This subject so far has been.. how to say... pretty basic. As with all of the course subjects the first week was taken up with explaining how it works and what we have to do in order to get past(or do I mean 'passed' ba-dum-tssch) the subject. For Database Methods, we have a project which makes up 50% of the marks and a 2 hour exam which makes up the other 50%.
Now, when I said it has been pretty basic so far, I really mean it. I think in our second lesson when we first opened up Microsoft Access our tutor informed us kindly that when she said to right click.. she meant for us to click the right mouse button and when she said double click.. she meant for us to double click the left mouse button. Thinking about it, all the other courses are pretty basic and starting everyone from scratch.. it's just this one is more noticeable to me because I have some experience with Access.
If I had come into this course with some knowledge of Python or C#, then I would probably have been trying to make my own fun in the lessons because of how basic it was... like I have been in this class. Most of our time has been spent.. well, entering data into a database(referred to henceforth by it's technical name: DB) directly then filtering it and creating a query to filter the data.
It would be a disservice for me to completely fold a blanket over this subject and say that its completely useless to me, because firstly that is stupid.. who comes up with this stuff and secondly it really hasn't. There have been some awesome little nuggets of information that I didn't know and have picked up in the class. Then on top of that, we are starting to hit territory that I'm not too familiar with - Forms, now I had some knowledge of using them.. in my last job in the UK I was in charge of a huge DB that someone else had created but I had never created my own.
Now I have, hurrah! It's really quite a simple one, I know you can make it look a lot better than just the text boxes and I think that is what we will be learning in the next lessons, after the mid-term, it's not really mid-way through the term though is it! It's been like 5 weeks out of a year long course.. anyway, I'm getting distracted by this tot. I think she also said we would be learning how to make reports and stuff which is also something I've done once or twice! Here is hoping there will be things for me to learn! Like how to do them properly and not a hack-job like the ones I made!
Tuesday 29 October 2013
Friday 25 October 2013
Work Experience
This topic is .. well, I wasn't sure how to take it when they told us that work experience would be a mandatory part of this course. At first I thought they were joking because I had never heard of this before, I mean we did work experience at school.. not in college! but it seems that over here at least, you do both! Which is kind of strange to me. I guess it's especially strange to me because I've already been in several jobs for some years! Either way, it's something that we need to do so I need to bite down and take it.. re-write my C.V. for the umpteenth time and write some kind of letter of application.
We actually get most of our marks from the planning and preparation unit of this subject - a massive 50%! This includes writing our C.V.'s, letters of application/email, when we are doing the work experience, who with, who it's with(bit of history on the company) and how we will get there or something like that. We have also been given two pages on the legislation so we know our rights in the work place and all that(exciting stuff). Then there is our learning goals, where we have to set out like 10 goals to achieve while we are on the work experience.
On top of that we have done a skills audit.. giving yourself a score of 1-5 on a massive list of things which encompass all sorts of things from "Can you work effectively with others to complete tasks and achieve results" to "Are you able to present complex and unusual ideas to friends and colleagues". I deliberately marked myself just above or around average for things I'm reasonably good at, just so that if all else fails I can put that there has been an improvement in some areas of my skills.. a tutor actually suggested this.
While we are working, we must write a daily diary covering everything that we do in that day.. our tutor told us that he wants roughly half a page per day.. that is going to be a riveting read. Then after the experience is over, we have to re-do the skills audit and then evaluate and review the work experience as a whole.
As of this moment in time, I don't have a placement.. :( I am trying to get a spot in a company I used to work for, but I don't think my chances are that good, because they have never taken on someone for work experience.. so if you know of somewhere in Cork that is somewhat computer related, let me know and I'll give it a go!
I think I've rambled enough for this subject.. onward and upward to better things.. and more code!!
We actually get most of our marks from the planning and preparation unit of this subject - a massive 50%! This includes writing our C.V.'s, letters of application/email, when we are doing the work experience, who with, who it's with(bit of history on the company) and how we will get there or something like that. We have also been given two pages on the legislation so we know our rights in the work place and all that(exciting stuff). Then there is our learning goals, where we have to set out like 10 goals to achieve while we are on the work experience.
On top of that we have done a skills audit.. giving yourself a score of 1-5 on a massive list of things which encompass all sorts of things from "Can you work effectively with others to complete tasks and achieve results" to "Are you able to present complex and unusual ideas to friends and colleagues". I deliberately marked myself just above or around average for things I'm reasonably good at, just so that if all else fails I can put that there has been an improvement in some areas of my skills.. a tutor actually suggested this.
