Weekly Status Report #15

This week in our computer programming class, we continued our lessons on ergonomics and continued working on our lottery ticket programs that we had marked. We also started to learn about visual basics animation and our computer science exam has been scheduled.

This week with ergonomics, we learned some stretches that we can do for a break from the computer and to make sure that we aren't harming ourselves while working on the computer. I finished my lottery ticket program and had it marked on Wednesday. I didn't have a lot of trouble with this program, it was just long and I had to comment the whole project. There was one problem when I had my program marked, it was that when the arrays reached -1, my loop kept going through all of the arrays. The way I could fix this problem is by having an 'If' statement saying that if the array is -1 then Exit For (this creates a more efficient program).

When we started with animations, I didn't understand how to do it, however after practicing a bit more I think I understand. I found the Zoom In assignment to be easier, it made more sense to me. I hope that next week I will be able to write a program with animation very easily.

Weekly Status Report #14

This week in computer programming we had two lessons on ergonomics and started a new assignment using arrays and while and for loops. This assignment was a program for the calculation of lottery tickets, so that the vendor could calculate the number of days he recorded, the number of days it took to sell over 200 tickets or the highest ticket sales in a day.

The things that we learned concerning ergonomics were how to sit properly at a desk and typing on the keyboard and using your mouse. We also learned about CPS (carpel tunnel syndrome) and didn't affects from the workplaces. I learned a lot from this because now I know that I should take breaks if I spend a long time in front of the computer. I also learned the types of pains that you could get from using the computer for too long. For the program, it didn't seem to complicated at first; I find that it was just the matter of choosing the proper loops and method. For each of the buttons, I found that For loops was the best option.

Next week I hope to finish commenting on the whole program and to finish debugging the program. The class still has three more lessons on ergonomics, since I took business last year I already learned about ergonomics and so learning this again is good to refresh my memory. I hope that next week we will learn more things and I will receive a good mark on my lottery tickets program.

Weekly Status Report #12

This week we spent Monday and Tuesday finishing our SIN project and we had them marked on Wednesday. This project was a SIN validating project that asks the user to input their SIN number and this program would see if it was valid and display the results. We also learned about drawing in visual basics and had to fill out a sheet about origins and computer terms. Finally by the end of the week, (Friday), we started to work on a test statistics program that calculated the average of marks and found the highest mark and lowest mark as well.

This week I had a few minor problems. In regards to the SIN validation project, I just had problems writing out the code. However, once I had done that, I didn’t have any problems debugging it. I haven’t finished the program with the marks, however right now I have ideas of how to do it and how to write the code, which is pretty straightforward. However, I wont know for sure until I actually finish the program. A few potential problems that I see are with adding up the marks for the average and at the same time finding the highest and lowest number without any problems.

This week we also received our tests back; I found that I did all right, maybe not as good as I hoped but pretty decent as well. I hope that next week I will be able to finish the program with no problems and be successful.

Weekly Status Report #11

This week in computer programming, we learned a new control called the Timer Control. We had a lesson on the properties of the timer and we learned how to incorporate it in our programs by creating a program that shows the clock and also a stopwatch. We also had presentations on computer related careers; each group have to present two of their careers. We also had a test review and on Thursday we had our unit test. This test included string, loops, timer controls, operators and tracing.

I didn't have a lot of trouble with the timer control because it was a new control that was easy to use and the notes that were given were clear and detailed. I learned a lot about the computer related careers presentations; I realized that there are a lot of different careers involving computers and this adds a lot of variety to my future choices. I found that the test wasn't to difficult, I reviewed my notes and found some parts quite easy. The only problems I really found were when I had to write a program adding only odd numbers, although I have previously done this program, I didn't review it and forgot how to do it. I found the tracing at a medium level, I could do it, but I wasn't sure if I was tracing the program correctly.

I hope that my mark reflects the work that I have done over the past few weeks. In the future I hope that the test topics will become familiar things to me so that I won't have to forget what they are and just be able to remember what it is as second nature.

Weekly Status Report #10

This week we learned more about for..next loops. We learned about the function exit for, which stops the function and skips to after the next. We created even more programs using this exit for, and it was quite convenient to use the exit for function to stop a loop in its tracks. While creating these programs, we also learned about input boxes where the user could enter an input into the program. We also learned created a Mini Slide Show application (opening file images using a for…next loop), you had some problems with security however, but it worked properly when the program ran from our USB key.

I finished the programs pretty quickly, the concept of the for... next statements are pretty easy to understand but I needed a bit of time to become used to it. We haven't learned about the other types of loops yet, but I expect to be learning them very soon. I had quite some difficulties with some programs, however I discovered that modulus and a flag could efficiently determine if a number was prime or not by making the flag a Boolean and indicating to the program the value of the variable. At the end of the week I worked in a group of three to create an essay about 6 computer related careers. We were to write the job description, education require. potential workplaces and earning. I had a bit of problem with this project because of my e-mail; my e-mail wouldn't send the file to the designated e-mail address. However I kept trying and I'm pretty sure the file is sent.

Next week, I hope to use another type of loop efficiently. I hope to continue programming with more advanced loops and functions.

Weekly Status Report #9

This week we worked on loops. On Tuesday my partner and I finished our pizza palace program and got it marked. We finished it without any problems, there was however some code that was missing but only because it was overlooked. For the rest of the week we learned about loops in Visual Basics. We learned the For ... Next statements and we learned how to trace these programs and about nested loops. This week we also have two handouts that we had to fill in; These handouts were based around the loop statements and tracing them.

I had a few problems at the beginning of the week understanding how the loops worked but as I did the assignments I began to understand better. This week I handed in part 2 of the handouts. Things I hope to do in the future are to include loop statements in bigger programs and to become more comfortable with writing programs with loops in them.

Weekly Status Report #8

This week we started to work on a Pizza Order form application in partners. The project is due on Thursday due to Easter holidays. On this Pizza Palace order form, we had to create a program that would allow the user to choose between a small, medium and large pizza and a pepperoni, mushroom, veggie or Hawaiian pizza. The user is also allowed to make their own pizza, choosing from a choice of top pins (pepperoni, mushroom, onion, extra cheese, olive and pineapple). The user can also choose to order bread sticks and wings, and also soft drinks, orange juice and water. All of these would be calculated to a total amount. An additional feature to this program would be the option to change prices of the pizzas, toppings, sides and drinks.

My partner and I finished the program in the allotted time frame and we spent time debugging the program, however we did not hand it in so that we could have more time on tuesday to make sure the program is perfect. This program was our first complex program that was a project so we found that there was a lot of code that went into it. We split the work evenly; I created the design of the window and wrote half the code, and my partner wrote the other half of the code and wrote all of the comments and together we debugged the program. We found that brainstorming our plan before we started helped us with our efficiency, not only because we worked well together, but because we could write the program fluently because we had a plan already made.

With this project my partner and I ran into a few problems, luckily, these problems were very easy to debug and the program is working properly. This week I learned about the length that real programs' codes can have. Even though the program that we have created isn't nearly as complex as professional programs, I believe that this is the best program I have made all year. I hope that in the future, I will be able to create harder programs.