OU - M359 - A result, sort of.

Well, there we have it. The results for the first presentation of M359 are out. And they are disappointing as expected. TMA wise I was at distinction level although I knew that there was no way that I would achieve the marks needed in the exam to sustain that. However, as documented elsewhere, the exam was a real pigs-ear (and I speak as a vegetarian - I have nothing against pigs-ears per se). The questions were vague, three of the questions required constant referral to some tables that had been added as an appendix - which meant that it was not possible to read the questions and view the tables at the same time - the constant flapping of papers reminded me of a flock of seagulls alarmed by a marauding dog on the beach (but with out the piercing screech - which I tried to keep to a minimum so that I didn't disturb the MSc students in the next row).

All the course text need re-writing into English (I wonder it would score on the blog-readability test).

And I feel fed-up that I am forced into criticizing the OU - because I think that it is a fantastic institution.

Still, a pass is a pass is a pass. No resit required. Phew!

OU - M359 - One final errata

I didn't really expect to be commenting on an errata for M359 - mainly because the course finished back in October. But, as was the case many times during the course, an errata has been issued - and without explanation!

The website has been stating that the exam results will be available by 14th December. And now, on the 13th December, this has suddenly changed to 21st December! Okay, no big deal for me - its not as if they have told me that I have failed (for that will surely come later), but I know of one other student who needed to know the result on the 14th because it greatly influenced what they did next.

So one wonders why the M359 results have been delayed - many other courses have had their results released on time - you only have to look on the OUSA conferences to see and hear the hats being thrown into the air in delight, and all the whooping and hollering. So what has happened with M359?........I'm sure all will be revealed....

Readability - just how smart are you.

My friend, Ian Macey, has an interesting comment about 'blog readability'. This is something that I had not previously heard about or thought about. He came across a link, via John Naughton's blog, that referred to a website that will assess a blog in term of the level of education required by the reader (not the level of education required by the writer).

Intrigued by this idea, and wondering just how I measure up, I thought I'd give this a go. According to 'The Blog Readability Test' the required education level for my blog is "High School". Slightly disheartened by this (Ian's, by the way, is "Genius") I thought I would try this on a few other blogs.

So the first that I picked was the blog of Joel Spolsky . Joel is a very regular blog writer and book author, and is a key thinker and doer with the IT industry. His blog comes out as "Junior High School".

Okay - what about some politicians: Well, how about David Cameron - "Junior High School", Gordon Brown comes out as "Genius Level". Interesting.

I'll try one more: Boris Johnson - couldn't compute this one - Alright, only joking - his comes out as "College - Undergrad".

So what does all this mean? Well, probably not very much because we don't how the 'Readability Test' works. Is it looking at the structure of sentences, is it looking at the length of words (longer words score higher?), is it looking at the number of external references. The thing is, we don't know but it is a bit of fun - and it does make you think about what, and how, you write.

One thing that it has revealed to me is that many of the people that you think would have blogs, in fact don't have blogs - perhaps they are just too busy doing the things that make them (in)famous to actually have the time. Perhaps it is still a geeky thing to do (and that would certainly explain the high proportion of IT related blogs).

So thanks Ian, for putting that on your blog - I'm just off to check my readability score know that its got this one to do as well!

Here is the rating for this blog:

OU - Materials materialize

So here I am, ploughing through all my Java revision and new work with a SCJP firmly in my sights when a package arrives from the OU. Yes, MT262 has landed on the doormat. Now, a quandry, I'm inquisitive, I want to know what is in the package, I want to make a start. But I don't want to be distracted from my Java work. And anyway, MT262 doesn't kick off until late Jan - so I still have 6 weeks.

But its there on the shelf. Staring at me. Making odd sounds. I'm convinced that one side of the package says 'Eat Me'. I'm sure I wont sleep well tonight, I'll be restless and thinking about that damn package. I might have to sneak down in the early hours and take a peek and then, and then I'll feel that I have let my self down - just like I do when have that bar of Cadbury's chocolate when I know I shouldn't. And of course by then its too late, the deed will be done.