While we are working, we must write a daily diary covering everything that we do in that day.. our tutor told us that he wants roughly half a page per day.. that is going to be a riveting read. Then after the experience is over, we have to re-do the skills audit and then evaluate and review the work experience as a whole.
As of this moment in time, I don't have a placement.. :( I am trying to get a spot in a company I used to work for, but I don't think my chances are that good, because they have never taken on someone for work experience.. so if you know of somewhere in Cork that is somewhat computer related, let me know and I'll give it a go!
I think I've rambled enough for this subject.. onward and upward to better things.. and more code!!
Monday 21 October 2013
Software Development and Testing
...is yet another one of my favourite subjects. Partly I guess because the C# language is so very similar to Python, yet it's different enough to keep you on your toes!
For the first few lessons, as with all of them it was a pretty slow start. With plenty of the tutor talking away and telling us all about the course details and what we will be doing for the year. Once we got past that and she(yup, I said she!) informed us that for the Software Development class we would be using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 for the coding we pretty much started cooking with gas.
Our tutor is a Russian lady who apparently has a strong background in Java, but this is her first year teaching C#. She seems to be doing well for the most part.. cause I've learnt a lot! :-D
There has been a lot of theory in the software testing lessons. Which I have tried to take in as best I can, but it's been a little difficult sometimes due to the nature of sitting and listening to someone talk. I've been taking a lot of notes in this class which I hope will help me take it in.
The first thing we did in Software Development was to make a windows form in Visual Studio which is kinda easy, since you just click that option and it makes a blank form for you
Once you have that empty form created, it's pretty easy from there to add a button, you simply hover over the toolbox and drag and drop the button onto your form
No when you hit the debug button, your form will run and it will have a button on it.. sadly nothing will happen when you click the button as there is no code telling it what to show when the button is clicked!
I think I'll leave it there for now and the next post on this subject will tackle how to make the button actually do something!!
See you around and I hope you have enjoyed reading!
For the first few lessons, as with all of them it was a pretty slow start. With plenty of the tutor talking away and telling us all about the course details and what we will be doing for the year. Once we got past that and she(yup, I said she!) informed us that for the Software Development class we would be using Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 for the coding we pretty much started cooking with gas.
Our tutor is a Russian lady who apparently has a strong background in Java, but this is her first year teaching C#. She seems to be doing well for the most part.. cause I've learnt a lot! :-D
There has been a lot of theory in the software testing lessons. Which I have tried to take in as best I can, but it's been a little difficult sometimes due to the nature of sitting and listening to someone talk. I've been taking a lot of notes in this class which I hope will help me take it in.
The first thing we did in Software Development was to make a windows form in Visual Studio which is kinda easy, since you just click that option and it makes a blank form for you
Once you have that empty form created, it's pretty easy from there to add a button, you simply hover over the toolbox and drag and drop the button onto your form
I think I'll leave it there for now and the next post on this subject will tackle how to make the button actually do something!!
See you around and I hope you have enjoyed reading!
Friday 18 October 2013
Computer Architecture
Well, what to say about this subject.. with no real insight about what could be talked about in this class, I thought I might be a little bored. Especially because the first three or four lessons was basically taken up by the tutor talking and showing us videos on the history of the internet and making us figure out how to convert to and from binary and also hexadecimal(ugh, more maths.. and not even in the maths class)!
But I have to say, I have really enjoyed the last couple of lessons and I reckon I'm going to enjoy the next one few too!
This is because last week, the tutor separated the class into groups of 2-3 and gave us an old tower each, with a keyboard, mouse and a monitor and told us to take the tower to bits as best we could. My team managed to take out all of the components out of the tower - we also managed to fix the power button, which was broken on the computer when we got it!
And today's lesson was actually a lot of fun.. I know, I'm a very very sad man. We were once again split up into groups and told that one of us had to stand outside the classroom, while the other guys changed something inside the tower then came and got the person who was waiting outside and you had to try and spot what was changed.
I think we ended up going around our group of three about two times.. and it was all super good fun! I think my first time the guys had unplugged, unscrewed the hard disk and then flipped it around! Which, thankfully I spotted right away and fixed it quick smart, well not so quickly really.. cause it takes forever to screw in a hard disk!! It was a really cool way of encouraging us to get involved with our team mates and helping us learn the ins and outs of the innards of a computer.
I'm really looking forwards to next week's lesson in Computer Architecture as we will be attempting to set up a basic peer to peer network with our test machines!
