Students worked on the assignment

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Classes 30 & 31

Students worked on the assignment

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

SOFT6007 ITM1 Classes 30 & 31

Students worked on the exercises

SOFT6007 DWEB1 Class 31 & 32

Students worked on the exercises. Some, but not many, started work on the assignment.

SOFT6007 Class 29



I gave a (rather shabby) class on CSS and outlined how to do a three column layout.

The example I used in class was a bit complicated. The two on the blog are a bit simpler.

Afterwards we discussed Assignment 2.

SOFT6007 DWEB1 Class 30

Most students just watched the video of the class they missed last week.

Monday, November 3, 2014

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Class 29

Most students used to lab time do work for another module. That's fine, I guess, as long an everyone stays of top of their work.

SOFT6008 COM2.A Class 29

Attendance was poor but there students who were there seem be making progress. 

Thursday, October 30, 2014

SOFT6008 COM2.B Class 27

Students worked on the assignment. I'm happy with the progress Inam seeing. Most students are on the right track, but a few are behind schedule. 

SOFT6007 ITM Class 28

Students spent the class watching the recording of the class they missed. That's something that could have been done at home.

Few made any progress on the actual exercise.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

SOFT6007 COM2.B Classes 25 & 26

Attendance was poor.

Students worked on the assignment.

SOFT6008 Class 28

We had an exam.

Students should be careful about bringing phones into the exam hall. Under normal circumstances that results in an automatic voiding of the exam, even if the phone is turned off and on the floor. So be careful next time.

SOFT6008 COM2.A Class 27

Students studied for today's exam

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Classes 26 & 27

Students studied for today's exam

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

SOFT6007 ITM1 Class 26 & 27

Nobody turned up.



So I went and had a lovely coffee instead

SOFT6007 Classes 27 & 28



Only two students showed up to class.

We looked at Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). I asked students to style the timetables they coded previoulsy.

That horrible hum in  the sound of the project. It was worse in real life than on the recording.

SOFT6007 Class 25

We had an exam

SOFT6007 Class 26

Most students just studied for the exam today

Thursday, October 23, 2014

SOFT6008 COM2.B Class 23

Some students worked on the assignment, but most worked on preparing for next week's exam.

SOFT6007 ITM1 Class Class 24

Students worked on the JavaScript exercise

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

SOFT6008 Class 24

We had a Q&A session. However by 1330 there were no more questions so we finished up. I'm disappointed there weren't more questions.  I don't know if that's a good sign or a bad one.

SOFT6008 COM2.A Class 23

Students worked on the assignment.  Attendance was poor, but those present were doing good work

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Classes 23 & 23

Most students worked on the assignment. Most are making good progress.

Some students concentrated on preparing for next week's exam. That's worthwhile too.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

SOFT6007 Class 21



We looked at JavaScript for rollovers and a coin toss game. I asked students to extend the coin toss example to turn it into a slot machine.

code:
rollover
coins


Some images:






Monday, October 20, 2014

SOFT6008 COM2.A Classes 22 & 23

I spent a lot of time helping students with Photoshop.

Some students just concentrated on getting ready for the exam instead of working on the assignment. That's good too.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

SOFT6008 Study Tips

The best way to learn to programs is by starting with a problem, and writing code yourself to solve it from scratch. That can be hard work, but it's the only way. Googling other people's solutions is not very useful. It's like trying to lose weight by watching other  people play soccer. 

SOFT6008 validation in action



This happened to me this morning. 

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

SOFT6008 COM2.B CLASS 17 & 18

Students worked on the assignment.

In the second half of the class I showed off a few Photoshop party tricks.


SOFT6008 Class 20



We did a walkthrough of code for the DNI checksum and discussed some common and some unusual strategies for coding the Luhn algorithm.


SOFT6008 COM2A Class 19

We took a look at some party tricks in Photoshop.

Photoshop now in IT2.1

O happy day

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Class 18 & 19

Attendance was very poor.

Students worked on the assignment.

I gave out a handout. I will give it out in the lecture anyway later.

I said that we will do a room swap from next week. But that plan has changed. We now have Photoshop in IT2.1

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Mumps (świnki)

Students should check with their parents that they have been vaccinated against mumps.  Any student who hasn't might want to consider getting vaccinated.

The vaccine is especially important if are a male who hasn't had the mumps and you are planning on making babies in the future.

