[Year 12 SofDev] Approved programming languages for 2011

Fri Jun 25 17:55:38 EST 2010

Hello John

technically, a table is a data construct for use in a relational database and nothing else; has an fixed number of columns and an indefinite number of rows; has a lifetime that goes beyond the life of the application's execution time; and resides in a long term data store such as a disk drive. Its contents are generally accessed by matching query criteria, or by moving to a specific row/record/tuple and then accessing a specific column/field/attribute. Conceptually, tables are always 2-d but can be part of a larger structure, the relational database, wherein many tables are related to each other in some way.

while a 2-d array is a data construct for use in a program and is general purpose; (generally) has a fixed number of columns and rows; has a lifetime that does *not* go beyond the execution time of the program; and resides in memory. Its contents are generally accessed directly by targeting a specific cell via 2 indexes. Conceptually, 2-d arrays are a specific kind of more general data structure, the array, which can in principle have any number of dimensions, not just 2. 

>From a programming point of view, a 2-d array is probably much more like a spreadsheet than a database table.

Regards
Robert T-A
Brighton SC

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John Schwartz 
  To: Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List 
  Sent: Friday, June 25, 2010 8:56 AM
  Subject: Re: [Year 12 SofDev] Approved programming languages for 2011

  Hi all,

  Please pardon my ignorance but if we are not to use databases, what is the difference between a table and a 2D (multidimensional) array?

  John

       John Schwartz

        Parade College

        1436 Plenty Road

        Bundoora, Victoria, 3083

        Phone: 03 9468 3300

        Fax: 03 9467 3937 

        e-mail: jschwartz at parade.vic.edu.au | web: www.parade.vic.edu.au

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  From: Mark KELLY [mailto:kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au] 
  Sent: Friday, 25 June 2010 8:30 AM
  To: Year 12 Software Development Teachers' Mailing List
  Subject: [Year 12 SofDev] Approved programming languages for 2011

  Hi all.  I've just got the latest bulletin.  Here's a rundown of the approved languages for 2011...

  Approved programming languages and necessary programming skills for 2011 (adapted from VCE Bulletin #80, June 2010) 

  "In the development of solutions, students should be able to:
  . develop a graphical user interface (GUI), for use in mobile computing devices, such as laptops, personal digital assistants, gaming consoles, mobile phones
  . construct and use data structures, for example multidimensional arrays, strings, sets, lists, tables, records, queues and stacks
  . design, construct and use files (not databases) to store and retrieve data
  . design and apply data validation techniques
  . use program control structures: selection, iteration and sequencing.

  The purpose-designed software will entail the use of objects, methods and their properties, and event-driven
  programming."

  Approved languages

    a.. Basic (object-oriented variations only e.g. VB.NET) 
    b.. C++ 
    c.. C# 
    d.. Objective C 
    e.. Visual Fox Pro 
    f.. Pascal (object-oriented variations only, e.g. Delphi) 
    g.. Java 
    h.. Perl 
    i.. PHP 
    j.. Python 
    k.. Ruby 
  The bulletin also adds, "With all of the above languages, databases are not to be used to support the construction of solutions."

  Note the removal of Real Basic, Visual J and Visual J++, and the addition of Objective C.  
  Also note the emphasis on multidimentional arrays and the specific exclusion of databases: it's good to get that old argument out of the way!

  -- 
  Mark Kelly
  Manager - Information Systems
  McKinnon Secondary College
  McKinnon Rd McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
  Direct line / Voicemail: 8520 9085
  School Phone +613 8520 9000
  School Fax +613 9578 9253
  kel at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au

  Webmaster - http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
  IT Lecture notes: http://vceit.com
  Moderator: IT Applications Mailing List

  Korma: the philosophy that what you get out of a curry depends on what you put into it.

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