Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Free Choice Modules

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

tinyurl.com/compfreechoice

Monday, November 15, 2010

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

Friday, November 12, 2010

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

Thursday, November 11, 2010

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.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

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.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

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_



Friday, November 5, 2010

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.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

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.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

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.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

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.