COMP6021 Exam

The final was on 15 December (Wednesday morning)

The solutions and marking scheme are now available online. However if you are still studying for exams do not waste time pouring over solutions to exams you have already take. There will be time for that later.

The results will not be published until some time in January. I won't have anything further to say until then.

Except that it's been a pleasure doing business with you.

Good luck with the rest of your exams.

Games Research Survey

A masters student in Computing, conducting research in the area of ethics in the virtual world, has a brief (5 tickbox) question survey directed at people who play online games, such as Second Life and World of Warcraft, etc. The anonymous survey is a part of an investigation into the relationships formed between gamers and their avatars.

If possible, please complete the survey. It will only take a couple of seconds. Feel free to forward the survey link onto anyone that you feel might be relevant.

Survey Link:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BHZ9JDY

If you have any further questions, or input, the student in question, James O'Sullivan, can be contacted at james.c.osullivan@mycit.ie

COMP7004 Textbook

Ethics & Technology by Tavani is the recommended textbook for this course. ISBN:978-0470509500

The Second Edition of this book will also suffice. A copy of the second edition is available in the library.

COMP6021 Re: Exam format?

Hi
There won't generally be much mixing up of topics in any one question. For the most part it's one question = one topic.
Colin M
Colin Manning, Dept. of Computing
Cork Institute of Technology, Ireland
On 14 Dec 2010, at 14:02, *********wrote:
> So any chance you could tell me what format the exam will be in, like 4 questions do 2 etc. and will each question be a mix of topics or topic specific.

COMP7004 Useful sites

Office of the Data Protection Commissioner


Digital Rights Ireland

COMP7004 Recommended Podcasts

Students taking this module are expected to familiarize themselves with current ethical issues facing the computing profession and the wider society. The issue of privacy is often discussed in the media. These podcasts and websites often discuss topics relevant to this modules. Interested students should subscribe to them.

Marketplace Tech Report podcast site sitefeed

NPR Technology podcast site

BBC Technology News site

Podcast of Stories about "Privacy" from NPR

Not as useful for this class, but still very interesting:
On The Media podcast site

COMP7004 Computing Ethics

The CRN for this module is 21108.

Students should check their mail in mid January for instructions from the registrar's office on how to register.

SOFT6001 Last Chance for Assessment 3

Any student who missed Assessemnt 3 should immediately contact Colin by e-mail or SMS. I expect there will be an opportunity to sit the assessment some day this week.

SOFT6001 Student Comments

Please feel free to leave comments on the course.

SOFT6001 Week 12

We had an in-class written exam.

I didn't get a chance to properly say goodbye to people. It's been a pleasure working with you. Good luck with your other exams and future plans. I may yet darken your door again, some time in the future.

COMP6021 Tutorials

If any students in this module are interested in having a tutorial, please let me know in advance.

SOFT6001 Extreme Weather

Some students may find it difficult to make it to class for the assessment on Thursday night. Students should not take unnecessary risks in order to make it to the exam.

I plan to offer a further opportunity to sit the assessment some time next week. However, it would be foolish for any student to use this as an opportunity to put off the exam. There is no guarantee that the exam will be on a day or at time that suits you.

So come if you can. Don't come if you can't do so safely.

CMOD6001 Student Comments

Please leave comments on this module. What worked for you? What didn't?

They can be anonymous if you like. And you can wait until after you get your final results too.

COMP6021 Student Comments

Please leave comments on this module. What worked for you? What didn't?

They can be anonymous if you like. And you can wait until after you get your final results too.

COMP6021 CA Results

Hi

The results of the Continuous Assessment component of this module are now available. The CA accounts for 20%. The remaining 80% comes from the final exam.

COMP6021 Class 29 (tutorial)

No one turned up

SOFT6001 Week 11

We had a tutorial. A good number of students turned up, but they didn't have a lot of questions.

The exam will be next week. We will start at 1815.

COMP6021 Class 28 (tutorial)

Nobody came.

CMOD6001 Class 29

We had the world premieres of the lip dub videos. I was impressed.

This was our last class.

Good luck with your exams. I will see you all again soon, depending on which modules you are taking.

CMOD6001 Class 28

Some students met groups to make some decisions about their videos. I didn't want to see the videos, because I want to be surprised tomorrow.

COMP6021 Class 27 (tutorial)

Nobody turned up, so I went away.

COMP6021 Class 26

We had a whistle stop tour of some of the topics we should have discussed in more detail but didn't. So at least now there are no "unknown unknows", just "known unknows".

All subsequent classes will be tutorials. So bring questions.

CMOD6001 Presentation Names

Could someone from each group e-mail me the names of the students in their group. I just want to make sure I have everything correct.

If you missed any one of the two days you should e-mail Colin explanation. Failure to do so will cost both you and your group marks.

CMOD6001 Class 27

Presentations. They were all good.

Afterwards I met with groups. Projects seem to be on track

CMOD6001 Class 26

Presentations. Went well

COMP6021 Class Canceled

This afternoon's class is canceled. I feel like crap and I'm going home to bed. There is only so much caffeine and paracetamol you can down, before you have to eventually admit defeat.

COMP6021 Final

The exam for this module will be at 1000 on 15 December 2010 in the CIT Sports Hall.

ITS / ITM APS CA Results

CA results for ITS/ITM SOFT6001 Algorithmic Problem Solving are here:
2010-SOFT6001-ITS3.pdf

Some students have almost passed already and so do not need to score well in the final exam. Others need more than a pass in the final to pass over all.