SOFT6007 ITM1 Classes 18 & 19

Students worked on coding forms.

I circulated the URL for the PHP server we will use to test forms.

SOFT6007 DWEB Class 19 & 20

Students worked on coding forms.

I circulated the URL for the PHP server we will use to test forms.

SOFT6007 Class 17 Forms



We looked at forms.

Here's an example with a variety of different kinds of inputs
http://mcom.cit.ie/staff/Computing/cmcguane/SOFT6007/Week3/Week3Forms.html

Some notes on HTML5 form imput types
http://www.w3schools.com/html/html5_form_input_types.asp

Someone asked what would happen you selected  few locations for "Where you have lived". If all of the items have the same name then only the last will be sent. It's possible to send an array of items. But we are avoiding using that.

SOFT6007 DWEB Class 18

Students completed work on the image maps

Monday, October 13, 2014

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Class 17

Students worked on the assignment

SOFT6008 COM2.A Classes 17 & 18

Students worked on the assignment.

Attendance was poor

Friday, October 10, 2014

Thursday, October 9, 2014

SOFT6008 Class 16 X - extra class

This covers the check sum calculations for Europa Series bank notes, Polish PESEL numbers, Spanish DNI numbers, and French INSEE numbers.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

SOFT6008 Slot Machine Solution updated

Some students didn't build on the coins example to make a slot machine like I recommended and instead went for my solution. That was an old solution that used names instead of IDs. I've since updated that so it uses only getElementById.

Of course it's always better to attempt your own solution to an exercise. That's how the learning happens.

SOFT6008 COM2.B Classes 13 & 14

Students worked on the pizza exercise.

Some students worked out the checksum calculation for Polish ID numbers. Nice one.

SOFT6008 Exam Reminder, Update, and Samples

We will have an exam on 29 October from 1300-1400.

This exam is wroth 40% of your overall mark for the module.

The exam will be held in the Exam Hall in the Melbourn Building. That is here: https://goo.gl/maps/DqmRN

The exam is designed to be completed in 40 minutes, but please be on time to allow for the distribution of exams script and the taking of attendance. You will not need a calculator.

This is a one-sheet exam. Students are permitted to bring one A4 sheet of notes (front and back) into the exam, However please note that one two-sided sheet is NOT the same as two one-sided sheets stuck together.

You must bring your ID card.

SOFT6007 Exam reminder and update

We will have an exam on 28 October from 1100-1200.

This exam is wroth 20% of your overall mark for the module (not 40% as stated in class).

The exam will be held in the Exam Hall in the Melbourn Building. That is here: https://goo.gl/maps/DqmRN

The exam is designed to be completed in 40 minutes, but please be on time to allow for the distribution of exams script and the taking of attendance. You will not need a calculator.

This is a one-sheet exam. Students are permitted to bring one A4 sheet of notes (front and back) into the exam, However please note that one two-sided sheet is NOT the same as two one-sided sheets stuck together.

You must bring your ID card.

Colin M

SOFT6008 Class 16



We looked at some common check sum algorithms used for user input validation.

SOFT6008 COM2.A Class 15

Students worked on the pizza exercise. Most were finished and began thinking about the assignment.

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Classes 13 & 14

Students worked on the pizza exercise

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

SOFT6007 ITM1 Classes 14 & 15

Student started coding the two image map exercises.

Some students struggled with the basics. We may have to revisit those.

SOFT6007 DWEB1 Classes 15 & 16

Student started coding the two image map exercises.

SOFT6007 Class 13

I gave a bit of a pep talk.

We will have an in-class written exam on Tuesday 28 October at 1100. In class I said that was worth 40%. But it's actually 20% of the final mark.




We looked at image maps.

I gave students a printed version of iberia.jpg. The image file is available from the notes page over there ---->

SOFT6007 DWEB1 Class 14

Students finished off their timetables in HTML. Those students that were finished worked on other things for other modules.

Some students hadn't even started the timetable. That's very worrying.

I asked student to watch a video about image maps.

SOFT6007 Image Maps


This week we will look at image maps.

Monday, October 6, 2014

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Class 13

Students worked on turning the Mr. SpudHead example, into a Pizza Ordering page. This is good practice for Assignment 2.

SOFT6008 COM2.A Classes 13 & 14

Students worked on turning the Mr. SpudHead example, into a Pizza Ordering page. This is good practice for Assignment 2.