I should, I shouldn't, I should, I shouldn't. Of course there is the packing list - I really ought to check that the package contains what it ought. I should, I shouldn't. Oh hell.

See, already this has distracted me. Time for a cup of tea....now where did I put that chocolate bar...

To infinity ... and beyond

[Silence]
To begin at the beginning:

Well, thats enough of Dylan Thomas for the moment. He resorted to alcohol when it got tough, but he produced some great poetry through it. But for an M359'er alcohol was the last thing on the mind. Cramming it full of every fact, every technique, every thing that I could so that I might stand a chance in the exam ... and now waiting. Waiting for the long nights and short days of December. And a result.

One thing is certain - there's no distinction this time! But will it be a 2 or a 3? Or will it be a fail? Almost impossible to fathom and I dare not think about it.

So now am in this gap, this place of limbo, between M359 and MT262. But the time is not being wasted. Instead, I am deep into restudying Java - not from the M254 books, but from other published work. Getting to grips again with Object Orientation and learning to 'do it properly'. What fun! So much better that those dark, sloe-black, slow black (note to self; stop this Dylan Thomas stuff) days and nights spent studying databases.

OU - Its full of Stars

Err, well actually it won't be. Having persuaded myself that a 10pt filler over Christmas was a good idea, and that I would like to pursue a curiosity that I have for Astronomy, I thought that I would sign up for S194.

But, I have now decided that I would rather spend the time working towards some non-OU Java qualifications - such as those from Sun. It would be good to think that my employer might chip on the money side (since I work for an IT firm) but, alas, they don't think that I should be learning Java! Thats right, I work for an IT company that would rather not help their employees further their IT skills (thats why they don't financially help with my OU studies either).

So, as soon as M359 is out of the way (and I can't wait) I'll be heavily into Java up until late January when MT262 (which is C++) kicks off.

Must brush up the old CV!

OU - MT262

Well, just signed up for MT262 starting in January. My reason for doing this, apart from the fact that it sound quite interesting an involves a fair bit of C++, is that I need to complete my D50 Diploma (the Computing Diploma) before December 2008 otherwise I won't be able to count my M206 pass against it - and that will mean that I'll have to find another 60 points from somewhere.

And because M359 finishes in early October, I need to find something to do between then and January - so I might sign up for S197 Astronomy as a 12 week 10 point course. Just because it will be interesting - no other reason.

OU - Study Techniques

Having another play around with "Mind Mapping" tools. Something that I looked at last year but did not really take up. So today I downloaded a free Mind Mapping tool called "FreeMind" (I guess they thought long and hard before arriving at that name!). But you know what? I think it might be useful as a note taking tool. I tried an (admittedly non-scientific) experiment today - I read a few pages from the current M359 Block and, instead of scribbling loads of notes in my book, I just added a few nodes to the mind-map, and a few annotations - I managed to record the info that I wanted quite quickly. But the longer term question is "Will it help my learning and revision?". Well, there's only one way to find out!

Freemind can be found at http://freemind.sourceforge.net/

M359 - What I have learned

I was sitting down cogitating the other evening, and thinking about M359. The biggest thing that I think that I have learned during this course - is to make sure that I don't do any more courses on their first presentation. I have been amazed at the number of corrections that have had to be made to the course texts - and to the solutions to the exercises. It did not occur to me that a new course (or even a replacement course, such as M359) would have so many issues but, thinking about it now, I can see that it must be inevitable.

The OU seem to be over-hauling their Computing courses at the moment - several courses have completed their cycle and, for some of them, there is not yet a replacement. Clearly, it is a good thing that these courses are updated/replaced, but it does mean that there are several courses just about to have their first presentation - and I am going to avoid those like the plague - and that limits my choice. However, I think that I am sorted for the next 12 to 18 months...by which time I hope these courses will be on their second presentation!

OU - Study Techniques

Well, two months to go on my current course so time to revisit my thoughts on studying techniques. I stated, in an earlier post, that I was using MS Word to write all my notes but that I found that I wrote too much - and spent too much time doing it. Now, several months later, I can confirm that what I said then still holds true today. To give you an idea, my current word document has 120 pages, and something like 15,000 words. And I think to my self, "whats the point"!