Bring it!
But I have to say, I have really enjoyed the last couple of lessons and I reckon I'm going to enjoy the next one few too!
This is because last week, the tutor separated the class into groups of 2-3 and gave us an old tower each, with a keyboard, mouse and a monitor and told us to take the tower to bits as best we could. My team managed to take out all of the components out of the tower - we also managed to fix the power button, which was broken on the computer when we got it!
And today's lesson was actually a lot of fun.. I know, I'm a very very sad man. We were once again split up into groups and told that one of us had to stand outside the classroom, while the other guys changed something inside the tower then came and got the person who was waiting outside and you had to try and spot what was changed.
I think we ended up going around our group of three about two times.. and it was all super good fun! I think my first time the guys had unplugged, unscrewed the hard disk and then flipped it around! Which, thankfully I spotted right away and fixed it quick smart, well not so quickly really.. cause it takes forever to screw in a hard disk!! It was a really cool way of encouraging us to get involved with our team mates and helping us learn the ins and outs of the innards of a computer.
I'm really looking forwards to next week's lesson in Computer Architecture as we will be attempting to set up a basic peer to peer network with our test machines!
Bring it!
Tuesday 15 October 2013
Maths.. ugh
Dear god, to say that I was worried when I read that there would be maths on my course would be a severe understatement. Bearing in mind, the last maths I did was my GCSE, likely sometime around 1996 and even that was way below what I imagined this would be.
I truly wanted to die when I went into the first maths lesson and it only got worse the more he talked. I had literally no idea what he was talking about when he was talking maths.. and he said that it was all basic maths! The rest of the time he was talking about his life and why he didn't care what our names were! He is proper funny and has had a full life so far it seems.
He suggested we get a hold of a book called Foundation Maths, which is aimed at people who have not done maths for a long time.. or those who had just done their GCSE's. When the library opened in the second week, I think it was.. I managed to grab a copy for a week.. I didn't buy it because it costs like 100 euro. But oh my lord! It helped me so much! I am actually starting to understand some of the things he is talking about.
I am not dreading every maths lesson now.. and maybe even looking forwards to it. What's going on, I really don't understand it to be honest. Anyhoo, I guess it helps when the tutor can't read the names in the register.. it's always funny heating him try to pronounce all the names... Apparently he is very fond of the Irish language and the history of Irish names... Oh and lazors, he likes lazors too.
Pretty short one this time! I will talk a lot more about the next subject on my list!
I truly wanted to die when I went into the first maths lesson and it only got worse the more he talked. I had literally no idea what he was talking about when he was talking maths.. and he said that it was all basic maths! The rest of the time he was talking about his life and why he didn't care what our names were! He is proper funny and has had a full life so far it seems.
He suggested we get a hold of a book called Foundation Maths, which is aimed at people who have not done maths for a long time.. or those who had just done their GCSE's. When the library opened in the second week, I think it was.. I managed to grab a copy for a week.. I didn't buy it because it costs like 100 euro. But oh my lord! It helped me so much! I am actually starting to understand some of the things he is talking about.
I am not dreading every maths lesson now.. and maybe even looking forwards to it. What's going on, I really don't understand it to be honest. Anyhoo, I guess it helps when the tutor can't read the names in the register.. it's always funny heating him try to pronounce all the names... Apparently he is very fond of the Irish language and the history of Irish names... Oh and lazors, he likes lazors too.
Pretty short one this time! I will talk a lot more about the next subject on my list!
Friday 11 October 2013
The story so far and starting with Python
Oh hey, fancy meeting you here! Do you come here often? I do. All the time!!
What is the story so far, well the first week was over and done with before I knew it.. because each class we had went over the course module and what is expected of us, the recurring message I got from many of the tutors is.. if you attend, it's highly unlikely that you will fail badly! So that was a nice positive message I took from that!
So, I'll start right off one of my favourites and probably head into something else with the next post. Today's post will be about
Programming
So, let's start off with what I have to do in the year.. there will be two assignments and then a written exam at a later date. Enough with that! Let's have a look at the first program I ever wrote in Python! We started using an awesome site called repl.it, which allows you try out your code in a multitude of different programming languages! After selecting python we were told to write the following in the left hand side of the page...
Then hit the play button in the middle of the screen and BOOM! Ho-lee-heck-balls, I have started my hopefully long love affair with programming languages! I'm pretty sure this is the first thing that anyone gets shown how to do, but I still felt like a superstar when I saw my little message show up on the right hand side of the screen. The tutor told us that our Hello World's are what is known as a string and the print is an instruction, or statement. Each new line is a new command or statement.
