The course is over, and I’m happy to say that the whole experiment of taking a course while teaching at the same time was a success in every way that I hoped for. I learned a lot about a new field (Android app programming). Though I could have theoretically picked it up myself at any …
Continue reading DPS924 Part10: Final notesA couple of posts ago I talked about how a lab was really hard to do. Good thing it was, it got me ready to do the real work, which was assignment 1. In this assignment we’re making a timetable app. Nothing too fancy really, just a couple of layouts backed by data in SQLite. …
Continue reading DPS924 Part9: That wasn’t hard, this is hard!This should be the only post in the series that won’t be marked “Safe for Seneca”. It cannot be, because I am angry, very very angry, and that will result in all kinds of colourful language. What the bloody hell were the Android people thinking when they came up with this bullshit action bar to …
Continue reading DPS924 Part8: WTF Retarded Android action barInteresting. Last week I was saying how I have to force myself to do more work than required, this week I have the opposite worry :) We got a lab last week that was really hard. I quickly realised that during the lab and tried my best to finish it without distractions, but didn’t manage …
Continue reading DPS924 Part7: Hard workYears ago I worked hard on creating an easy to use Audio CD ripper. I started from an abandoned project (Asunder) and brought it a long way, it’s now one of the favourite CD rippers on Linux. I got some interesting news about the project recently. Raphael Guyot has ported Asunder to ARM! Why on …
Continue reading Asunder for ARMIt’s been a while since I’ve been a student, and apparently in the meantime I’ve become a bit complacent. My successes went to my head a too much, had a slight negative impact on my attitude. What I’m talking about today is the work ethic required to be a successful student. But before I talk …
Continue reading DPS924 Part6: Keeping upProf: “How many people bought the book?” Everyone else (including me): … total scilence … It’s been a while since I bought a textbook. The last time must have been back when I was getting my master’s degree. Before that when I was a BSD student at Seneca. I always bought the textbook for each …
Continue reading DPS924 Part5: TextbooksThere’s so much hype and “research” and overall nonsense thrown around about the attention span of the average student that it’s really hard to figure out what’s actually happening. Are all students screwed? Are they in the same boat they’ve always been in? Should I be doing something as a professor to deal with the …
Continue reading DPS924 Part4: Distractions and attentionOoh, for a second I thought I would be forced into using OWA for reading my email! How horrible. There are no instructions on the ITS Services site, and the instructions I found in another student’s post didn’t work. Turns out they are mostly correct but not 100%, here’s what works for me: IMAP: pod51018.outlook.com:143 …
Continue reading DPS924 Part3: Setting up myseneca email using IMAP/SMTP and ThunderbirdHad my first lecture yesterday. What an experience! I was absolutely sure that it won’t be much like when I was an actual student at Seneca, but it turns out I was wrong. Turns out I felt exactly the same way as I did when I was a student. It’s hard to describe that feeling. …
Continue reading DPS924 Part2: First lecture