SOFT6008 Class 03.2 & 03.3 B

Most students began work on modifying the call cost calculator. 

Some it here put the finishing touches to the slot machine. 

Please submit the slot machines today. 

SOFT6008 Class 03.4 A

Students worked the slot machine exercise.

SOFT6008 Class 03.3 & 03.4 W

Some students worked on completing the slot machine. Most are done.

Others starting looking at the call cost calculator.

SOFT6008 Assignment Statement Review

Some students in the class are struggling with assignment statements and expressions

An assignment states changes the value of the variable (left of the equals sign) to the value of the expression (on the right if the equals sign)

Suppose the variable
a holds 20 and
b holds 15


Consider the following statement

a = b + 4;

This asks the computer to calculate the value of (b + 4), which is 19, and put it into the variable a.

So after this statement is executed
a holds 19 and
b holds 15

Note that using b in an expression on the right of the equals does not cause be to be altered.

Only the variable on the left of the equals is changed.



x - 20 is an expression
It will evaluate to something depending on the value of x
It does not DO anything. No variables are ever altered by an expression.

y = x - 20
This statement takes whatever is in x, subtracts 20 from it, and puts the answer into y.
x remains unchanged



Shorthand

There are shorthand assignments that can also be used and these are popular with many programmers

x += y is the same as x = x + y
x++ is the same as x = x + 1
x -- is the same as x = x - 1

However you may chose to stick to the long form in order to avoid confusion

SOFT6008 Attendance

Although I don't have a fully up-to-date class list yet, my initial analysis of attendance rates so far gives me cause for concern.

In Week 1 it was 50% and in Week 2 it was 57%.
[When the class list is finalised these figures might go up or down slightly. But not by much.]

It's really important that students come to class. In my opinion its the single most important factor in success in this module.

SOFT6008 Class 03.1 B

I asked students to add money to the slot machine. Most are well on their way.  I expect we will have time on Thursday morning to get that finished.

A set of students had solutions so similar that they would be considered to have infringed the regulations if it were an assignment . I advised them to not work together in future in order to avoid the risks.

SOFT6008 Initialising variables

Code that is in a function inside the head is executed only when the function is called.

Code that is in the head but not in a function is executed once before the page loads. So you can initialise variables this way. But you cannot modify the DOM in there because it doesn't exist yet.

Code that is in the body is executed once as the page is loaded.

So the money variable can be initialised in the body or in the head (outside the function). But it can only be displayed on the page inside the function.

SOFT6008 Class 03.1 B

I asked students to add money to the slot machine. Most have that done, but a few joined the module late or left their previous work at home.

A set of students had solutions so similar that they would be considered to have infringed the regulations if it were an assignment . I advised them to not work together in future in order to avoid the risks.

SOFT6007 Class 03.1

I gave a speech about attendance.

We did a quick review of tables in HTML and then I explained colspan and rowspan.

I gave students an exercise to complete in class in groups.

SOFT6008 Class 03.1 & 03.2 A

I reminded students that it's important to turn up to class.

I asked student to add money to the slot machine. Most completed this, but a few are still catching up.

SOFT6007 Class 02.4 W

I briefly talked about HTML entities.

I explained how tables are specified in HTML and asked students to code their class timetables in HTML

SOFT6007 Tables

This is a video about HTML tables.

For simplicity the image tags in this video don't have their alt width & height tags.

SOFT6007 Class 03.2 & 03.3 & 03.4

03.2
Students worked on getting the nested list exercise finished. This is tricky, but worthwhile.

Students who were completed and had their work checked by me went for a coffee break.

03.3

I talked about ASCII, code pages, and HTML entities.

I asked student who were finished their nested lists to take a look at the tables video.

03.4

We looked at tables. I talked students through sample page 3

I asked student to code their timetables in HTML. Not all finished that today.

SOFT6007 Class 02.2 & 02.3

Students worked on the nested list exercise. That took a bit longer than I expected. This is a tricky exercise, but it illustrates the structure of HTML very well.

Some students missed class before and so I referred them to an online video on lists.

SOFT6007 Lists tutorial

If you missed the class on lists or need a recap this video might help.

SOFT6008 Class 02.2 & 02.3

I asked student to add money to their slot machines.

Most made good progress, but some have fallen behind already.

Attendance was poor -- only 7 students.

SOFT6008 Next up ..

Next up in the labs I would like you to add money your slot machine. And have a think about the appropriate level of rewards so that the game doesn't end too quickly nor last forever.

SOFT6008 Class 02.4

I spoke a little bit about how it's important to work though the examples rather than just finding one online and considering yourself done.

We looked at number inputs and range inputs in HTM5. And how to use onchange.

Everything we discussed is encapsulated in the phone cost calculator v3.

The issue of number v. string types in JavaScript came up again and we kind of concluded that I worry about that more than I should.

SOFT6008 Extra class

OK. So that didn't work out. I was late because I couldn't find the room. And then when I did find it there was no computer there. And I was missing a cable for mine. Just one of those days.

Apologies to those of you who took the time and effort to come along.

We will make up the time later in the semester.

SOFT6008 Class 02.3 A

I asked students to complete the slot machine and then to take a look at the call cost calculator in advance of class.

I appreciate that many of you were already done, but I keep to keep the various lab groups in sync for the moment.

I was a bit distracted today and didn't give you all the attention you deserved. Sorry about that.