The other disadvantage of using software for note taking is that it can only be done sitting in front of the bloody computer (much as I like them!). And you can only read the notes away from the computer if you print the stuff out and carry it around.

So, I can either upgrade my brain to Brain V2.0.23.1, as a replacement for my aging birth brain, or - as seems more likely - I can revert to pen and A4 book. At least with the book I can draw diagrams quickly, make notes in the margins (so that I can find things easily) and draw arrows and addendums quickly and accurately.

And I also have to say that I find the A4 size better to use than the A5 size. A5 is too small for diagrams, networks, spider charts, and the like - although it is easier to carry around. But I think it will be A4 for the future!

OU - More thoughts about the future

As I indicated on 13th July, I think MT262 is a definite for next year. But S194 "Introducing Astronomy" caught my eye this evening. Its only a 10pt course and lasts just 12 weeks during the winter - seems like a useful thing to while away the cold, dark, crystal clear, winter evenings! (Well, that and walking over the fields to the Mermaid at Bishopsbourne for a pint or five!)

But why do it, and why only for 10pts - isn't there something more useful you could be doing, Simon? Well, yes...and no. I could, for example, catch up on all the non-OU reading that I want to do. I could get around to fixing the hole where the rain gets in - the one my wife keeps telling me about - in fact I think I'll do that anyway. But actually, astronomy interests me, but I have never had the time to study it properly - so this is a good opportunity. It will also give me an excuse to get my refracting telescope out again - you never know...my son might even be interested (although, if you can't control it by waving a mouse around his interest wanes rapidly). But only 10pts - why all that effort? Well, I did M254 last year - enjoyed it, did very well in it, but it was only 20pts, so I need a 10pointer to go with it (and I ain't doing M253 - no way!). So there you have it - and it can count towards an 'Open' degree...which is maybe where I am heading anyway.

Ah, plans! All put up just to be blown over!

M359 - TMA03 - Result

Well, I did moan back on Friday 13th July about how badly I thought I had done in TMA03 - I really felt quite hacked off about it. I am now making headway into TMA04 and ploughing, full-steam, through Block 4. But tonight, just for the hell of it, I thought I would check to see if my TMA had been marked. It has - and it was not quite as depressing as I thought it was going to be. I would have liked a higher mark...who wouldn't, but I'm happy that it was not the doom and gloom that I had convinced my self it would be.

Perhaps there is hope for me after all.

M359 - Oh no - its back to front!

I have just made a startling discovery....all through this course I have been mis-reading E-R Diagrams with regards to participation. I just don't believe it. Take a diagram that has two entities and lets call them Teacher and Student. Now, suppose there is a relationship between them such that a Teacher can teach many students and a Student can be taught by many teachers. Seams reasonable. Lets also assume that not all teachers are always teaching - sometimes that will take time out to research (I have a friend who is a Professor of Law. Sometimes he has PhD Students to supervise, othertimes he is researching and writing books and has no students). So there is a many-to-many relationship but the participation is different at each end - for Teacher it is optional but for Students it is mandatory (otherwise they are not students). So far, so good. The error that I have made to date is to think that the symbols for participation, which on this course is an open or closed circle, went at the end of the relationship that also give the degree of participation. What I have done in the past is to place the symbol at the end that also shows the degree of participation - but what I really should have been doing is placing it at the end adjacent to the entity type that it relates to. Thus, if the Teacher entity type has an optional participation, then the open circle goes at the Teacher end. It seems so &%**"~ obvious now that I find it hard to believe that I thought it was different from that.

(Yes, I know that Students sometimes take a gap-year, so in that period they don't have a teacher - but I guess that they are still students. But that doesn't alter the main point of me realisation!)

OU - What next?

