I couldn't think of a first blog post, so I have decided to revisit my last year of college in Computer Applications in DCU. Hopefully I'll cover some of the more interesting events and projects that happened within it. If there was one thing I could change about the course it would be a shift in focus to a more project/assignment based assesment. I tend to fuck up exams, whether it be laziness or just an unwillingness to learn off and recite paragraphs or formulas.
I also feel it is stupid having any form of Programming exam on written paper. I understand paper is an essential way of getting ideas down and helps to solve problems easily in a lot of situations. It just doesn't work in an exam situation where you haven't got access to any of the tools you could potentially have when actually programming. You only have 2 hours to regurgitate an entire semester of coding techniques... I've learned the best coding solutions take time and planning. 2 hours seriously? The exam format leaves no time for thinking if you want to get all of the questions finished on time.
I do however love projects, they allow you to work on your own terms, using your own methods, within your own time constraints, actively researching the task at hand. What better way to learn development than by actually doing it? I received very high grades in all of my projects last year but was below average on the seated exams. Thankfully only 3rd and 4th year count, they are also heavily project based. I'm looking forward to the up and coming year.
So, what did I actually do. My favourite subjects were Operating systems and both architecture modules (x86 and MIPS64 assembly). These three modules tied in so well together. My highest result for the year was in Design & Implementation. We had three other maths subjects Logic, probability and Linear Algebra. There were projects in Software testing, SSADM(Structured System Analysis and Design Method) and Data structures & Algorithms.
The SSADM project can be found here. This wasn't a very interesting module at the time, but on reflection I can see its use.
My favourite project was the one for Oo Design & Implementation. It involved Designing a flight booking system for a travel company. Although we didn't finish it, we still received 72% as we went above and beyond the amount of work probably put in by others. The project is here.
This project was done with a very close friend who has recently passed. I had such fun working with him on this. So much so that we finished it in an afternoon. The project was a chat server, done with a java applet for my operating systems module. We added in our own funny functionality :D, this project is here. I'm convinced our additions took away from our marks.(Why is it so wrong to have fun when doing college assignments?)
This is the only part of my software testing project I can find, I'm assuming it was submitted on printed paper. here it is.
This was one of my mips64 optimization assignments. legendre.s
x86 asm Paint :D. paint.asm
I'm not sure if any of these would be of any help to anyone, I just felt it was good to have some of the smaller projects I've worked on in college in one place. Sure what's the point of a Blog anyway, to read other people's thoughts/crap. EXACTLY. I shall update again with more recent shit soon ;) Happy Paddy's Day all!! Time for a few much needed pints.