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Final (indicative) marks sent
Dear all,xx
You should all have received an email (at your KU email!) with your final marks. Please note that these are indicative marks, meaning that they are subject to ratification by exam boards. They could go up or down (although this is unlikely unless there is a mistake).
If you got more than 40%, congratulations – you made it!If you didn’t, then keep the summer free. If you are eligible for a summer retake then for Programming 1 this will take the form of a week-long bootcamp, at which your physical presence will be required! Further details will be sent to students to whom they apply. Please note I’m afraid I cannot advise on procedural issues regarding reassessment, e.g. whether you get a retake, whether you have to repeat the module, what your options are, etc. You should speak to the student office about such matters; however, it is likely they will simply tell you that you will receive a letter later on informing you of what happens next – so my advice would be to sit tight and wait.
Have a good break and I’ll see some of you in the summer, and most of you in the second year.
All the best,
Paul
Last Chance Saloon Arrangements
Dear all,
(If you have not booked for the Last Chance Saloon you can disregard this message)
The Last Chance Saloon will take place this coming Wednesday (5th April) in SB2022/3.
If you have previously booked with a correctly formatted email, then please take this message as confirmation of your booking. If you have not, you can register on the day, although this may eat into your test time.
PLEASE ARRIVE BEFORE 9:30AM READY FOR A 9:30AM START. NOT 9:45. NOT 10:30. DOORS WILL CLOSE AT 9:30AM. IF YOU ARE LATE YOU WILL *NOT* BE ADMITTED.
IF, HAVING SET OFF PROMPTLY ON THE DAY, CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND YOUR CONTROL MEAN YOU WILL BE LATE (eg. transport problems, traffic, asteroid strikes, etc) PLEASE EMAIL ME BEFORE 9:30AM. (Everyone has smartphones these days so that should not be a problem!)
Although the event will run under exam conditions this is just so everyone has the proper environment in which to concentrate. Officially, it is not an exam or in-class test. It is considered part of your coursework portfolio and is an alternative to the summative activities we did during lectures that you might have missed.
You will have until a maximum of 1:30PM to answer a series of questions, derived from the Orange Events you missed. You will complete an Excel spreadsheet with your answers.
Good luck all, and I will see you Last Chancers on Wednesday!
All the best,
Paul
—
PS: On the day you will need >> this file <<.
SUBMIT YOUR WORK HERE
I will keep this message clear and uncomplicated.
Go to the link below to submit your work
>> this is the link <<
Click the top medal on the page to submit your NoobLab work.
Click the bottom medal on the page to submit your Orange slides.
If, after reading the above, you still don’t know what to do then I suspect there is no hope for you 
The deadline is 5pm today (Friday 31st March). Good luck!
Important announcements – Last Orange Event, Deadlines and Submission, and the Last Chance Saloon
Dear all,
There will be a lot of information in this announcement. Please read it carefully, please read it in full. Those who do not may well end up losing marks (maybe ALL their marks!) Anyone who asks questions which have been answered in this announcement will simply be directed to this announcement.
Final Orange Event
The final Orange Event, as announced in class last week, will take place tomorrow Monday 27th March. This will be the last lecture of the year and an opportunity to gain up to 10% for the module. Don’t miss it.
Last chance to do missed Orange Events
For those of you who missed Orange Events throughout the year, there will be one final opportunity to do them in the Programming 1 Last Chance Saloon. This will take place in SB2022/3 on Wednesday 5th April. In order to attend and undertake any missed Orange Events, you must book your place by emailing me beforehand. When you email, be sure to include
- Your name
- Your K number
- The Orange Events that you missed and that you would like to do at the Last Chance Saloon
Any email that does not include these will not constitute a booking for the event and may not receive a reply.
Make sure you email before Monday 3rd April for your booking to be considered.
Final deadline and submission of your work
The final deadline for submission of work remains Friday 31st March at 5pm – i.e. this coming Friday. After that point, you can carry on doing NoobLab exercises but they will not count towards your final mark.
Once you have finished – or at least completed all the NoobLab activities you are able to – you must officially submit your work. If not, then officialdom will consider that you have submitted no coursework for the module, and as this module is 100% coursework, that would be a Bad ThingTM.
To submit your work, you should go to
>>> this link <<<
. It is a plain NoobLab page with two medals, one for ALL the NoobLab activities done throughout the module since last September, one for ALL the Orange slides done in lectures (including Orange Events) since last September. Click both medal links to submit your work. When you have both medals showing you have successfully submitted.
IF YOU DO NOT SUBMIT YOU MAY GET ZERO FOR THE WHOLE MODULE!
Good luck, all! If you have any questions, re-read the above, use your brain, think carefully, and then if there is still anything that is ambiguous, do please email for clarification.
All the best,
Paul
Mid-module feedback
Hi all.
Further to the recent mid-module feedback process, here are my comments on your comments
Good things about the module
“The majority said good availability of work” – I’m not quite sure what this means – but assuming you mean that you can work from home, in the uni, etc, i.e. that NoobLab supports flexible working patterns, I am pleased to hear that this is having a positive effect.