The majority of the student who were in class today are making good progress. I don't know about the students who weren't there.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

SOFT6007 ITM1 Class 12

Students finished off the timetable exercise. Most students got it done, and so did done work for other modules. That's fine too.

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

SOFT6008 Checksums


SOFT6008 Useful Images









Students can use these images to make a pizza ordering page, using the Mr. Spud Head  example as a template.

SOFT6008 Class 12



I discussed some strategies for being successful in this module.

We decided that Assessment 1 (the written exam) will be held during class time on 29 October.

I talked a little bit about Assessment 2.

We looked at the Mr. SpudHead example. That included the visible property.

I introduced the topic of user input validation using JavaScript. We will continue with this in the next lecture.  I gave out a handout on checksums. Students who didn't get a paper copy can download it.

Slides: JS04s.pdf
Handout:  checksums4.pdf  
Examples: Mr. Spud Head   phonenumbers.html

SOFT6008 COM2.A Class 11

Students worked on the slot machine.

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Classes 09 & 10

Students worked on the slot machine.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

SOFT6007 ITM Classes 10 & 11

Students coded their timetables in HTML.

SOFT6007 DWEB1 Classes 11 & 12

Students coded their timetables in HTML

SOFT6008 COM2.B Classes 09 & 10

I met with each student and reviewed the solution to the coin change exercise. Some students had not yet completed this. That gave me some cause for concern.

Students worked on extending the coin toss example, to turn it into a slot machine.

SOFT6007 Class 09



We looked at tables in HTML.




I asked student to write the code for this table in groups.
Tip: colspan and rowspan say nothing about the actual with and height of cells. Ask yourself how many walls or ceilings have been knocked.

In labs this week students will code their class timetables in HTML.

SOFT6007 DWEB1 Class 10



We did a quick review of some of the important points we've discussed so far.


SOFT6007 Tables



This week we will look at tables.

Monday, September 29, 2014

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Class 09

Students worked on covenanting the coin toss example into a slot machine.

I had to pop out for a few minutes to disable my lost ID card.

Students suggested that who had the slot machine working add betting to the game.

SOFT6008 COM2.A Classes 09 & 10

I met with each student and reviewed the solution to the coin change exercise. Some students had not yet completed this. That gave me some cause for concern.

Students worked on extending the coin toss example, to turn it into a slot machine.

Thursday, September 25, 2014

SOFT6008 Review of the Week

I asked students to complete the coins exercise.

The main thing I wanted to achieve this week was to get students back into programming and to get them used to debugging in JavaScript. Many students struggled, but got there in the end.

However a number of students seem to be determined that when faced with a programming problem the first port of call is someone else's solution.  This is not how people learn to program.  There is no alternative to actually taking the time and actually doing the work.  The sooner these students realise this, the sooner they will make real progress.

I expect the coins exercise to be completed by Monday.

SOFT6007 Review of the Week

This week we looked at lists and how to next them. Although nested lists are not that common, they reveal important points about the structure of HTML. That's what I was so keen that students compete the nested list exercises.

Many students struggled, so I think I we will review lists again next week. I also saw web pages with structural problems, such as several body tags. Understanding the structure of a valid HTML document is essential. So we will take our time to get that right.

SOFT6008 Some useful images





SOFT6008 COM2.B Class 07

I asked student to continue with the coins exercise.

Students who were finished started work on the slot machine exercise.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

SOFT6008 Class 08



We began our look at the Document Object Model.

We did a rollover and a coin toss game.

I asked student to start thinking about how to build a slot machine using the code we have seen so far.

Slides: JS02s.pdf
Examples:

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Class 06 & 07

Students continued working on the coins exercise.

This took longer than I was anticipating. We will pick up the pace a bit next week. My main goal for this week was to get students thinking again and to get used to debugging.

I feel that a few students need to brush up on their programming skills before proceeding with this module. All students should complete this exercise by the end of the week.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

SOFT6007 ITM1 Classes 06 & 07

We looked at headings, strong, em, bold, and italics




I gave students a nested list exercise to code in HTML.

It didn't go very well. Students might like to watch (the end of) the recording of today's lecture, and the other video on lists, before the next class.

SOFT6007 DWEB1 Classes 07 & 08




I gave students a nested list exercise to code in HTML

For those that were finished quickly I e-mailed a second similar exercise

SOFT6008 COM2.B Classes 05 & 06

We looked at alert, confirm, and prompt boxes; and loops.

