Wednesday, October 1, 2014

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.

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.