After my previous post (earlier today) moaning about my (lack of) progress I thought I had better check when the courses that I have already taken expire. It turns out that M206 ceases to be usable for my DipComp at the end of 2008. Now, a few months ago I realised that, assuming I pass M359, I will be left with 10 point needed to get the Diploma. But I don't really want to spend months and months just to get 10 points - and the only 10 point course that is eligible is M253 'Team Working' and I have been tipped-off that this is a complete bastard of a course (thanks for the heads-up on that one, Ian). So M253 is not an option in my eyes.

So what to do? The obvious solution, I think, is to remove M254 (Java) from the list of courses to use against the Diploma - this means that I need 30 points now (because M254 is a 20 point course).

That means that to get the DipComp I need to complete it by the end of next year, and I need to find a 30 point course that I can use. And my inclination right now is to go for MT262 which is a courses that uses C++ for getting computers to do things. The other benefit of this is that it looks like a programming course (as opposed to anything else) and programming is my favourite computing based activity.

So MT262 is probably on the cards. After that I'll have to do some more 60 points courses - assuming that there are some left and they haven't all been converted into 30 point courses.

M359 - TMA03 Done - and so am I.

Well, it has been a long, long time. M359 has taken up more time that I thought it would - and TMA03 in particular has been a real pain. In the end I ran out of time to make a proper job of it, and have had to submit it in what I think is a less than satisfactory state.

The net result of all this is that I am really going to have to work at being motivated - and that is going to be a struggle. Oh, yippy.

On the positive side, there is only one more TMA to do and then the exam. And then I am going to take a break from my studies - I need time to recharge, and my family need time from me.

Programming and Kids - A followup...

Well, after my delight last week at finding out about 'Scratch' and 'HacketyHack' and thinking what a great way to get kids involved in programming, I showed them my 12 year old son. Imagine the look on his face when he could see how interesting and fascinating this all is!

OK, you'll just have to imagine it, the same that I had to imagine it. What really happened was that his eyes glazed over, his top lip curled up, and he gave me that look that I think meant 'you poor old git, what are you showing me this for', and then he uttered those words that any almost-teenager would utter...'Uh', 'Wot', 'have you seen my iPod'.

Well, there is still time - I didn't set eyes on a computer until I was 18 years old.

Meanwhile, I rather like HacketyHack and might just play around with it. Scratch is a clever idea, has a great UI, but I'd rather see the code that it generates behind the scenes as well as the UI.

Programming and Kids

I have son - he's 12 years old. A few years ago I showed him the Logo environment - showed him how he could get it to draw boxes, repeating shapes, etc. He was curious - but not that curious.

At school he has ICT lessons - but these are all about how to use Microsoft type applications such as Word or Powerpoint. The teachers clearly think that these are the skills that kids need these days. Perhaps they do, I'm not sure. But these skills can be picked up easily enough anyway. I once asked the head of ICT at his school at what age they start teaching them about programming - how to change what a computer can do, about how computers really work. His answer was that they don't teach that stuff! Its not part of the National Curriculum.

Now, my son has a computer, he can download music, play games, keep in touch with his friends (much in the same way that I would have used a telephone, or met up in the playground back in my day!). And he knows (because I have shown him) that a computer has a motherboard, and processor chips, and memory, and disks, etc, but he still doesn't know how a computer works (though he's a dab hand at PowerPoint for his homework assignments!).

Then yesterday on the BBC Website was an article about some research that MIT have been doing in the area of programming and getting kids interested. They have this environment called 'Scratch' (http://scratch.mit.edu) that uses visual elements to create sounds, animated sprites etc. It has conditional logic, looping constructs and the like. Yesterday their website was down due to the high amount of traffic but they quickly got a tempory site up. Its quite interesting - I've had a play around with it, and I'm hoping to get my son looking at it and having a play around too. We'll see what happens.

And, like buses, another website has just come to my attention that it also aimed at getting kids (and adults) interested in programming. This one is called 'hacketyhack' (http://hacketyhack.net) and provides an introduction to programming this time using the Ruby language (one of my favourites) so, in a sense, it takes a more traditional approach but in a way that makes it useful and fun. I'm not sure that a 12 year old will be quite so interested in this one but, again, we'll see.

