Thursday, February 24, 2011

SOFT6007 Class 14 & 15 Lab B

Students coded the image maps they had worked on in class. It didn't go well. Students are still not clear on the basics.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

SOFT6007 Class 13

We reviewed image maps and students did an in-class exercise. Some students left before they were finished. That's not a great strategy for success.

Remember:
What's on top in the html file is on top in the image map
area tags must have an alt to be comeplete
if you are linking to a page in the same folder href="vegas.html" you don't need the http
but if you are linking to a website href="http://www.lasvegas.org" then you do need it

Students will be expected to code the Iberia example and the cities example in the labs this week

Computing Ethics Class 10

We discussed the structure of arguments and examined common logical fallacies.

For this week's blog entry students should find examples of logical fallacies. I am especially interested in any logical fallacies used during the current election campaign.

SOFT6007 Images for Image Map Exercises





This is the image map we used in class last week. Students should download this and write the code to include it in a page. It is 500 x 500 pixels.


Below is the images used for the cities exercise. Beneath that is the same image with the hotspots color coded and a ruler attached to help identify co-ordinates. This image is for reference and should not be put on the page.


Computing Ethics Class 11 is Canceled

There will be no class on Wednesday 23 Feb. I have to attend a meeting of the academic council.

Computing Student Blogs - Week 03 now

The window of opportunity to earn marks for Week 01 and Week 02 blog entries is now closed.

Students should now concentrate on the Week 03 blog entry: Comment on the ACM code of ethics. Student should make an entry for Week 03 no later than noon this Friday.

Monday, February 21, 2011

SOFT6008 Class 15

Students continued working on the cookies exercise

SOFT6008 Class 14

We looked at check digits.

I asked students to check their PPSNs, a book, and credit card.

Students who want to take a break from cookies can try to code some check digit verification functions.

SOFT6008 Class 13

Students continuted to work on the cookies exercise. I gave some tips on how to get it working.

I hope will will move this class from C134x soon. Still no word on the second lab class.

Computing Ethics

Students might be able to find some interesting topics for the assignments using this recource provided by the text book publisher


http://bcs.wiley.com/he-bcs/Books?action=mininav&bcsId=5329&itemId=0470509503&assetId=195702&resourceId=18802&newwindow=true

There are also some other resources at that site associated with the textbook

Friday, February 18, 2011

SOFT6007 Class 12

We looked at image maps.

I gave students an exercise. We will complete it in the labs.

Computing Ethics Class 09

We looked at duty based ethics, viture ethics, moral relativism and some other ethics concepts.

Students should listen to this radio programme on moral relativism.

I gave out a printout of the ACM Code of Ethics and asked students to write about it for their Week 03 blog entry.

SOFT6007 Class 10 & 11 Lab A

[Class on Thursday]

Students continued working on the table timetable, but accounted for double classes using either rowspan or colpan.

I asked students who were finsihed to code the (mary ahd a little lamb) table used for the in-class exercise.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

SOFT6008 Class 12

We talked some more about cookies

SOFT6007 Class 10 & 11 Lab B

Students continued working on the table timetable, but accounted for double classes using either rowspan or colpan.

I asked students who were finsihed to code the (mary ahd a little lamb) table used for the in-class exercise.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Computing Ethics Class 08

Only one student turned up to class.

I spoke with that student about the essay.

Bye this weekend students should have their week 01 and week 02 blog entries sorted. Week 02 posts will most likely concentrate on the trolley problem.

No Week 03 blog entry is expected.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

SOFT6007 Class 09

This class was canceled

Computing Ethics Class 07

Today's class was canceled

Monday, February 14, 2011

SOFT6008 Class 11

Students continued to work on getting to grips with cookies.

I gave out a handout.

SOFT6008 Class 10

I asked students to take a look at this online class about cookies from the class podcast.

Podcast URL http://mcom.cit.ie/staff/computing/cmanning/soft6008.xml

SOFT6008 Class 09

We started to look at cookies. But it didn't go very well.  Lots of puzzles faces.

Things might be clearer after lunch.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Computing Ethics Class 06

Class was canceled do to a timetable clash. We were in fact 100% right and entitled to stay. But we were few and they were many.

