M263: Schedule Blown to Bits!

As I have previously written I have been managing to keep to my planned schedule for M263. But Block 3, units 9 – 12, has blown it all to bits!

After reading through the Block 3 units I realised that I didn’t fully understand the information, so have decided to re-read them plus spending extra time on the activities and exercises. This is proving worthwhile as I am now getting a far better understanding of the material and the TMA03 questions are now not as daunting as they first appeared.

M263: TMA02 Result

On Friday got the results back for TMA02. Managed to get 98%, but rather annoyed with myself as I lost a mark through missing out a small part of a question. For Q3.d I missed the part that said "It should also demonstrate that your implementation does not have side-effects" and this is doubly annoying as I had underlined the preceeding line about testing. In future I'll have to go over TMA's with a fine tooth comb and highlight any mark related points, before starting the TMA, so as not to miss them.

M359: Tutorial

Attended my first tutorial for M359 last night. It was at the University of Westminster from 7pm to 9pm. There were 3 tutors and 10 students in attendance.

The main topic of the evening was an overview of the course.

Apparently the course glossary should be available within the next couple of days.

Other points of interest where:

• Substitution is allowed for the course;
• No course materials will be allowed into the exam (unlike M263 were we can use the course handbook);
  
• When including SQL code within a TMA the output generated by the code should also be included;
• The OU has directed tutors to only mark the first version of a TMA that is submitted more than once. Therefore unless there are technical issues a TMA should only be submitted to the eTMA system once;
• According to one of the tutors every TMA that is submitted using the eTMA system is automatically checked for plagiarism using a system called copyCatch. Apparently copyCatch Campus was developed in co-operation with the OU. This is interesting as according to my the copy of the "eTMA Student Guide" there is a warning when submitting TMA's that says "Please be aware that the University may subject your work to a computerised check for plagiarism", it does not say that every TMA is checked. Will have to look out for the warning message the next time I submit a TMA to verify exactly what it says.
  

M359: Books

I have just purchased 2 books in the hope that they will aid in my studying of M359. They were recommended by one of the M359 tutors.

The Relational Database Dictionary
from amazon.co.uk














Database in Depth: The Relational Model for Practitioners
from amazon.co.uk

M359: Beta Testers

Not trying to be negative about M359 as I am so far enjoying the course, but...

TMA01 has finally been released 2 days later than originally scheduled! Still only 1 conference area available! Course website not complete yet! A delay in a number of additional documents!

Although this is the first presentation of M359 and one must expect a few teething troubles, I get the distinct impression that we are in fact BETA TESTING M359. If this is the case are we due some form of special consideration (such as discount on our next course)?

Sod's Law

Sod's Law isn't it! Got home last night only to discover that I had received a welcome letter from my M359 tutor.

M359: Missing!

M359 officially starts in 2 days time, Saturday 3rd February 2007, and yet there are still some items missing.

At present there is only 1 FirstClass conference area (“M359 07 Students”) available. Today the “Course team chair” posted a message saying:

“As the course progresses the forum will act as a 'virtual' meeting point for course related discussions with sub-forums for specific topics. This will also include a social area for more general chat. A moderator will be appointed in due course and will post a welcome message of their own when they take responsibility.”

Yet for all my previous courses the various FirstClass conference areas such as “tutor group”, “TMA discussion” and “general chat” have been made available from onset.

Normally by now I would have received some form of communication from my allocated tutor in the form of a welcome note giving his / her details, a brief explanation of the course expectations and hoping that I will enjoy the course. So far I have not heard anything, not an e-mail or snail-mail.

I appreciate that this is the first presentation of M359, but some of the aspects of this course (FirstClass conference area and tutor communications) are the same as those for any of the other OU computing courses I have participated in. So why haven’t they been implemented yet?

Microsoft - BlueJ Patent Update

It appears that Microsoft are dropping their patent application for "Object Test Bench". See here Movement - The Latest on The Microsoft Patent Application. This is most excellent news!

Bad News: Microsoft Applies for a Patent

Although I use Microsoft product quiet extensively I have never entered into the Windows vs Linux vs OSX war as I believe each OS has its own merits, and I most certainly have never used the term Micro$oft. Well until now.

Why? Because Micro$oft could potentially stop the development and distribution of BlueJ.