M359 - TMA02 Submitted

Well, thats it. TMA02 is submitted, all done and dusted. I had problems with parts of this TMA - Question seemed to be too easy (so now I'm worrying that I have mis-read, or misunderstood, what what really required). Question 2 was an interesting challenge - particularly all the constraints that we had to write - and this is the question on which I spent most of the time and effort. Question 3 was fairly straight-forward, and question 4 was just great fun (yup, really).

And so now the waiting begins. Main hope is that I do better than the rather poor 75% I received last time. Main worry is that I will do worse that the rather poor 75% I received last time!

M359 - Thats Another Fine Book I've Got Myself Into

I recently bought another book to help with the M359 studying. This one is by Thomas Connolly and Carolyn Begg and takes a similary approach to database theory and design that the M359 Course Team have taken. A few differences - including the way the doing their E-R Diagrams (they use standard UML - no problem). Its quite a hefty book running in, as it does, at 1300+ pages but I am finding a usful adjunct to the course materials. I'm still refering to Chris Date's 'Database in Depth' that I mentioned in a previous post (which also has the benefit of being quite easy to carry around - unlike Connolly and Beggs paving-slab of a book).

M359 - TMA01 Result

Well, a bit disappointed with my result for TMA01 - just 75% - which is the lowest TMA mark I have ever received. But no matter - onwards and upwards - the key thing is to learn from it.

But the mad thing is that I lost most of the marks for stupid, piddling, little mistakes - like forgetting to name a relationship, even though I had correctly worked it out. I'm not complaining - I know its important to get these thing right, but if I could kick myself up the backside, I would (no, don't try and picture that). I also missed one of the attributes of a compound primary key - why? haven't the foggiest. It was all down in black and white in front of me (even my scribbled notes show that I did the work correctly) but when it came to typing up the TMA I just missed it out. Foolish me. And, worse still, missing out that attribute had a knock on effect on the remainder of the answers.

Oh well, at least I have a target for the next one that I know is beatable!

M359 - TMA01

Well, thats it. TMA 01 is submitted, for better or worse. I try and not submit TMA's until almost the last minute just in case something occurs to me (along the lines of: "So thats what the question meant! I'll have to redo all that bit"). But I found that for the last week or so I have just been fiddling and tinkering with it but not really making it any better. So the time has come to put it to rest and see what comes.

Never quite sure with a new course just how the marking is going to go, so all I hope at present is that I haven't fluffed it and have taken the correct approach and level in answering the questions. What I would like is to achieve above the 85% line (and generally, in previous courses, I do). But ...

M359 - Self-Help Session

We had our first 'self-help' session at Saturday. These sessions are rather like the chat you might have over a canteen table at a bricks and mortar university. We get the chance to meet up, talk about what we find difficult on the course, encourage each other and generally help each other out. I find these really useful, especially when I feel that I am stuck. It always useful to get someone else's take on something - perhaps they have a different point of view, perhaps they interpretted something differently. It all helps to widen out the way we think about problems and how we tackle them.

The only problem with these sessions is that so few fellow students turn up. On Saturday there were just three of us. Don't get me wrong, we covered a great deal of ground and it was very useful - but I am sure that other students would benefit too, and the more voices that chime in, the more we all learn.

But it is odd. When I did M206 a couple of years ago we held regular self-help sessions and only three or four people ever turned up for those too. And here's the really odd thing - on previous courses, the people that needed the help and advice the most where the ones who didn't turn up. Explain that!

OU Future Courses

Although I am working towards a Computing Degree, one of the modules that I have been wanting to do was S103 "Introducing Science". I heard towards the end of last year that S103 was being withdrawn and replaced by S104. I thought that I would wait for S104 on the assumption that it would be more up-to-date.

So I was surprised this morning to learn that S104 can not be counted towards my B13 Degree. A dilema! Do I enrol for the last run of S103 starting this September - which screws up my schedule, or do I wait until I have completed my B13 degree by other means (iem by NOT including S103) and then do S104 in a few years time?

