i appreciate you folks being willing to try this extracredit experiment. that is often how i try new things as extra credit - then next semester required. you all did a great job both in your blog and in the class. i think i have seen benefits - there may be some things i will try to do differently. i have applied for a grant to work with other faculty in implementing blogs across the curriculum.
thanks and take care!
since everyone else is posting sql resources, i might as well too...
beginner tutorials.
this does seem to be the one thing most could brush up on...
as we are winding down the term, one thing i want to make clear. this class is probably doing better than any ciss243 class i've had. we are getting further and you all seem to have a good understanding - most of the problems you are running into are smaller - detail kind of things - crossing the t's and dotting the i's as opposed to conceptual issues...
the one thing most everyone could improve upon is the db stuff!!!
microsoft developer's network's asp.net site -
become familiar with this resource. it is comprehensive - can be a bit hard to find what you want and they seem to move pages from time to time...tons of great material though...
one of the most troublesome things people have with this class is when forming a dynamic sql statement where all the " ' and &'s go. it really is not that hard, once you get the idea. i plan on covering that in detail tonight
a reminder - keep blogging folks!
i have talked to a few folks about how sometimes throughout the term students feel a bit lost, and then how it comes together at the end. i don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. for example, in this course, up to last week or so, we studied a bunch of pieces and only now are we putting them together. the dilemma is, if you spend too much time on the individual pieces, it can be confusing because they are out of context. however, if you try to jump in and cover "the whole" without an understanding of the pieces, well, that doesn't work either. i really feel this class is starting to come together for a lot of people, and to extend it, for those i had in several classes, i think ALL the pieces are connceting. i recall my own education, a lot of what i learned did not even fit together until i started actually using the stuff on jobs.
normalization resource
good, simple and common sense...
one thing that took me a while to realize is that students in ciss243, despite having ciss143, need a lot of database review. this is not meant to criticize them. for some it has been a while since they've had the class. additionally, if the students have had no opportunity to practice their db skills, then, of course, they will rusty. also, different instructors focus upon different things - perhaps their ciss143 instructors did not cover the stuff re:databases i feel is critical. because of that, i am devoting a fair amount of time to revieweing it. it would be a disservice to try and rush into the .net until we have a time to review the basic db concepts.
good article on normalization
something to read if you get bored over spring break. although it is on a site about php, the concepts are the same - and what the author says about db design can be applied on any platform...
i think cutting down on the client side stuff was a good move this term. that reduced the duplication between this class and ciss232, and allowed us to really focus on the important stuff for vb.net. we are really at a good break point - i think the class has a good understanding of the basics of .net controls and is ready for the db stuff. the good news is we have a complete half of a semester to review this, which is great as it is very important and some of it can be involved. the students have a good foundation though, and we have the time. i think each term i do more in this class - which might make it tougher on the current students, but i think ultimately it is good...
Forbes.com: The Coming RSS Revolution
i believe you can syndicate your site in blogger. were anyone to do that, it would make for a real cool blog and real cool blogs get lots of extra credit points...
it's been my experience - not just with this class, but with all others - that functions cause a lot of problems. i think people get them conceptually - i.e. why they are good, what they do, etc....but are a bit confused when it comes to implementing them. i am going to try to review them in more detail next week - and even will create a custom object that will allow us to call the same function from a few places - i think that might clear things up. any other suggestions about how to review this topic?