I asked students to write a program that prompts the user for a number of cent, and outputs the minimum number of coins needed to make that change.

slides: js02p.pdf

SOFT6007 Class 05



I tried to explain how the Internet's history is responsible for its architecture.

We looked at lists in HTML

SOFT6007 Class 06 DWEB

We looked at headings, strong, em, bold, and italics

SOFT6007 Plan



Lists

This week we will look at lists (Class 05 - lecture)
Headings, B, I, strong, em (Class 06 - lab)

Monday, September 22, 2014

SOFT6008 Class 05 DWEB2



We looked at alert, confirm, and prompt boxes; and loops.

I asked students to write a program that prompts the user for a number of cent, and outputs the minimum number of coins needed to make that change.

slides: js02p.pdf

SOFT6008 Class 05 & 06 COM2.A



We looked at alert, confirm, and prompt boxes; and loops.

I asked students to write a program that prompts the user for a number of cent, and outputs the minimum number of coins needed to make that change.

slides: js02p.pdf

Thursday, September 18, 2014

SOFT6008 Class 03 COM2.B

Students worked on exercises we started earlier during the week

SOFT6007 Class 03 Lab ITM

I asked students to make sure they competed the work we began in the last class. I went student-to-student to make sure everyone was OK.

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

SOFT6007 Class 04 Lecture

This was mostly a pep-talk about making the most of college.

But we did talk a little bit about the module and the assessment.

SOFT6008 COM2.B Class 01

I asked students to sign-up Google+ soon.

We looked at some JavaScript. We made a page that used a different greeting depending on the time of day.
We looked at how to generate random numbers in JavaScript and how to build up an img tag in a string. The nested quotes are tricky.

In the next class students will make a page that displays a different image depending on the time of day, and they will play with and extend the New Orleans example.

code: Time Based Greeting 
New Orleans
slides: JS01c.pdf

SOFT6008 Classes 02 & 03 Lab DWEB2



We looked at how to generate random numbers in JavaScript and how to build up an img tag in a string. The nested quotes are tricky.

I asked students to make a page that displayed a different image depending on the time of day, and to play with and extend the New Orleans example.


Slides: js01c.pdf

code: New Orleans

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

SOFT6007 Some useful online classes


A bit old, but still worth a look.




HTML basics



Some points on including images in web pages. Don't forget that an img tag must include alt, width, and height attributes.

SOFT6007 Class 01 & 02 Lab A

We wrote a basic HTML page that included links and images. I asked students to experiment and add to the page, but not to use new tags.

I asked students to check out each other on Google+ and to get to know those students around them I explained how G+ circles work.

SOFT6007 Class 02 & 03 Lab B

We wrote a basic HTML page that included links and images. I asked students to experiment and add to the page, but not to use new tags.

I asked students to check out each other on Google+ and to get to know those students around them I explained how G+ circles work.

Monday, September 15, 2014

SOFT6008 DWEB2

I added students the to the class Google+ circle.

We looked at some JavaScript.

code: Time Based Greeting
slides: JS01c.pdf

SOFT6007 (DWEB1) Class 01

We spent the class dealing with timetable issues. It's all a bit complicated.

SOFT6008 COM2.A Class 01 & 02 Lab



I discussed the objectives of the module, got students to sign up to Google+ and showed them this blog.



We looked at some JavaScript.

code: Time Based Greeting
slides: JS01c.pdf

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Improvements to JPEG Compression

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/07/we-dont-need-new-image-formats-mozilla-works-to-build-a-better-jpeg/

Monday, July 7, 2014

COMP6023 Repeat

The Web Publishing repeat is by continuous assessment. There is no exam. By now you should have received the assignment specifications by email. If you did not please email your lecturer (Colin & Irene). 

Students may use the same blog as before, but should check the list online to make sure the lecturer has it.

Students may use the same images as before. So there is no need to redo the experiments provided they were done properly in the first place.

Students may use the same essay title as before or may choose another from the list. It's worth considering a change of topic. 

