Intro to Programming II + Software Eng Project = WHEN ARE THE PRACTICALS ON?!?

Dave!

Mine aren't showing up on my timetable at all And I can't see them in the 'enrol to modules' thing either..

Waltons

For intro to programming II you should've been signed up for a practical automatically by the system. If you haven't been you should probably go and talk to Fintan about it.
As for Software Engineering, I don't think there are any practicals, as such. He's going to set some lab times when the TAs will be there to help you and your group work on your project, but, as far as I know, these labs aren't compulsory.

BKtje

software engineering starts next week iirc. No timetable.
Programming started this week. Same hours as last semester but you may have been put in a different practical.

cruiserweight

DaveMcG wrote:

Mine aren't showing up on my timetable at all And I can't see them in the 'enrol to modules' thing either..

what year are you in?

rainbow kirby

if you go onto Joe Kiniry's moodle site (http://secure.ucd.ie/moodle) you should be able to check your practical times there.

PaulDoh

Apparently there's a meeting about Joe's labs tomorrow at 11 in the first year lab. It's on the forum on the moodle server.
Nerds. Rule.

Dave!

So when's the next practical for Programming? It's still not on my timetable so I'll go along to the next one and see if there's any room, until I talk to Fintan.

Waltons

There's one on today at 2-4. Just come along that so you can get the marks for it anyway.

Dave!

It turns out that it's not on my weekly timetable, but it's on my 'main' timetable, so I emailed Fintan and he gave me an exemption! Nice guy

So now I'm waiting for one to start now... I'm here 2 hours early cos I looked at the practice question on Tuesday and couldn't do any of it!

I don't even know what it's asking us to do!

Is it, JOptionPane asks for 5 names and ages, then displays them all on a single Message thing, with "Box X of the array contains:" in front of them...?

I can see this being a difficult semester if I don't start understanding this crap! :eek:

Waltons

Yeah, that one's a bit tricky. The classes got me.
You have the right idea, but I think you just have 1 name + age per message box (5 in total) rather than the whole lot of them in one box

irlrobins

had a quick look at the prac:

As far as i can see you'll have a loop that will use 1 inputDialog to get the name and another to get the age. This loop should run 5 times. The info entered is stored in the array.

Once all 5 people are in, then a second loop will run using 1 showmessage dialog to display the name, age and box number. Again this loop runs 5 times.

That help???

Waltons

Mhmmm, that is correct

Dave!

That does help, thanks folks

But I still can't do it!!!

Argh, so frustrating, I'm drawing a blank with: creating classes, and arrays.

I might just throw this one and prepare better for the next practical

irlrobins

DaveMcG wrote:

I might just throw this one and prepare better for the next
practical

worst move you could make. Each practical builds on the previous one. If you don't get this you won't get the next one. Stick with this and get it working. Ask demonstrators for as much help as possible.

Best way to approach it is the break the task into smaller tasks. Work out each of the smaller tasks and you'll get it working. For example, start by getting the for loops working. Then get the showinputdialog working and so. Just build it up bit by bit. Best approach for any prog i find.

Waltons

If you're having trouble with it, ask the demonstrators when they're around. Also, I found the first set of Array slides invaluable when I was trying to do it, especially the ones at the end about the bank account arrays.
Give it a shot anyway and remember that the people wandering around ARE there to help

Edit: Snap, Robin!

BKtje

if i cant figure out why something isnt working i just comment out each bit till i fix it

aquigley

irlrobins wrote:

worst move you could make. Each practical builds on the previous one. If you don't get this you won't get the next one. Stick with this and get it working. Ask demonstrators for as much help as possible.

Best way to approach it is the break the task into smaller tasks. Work out each of the smaller tasks and you'll get it working. For example, start by getting the for loops working. Then get the showinputdialog working and so. Just build it up bit by bit. Best approach for any prog i find.

I would fully agree with this. It's a very slippery slope to start skipping any
submission. The results show that students who stick with the weekly
submission (regardless of how poorly they might do in one single practical)
end up doing much better overall in the pracs and the final exam.

This *isn't* an empty statement, I'm looking at results as I write this.
It's not so much the marks you are missing out on but the learning
opportunity.

It might seem like "o sure that's what they say" but it's really true. The
practicals tend to build on one another and if you miss a step it will be
that much harder in the next prac.

This isn't just true for first year but for later years too!

All the best,
Aaron.

irlrobins

aquigley wrote:

It might seem like "o sure that's what they say" but it's really true. The
practicals tend to build on one another and if you miss a step it will be
that much harder in the next prac.

To back Aaron up on this, I've demonstrated to first years for about 5 years (first as an undergrad, now as a postgrad). Every year I see students not attending regularly and wasting time playing games instead of working on programmes. And they're the exact same people I see in the repeat exams and then repeating the year.

Even a lil effort can go a long way.

rainbow kirby

And even as an ickle 2nd year I'll agree... actually doing the practicals really helps with understanding stuff.

Red Alert

it does indeed. why can't all the lecturers have one of those funky moodle sites?

Dave!

Yesterday's practical was bloody HARD!

Only for some nice girl noticed that at 3.30 I was peeking at the screen from between my fingers, and making sobbing noises, and so helped me immensely, I would have been fooked!

grrg

It's getting tough now