[Year 12 SofDev] FW: PHP 2011

[Kevork Krozian]

Hi Andrew,

 Yes, that book on PHP to fit the new study design ......
The main issue is how to reengineer the tasks to fit the requirements of the programming activities.

The plan is as follows:

1.       An updated book/booklet or similar to fit the new study design which I am still trying to get my head around.  Why ? Because in addition to not using databases we have to use a programming language to do the following:

a.    SAC 32 -  represent a software design and apply a range of functions and techniques using a programming language to develop a prototype solution to meet a specific need.

b.    SAC 41  - apply stages of the problem-solving methodology to produce a solution for use on a mobile device, which takes into account technical and legal requirements.

     Compare this with the current study design programming tasks

a.    SAC 32 - produce a software module suitable for implementation on a portable computing device, in response to a design specification, verify its performance against this specification and explain how the program has taken into account an ethical dilemma or a legal obligation.

b.    SAC 41 - apply the stages of software development to produce purpose-designed software that takes into account a networked information system objective and the needs of end-users.

       Under Advice for Teachers the sample programming tasks for the new study design basically cover the following problems (apart from UML, SRS and other analysing and design tools) :

a.    SAC 32 - An auction is held online. Buyers bid for items. If successful they have to pay price and postage. Price may be discounted if buyer has one or more coupons to reduce commission payable followed by calculation of postage based on postcode.

b.    SAC 41 -  A restaurant ordering system using a mobile device. A waiter enters table no. and order details then verifies ( Add/Delete/Edit items ). Data saved to a text file and transmitted or transmitted and written to a text file. A second program opens the text file to process the order.

     The challenge is to find tasks that are meaningful, realistic and self contained without being too trivial -  a "prototype" suggests functionality does not have to be there, and a mobile device task can't be too demanding. I have never been a fan of partial projects that do one third of a process.  Eg. I prefer a complete restaurant system such as order, process, pay and produce itemised receipts rather than a prototype that does only " Enter data and validate ".

       Therefore, I am working on producing a graduated set of learning activities and a range of sample assessment tasks that will incorporate:

a.    OOP with PHP including inheritance and overloading of functions.

b.    Use of text/binary files to store data , records, arrays and more

c.    A modified on line shopping cart with OOP ...... a checkout system ( we already use this custom written solution for student orders of jumpers on line at our school )

d.    A data visualisation component to allow graphical representation of data in the problem setting

e.    Use of a localised platform such as xampp for the setup on individual machines or a USB as the full network solution of PHP and installation on Ubuntu is already published in my first book on PHP and MySQL.

Once again here is my dilemma and perhaps those reading this can tell me if I am setting the bar too high:


a.    Why bother writing code with OOP and inheritance when you don't have to . Just why do this work when it is neither compulsory nor consistent across schools ?

b.    Why create a really useful, realistic solution ( online shopping ) when you just need a prototype ?

c.    Why use data visualisation when it is not in the strict letter of the content ?

d.    Just because all of this desirable, exciting and powerful contemporary cutting edge content makes for a powerful "bridge" to either TAFE or Uni programming courses, is it reason enough to put students through it ?

I hope to present a session at the VITTA conference on the PHP option.

For any questions, comments or feedback ( good or otherwise ) please feel free to email me off or on line .

<  In addition I am looking at a parallel "booklet" with the use of Visual C# as the language.  The mobile device becoming the Xbox games console >

Enjoy the last few days of the holidays everyone .

Keep well


Kevork Krozian
Edulists Creator Administrator
www.edulists.com.au
tel: 0419 356 034

From: sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of WEIR Andrew
Sent: Monday, 27 September 2010 8:33 PM
To: sofdev at edulists.com.au
Subject: [Year 12 SofDev] PHP 2011



Dear all,
A number of weeks maybe months ago I remember reading an email about Kevork working on updates for PHP course notes for 2011.
Is there any news on this book or update as i am beging to get my head around 2011.
Regards

Andrew Weir
ICT coordinator
Thomas Carr College

       [cid:image001.jpg at 01CB5EA1.52DD46D0] <http://www.thomascarr.vic.edu.au>



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