Wednesday June 3: End game part two

greetings, swashbucklers of code!



Yesterday, you were asked to describe as well as possible, your idea for a "killer app". Most of you have responded...those of you who have not need to get that done and passed in before the end of today's class. You really don't want to fall behind on this point, especially if you happen to be a sophomore, since I will in all likelihood NOT see you tomorrow due to MCAS


That much being said, today you will need to begin drafting your response to letters B) and C) from yesterday. Let's start with

B) "You've taken your first step into a larger universe"
The point of this is to begin gathering resources that you will need to actually begin trying to realize the vast ambitions you outlined in point A)making a "killer app"

What kind of resources? Well, to begin with, you will need to make a discussion post detailing the individual components you think your "K A" will need.

For example, if you need your program to access a website in some way, well, we've sorta kinda done that, but you might need more information about how to improve that. Ditto if your program needs to be able to read from or write to some files: we've gotten a good start on that, but we've hardly exhausted the possibilities. Moreover, we've never even touched on items like connecting to databases or producing HTML documents "on the fly"

Once you've listed stuff you think you'll need, you'll need to go out and scour the Web looking for people and places that might have something like what you're looking for. AND, you will need to keep a record of those websitess URLs AND a succint tag for each one saying what that site is good for. Trsut me, don't hold this stuff in your head: you'll end up losing your hair. Not to mention its a requirement for you to make a second discussion post listing this information

Last for point B) you will need to start trying to make use of the resources you've found. If there are tutorials or sample code to download, then get crackin'... you have free reign to make use of ANYTHING you can lay your caffeinated little hands upon. let;s see what we can scare up!


OK, now as for point C: each of you will be (eventually) making a discussion post about some person, company, "killer app",milestone, "day of infamy" etc etc etc in computer programming. It goes back a lot further than you think: for example, you could do a discussion about "George Boole". BUT, long before you do the discussion, you have to GATHER RESOURCES. In this case, you need to have on hand at least a bytes worth of credible websites as sources you could cite in the course of your discussion. These sources you will need to email to me, putting your name and "research point C websites" in the subject line

OK, that oughtta be enough exercise for today!

Cheers,
Uncle Paulie