Well, if you don't the answer to a question, ask someone who does know! So I contacted the OU this morning. The answer is that S104 CAN be counted towards B13 as the free-choice 60 points because the B13 already has 300 pts of compulsory modules. So it was worth asking! I can do S104 next year as planned after all.

M359 - Conceptual Data Model - problems

Its been a frustrating week. In the course materials we are given a scenario for a University (well, what a surprise!) and a Conceptual Data Model that goes with it. The problem that I have had is that the Entity-Relationship Diagram shows an entity called Staff and another called Course (there are many other entities too). These two entities are linked by a one-to-many 'TelephoneTutoredBy' relationship with the 'one' being at the Course end and the 'many' at the Staff end. My reading of this is that each Course must have one, or more, staff members who do TelephoneTutoring for it. There is also a constraint that says that the staff member doing the telephone tutoring must also tutor at least one enrolment on that course. All pretty straight-forwards.

But the course text then went on to say that a staff member could ONLY telephone tutor on ONE course - and I couldn't see where this was stated in the Conceptual Data Model - there didn't appear to be any constraint anywhere saying that. I raised this as a question on FirstClass. Some responses said that the phrase "...staff member can only be a telephone tutor for a course if they are..." really meant "...a staff member can only tutor for ONE course if they are...". I don't buy the idea that 'a' really means 'one' - its ambiguous. If they had meant 'one' then they would have written 'one', surely. Another respondent suggested that it didn't matter and that I should just ignore the ambiguity (really!). After several days of pondering over this, there was a posting by the conference moderator who had written a guide to interpretting CDM's that went some way towards explaining the situation - but I still felt uneasy.

In the end I think the penny has finally dropped - the Entity-Relationship Diagram is only part of the model. Following the ERD is a list of 'Additional Constraints' that go on to clarify, or complement, the ERD. I think my problem was that I had glossed over the word 'Additional' and had interpretted it as being the textual representation of the diagram (ie; two facets of the same thing - they are not).

Having said that, I still don't see anywhere in the whole Conceptual Data Model where it says that staff can only TelephoneTutor on one course - but I am going to let it lie - the course text clearly make the assumption that it is.

Time to worry about the TMA!

Someone has read my blog at last!

Had an email from my fellow student, Ian Macey, to say that he found this blog while googling. Ian, to my knowledge, you are the first and only person to read this blog! For a long while I had considered this to be a 'write only store' - a place where I just dump out an opinion or thought and that never gets read. Actually, the act of writing it is rather cathartic. I also have this picture in my mind of that lonely late -night radio DJ speaking into his microphone not knowing whether anyone is actually listening - but somehow enjoying the experience.

M359 - Constraint Checking

Just had an interesting, but inconclusive, FirstClass conversation regarding turning off Constraint Checking while performing a bulk load of data into a database. My view was that we have constraint checking for a very good reason: ensuring that the database remains consistent - because as soon as the data is inconsistent it then become unreliable, and if its unreliable then people will not use or trust it. So its pretty important!.

So the idea of turning off constraint checking during a bulk load sounds almost like suicide to me. But, it was pointed out that during a bulk load you are probably populating one table at a time, and if the table that a constraint depends upon is currently empty then the import will fail. So you HAVE to turn off constraint checking. A side effect is that it speeds up the import - well, to me that would be a side effect, but it has been suggested elsewhere that it might be considered to be a primary motive (!?).

But what really bothers me here, and so far no one has been able to convince me otherwise, is that if the data you are importing comes from another source over which you have no control, how do you know that the data is already consistent? And if it isn't consistent, and you have constraint checking turned off, you now have an inconsistent database! That can't be right.

One of the contributers to the discussion said that when constraint checking is turn back on after the import, error messages will be issued for any constraint that fails. I guess this is some help.

I'm still not convinced - there must be more to this.

M359 - Books

I have been reading this book by Chris Date. I have often found that reading the course books supplied by the university is not enough - not that I think that the university books are bad, they're not - its just that sometimes I need to see things written differently before they sink into my dense numbskull of a brain that I have.

