IT Show Survival Guide

Image: watcharakun / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

With so many exhibitors and items to look at, it may take you days to go through the halls, not to mention the different levels that the exhibitors are on. To beat the crowd, or save yourself the trouble and energy here are some suggestions (in no particular order) for events like the IT Show:
 

1. Look out for pricing and any bargains from the newspapers or online.

If you know what you are looking for, getting a good idea of the layout from the floor plans to help you narrow down your search, saving you time. Knowing which area has the better bargain or knowing how to navigate (or map) the places you want. Doing so not only helps you save even more time, and spares you the suffering of prolonged... Read more>>

ICT203 - Foundations in Modern System Design Question 2

(a) Collection classes are to be used to model a number of real world situations, described in (i) to (iii) below. In each case:

• write down the name of the class that you think is most suitable;
• give a brief justification for your choice (no more than one or two sentences);
• write down an expression or expressions to create an instance of the collection class you have chosen, assign it to a suitably named variable, and add the example elements given in the description to the collection.

(i) An ICT203 tutor wants to store her students' myUni names as strings in such a way that she can easily look up an individual student, as in the table below. There are no two students in her group with the same name.

Student’s name      |      myUni name      

Charlie Dickens             Charles Dickens

Margie Hector               Margaret Hector

Terry Martin                  Terence Martin

(ii) When a hotel is fully booked, it holds a waiting list of customers in case of cancellations. Once a cancellation is received, the newly available room is allocated to the first person on the waiting list, who is then deleted from the list. On a particular day the first three customers added to the list are Ali Baba, Bibi Batek and Charlie Chan.

(iii) A video shop wants to store the titles of videos available for hire. It must be possible to list all the titles available but no particular order is required. Although the store may have more than one copy of a particular film, the title should only appear once. Titles available include: Iron Man, Crystal Skull and Dr Doplenty.

(iv) A property company has a block of luxury apartments for sale. The apartments comes in three models: modelA, modelB and modelC. During the year of its launch, it achieved the quarterly sales (in units) as shown in the table below:

(b) A hash map is to be used to store the addresses of students on a Uni course.

(i) The designer of the software needs to decide what to use as keys for the hash map, and considers student names and personal identifiers as possible candidates.  If you were designing the hash map, which of these would you choose? Briefly justify your answer.

(ii) During the discussions about the software to be used it becomes apparent that there

may be more than one student at the same address.  Would this affect your choice of a hash map as the appropriate collection class to use? Briefly justify your answer.

(c) Page 12 of Unit 3 shows how an Iterator object could be used to directly retrieve all the objects in a collection for further processing.  Using an appropriate example, explain whether this could be applied to a HashMap object.

Skoob Review: Singtel’s First E-book Service

Sometime back in November Singapore Telco SingTel announced the launch of their first e-book service Skoob. This e-book service offers various overseas titles from authors such as Stephen Hawking, as well local titles, study guides and educational books for local primary and secondary school students: more than 39,000 local and international bestsellers for smartphones, tablets and PCs.

Besides being Singtel’s first e-book service, it is the first e-book service to accept payments in Singapore dollars via Singapore credit card, with SingTel customers having the option to charge their purchases to their monthly bills, offering tremendous savings versus the cost of traditional paper books. For example, fans of John Grisham can enjoy his novel, The Confession, at S$9.00 instead of S$17.07 for the hardcopy version. While Neil Humphreys‘ acclaimed Complete Notes is available at S$13.90 instead of S$29.90 in the Singapore contect. There is also a range of classics for free download, such as Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and... Read more>>

Review of Def!nd: Not Singapore’s Answer to Siri Review of Def!nd: Not Singapore’s Answer to Siri

Touted to be the Singapore version of Siri, I was expecting something of a similar level. However, Def!nd has proved to be a disappointment of sorts: it is less intuitive than Siri and even requires many unnecessary hand actions to select options. The only good point about Def!nd is that it localized to Singapore, but that is about it. The application’s menu is cumbersome and the interface not user-friendly enough.

When my friends and I were testing out Def!nd, it took us a while to figure out where is the ‘tap to speak’ button, whist everything else was actually accessed via touching the options on the menu. Categories such as restaurants and movies were sub-categorized into menu options, which required users to select that item before “speaking”, which defeats the purpose doesn’t it? With Siri you are able to find locations and do things with just your voice most of the time, but with Def!nd, you have to use more effort and energy. I might as well just key In my search into the search browser than use Def!nd....Read more>>

Def!nd: Singapore’s Answer to Siri?