“Good workshop support” and “Absorbing/interesting lectures” – I’m very glad to hear it; we try our best
Three things that would improve the module
“Undo button in NoobLab” – You can do Control-Z to undo, although only up to the point where you last clicked Run. It would be technically difficult to persist the undo history beyond the last Run, though. I’ll see what I can do when I’m next in the NoobLab code.
“More revision of content” – We do have Codebashes every EAW which are intended for this sort of purpose. If you could give some suggestions as to what other forms of revision would help, I’d appreciate it. All lectures are videoed, everything I ever present is online and NoobLab is available 24/7 – if you want to do revision then have at it! If there’s more I can do, I’m happy to do it, I’m just not sure what more there is!
“Covering lecturers need to have a better understanding of lecture structure, e.g. Orange slides.” – On the rare occasions that someone has to cover, you do need to bear in mind that they may be doing so at very short notice (e.g. due to illness.) So, do try to be a little understanding that they may be coming in blind and that they are doing the best they can. Give them your best, don’t heckle, and remember that every lecturer has their own indomitable style.
Venue for remaining lectures – JG2002
Dear all,
Please note that the venue for the remaining lectures on CI4100 – for both Team Skywalker and Solo – is JG2002.
Just to pre-empt any lost students who don’t know where they’re going! I seem to recall that when we split into Solo and Skywalker groups the room number doesn’t appear on students’ timetables.
See you there this afternoon and all the best,
Paul
URGENT: Illness / Lecture Cancellation Monday 20th February for Programming 1
Dear all,
Many apologies, but due to illness I will be unable to deliver the lectures for Programming 1 tomorrow (Monday 20th February). With Dave also unavailable, after discussions with School management we have taken the step to cancel the lecture early enough to give you a sufficient amount of notice so that you don’t make any unnecessary journeys into uni. Therefore, there will be no lectures for Programming 1 on Monday 20th January for either Team Solo OR Team Skywalker.
Given that we were due to start a new unit this coming week, and my absence means that won’t be possible, I intend to extend the deadline for the Introduction to Java unit until Friday 24th January at 5pm. To additionally help keep you busy in my absence I will also allow the same rules that applied to the Codebash to apply to the coming week – you may go back and win medals for “old” units and they will count towards your module total.
The workshops on Wednesday will be going ahead – so use them to pick up missed medals from previous units!
Many apologies to let everyone down – all being well I’ll see you next week.
All the best,
Paul
Codebash – Thursday 16th February
Dear all,
As announced in the workshop this week and hinted in previous classes, there will indeed be a Codebash this coming Thursday during Enrichment Week. The event will take place in SB2022/3 starting at 9am and running until the end of the day (whenever that may be, within reason – 5pm-ish I imagine).
This is not only a good opportunity to finish off any remaining medals, but, as announced in the workshop this week, I will allow you to work on old “legacy” material (such as Thinking Like A Programmer, Javascript, HTML/PHP) as well as the current Java unit. Any medals won on the day and (importantly!) when in physical attendance at the event will therefore count towards your final mark even if they are for old material. So, this is a real opportunity to dramatically improve your mark. If you’ve been a bit of a slacker and not turned up when you should, this is your chance to put things right!
All the best and see you there,
Paul
Completed everything? Then join Team Obi-Wan!
Have you completed the Javascript workshops already? Had a dabble in the PHP stuff. Feel like you’ve surpassed Skywalker and feel ready to be a Jedi Master? Then join Team Obi-Wan!
(translation for the Star Wars-ically challenged: there’s some additional cool material you can do if you like!)
If you have completed workshop 4 of Javascript, and don’t fancy (or have already done) the PHP stuff from the Solo group, there are some extra challenges you might like to try your arm at:
- The board games challenge asks you to write three games – Hangman, Tic Tac Toe and Connect 4. See if you can not only get the game mechanics working, but also detect winning and/or losing states plus the capability of restarting the game. You might want to start with Tic Tac Toe, as your solution to the last Javascript exercise is your starting point for that.
- The image viewer challenge asks you to write a simple Javascript application that lets the user navigate and view images from thumbnails
- Want something a bit more abstract and already have programming experience before coming to KU? Why not try Object Oriented Programming in Javascript?
Now man your ships. And may the Force be with you!
Orange Event: BRING YOUR CLICKERS TODAY!
Dear all,
As you all know today’s lecture will include the Orange Events for both Javascript (Team Skywalker) and Web Programming (Team Solo).
THERE WILL BE NO SPARE CLICKERS AVAILABLE. IF YOU TURN UP WITHOUT YOUR CLICKER YOU WILL GET ZERO FOR THE EVENT.
Please do not turn up this afternoon, walk up to the lectern before the event, and tell me “my dog ate my clicker”. If you have lost your clicker, you have the entire morning to get a new one. So do so!
If you do get a new clicker, it would be appreciated if you drop me a line to let me know what its number is.
See you this afternoon and good luck!
Paul
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