BlueJ is a fantastic IDE for the teaching of object-oriented programming using Java and is used extensively by educational establishments, including the OU (see M255). One of its key benefits is that enables you to create instances of objects, examine these instances and invoke methods on them, without having to run the whole program that is being developed.

Micro$oft has incorporated into Visual Studio a feature called “Object Test Bench” which appears to be a straight BlueJ copy, and Micro$oft have now made a patent application for “Object Test Bench”.

For the full story see here Microsoft patents BlueJ

And for a follow-up see here More on the Microsoft / BlueJ patent case

M359: Missing Materials

According to the course news there are some materials missing from the supplied course CD, due to timing issues. The missing materials are 5 pdf's and can be found on the course website via the "copies of CD-ROM files" section.

M359: Course Materials Received

Received the first set (there are 3 sets in total with the other 2 being dispatched later) of course materials for M359 on Friday. This is what I received...

• 2 x block books
• Block 1 - Databases in context
  
• Block 2 - Introducing relational theory
  
• M359 Course Guide
• M359 Software Guide
• Using the Electronic TMA System - A Student Guide
• Course News
• M359 Software CD
• Database Cards Pack
• M359 Errata 1 - Block 1 Replacement Pages

Missing was (apparently due to dispatch issues)...

• Online Application CD-Rom v.8

The supplied errata replaces pages 14-17 of Block 1 as they were incorrectly printed during production.

The M359 software is easy to install and I have not experienced any problems with it after installing it onto 2 desktop PC's and a laptop.

Both the FirstClass conferences (well 1 conference area so far) and the course website are now accessible as well.

M359: Course Materials

Getting a bit nervous as I haven't as yet received any course materials and M359 is supposed to start on 3rd Feb. With this in mind I have just contacted the OU's materials dispatch centre and they informed me that there has been a delay in them receiving the materials over the Christmas period. They reckon that the materials will be dispatched by Thursday of this week (18.Jan.07) and that I should then receive them within the next 5 working days. Lets wait and see!

OU: Dip Comp (Open)

I have just received a letter from the OU confirming that I have passed the "Diploma in Computing". So now apart from being able to put "Cert IT & Comp (Open)" after my name I can now also put "Dip Comp (Open)" as well.

ref: Certificate in Information Technology and Computing
ref: Diploma in Computing

Big Brother!

[ref: Watchful Eyes]

M301: Result

The results for M301 were released today and I got a grade 2 (76%). I have very mixed feelings about the result especially in relation to my assignment scores and the amount of time I put into revising. Although looking back I now think that perhaps I was a bit too complacent about how hard “part c question 4” would be and should have spent more time on revising for this question.

I am now not happy with the revision technique that I used for the M301 exam and feel that it needs refining, or looking for an alternative that is more suitable to me.

M301: Awaiting exam result

According to my OU StudentHome page for M301 my "course result should be available by Friday 15 December 2006". 10 more days and counting.

M263: An Update

1. Attended a tutorial at Waterloo last night. Started off slow but got better as the evening went along, and picked up a couple of useful pointers such as a clear distinction between functions and methods.
2. Submitted TMA01 this morning.
3. Having completed questions 1, 2, and 3, I have just started question 4 of TMA02.
4. Started unit 7 "The Class Set".

M263: Annoyed!!!

I am so annoyed with myself. For sometime I have been bemused by references within the M263 course text to “Practical Computing sessions” and not being able to find them. I searched through all the doc’s and pdf’s but with no luck until today when I discovered that the “Practical Computing sessions” are html based and installed when you install WorkPad. The installation places the home page (M263_Index.html) in the sub-directory …\workPad\ComputerPracticals and a shortcut to it in the M263 program group (off of the Start menu).

This is doubly annoying because at the study group on Saturday a question was raised (TMA01 Q4Cii) concerning whether a particular function was valid or not. The “Practical Computing sessions 1.3” answers this question.

M301: Hope?

Several students who took M301 at the same time as me have received letters saying that their exam papers have been lost. Apparently the letter states that the OU “will determine a result for you in a different manner to the normal one, based on the available continuous assessment scores and other assessment evidence for the course.”. Now taking in to consideration that I did very well with the TMA’s and don’t believe I did so well with the exam I am hoping that my exam paper has been lost as well. ;)

Wireless hijacking

Peter Stevens was having problems with neighbours hijacking his wireless Internet access. So he came up with a plan to stop them. He turned their world upside down and made it blurred. Brilliant!