To cater to the local market, Singtel, one of Singapore’s major telco, has developed an application called ‘DeF!nd’ which understands Singlish. According to Singtel,  DeF!ND is a localised Siri-like application that is able to decipher uniquely Singaporean accents, names and locations. Singtel also said that DeF!ND will be available for free on the Android platform and Apple’s iTunes “soon”...Read more>>

Appshopper: App Review

Inspired from the website of the same name (AppShopper.com), the app AppShopper from the Apple Store is one of those apps that you simply must have if you are obsessed with downloading apps, or if you just simply want to have a better deal when downloading (purchasing an app)! If you did not know already, the Apple Store is constantly having sales and promotions for apps. The AppShopper is a universal app; it is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

The AppShopper is designed to show the apps on the Apple Store and helps you keep track (of the ones you are interested in) of any change in pricing. With this free app, you are able to find and track apps that you are interested in, and get notified when if there is a price change (sale, discount, price increase or free…. yes free). Sometimes developers offer the app for free, or a discounted price, in return for reviews. There are many categories and options to choose from, with the default option show everything...Read more>>

iPad Orientation: Part I

After all the hype about the iPad, I finally got one. Well, it was more of a gift then getting it myself. I have a (generation 1) iPod touch, and it is still working fine, so I never thought about actually getting an iPad because I never saw the need for it. Well, now that I have an iPad, and having used it for the past 2-3 days. Here are some of the things I learnt:

• In order to use your new iPad, you need to connect it to your iTunes and go through the setup and linkage to your Apple ID (existing or create a new one).
• There are 3 types of apps :

1) iPod/iPhone

Almost all apps for the iPod/iPhone and iPad can be installed on the iPad. However, as the resolution for the iPod/iPhone and the iPad are different (with the iPad having larger resolution), apps (especially games) for iPod/iPhone appear small on the iPad's larger screen. Although there is the option of magnifying (2X) the apps, games graphics in particular tend to be more blur and pixilated. Some examples are:

• Sally's Spa
• Cut the Rope
• Amazing Sudoku

2) iPad

Apps for the iPad are made specifically for it. So far I believe that it is not possible to port them over to the iPod/iPhone as the specifications for the iPad is higher than the iPod/iPhone.

Pricing for iPad apps are also more costly than those for the iPod and iPhone. An example would be Angry Birds where you pay $0.99 cents for the iPod/iPhone version and $4.99 for the Angry Birds HD version. That is about 20% more then the iPod/iPhone version. There are others with a much higher markup price...Read more>>

Amazing Sudoku: App Review

With the many available Sudoku games made available on the Apple App Store, there are various designs and graphics that offer different game play experience, most of them plain and unappealing. I happened to chance upon Amazing Sudoku, which is currently available for $1.99 for the full version, when it was offered free for download one fine day (lucky me). There is also the free version, which limits the difficulty.

Some people may deem the colorful background and graphics too distracting, but I think that it adds a nice touch to an otherwise “boring” game of Sudoku. Within Amazing Sudoku, there are two modes of game play: Classic and Magic, each with 3 difficulty settings...Read more>>

Cut The Rope: App Review

“Cut the Rope” is one of the games that I bought from the Apple App Store, costing USD$0.99. The objective of the game is to feed the green cute looking creature with the sweets that you are supposed to navigate to the little create by cutting ropes, all the while collecting stars to advance to the next stage / box. You do so by cutting the ropes loose, in a way that the sweet will land up in the little green creature’s hungry mouth and collecting stars at the same time. Recently this app has also been made available on the Android Market as well...Read more>>

10 Products that defined Steve Jobs' career

NEW YORK (AP) — Steve Jobs had no formal schooling in engineering, yet he's listed as the inventor or co-inventor on more than 200 U.S. patents. These are some of the significant products that were created under his direction:

1. Apple I (1976) — Apple's first product was a computer for hobbyists and engineers, made in small numbers. Steve Wozniak designed it, while Jobs orchestrated the funding and handled the marketing.

2. Apple II (1977) — One of the first successful personal computers, the Apple II was designed as a
mass-market product rather than something for engineers or enthusiasts. It was still largely Wozniak's design. Several upgrades for the model followed, and the product line continued until 1993.

3. Lisa (1983) — Jobs' visit to Xerox Corp.'s research center in Palo Alto inspired him to start work on the first commercial computer with a graphical user interface, with icons, windows and a cursor controlled by a mouse. It was the foundation for today's computer interfaces, but the Lisa was too expensive to be a commercial success.

