The examination period is over and done with, time to relax during our spring break, also referred to as the Easter holiday. Just to keep it short regarding my examinations, they were fairly good and I don’t have anything to worry about so far, albeit a bit tricky for some of them, we’ll see how it turns out in the end. Most of them consisted of programming languages so the majority were practical exams where you need to develop an application in a certain amount of time (in our case it was 2 hours per application). Other than that there was a networking exam which consisted of an online assessment provided by Cisco, the leading figure when it comes to networking and network management. Most of the lecturers give your grades straight away as they’re instantly given, others will need some time to correct and review your developed applications.
Spring is in the air now as we notice flowers starting to bloom, the rain is returning (replacing the snow we’ve come to hate) and leaves us inside yet once again. It’s also a sign to the students that summer isn’t that far away anymore. Summer time is most likely the thing most students look forward to as they can relax two to three months in a row, spending their holiday either working or going on a trip. I, for one, will be working one half of my holiday and relax during the other half, just to earn some cash and still be able to recover from school. But, before we can start enjoying that, it’s still a while to get there and another examination period awaits us at the end of this academic year. Shouldn’t be too hard, I’ll just give it my all when the time comes.
More to come soon!
Whenever you’re planning to create or design something, it’s always handy to make some preparations beforehand. In a similar way an examination or test should require you to do the same things as you’re about to create and/or design something but this time within a certain amount of time. This is why I always try to make some exercises before heading into an exam. However, this only applies to course modules where you actually have to make something, rather than writing down and answering some theory questions (e.g. networking), in that case it’s better to get into your books and study all the necessary stuff. I believe that the projects we make during the course of the year are always meant to keep us in shape programming wise. Hence why I always try to make the best out of it and try to enjoy the projects I’m supposed to make.
My latest project was an ASP.NET driven website with Microsoft SQL as the data storage type. It was a preparation for the ASP.NET exam I will be having next week. On this exam we’ll need to explain how and why we used the code we’ve written to create and design the website, this based on what we’ve seen in class. I’ll be uploading the website to my Projects subpage as soon as I find the time for it.
Wish me luck for these exams,
Will
Lately we’ve been receiving a lot of assignments, mainly projects, that have been keeping me busy for the past few weeks. They mainly concern exam projects or preparations for the exams (in the form of a project) so I guess it’s well worth the time and effort spent. The main projects I’ve been focusing on were made in XML, which involves Java, XSL, C# and Javascript, as well as ASP.NET, the latter being an exam project. Other than that, there are the regular projects in Oracle SQL as well as Java. It’s pretty straightforward this is the main reason for me not having any time to play some games. I do believe it’s more important to get this finished first and then have the opportunity to relax and frag a little.
Got to go back to work, my break’s over.
Finding the balance between visual content (read eye candy) and functionality is often a difficult task for a developer. Sure, it’s nice to have an easy to use program with a rich interface that will guide you through the difficult tasks it’s made for. But is it really worth all the time invested during the stage of development? During our programming classes, we have always been pointed out to deliver a working program, not one that has rich text features or any other high-tech functions that only add to the visual experience the user will have. Hence, we are often forced to drop the visual part and work out just the basic needs that need to be fulfilled.
However, corporations nowadays often like to work with a program that has a nice interface and which is easy to use over a fully functional program that lacks the visual experience. So I guess it’s time to move on and invest as much time in developing an interface as we spend on functionality.
Time seems to be going by really slowly lately. Often do I wake up only realising it’s still the beginning of the week rather than Wednesday or Friday. But then a few days later it turns out to be weekend already! Anyway, I can’t wait to get back to college, I really miss the fun we often had during class and/or breaks. We had the fragging, we had the nagging, but most of all we had the bond as a class group. I do realise some might not return or some might have been left behind in the previous year, but most will be there and hopefully I’ll end up in the same group again hehe. Still two weeks off, before it kicks in though and as I said above, time goes by slow paced.