Anyway, I like this book. There's no doubting that Date knows his field. And he worked alongside Ted Codd. Its also clear from the outset that Date's view of SQL is, how shall we say, not very favourable. In fact, on Page 2, he states "SQL /= The Relational Model" and goes on to say that if your only knowledge of the Relational Model comes from your knowledge of SQL then you don't know the Relational Model!. He couldn't really be any ore clear than that.

I like his writing style. Quite short and succinct. A little bit of humour - but just enough - not like one computing book I started to read, where the author dribbled on advising his readers to go and get a coffee while they thought about some stunning statement he had just made. He lost me as a reader almost immediately! Strangely enough, I can't remember the name of the book, or the author - thats the kind of impact it made upon me. Anyway, I digress.

But its early days - I'm still only on chapter 1. But my gut feeling right now is that I will last out until the end of the book and that it will help me with this course.

M359 - Studying Technique

I prevaricated earlier about which note taking technique to use. On previous courses I have taken copious hand-written notes and found that I very rarely ever went back to them, although the process of note taking seemed to help some of the information sink in.

This time I have forsaken the pen and paper approach and have been making notes in Microsft Word. Trouble is, I have realised that I am making even more notes than ever. This is going to make life harder than it need be I fear - so I have to find a way around this. I have also started to create my own glossary of terms (since one is not supplied as part of the course). For this I am using a good and trusty text editor. I can then use the sort command in the editor so that my glossary stays in alphbetical order. And in case you are wondering which text editor can sort lines, the anser is 'Kedit'. Kedit is based upon, and very similar to, Xedit that is used on IBM VM/CMS systems. I started using Xedit back in 1983 (when, for me, it replaced 'Edgar' its fore-runner). Xedit has always been a favourite of mine - very flexible, a decent language for writing macros (that language being REXX). So the editor is fully extendible, provides all kinds of sorting, manipulation and so on.

M359 - Making a Start

At last I am under way with M359. One week in and I have just finished chapter two of the first course book - which means that I am a week ahead of schedule. But there is to be no let up - I know that if I let it slip then it won't take long for me to be behind schedule, and catching up is always hard to do.
So, we have covered the usual sort of stuff for the beginning of a course - what is data, what is information, what happened with data historically - Mesopotamian tablets, 15th Century Tally Sticks, 16th Century Parish Registers. How computerised databases came about, why was there a need, what types, how they have evolved.
Now we have getting down to the three-schema model, seperation of concerns, and all that stuff.
First TMA is also available and due to be started yesterday but covers subject matter that, officially, we don't cover on the course for another two weeks!

Keep it comming.

M359 - Some progress

Still worried. I have access to the M359 Course Website as of yesterday, and to the M359 First Class Conference as from this morning - but still no sign of any course materials. That's nine days now since they were dispatched. I wonder which company they use for their deliveries.

In the meantime, I am puzzled as to why there is only one conference for M359. With other OU courses that I have studied there have always been several conferences - a general social chit-chat conference, a general course conference, a tutor-group conference, and then a seperate conference for each TMA. I hope that these other conferences will start to appear soon - the OU must have know that M359 was starting in February!

M359 - Still nothing

Well, two days to go until the course officially starts and still no sign of any course materials, access to the course website, or to the Course Conference on First Class. So, being slightly worried about this I telephoned the OU Computing Help Desk and explained the situation. A few checks by the man on the phone and his response was 'oh yes, you do seem to have some services missing' (which is fine, but I had already guessed that bit!). He said he will forward the request on to the appropriate team at the OU so that they can give me access. The good (I hope) news is that their records show that the course materials where dispatched by land-snail on 24th January.

So.....I'll just keep waiting and hoping.

Also today, I had an letter from the course Tutor, Dorothy Carrier (or, Dot Carrier, as she prefers to be called), just welcoming us all to the course and giving us some of her background. A useful letter I thought. I have responded by email and relayed some of my background to her.

