[Year 12 SofDev] Pondering SD U3O2

[Kevork Krozian]

Hi Mark and David,

    I think you can run any program on any mobile device, not only web based. 
Furthermore, it can be a software module that is " ...capable of running on a mobile device ..."    without necessarily actually running on the device. Whilst we are watering things down, the mobile device can be a laptop. All this makes one wonder why you would bother setting such conditions when they can be ignored. Meanwhile, other teachers apply these requirements fully and their reward is a pat on the back for all that work.
 
 The issue also here for a first time SD teacher is that the same language must be used all year. So, it would pay to look at both programming tasks together when deciding on the language and not separately otherwise there could be grief if the language of choice in the first task does not fit so nicely in the second.

  Sorry to be a little bit what's the word, , pointed ??  but we are either going to write code that we will run on a portable device that must be different to a standard device or else we are not going to bother pretending we are doing something that does not differ at all from the standard approach. 

 Back to class ....

Take Care

Kevork Krozian
IT Manager , Forest Hill College
k.krozian at fhc.vic.edu.au
http://www.fhc.vic.edu.au
Mobile: 0419 356 034

>>> dgdawson at mgs.vic.edu.au 02/13/07 10:55am >>>
My interpretation is that any small web-based application that can be displayed in a mobile phone or PDA accessing the internet would be acceptable.
If anyone thinks this is not ok - then please let us know asap.
We will be using PHP mostly.
David Dawson

-----Original Message-----
From: sofdev-bounces at edulists.com.au on behalf of Mark Kelly
Sent: Tue 13/02/2007 10:46 AM
To: Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: [Year 12 SofDev] Pondering SD U3O2
 
Hi all.  Have spent a quiet time with the study design...

Can someone suggest why U3O2 would specify a software module for a 
*portable* computing device.  It seems oddly esoteric and specialised 
for a student's very first programming task.

I wouldn't be game to program for my Palm OS, or for a Nokia phone.

One would have thought a module for a traditional computing system would 
be more logical.  (Yes, I do realise a laptop is both portable and 
traditional so kids can easily write a module for a "normal" PC :-)

Just wonderin' what VCAA's motives might have been.

And while I'm here, I'm curious what languages people have chosen. My 
fallback is VB, but I am toying with Python as an alternative - and 
trying to get used to its odd punctuation and lack of endings to loops 
and IF constructs.


-- 
Mark Kelly
Manager - Information Systems
McKinnon Secondary College
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http://www.edulists.com.au 
IT Software Development Mailing List kindly supported by
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority and
http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information Technology Teachers Association Inc