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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hi David,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> The portable device task can be done
reasonably easily with java or a java IDE . No problems
here. I will have to add that an ex student of mine did do a similar
assignment in 3rd year in his software engineering degree this year but I
digress as how hard was this meant to be is another debate.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I have used java as my programming language
for the last 5 years. I have used vectors, binary files, lists and other objects
to make the tasks realistic or challenging.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Back to Sofdev 2007. Keep in mind both programming
tasks must be done with the same language. But ... consider the second
programming task. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This involves writing a program that will take into
account a networked information system objective. Sounds innocent doesn't it
?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>If you read the teacher's advice the sample task is
a doctors' clinic ( a couple of doctors, nurses and receptionists ) a small LAN
with a fileserver ( starting to look like client server ... ) with patients
coming in for appointments and a database of patients and their appointment
details on the file server ( looks like a relational database now with a 1 to
many relationship of patients to appointments) all accessible from several
workstations. It would be normal enough to expect concurrent access and
shareability of the database ie. We don't ask the nurse to get out of the
program when a doctor wants to use it. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Looking around, I did consider java but it is too
much to manage the multi client server access requirement. So what to do
?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Thinking through we all use multi user concurrent
access all day every day . Where ? On a web server, we access the same page
concurrently and are totally unaware of it. Eg. booking a computer room on the
intranet, logging a computer fault, etc. all the time and if we have a database
behind it, we then have the concurrency managed by the web server
and the ODBC or other database driver eg SQL server </FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>So for the above reasons I have switched to PHP
and MySQL for next year for sofdev and also for year 11
.</FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>For those interested I will be delivering some PD
through VITTA early next year on using this approach of PHP and MySQL in several
2 hour block sessions.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>I would be happy to hear any comments about these
issues.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><BR>Kevork Krozian<BR>Mailing List Creator
and Administrator<BR><A
href="mailto:kevork@edulists.com.au">kevork@edulists.com.au</A><BR><A
href="http://www.edulists.com.au">www.edulists.com.au</A><BR>Tel: 0419 356
034</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=Mills.David.J@edumail.vic.gov.au
href="mailto:Mills.David.J@edumail.vic.gov.au">Mills, David J</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=is@edulists.com.au
href="mailto:is@edulists.com.au">is@edulists.com.au</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, December 18, 2006 2:58
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Year 12 Its] Programming for
small devices</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#000000><FONT size=2>For all those teaching
Software Development next year - the focus of Unit 3 Outcome 2 is to "<FONT
face=Times-Roman color=#20231e>On completion of this unit the student should
be able to produce a software module suitable for implementation on a portable
computing device, in response to a design speci</FONT><FONT face=Times-Roman
color=#20231e>fi</FONT><FONT face=Times-Roman color=#20231e>cation, verify its
performance against this speci</FONT><FONT face=Times-Roman color=#20231e>fi
</FONT><FONT face=Times-Roman color=#20231e>cation and explain how the program
has taken into account an ethical dilemma or a legal
obligation."</FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#20231e size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#20231e size=2>The new NetBeans 5.5 release has a
mobility pack that allows you to develop and test Java applications for mobile
devices such as phones and PDAs. The software created can be installed
on a suitable device such as a phone and used by you or the
students.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#20231e size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial color=#20231e size=2>The software you will need (all of
which is legally free) is:</FONT></DIV>
<UL>
<LI><FONT face=Arial color=#20231e size=2>Java's Software development kit
(available from java.sun.com)</FONT>
<LI><FONT face=Arial color=#20231e size=2>NetBeans 5.5 (available from
netbeans.org)</FONT>
<LI><FONT face=Arial color=#20231e size=2>NetBeans Mobility Pack (from the
same location)</FONT></LI></UL>
<P><FONT face=Arial color=#20231e size=2>When testing the software the
Development environment opens up a window that looks like a phone (you get to
choose whether you are developing for a phone or a PDA and you can specify the
screen resolutions of your device) and you click the keypad buttons on screen
to emulate the phone's behaviour.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial color=#20231e size=2>Cheers,</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face=Arial color=#20231e size=2>David.</FONT></P>
<P></P>
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