M359 - Study Techniques

For each of the courses that I have done so far, I have used slightly differeing techniques for studying - and I was reviewing some of these yesterday. One thing I noticed that was common to all the techniques is that I tend to write down far to many things. I was looking at my notes for M206 that I did a couple of years ago and see that I managed to fill two A4 hardbound books with everything you could think of (and more). But I am not sure that it helped - especially at revision time - too much to take in, drowning in data but lacking in concise and clear information. In fact, when I studied MU120 I definitely found it hard to use my notes.

So, what to do? Two choices I guess. I could really cut down on my note taking, or, I could produce some kind of index to all my notes.

I think I favour the former approach for two reasons - one is that it takes so long to make all these notes, and thats time that could be better spent doing practical work and, secondly, having spent so much time making notes, I'm not sure that I want to spend even more time creating indexes. Unless I can find some good note taking software that will doing my indexing for me.

Watch this space....

M359 - Dispatch update

Good news according to my StudentHome page at the OU. It now says that I registered for the course on 23rd January (correct) and that the course materials for blocks 1 and 2 where dispatched yesterday. Hoorah!
Looks like my fear of starting the course without any course materials was unfounded - so just waiting for my friendly postman to deliver the package.

But I took the opportunity to read through the pdf course guide that I was sent yesterday (full of useful info about the course - what each block covers, how long it is expected to take etc) and noticed that Block 5 (out of 5) covers such topics as using Java and JDBC for connecting to databases and executing either SQL directly, or running Stored Procedures. This is great - and just what I have been doing at work this week. It's always comforting to know that a course is not going to be completely alien to me!

M359 - Course books

Well, having signed up for M359 at the last minute I am now in the situation of being on a course for which I do not have any course books!

Luckily, Ian Macey has emailed me the pdf's of the first block so that I can keep up-to-date (don't worry OU People, these pdf's aren't going anywhere, its just until you send me the real things in the post!).

So thanks Ian, at least I can see what we are all in for!!

M359 - Registered at last!

Aha! Good News - Email from the OU Student Registration dept to confirm that I have been successfully re-registered for M359. A relief - I was half convinced that my email would be at the back of a stack of others and not be acted upon until after the closing date for the course. I needn't have worried.

All I have to do is to worry about the course!

OU reply to my question

Received a reply from the Open University to my question about whether they had any information regarding the M358 and whether students had found it beneficial in a commercial environment. The answer from the OU is that it is a hard question to answer! Essentially what they are saying is that they don't know - and that they don't monitor the course from that perspective.
The reason that I posed the question is that I couldn't make up my mind whether studying M359 (the successor to M358) would be useful from a career point of view. As it turns out, the reply from the OU is pretty much what I anticipated, but have decided to register for the course - I think it will be useful - maybe not directly, but certainly indirectly.
And that brings me onto a curious incident that occured this evening......Having decided to register for M359 (and knowing that as a current student the registration is open until 26th January) I went to the online registering pages only to find that you can only register online for the 2008 course!. So I telephoned the Student Registration number only to be told that I had to apply in writing (Fax or Email will do, apparently). An email was sent off immediately and now I just have to hope that the email is seen and acted upon before Friday - the closing date for applications! More stress!

M359 - here we come!

Well, after enjoying the result from my last course, and taking it easy over Christmas and the New Year, have finally decided to do what I said I would and sign up for M359 "Relational Database Theory and Practice" with the Open University. I promised myself that if I managed to get a Distinction in M254 that I would do this course next, so now I am keep my promise.

Registration for the course closes on 26th January. Today is 18th so I phone the OU Registration Desk just to check - they confirm that I have until 26th and that there are some places left. All I need to do now is wait until Monday (because I need some confirmation on another matter before I know for sure that I can proceed witht this) and then enroll.

It turns out that the course has a start date of 3rd February, so I'm not sure that my course books and materials are going to arrive in time - but thats the penalty you pay for a late registration - just means that I'll have some catching up to do - and I'd rather have to catch up at the beginning of a course before it gets too difficult than half way through!

I had an email chat with Ian, who studied M206 in 2005 att he same time that I did, and he is also doing M359 so at least there will be a friendly, and helpful, face. I think that Nick A is also doing it, so that will be two friendly faces!

Lets see how it goes.