The column NEEDS specifies what students need to score in the final assessment to be sure of a pass mark.

COMP6021 Class 25

We looked at block matching algorithms for motion compensated video compression. Mostly because I know all about it and think it's cool. Now 10 more people know all about it, but the number of people who think it's cool is unchanged.

We probably will discuss only a few more things in the next class. The rest of classes will be given over to tutorials.

Free Choice Modules

Information about the Free Choice Module for next semester is available at

tinyurl.com/compfreechoice

SOFT6001 Withdrawals

Some students have done a runner. This is fine.

If you do a runner though, make sure to formally withdraw from the module. If you do not withdraw then CIT will, quite rightly, want its money. And should you want to stay on at CIT, you will, quite rightly, be expected to pay up before progressing.

So it makes sense to do the paperwork.

EV.COM1 APS SOFT6001 Cancelled

There is no Algorithmic Problem Solving class this Thursday night.

Apologies for the short notice

CMOD6001 Class 25

We were supposed to have presentations today but the group wasn't ready.

We might fit them in another day.

Students had ad hoc group meetings and the class rep got some SU related issues sorted.

Colin

COMP6021 JPEG Compression Ratios

You can see the effects of JPEG compression by saving this TV test pattern at various quality settings. Pay particular to the line patterns and the edges. You'll need to convert it to RGB mode after opening.

[Info about video compression] [Media Data Formats]

CMOD6001 Presentations

Students who want to use my laptop for the presentations should e-mail the a PDF of the slides in advance of the class.

SOFT6001 Week 09

[Thursday Evening]
We did some exercises with loops.

Everybody got there, eventually.

Week 09 Exercises

COMP6021 Class 24

We looked at video compression and MPEG.

Many students left with a headache. Mighty stuff.

CMOD6001 Class 24

Colin brought chocolate.

Students met in groups for the first half of the class.

Students did a time management exercise.

Handout on Chicago Style references.

CMOD6001 Class 23

Wed.
We did an exercise that required groupwork and communication.

COMP6021 Class 23

One of these images has just 100th the color information of the other

We looked at how JPEG works. That was hard work.

Using Photoshop and Lab channels we simulated subsampling of the chrominance channel to see just how much one can get away with.

We looked at the effects of adjusting the quality settings of JPEGs in Photoshop's Save for Web preview.

A good day's work.

COMP6021 Class 22

We looked at Transparency, Alpha channels, RGBA, & PNG.

The screen capture software messed up so it will be a while before the video is online.

Use of Dictionaties in Exams

... students ... whose first language is not English ... may be entitled to the use of an English dictionary and extra time depending on their level of English.  Please note this is at the discretion of the Head of Department.

Any student seeking such a provision for their exams should fill in the attached form and have it signed by their Head of Department. They may be allowed up to 10 minutes per exam, but this is at the discretion of the Head of Dept.

The student should bring the original signed form to their exams for the attention of the invigilator at the start of the exam. They should also bring a copy of the form to Ruth Murphy, Exams Organisation Office, based at the Admissions counter on the ground floor of the Administration Building.

Please see the attached updated form and explanatory information.  Please note these documents can be downloaded from the Exams webpage on the CIT website: http://www.cit.ie/exams#english_language_

CMOD6001 Class 22

From now on this hour will be a tutorial only. So attendance is not required. It does make for a handy group meeting time though.

Students had project group meetings

I offered to meet with students individually to discuss the paper. But only one was interested.

I checked in with the groups on the progress being made with the projects. I get the feeling that the groups are not being realistic about their schedules.

SOFT6001 Week 08

We looked at loops. Loos can be very tricky.

notes and video
Loop exercises

The Microsoft ELSEIF:
When I am Emperor of the World the ELSEIF will be first against the wall.

Many programming languages nest IFs like this:

IF x < 10 THEN
      B = 9
ELSE
     IF x< 20 THEN
          B = 10
     ELSE
          IF x < 30 THEN
               B = 11
          ELSE
               B = 12
          ENDIF
     ENDIF
ENDIF

Notice how there is an ENDIF for every IF.

In VB is it possible to say:


IF x < 10 THEN
      B = 9
ELSEIF x< 20 THEN
          B = 10
ELSEIF x < 30 THEN
               B = 11
ELSE
               B = 12
ENDIF

Here the nested structure is lost. This is very inelegant.

COMP6021 Class 21 (Tutorial)

No body came to the tutorial with questions. I was really tired so I sent them away.

The tutorial plan doesn't seem to be working, so I think we will re-instate the Thursday class as an actual lecture and then have a whole bunch of tutorials at the end of the semester when they might be more productive.

CMOD6001 Class 21

I asked students to meet in their presentation groups.

Students that do not attend class will very likely end up in separate groups of their own.

CMOD6001 Class 20

There were not enough students class for any kind of meaning group work. So class was canceled.

COMP6021 Class 20 (Lab)

Students worked away on their assignment.

I asked students who were finished to experiment with animated GIFs.

COMP6021 Class 19

We looked at how GIF works.

Class only took 40 minutes, but I never keep people just for the sake of it.

SOFT6001 Assessment Results

I have put the results of the group work and last week's exam online. You can find your result using the last four digits of your ID number (unless it starts with zero(s)).

If you do not know your student ID number, I am not prepared to find it for you.

There are some students for whom I do not have ID numbers because they have not yet signed up for the class.  I am not prepared to give those student their results by some other means.