The promised examples of supernaturalism in tech debate:
http://www.whatwouldjesusdrive.info/
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/06/70308 

SOFT6007 Class 08

We looked at how colspan and rowspan can be used to merge table cells.

Students did an exercise in class with a complex table.

I explained how to code non-English characters

SOFT6008 Class 08

[Class on Thursday 10 Feb 2011]

We looked at functions and arrays.

Attendance was very poor today

SOFT6007 Class 07 Lab A

[Class on Thursday 10 Feb 2011] 

I explained how tables work. We looked at an example and I asked students to code a table of their timetable.

SOFT6007 Class 06 Lab A

[Class on Thursday 10 Feb 2011] 

Students coded the nested list from class and another list I displayed on the screen. Some students still don't get where to end li tags.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

SOFT6007 Class 07 Lab B

I explained how tables work. We looked at an example and I asked students to code a table of their timetable.

SOFT6007 Class 06 Lab B

Students coded the nested list from class and another list I displayed on the screen. Some students still don't get where to end li tags.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Computing Ethics Class 05

We talked about consequentialism and the trolley problem

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

SOFT6007 Class 05

We looked at nested lists. Nesting lists demonstrates some important points about the structure of HTML.


I gave students a nested list exercise to code on paper. I advised students who correctly completed the exercise that they could leave early. Some students when they were nearly finished. That's the kind of attitude that causes students to nearly pass.

Computing Ethics Class 04

We discussed the origins of right and wrong. We talked about supernaturalism, intuitionism, and started to think about consequentialism.

Slides were taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/guide/

I asked students to find examples of supernaturalism in a debate about technology. (Apart from the obvious examples of genetic engineering and reproductive technology)

Students should listen to:
Defending The Faith, And Morality, Of NonBelievers
Would you Kill the Big Guy Parts I and II

In the next class we will discuss the trolley problem. What implications does the trolley problem have for CyberEthics.

Monday, February 7, 2011

SOFT6008 Class 06 & 07

Students continued working on the rollover exercise.

I asked those students who were finished to start work on a navigation bar of their own. It should demonstrate that the students understand show rollovers work.

I warned students of the dangers of copying and pasting code from the web.

SOFT6008 Class 05 Table Structure

SOFT6008 Class 05

I asked students to build a navigation bar with rollovers using the images I provided.


Some important points:
Need to have colspan and rowspan clear in your head
Set border cellpadding and cellspacing attributes all to zero
Beware of stray space characters
Using a table for layout in this way is a bit 90s. CSS would probably be the way to go. But that's not important right now



La Casa del Gringo exercise:








Friday, February 4, 2011

SOFT6007 Class 04

I was late because I went to the wrong room.

We looked again at how to include images in a web page and I told a few cautionary tales.

We took a brief look at lists. Lists are a lot less important than the time we will devote to them, but their use illustrates some very important points about the structure of html documents.

Students can subscribe to the class podcast in iTunes by choosing Advanced> Subscribe to a Podcast... and entering http://mcom.cit.ie/staff/computing/cmanning/soft6007.xml

Searching for Cork Institute of Technology might be easier.

Clicking here might work too

Thursday, February 3, 2011

SOFT6008 Class 04

We looked at rollovers, dialog boxes, and prompts

Slides: JS02

SOFT6007 Class 02 & 03 Lab Group A

We started a bit late because someone stole the handouts I had left earlier in the day. Perhaps they were used to print on or recycled.

We looked at HTML Example 1 and Example 2. Students typed Example 2 and saw how it looked in the browser.

We added 2 links.

We added images.

I asked student to make a small website with 2 connecting pages. I allowed students who were done to leave early. Not all students finished by the end of class.

Many students were keen to leave before they were not finished.


Some important points:
It's all about the structure. To be compliant the html must be perfect. There is no half-right
Tags must be in lowercase
The header must include a title tag
All image tags must include width height and alt attributes

Computing Ethics Class 03

Is technology is neutral?

We started our look at ethics in general and started to think about where ethics and morals come from.