If you have any questions or problems please email Irene or Colin

Good Luck

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

COMP6023 Assignment 2

A number of students did not submit the image compression assignment for COMP6023 Web Publishing.  It is possible that some of these students completed the bulk of the work required for the assignment, but because they did not complete the process the work was not visible to the lecturers.  Since the lecturers couldn’t correct the assignment these students for no marks for it.
Please visit your blog by typing in the URL into the address bar and check to see that your Assignment 2 is visible from the home page.  If it is not visible, you should log into Blogger and  correct this.  You can find detailed instructions on how to do this here:http://youtu.be/6kb73odotYA

Once you have made the pages visible, please e-mail your lecturer (Colin or Irene) to let him or her  know.  You should do this beforenoon on Sunday 22 June.  However the sooner you do this the sooner we can get back to you.

In order to be fair to all students, any student who published Assignment 2 as blog Posts instead of Pages may also correct this problem.

Friday, May 23, 2014

COMP6021 Final Exam

The final exam was today at 1000.

Students will have their results when they are all published together. I don't plan to publish the results of the CA component in the meantime.

I hope you all enjoyed the module. It was a bit of a stretch for some of you. But trying new things is always a good idea. It's been a pleasure doing business with you.

Good luck with your future plans.

Friday, May 2, 2014

COMP6023 Submission Issues

The deadline for Assignment 2 and Assignment 3 were today.

If you did not have Assignment 2 (GIF & JPEG experiments) completed by today it will be marked as late. However, it will only be marked if you e-mail me to advise me that you have posted it online.

If you did not submit your Assignment 3 (Essay) to Turnitin.com before the deadline today it will be marked as late. To submit it please send 2 e-mails to me. The first e-mail should have the essay as an attachment. The second email should be sent at the same time and should state that the first e-mail was just sent. [If the CIT firewall does not like the attachment it will kill the entire message, and will advise neither the sender nor the recipient.]

If you submitted work that was not entirely your own, you may withdraw your submission for all of any of either Assignments 1, 2, or 3 up to noon on Friday 9 May, by sending me an e-mail.

Thursday, May 1, 2014

Last class of the year

That concludes our business. It's been a pleasure doing business with you all.

If you have any questions about anything please feel free to just drop by my office.

Good luck with your exams.

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 48

I didn't go to class. No one from this class turned up all week.

COMP6021 Class 48

Nobody turned up.

COMP6023 DWEB1 Class 47 & 48

Nobody turned up.

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

COMP6021 Class 47 Lab

Nobody turned up

COMP6021 Class 46

Nobody turned up. I was surprised by that.

COMP6023 DCOM1b Class 47 & 48

Nobody turned up

COMP6023 ITM1 Class 47 & 48 Lab

I gave students feedback on their essays. I gave a handout on the Chicago style.

I'll be around all day if anyone needs a bit more help with the essays.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

COMP6021 Class 45

I turned up late. There was no one there. Sorry if I missed you.

COMP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 46

I turned up late. There was no one there. Sorry if I missed you.

COMP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 45

Nobody turned up.

Monday, April 28, 2014

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 45

Nobody turned up.

COMP6023 DNET1/COM1c Class Class 45

No body turned up.

If you have any questions pop into my office, or come along to the labs.

Monday, April 14, 2014

COMP6023 Deadline Extensions

Assignment extensions. Assignments 2 and 3 are now due at noon on Friday 02 May (Week 12).

Saturday, April 12, 2014

COMP6021 Late Submissions

If you were unable to submit your work on time for some reason, please follow these instructions for submitting it.

1. Make a PDF of your report
2. Change the name of the report so that it matches your name (e.g. DanMurphy.pdf)
3. e-mail the report as an attachment to colin.manning@cit.ie
4. send another e-mail with no attachment to colin.manning@cit.ie saying that the report was sent

Late penalties are applied weekly. So you may chose to submit up to one week late if you wish.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 42

Only one student turned up. He was a bit embarrassed to be the only one in class, so I let him go. 

COMP6021 Class 44 Tutorial

We had a tutorial. We looked at UTF-8, Huffman coding, and dithering. 

COMP6023 DWEB1 Classes 43 & 44 Labs

Students worked on the assignments.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

COMP6021 Class 43 Lab

Students worked on the assignments.

COMP6021 Class 42 Tutorial

Nobody turned up.

COMP6023 DCOM1b Class 43 & 44

One one student turned up. And he wanted to work on stuff for another module so I left.

If anybody needs help with anything, come find me in my office.

COMP6023 ITM1 Classes 43 & 44

Students worked on the assignments.

