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.

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. 

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

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

SOFT6008 DWEB2 Class 17

Students worked on the assignment

SOFT6008 COM2.A Classes 17 & 18

Students worked on the assignment.

Attendance was poor

C128 has Photoshop now

Fun. Fun. Fun. 

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.

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.

Some sample questions:
Autumn 2011 Q1 & Q2
Autumn 2012/12 Q1
Sample 1
Sample 2

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

• javascript3-face-rollover.html
• dom-tails.html