We were told about the three building blocks of each and every single program in the world
One thing about computers and programs that the tutor has told us on numerous occasions is; "You'd think computers are smart, but they aren't. They're stupid. When you need to tell them to do something, you need to tell explain it like you were talking to a child". We then moved on to the wonderful little things called Variables which are what he calls "little blocks of memory that stores whatever you put in it". Obviously the next step was to show us a variable working!
So, I'll start right off one of my favourites and probably head into something else with the next post. Today's post will be about
Programming
So, let's start off with what I have to do in the year.. there will be two assignments and then a written exam at a later date. Enough with that! Let's have a look at the first program I ever wrote in Python! We started using an awesome site called repl.it, which allows you try out your code in a multitude of different programming languages! After selecting python we were told to write the following in the left hand side of the page...
print "Hello World"
Then hit the play button in the middle of the screen and BOOM! Ho-lee-heck-balls, I have started my hopefully long love affair with programming languages! I'm pretty sure this is the first thing that anyone gets shown how to do, but I still felt like a superstar when I saw my little message show up on the right hand side of the screen. The tutor told us that our Hello World's are what is known as a string and the print is an instruction, or statement. Each new line is a new command or statement.
We were told about the three building blocks of each and every single program in the world
One thing about computers and programs that the tutor has told us on numerous occasions is; "You'd think computers are smart, but they aren't. They're stupid. When you need to tell them to do something, you need to tell explain it like you were talking to a child". We then moved on to the wonderful little things called Variables which are what he calls "little blocks of memory that stores whatever you put in it". Obviously the next step was to show us a variable working!
total = 7
print "Total: ", total
Total is the variable, you're telling the computer that total is equal to 7, so it's got it's little block of memory ready to take whatever you give it.. and you gave it 7, so it's like "Don't you worry, I'll keep that safe for you buddy!" and that's just the first line! Again, you're making use of the print statement and the string, but this time you're telling it to print what it's got in it's total shaped box too! Because you have told the program with the comma that the "Total: " and the total are two separate commands but on the same line!
We ended the first real programming lesson with the following code, can you tell me what happens and what it returns? Leave me a comment, if you dare!
num1 = (int(raw_input("Number1: ")))
num2 = (int(raw_input("Number2: ")))
add_total = num1+num2
sub_total = num1-num2
mult_total = num1*num2
div_total = num1/num2
print "Addition: ", add_total
print "Subtraction: ", sub_total
print "Multiplication: ", mult_total
print "Division: ", div_total
Good luck there lads and lasses!
Wednesday 9 October 2013
A new start, of sorts
Hi there!
Since I have embarked on a new leg of my life(going back into full-time education for the first time since I did my GCSE's a good few years ago), I decided I should start a new blog to chatter about it!
This blog will be to discuss my journey from having no prior knowledge of any of most of the subjects that I'm taking and how I am dealing with it, all the way to me being a super duper awesome dude with some sort of qualification to wave around at the end of it. Such fun!
The actual course I am doing is called Networks and Web design and it is a FETAC level 5.. since I'm not from Ireland, this means next to nothing to me.. but from what I can gather it's what the young ones do after they leave school. The course has quite a lot more involved in it than just Networks and Web Design, which is good news though it does mean I am quite the busy little bee and let me tell you, trying to train my brain to retain new information is quite difficult! I am hoping that if I write about what I'm learning, it might eventually stick!
Now, I'm guessing most of you lovely people know what the subjects mean and stuff, but I'm going to give a brief run down of what they are and then I will probably jabber on about the ones that I'm enjoying the most.. or the ones that are frustrating me.. oooh, it'll be a lottery! Or like a box of chocolates...
There are several subjects involved in this course, they are as follows:
Communications - A mandatory subject for all FETAC level 5 courses, it is basically helping the student communicate effectively in a group and one to one. It also includes C.V. writing, message taking/giving, letter writing and stuff.
Work Experience - The other subject that all of the FETAC courses have to study. Every student has to perform 10 days worth of work experience while writing a diary every day about what you did etc.
Computer Architecture - This subject covers the inner workings of a computer - we have been told we will be taking apart a computer and rebuilding it, though I'm not quite sure what else is involved in the subject.
Database Methods - Dealing with the fearsome Microsoft Access and all the features therein. I'm finding this pretty easy going at the moment, since I've had some time to play with Access before.
