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IT 236 -- Announcements

• The deadline for submitting all projects and quizzes is Sunday, July 16, at 11:59pm, unless you correspond with me to make other arrangements.

• The zip file acrostic.zip is now available for Quiz 6.

• The answers for the 2005 Final Review Practice Problems and for the Final Exam Summer 05 are posted on the Exam Info Page.

• Fill out your online professor evaluation before July 14.

• The DLWeb online submission system is ready to accept Quizzes 5 and 6, as well as the Drawing Project (Proj5).

• The final exam on 7/13 will have two parts: multiple choice questions with optional answers and problems. For the multiple choice questions, the optional answers are strongly encouraged because they increase your chances of partial credit if you pick the wrong answer. The problems will be chosen from these problem types: (1) Perform a computation, (2) Construct variable trace and predict output, (3) process input file with StreamReader object, (4) process a database with Method 3 , (6) generate random integers, (7) draw a picture in a picture box.

  See the section "Using ADO.Net OleDb Data Objects" for a discussion of Method 3. Basically Method 3 means create and instantiate all database objects using code and do not use data binding.

  See 2006 Final Review Practice Problems for an example of each type of problem that will be on the final exam.

  Also look at the Summer 2005 Final Exam posted on the Exam Info Page.

• Here is code to construct the SQL statement to use for the Flights2 project that we discussed in class. Include the statement that displays the message box to verify that your SQL statement is correct:
  Dim origin As String = cboOrigin.SelectedItem
  Dim dest As String = cboDestination.SelectedItem
  Dim day As String = cboDayOfWeek.SelectedItem
  Dim sql As String = "SELECT * FROM Flights WHERE " & _
      "Origin = '" & origin & "' AND " & _
      "Destination = '" & dest & "' AND " & _
      "DayOfWeek = '" & day & "'" & _

• I will be out of town this weekend (Friday to Monday). You can reach me at my cell phone number 847.612.7258. I will have some access to email.

• A revised version of the Final Exam Review Guide is posted. The only new controls to be covered on 7/6 are ListBox, ComboBox, Menu and MenuItem.

• The total number of quizzes has been reduced to six. The quiz with the worst score will be dropped. Quiz 5 and Quiz 6 are posted.

• For the FlightInfo1 Project (Proj3), use these examples to help you:
  1. The PhoneBook-NoArrays example will help you see how to look up the desired information in the text file, given input in a text file. Caution: Don't use the statement Exit Sub in your code, because there will usually be more than one flight matching the given Origin Airport, Destination Airport and Day of Week.

  2. The Groceries5 Example will help you output the requested information to the multiline textbox. Postpone the database processing part of this example until the FlightInfo2 Example.

• For the FlightInfo2 Project (Proj4), use these examples to help you:
  1. The Groceries8 Example will show you how to take input information from a combo box (you will have three of them for FlightInfo2) and construct an SQL SELECT statement from it.

  2. The Groceries5 Example will help you output the requested information to the multiline textbox. You will need to use combo boxes to input your information rather than radio buttons.

• A comment on Problem 3 of Quiz 3. Be careful. Even if there are more than 100 copies, the first 100 copies still cost 5 cents each. Only the extra copies over the first 100 cost 3 cents each. This is similar to the Overtime Example.

• The Groceries7 and Groceries8 Examples are ready. They are like the Groceries4 and Groceries6 Examples WITHOUT data binding.

• The 7/6/06 Lecture Notes are ready. There will be some minor editing before that class, but they will give you an idea what we will discuss.

• The Drawing project description has been changed. The drawing you create for this project is not required to have a moving part, so that should make it a little easier. By 7/6/06, think of a picture for the Drawing project that you can draw with lines, ellipses, circles, rectangles, squares or text. See the Drawing examples on the Examples page for ideas.

• The asterisks on the Examples page have been updated. Asterisks mark the examples on which you should concentrate for the final exam. I still need to add the Groceries7 and Groceries8 examples, which are like Groceries4 and Groceries6 but do not use data binding.

• If anyone didn't see the next item in these announcements and submitted the CurrencyConverter project with the wrong exchange rates and/or formula, you can resubmit a corrected version without late penalty. In the comments with your submission, state that it is a resubmission.

