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