4. Macintosh (1984) — Like the Lisa, the Macintosh had a graphical user interface. It was also cheaper and faster and had the backing of a large advertising campaign behind it. People soon realized how useful the graphical interface was for design. That led "desktop publishing," accomplished with a Mac coupled to a laser printer, to soon become a sales driver.

5. NeXT computer (1989) — After being forced out of Apple, Jobs started a company that built a powerful workstation computer. The company was never able to sell large numbers, but the computer was influential: The world's first Web browser was created on one. Its software also lives on as the basis for today's Macintosh and iPhone operating system.

6. iMac (1998) — When Jobs returned to Apple in 1996, the company was foundering, with an ever shrinking share of the PC market. The radical iMac was the first step in reversing the slide. It was strikingly designed as a bubble of blue plastic that enclosed both the monitor and the computer. Easy to set up, it captured the imagination just as people across the world were having their eyes opened to the benefits of the Internet and considering getting their first home computer.

7. iPod (2001) — It wasn't the first digital music player with a hard drive, but it was the first successful one. Apple's expansion into portable electronics has had vast ramifications. The iPod's success prepared the way for the iTunes music store and the iPhone.

8. iTunes store (2003) — Before the iTunes store, buying digital music was a hassle, making piracy the more popular option. The store simplified the process and brought together tracks from all the major labels. The store became the largest music retailer in the U.S. in 2008.

9. iPhone (2007) — The iPhone did for the phone experience what the Macintosh did for personal computing — it made the power of a smartphone easy to harness. Apple is now the world's most profitable maker of phones, and the influence of the iPhone is evident in all smartphones.

10. iPad (2010) — Dozens of companies, including Apple, had created tablet computers before the iPad, but none caught on. The iPad finally cracked the code, creating a whole new category of computer practically by itself.

 
By PETER SVENSSON

ICT 203 - Q1d (Foundations in Modern System Design)

Three classes should be coded, each with its instance variables (if applicable), constructor, and accessor methods. The question also guides that each subclass should have a computeFee() method, as coded below: Question

For OrdinaryMember class:

public double computeFee() {

double payment = 0;

if (getIsOverseas())

payment = getMembershipFee() * 0.5;

else

payment = getMembershipFee();

return payment;

}


For AssociateMember class:

public double computeFee() {

double payment = 0;

if (getIsOverseas())

payment = getMembershipFee() * 0.5;

else

payment = getMembershipFee();

payment = payment + magazineCharge;

return payment;

}

ICT 203 - Q1c

I would check the location of the associate member within the subscribeMagazine method in the Associate subclass to determine if the Associate Member is eligible to subscribe for the magazine. If the member is eligible to subscribe for the magazine, within the subscribeMagazine method, it will check to see if the member wants to subscribe for the magazine. If the member is eligible and wants to subscribe to the magazine, the value of the variable subscribeMagazine (true) is returned, else false will be returned. The value of the variable subscribeMagazine returned will be used in the computeFee method. If the value of variable subscribeMagazine is true, the additonalFee variable will be added in the calculation of the totalFee, else the additionalFee will not be added to the totalFee.

Question

ICT 203 - Q1b ( Foundations in Modern System Design)

Question

ICT 203 - Q1a ( Foundations in Modern System Design)

Classes involved would be the superclass called Membership, and the subclasses Ordinary and Associate. The superclass Membership would be an abstract class with its common (generic) attributes such as memberName, address and totalFee, and methods such as computeFee(), which would be inherited and reused by the Ordinary and Associate subclasses. Thus, the Ordinary and Associate subclasses have a “is a” relationship with its superclass Membership.

Question

ICT203 - Foundations in Modern System Design Question 1

An employees’ union has two types of membership: ordinary and associate. Ordinary members pay $108 per year and receive a free monthly magazine. Associate members pay $72 per year, but they do not receive the magazine unless they pay an additional charge of $12 per year. Every  member gets a 50% discount off the membership fee, if he is stationed overseas; however, this discount is not applicable to the magazine charge for the associate member as the union does not send the magazine to associate members overseas.

(a) Identify the classes involved and explain the superclass-superclass relationship among  them. (answer)

(b) Draw a UML class diagram to depict the given information, showing the attributes for each  class, and the class hierarchy. (answer)

(c) Explain how you would record the fact that an associate member needs to pay for the  magazine. State also the class or classes concerned, and the attributes and/or methods added. (answer)

(d) Write Java code to define the classes and hierarchy you had identified above. In each class, include the attributes as instance variables of suitable data types, and appropriate  constructor(s) that initialize(s) the instance variables. Note that each subclass should have  its own implementation of the computeFee() method. (answer)

(e) (i) Explain how you might write the computeFee() method for the superclass.