• Because of the way the exchange rates are shown in the CurrencyConverter project description, the formula for targetAmount must be changed to
  targetAmount = sourceAmount * sourceRate / targetRate.

  Here is a "units analysis" like one would do in a physics class to show that this is correct: suppose that sourceAmount is pounds, targetAmount is euro, sourceRate is dollars/pound and targetRate is dollars/euro. Then
  sourceAmount * sourceRate / targetRate
       = pounds * (dollars/pounds) / (dollars/euro)
       = dollars * (euro/dollars) = euro,
  which are the expected units for targetAmount.

• For an example of how to do the variable trace and predict the output in Problem 2 of takehome quiz 2, look at this Practice Problem from the 6/15 notes.

• There will be no midterm in this course, just the 7 takehome quizzes.

• Examples on which you should concentrate when reviewing the final exam are marked with asterisks (*) on the Examples page.

• Answers have been added to the 6/22 notes.

• The Review Guide for Final Exam is ready (mostly).

• We will skip ArrayList collections.

• The due date of Quiz 2 has been changed to 11:59 pm Sunday night 6/25. Check the Takehome Quizzes and Projects links for other changes to the due dates. No quizzes or projects will be accepted after July 16.

• The description of the FlightInfo2 is posted. More details will be added later.

• The Greeter Project is due Tuesday, 6/20 at midnight.

• Reminder:   All distance learning students should use COL to register for the final exam as soon as possible.

• Quiz 1 is due Monday, 6/19 at midnight.

• At the end of the 6/15 notes the section "Running a Windows Example using Visual Studio 2005" has been added. We discussed this at the end of the class on 6/15.

• The FlightInfo1 project description is posted.

• Don't forget that each project must have comments in the source code. At the very minimum, this should include a header at the top with your name, project name and submission date. You should also have a line explaining what each event handler does; more if the event handler is complicated.

• Here is a table of textbook readings for each day of this course:
  

  Day 1:	Ch. 1, 2
  Day 2:	Ch. 3
  Day 3:	Ch. 5
  Day 4:	Ch. 6, 8, start 7
  Day 5:	Ch. 6, finish 7
  Day 6:	Ch. 10
  Day 7:	Ch. 9
  Day 8:	Review

• The revised exercises are posted. They include page and problem numbers for both the fifth and sixth editions of the Schneider text.

• Quiz 2 is posted.

• Problem 1 of Quiz 1 asks you to write a console application. Be sure you do not write a windows application.

• Problem 3 of Quiz1 asks you to write VB.Net statements to perform some actions with code, not using the properties window.

• The first class meeting is on Tuesday, June 13, at 6:00pm. Class will be dismissed at 8:10pm on 6/13 only with no halftime break. Class will normally be dismissed at 9:00pm with a 20 minute halftime break.

• Friday, 6/16 is the last day to withdraw from classes with 100% tuition refund.

• Quiz1 is due on 6/19. Takehome quizzes are not accepted late.

• There will be no class meeting on July 4.

• For COL and project submission information, visit https://dlweb.cti.depaul.edu.

• Distance learning students should sign up for the final exam using the Exam Scheduling option on DLWeb. Students residing in Chicago can take the final in class with the "live" section, in the Mezzanine by the CTI Student Systems offices at 243 S. Wabash or at any suburban campus. Students not residing in Chicago will need to find a local proctor at a local college or library. Contact me for details.

• If you want to do your projects in a computer lab, recommended labs in the CTI building at 243 S. Wabash are in rooms 208, 632 or the CTI Building Ground Floor. Go to the www.cs.depaul.edu and select Resources >> CTI Collaboration Lab, CTI Computing Lab or Software Exploration Lab. You can use either of these pages to activate your CTI password.

• The labs in room 208 and 632 are open MTWThF from 10am to 11pm, and SaSu from Noon to 6pm.

• The textbook for this course should come with a disk containing the VB.NET software. Although it expires after a limited time, it should be sufficient for the course.

• Here is a link to the MSDN Academic Alliance Help Page. Of most interest to you is that it allows you to download .NET Software for free if you are a DePaul student:
  http://www.cs.depaul.edu/resources/msdnaa.asp