I asked students to set up their blogs and to e-mail me the URLs. For this week's entry I want each student to:
  • Find an example of a cyberethics issue that can be effectively dealt with using current laws and morals
  • Find an example of a cyberethics issue that cannot be effectively dealt with using current laws and morals and needs some new thinking
  • Find an example of a cyberethics issue from popular culture (e.g. Is Lt. Data from Star Trek TNG entitled to the same civil rights as humans?) and identify which into phase of cyberethics evolution it belongs.
  • Google "Is technology neutral" and attempt to summarize some of the ideas presented

Students should listen to the following programmes in reading list podcast.

"Would you kill the big guy?" Parts I & II
"Defending the faith, and morality, of non-believers"

    SOFT6007 Class 02 & 03 Lab Group B

    We looked at HTML Example 1 and Example 2. Students typed Example 2 and saw how it looked in the browser.

    We added 2 links.

    We added images.

    I asked student to make a small website with 2 connecting pages. I allowed students who were done to leave at 1230.


    Some important points:
    It's all about the structure. To be compliant the html must be perfect. There is no half-right
    Tags must be in lowercase
    The header must include a title tag
    All image tags must include width height and alt attributes

    Wednesday, February 2, 2011

    Computing Ethics Class 02

    The projector in F1.2 wouldn't work so I had to do a bit of messing.

    We talked about what is CyberEthics and whether or not it is a discipline worthy of study in its own right, apart from ethics generally.

    Tuesday, February 1, 2011

    SOFT6007 Class 01

    history of the Internet. The web.

    Introduction to HTML

    Computing Ethics Class 01

    We discussed the module and I spoke a bit about what the format of the classes would be.

    We will spend most classes discussing issues. This is not a module for people who do not like to speak in class nor is if for those who cannot write.

    I showed students how to subscribe to the 2 podcasts for the module.

    I gave out a random selection of articles from various sources for student to read.

    Slides Chapter00

    Monday, January 31, 2011

    SOFT6008 Class 03

    We looked at the Random Image example. This example is tricky because of the escaped quotes.

    I asked student to try this for themselves but using their own images and naming convention. Using my naming convention doesn't demonstrate much understand of what's going on.

    I asked student to try the time based image exercise. Any well known landmark would be suitable, as images are likely easy to come by.

    I messed up the video so the quality of the podcast is very poor.

    SOFT6008 Class 02

    I asked students to ensure they knew how to subscribe to the module podcast at
    http://mcom.cit.ie/staff/computing/cmanning/soft6008.xml

    However it took student so long to log into the machines that we got straight down to business once they did. In addition, some machine in that lab have no sound. I logged both problems with the Service Desk.

    I talked about what JavaScript is and is not.

    We did the Time Based Greeting example.

    I asked students to type in this code and see it working. Many students got to see first hand just how fussy JavaScript is, and just how difficult it is to debug.

    I messed up the video recording so the quality of the podcast is very poor.

    SOFT6008 Class 01

    Welcome to Interactive Web Development.

    There are more then 20 students in this class so when the numbers finalize we might have to modify the timetable to accommodate a second lab group.

    There was no projector in C134x so class was short.

    After introducing myself I gave a very quick introduction to JavaScript and answered some questions.

    Thursday, January 20, 2011

    Free Choice Module

    Instructions for free choice module registration should be sent tomorrow

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

    Visit to Lannion

    I was in Lannion earlier his week.

    Details later

    LRC Meeting

    I had my first meeting of the Learning Resources Committee today. It was very interesting. The people involved are very keen.

    We looked a bit at the terms of reference of the LRC. They are a bit old now.

    We talked about Blackboard.

    There's a lot of overlap between the membership of the LRC and the Teaching & Learning Unit.

    Tuesday, January 11, 2011

    COMP7004 Computing Ethics class podcasts

    I plan to use podcasts extensively for this module. I recommend using iTunes to subscribe to the podcasts, but any other RSS reader should be fine too.

    The URL for the class podcast is

    http://mcom.cit.ie/staff/computing/cmanning/comp7004/comp7004.xml

    This podcast will deliver digital copies of the class where appropriate and copies of slides and (some) handouts. There are two downloads available already so that students can test their set-up is working correctly.

    In addition to subscribing to the course podcast listed above, students should subscribe to the this custom podcast of radio programs from various media organisations around the world.

    http://huffduffer.com/tags/cit-comp7004/rss

    If you need help using iTunes please let me know.