I gave feedback on Assignment 2 to those students who had something online already.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

COMP6023 DNET1/COM1c Class 42 SEO



We returned to the topic of Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

COMP6021 Class 41 Tutorial

We had a tutorial but no students had prepared questions. I did answer some questions about questions.

COMP6023 DWEB1 Class 42 SEO



We returned to SEO.

COMP6023 DWEB1 Class 41 Trademarks and Trade Secrets



We looked at Trademarks and Trade Secrets.

Monday, April 7, 2014

COMP6021 Transparency

Interesting take on transparency

http://m.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2014/03/new-photoshop-inspired-street-art-erasing-london/8712/


COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 41

Today's class was on Trademarks and Trade Secrets.

There was only one student in class today. He wasn't that interested, so I let him go.

In the next class we will return to Search Engine Optimization.

COMP6021 List of Slides & Videos

I have make a list of all the slides and videos with hyperlinks.

You can get it here


COMP6023 DNET1/COM1c Class 41



We looked at Trade Marks and Trade Secrets.

Friday, April 4, 2014

Thursday, April 3, 2014

COMP6021 Class 40

Today's tutorial is cancelled.

All subsequent classes will be tutorials. Students will be expected to come to class prepared.

COMP6023 DWEB1 Classes 39 & 40 Lab

Students worked on the assignments.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

COMP6021 Class 39 Lab

Students worked on the assignment.

COMP6021 Class 38

A guest lecturer from IUT Lannion gave a class on audio coding.

COMP6023 DCOM1b Classes 39 & 40 Lab

Students worked on the assignments. I gave some feedback to students who asked for it.

COMP6023 ITM1 Classes 39 & 40 Lab

Students worked on the assignments. I gave individual feedback to each of the students present.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

COMP6023 DNET1/COM1c Class 38 Erasmus @ Lannion

IUT Lannion

COMP6021 Class 37 Audio

the one with the audio

A guest lecturer from IUT Lannion gave a class on audio coding.

COMP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 38

A lecturer from IUT Lannion gave a presentation on attending IUT on Erasmus.

COMP6023 DEWB1/ITM1 Class 37

I asked students to get into groups and to each to explain to the others what the chosen essay is about.

Monday, March 31, 2014

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 37

Students acted as jurors in a number of hypothetical cases. 

Only 5 students came to class.

COMP6023 DNET1/COM1c Class 37 Copyright & Patents



We looked at Copyright some more and discussed Patents

Thursday, March 27, 2014

COMP6023 DCOM1 Class 34 Copyright



We looked at copyright.

COMP6021 Class 36

Today's class was a tutorial. I arrived a little late and when I got there everyone was gone.

And yes. I saw you running away!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

COMP6021 Interesting Unicode news

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/03/apples-working-to-introduce-more-diverse-emoji-whats-the-holdup/

COMP6021 Class 35 Lab

Students worked on the assignment.

Some students seemed to be a bit behind schedule.

COMP6021 Class 34 Bayer Filter, Interlaced Video

the one with the electron gun



We looked at the Bayer filer used in sensors like those in cameras.

I explained how interlaced video works and we looked at some of its side effects.

COMP6023 DCOM1B Classes 35 & 36

Students worked on the assignments.

COMP6023 ITM1 Class 35 & 36

Students worked on the assignments

COMP6023 Blog Post Reminder

This is the 8th week of the blog posts. This week the post can be on any theme.


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

COMP6023 DNET1/COM1c Class 34

Students got into groups of four and acted as jurors in a variety of hypothetical cases involving libel, privacy, and copyright.

COMP6021 Class 33 3D

the one with the 3d



We looked at display technologies for 3-d images.

I brought glasses and we looked at some 3d images.

COMP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 34 You be the Judge

Students go into groups and acted a jurors for a selection of some real but mostly hypothetical court cases involving libel, privacy, and fair use.

I was surprised by the degree of consensus.

COMP6023 DWEB1/ITM1 Class 33 Copyright & Patents



We quickly reviewed some of the copyright issues we considered in the last class.

We looked at Patents

My new machine has arrived :-)



Unfortunately I am still missing a few cables to connect it up to the classrooms. So students won't see the impact until next semester. But hopefully from now on I will lose fewer recordings of classes.

I'm mostly looking forward to being able to edit video with ease.

It's lightening fast. And things that took minutes now take seconds.