Networks - This subject is exactly what it says! Teaching us all about the different types of networks, the advantages/disadvantages of each and how to set up/maintain. Again, not too sure what else will be taught here after the types of networks have been covered.
Web Authoring - We will be learning the ins and outs of HTML, CSS, photoshop and really anything to do with authoring a web page.. d'uh. I've had some experience in HTML as most people have nowadays I guess but not so much with CSS and photoshop, so looking forwards to getting into the meat of that.
Software Development - One of my favourite lessons that is involved in this course! Learning how to develop software using C#.
Software Testing - This lesson once more does exactly what it says on the tin, teaching us the hows and the whys of the specific processes of software testing.
Programming - My favourite subject to date! Learning how to write programs with the Python language.
Maths for Computing - At the moment, this is one of my least favourite subjects.. most likely because I haven't thought about what the tutor calls basic maths in a long time and I never did all the rest of it. The second half of the year will be dealing with Boolean Algebra...
Now I have been going to college for a couple of weeks now, so I have a little to catch you up on.. but that can wait till tomorrow, since I have to be up early tomorrow!!
Hope you enjoyed the read, even though it's a list of the subjects really! Next time I think I'll go into a bit more detail about what I've learnt in programming! Or maybe Software Development.. or maybe, like I warned.. I might just rant about Maths...
Anyhoo, see y'all around!
Since I have embarked on a new leg of my life(going back into full-time education for the first time since I did my GCSE's a good few years ago), I decided I should start a new blog to chatter about it!
This blog will be to discuss my journey from having no prior knowledge of any of most of the subjects that I'm taking and how I am dealing with it, all the way to me being a super duper awesome dude with some sort of qualification to wave around at the end of it. Such fun!
The actual course I am doing is called Networks and Web design and it is a FETAC level 5.. since I'm not from Ireland, this means next to nothing to me.. but from what I can gather it's what the young ones do after they leave school. The course has quite a lot more involved in it than just Networks and Web Design, which is good news though it does mean I am quite the busy little bee and let me tell you, trying to train my brain to retain new information is quite difficult! I am hoping that if I write about what I'm learning, it might eventually stick!
Now, I'm guessing most of you lovely people know what the subjects mean and stuff, but I'm going to give a brief run down of what they are and then I will probably jabber on about the ones that I'm enjoying the most.. or the ones that are frustrating me.. oooh, it'll be a lottery! Or like a box of chocolates...
There are several subjects involved in this course, they are as follows:
Communications - A mandatory subject for all FETAC level 5 courses, it is basically helping the student communicate effectively in a group and one to one. It also includes C.V. writing, message taking/giving, letter writing and stuff.
Work Experience - The other subject that all of the FETAC courses have to study. Every student has to perform 10 days worth of work experience while writing a diary every day about what you did etc.
Computer Architecture - This subject covers the inner workings of a computer - we have been told we will be taking apart a computer and rebuilding it, though I'm not quite sure what else is involved in the subject.
Database Methods - Dealing with the fearsome Microsoft Access and all the features therein. I'm finding this pretty easy going at the moment, since I've had some time to play with Access before.
Networks - This subject is exactly what it says! Teaching us all about the different types of networks, the advantages/disadvantages of each and how to set up/maintain. Again, not too sure what else will be taught here after the types of networks have been covered.
Web Authoring - We will be learning the ins and outs of HTML, CSS, photoshop and really anything to do with authoring a web page.. d'uh. I've had some experience in HTML as most people have nowadays I guess but not so much with CSS and photoshop, so looking forwards to getting into the meat of that.
Software Development - One of my favourite lessons that is involved in this course! Learning how to develop software using C#.
Software Testing - This lesson once more does exactly what it says on the tin, teaching us the hows and the whys of the specific processes of software testing.
Programming - My favourite subject to date! Learning how to write programs with the Python language.
Maths for Computing - At the moment, this is one of my least favourite subjects.. most likely because I haven't thought about what the tutor calls basic maths in a long time and I never did all the rest of it. The second half of the year will be dealing with Boolean Algebra...
Now I have been going to college for a couple of weeks now, so I have a little to catch you up on.. but that can wait till tomorrow, since I have to be up early tomorrow!!
Hope you enjoyed the read, even though it's a list of the subjects really! Next time I think I'll go into a bit more detail about what I've learnt in programming! Or maybe Software Development.. or maybe, like I warned.. I might just rant about Maths...
Anyhoo, see y'all around!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)