(ii) What is the advantage of having this method in the superclass?

Related Posts:

• ICT203 -  Foundations in Modern System Design Question 2

Benefits of Anti-virus Software

More often than not, if you for not have any anti-software on your computer and do nto regularly scan your computer for viruses, your computer would be prone to virus infectionsThere are many options for scanning and curing viruses – free software, free online scans, downloadable trial versions of software, and software which you may purchase. (e.g. Norton Anti-virus, AVG, McAfee etc…)

Anit-virus software scan your computer for viruses in real-time, meaning that as your computer receives files, the software checks the files for viruses, or the current state of the computer (e.g. files already on your computer). Once installed, the software will constantly monitor the computer files to search for viruses and alert you if any should be found.

It is important that you update your anti-virus software on a regular basis, to enable the software can detect all of the newly found viruses.

Below what to look out for in an Anti-virus Software:
Platform (operation system) Relevance, most software packages are platform specific.

ICSA Certification
The International Computer Security Association has established accurate means for comparing anti-virus detection rates. Only purchase software bearing the ICSA certification seal... Read more>>

Dos and Don'ts to Minimize Viruses on Your Computer

Below is a list of Dos and Don’ts:

Do
* Update your anti-virus software on a regular basis or frequently check your system with an online virus scanner.
* Disable preview screens when using Eudora or Microsoft Outlook.
* Scan disks and zip disks with your anti-virus software before using them.
* Backup important files regularly.
* Use personal firewall software to prevent unauthorized Internet access to and from your computer.
* Read the manual of your anti-virus software. Most anti-virus software are very complex, with dozens of settings. Reading the manual helps you get the most out of the anti-virus software.
* Run a virus scan on your entire computer when you computer starts to perform strangely
* Be careful about disks or external peripherals. Run a virus scan on it before you begin working on it as not everyone has anti-virus protection.

Don’t
* Use disks from an untrustworthy source.
* Download files from a site or a person that you do not trust... Read more>>

What If You Suspect Your Computer is Infected

If your computer is accessible to someone other then yourself, it will be useful if they know the dos and don’ts of using a (shared) computer. Otherwise, you alone taking the necessary precautions would not help protect your computer from viruses.

For example, many E-mail viruses are spread by sending itself to everyone in someone’s address book. So if the E-mail text does not sound like the sender, or you were not expecting the attachment, it is best to delete the message immediately.

Also, if you suspect your computer is infected with a virus (you have opened a suspicious email attachment and your computer is suddenly crashing or running slowly, you receive error messages whenever you start up your computer or try to launch an application), immediately disconnect your computer from the internet... Read more>>

Computer Virus Guide

A brief guide on what are computer viruses.

With the increasing usage of computers and their connectivity to the intranet, the risk of encountering computer viruses also increases. Lurking on the web, computer viruses are ‘mysterious’ and grab our attention by doing things that range from irritating (i.e. deleting data on your computer) to dangerous (e.g. stealing sensitive passwords or information, or taking control of the computer to do illegal things). Every time a new virus hits, it spreads like wildfire, affecting those computers which are not protected, or computer owners who are ignorant.

Although computers can never be 100% secure from viruses, there are many steps that can be taken to ensure or minimize the chance of your computer from being infected with viruses.

What are computer viruses?
Computer viruses are malicious computer codes that are programmed to either harm your computer (i.e. overwriting over reserved areas of the operating system or attaching itself to other programs in your computer); infecting computer files, programs, and write over parts of files. Viruses are also able to delete files from removable disk media (e.g. portable hard disks, or USB drives)...Read more>>

Image Optimization

A main aspect of any website is the image and graphics that is in it. A deciding factor of the popularity of your site is how it looks like and to create an interesting page you need to synchronize your text with appropriate images and videos sometimes. However adding more and more number of images not only increases the total money you will have to spend but also the total time it takes your site to load.

All users do not use fast broadband connections so if you make your sites too heavy adding more and more videos, you may not connect with these users. Image optimization is a necessary tool that you must employ to increase the rating of your site and take it to a prominent rank in the search engines.

Although it will be your website designer who will take care of the relevant content of your site you should also be knowledgeable about the image optimization tips...Read more>>