Prerequisites - Software Development Study Group

WPF Jam #2

posted Dec 8, 2009 7:12 AM by Anne Marsan [ updated Dec 8, 2009 1:15 PM ]

I'm going to do some more WPF at tonight's study group. We'll add on to the app that we started last week. Tonight we'll focus on a little bit of layout and a lot of data binding.

| Attachments: SpotActions.cs SpotCanvas.cs SpotFactory.cs WPFJam.App2.rtf

WPF Jam PreReqs

posted Nov 29, 2009 7:32 PM by Anne Marsan

I will be introducing WPF for those that have heard of it, are curious about it, but haven't yet gotten started.

I will be doing this Jam using Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1.
It looks like you can use Visual Studio 2008 SP 1 Express, but I haven't tried it out myself.
VS 2005 with the .NET 3.0 (WCF & WPF) extensions should also work, but again, I haven't tried this.

| Attachments: StudyGroupWPFJamApp.zip WPFJam.BaseApp.rtf

Prerequisites F# with Chris Marinos

posted Nov 16, 2009 12:11 PM by Bill Heitzeg

People will need one of the following:

-Visual Studio 2010 beta 2 (free download) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=92c65d2d-0a6b-4507-a4dc-767f4cc6e823&displaylang=en

-Visual Studio 2008 with the F# CTP http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b55f0532-ac3c-4106-918c-5586a953a7da&displaylang=en

-Chris

PS- you need one of the above for this group, but it's worth noting that F# is also fully compatible with Mono.

Eclipse and Java Enterprise Edition with Bill Heitzeg - Prerequisites

posted Nov 8, 2009 6:58 AM by Bill Heitzeg [ updated Nov 8, 2009 7:15 AM ]

Please make sure you have Java Installed. You can check by going to a command line and typing java and pressing enter. If you don't have Java, install it from here.

1) Download Eclipse IDE for Java EE Developers. Make sure you download the version for your operating system, Eclipse, unlike Tomcat, is platform dependent, although I'm guessing your OS will be supported.

2) Create a directory called javalibs and under that create an eclipse directory. Unpack Eclipse into that directory. Eclipse is no install application, so you should be able to start it at this point by clicking eclipse.exe.

3) Download Tomcat and unpack it into a javalibs/tomcat directory.

4) You can start and stop tomcat using the startup and shutdown scripts in the tomcat bin directory.

that's it,

See you on Tuesday at 5:30

Silverlight Jam -- Prerequisites

posted Oct 30, 2009 5:02 PM by Brian Genisio

For our Silverlight Jam, I plan to get you bootstrapped with a simple Twitter search client. Before we begin, you will need to have a development environment. Please make sure to do this ahead of time (or find someone to pair with) because the tools take a while to install and we only have an hour in the Jam.

I will be working in Visual Studio 2008 with Silverlight 3 while we jam, but you can work in any environment, just as long as you have the Silverlight tools (Silverlight 2 or 3). To get these tools, you have a few options:

If you already have the Silverlight tools installed, you don't need to do anything.
If you have installed the Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2, then you have everything you need and you don't need to do anything.
If you already have Visual Studio 2008, make sure you have the Service Pack 1 and then install the Silverlight tools
If you don't have a copy of Visual Studio available to you, you can download and install the FREE Visual Studio Web Platform. It has everything you need for Silverlight development.

Optional:
If you want to get your hands dirty with Expression Blend 3, the designer for Silverlight, you can also install it. I will have it up and running, and I will show it off a bit, but it is not required for the Jam.

| Attachments: SilverlightJam.BaseApp.rtf SilverlightJam.ItemTemplate.rtf SilverlightJam.LoadingPanel.rtf TwitterPlay.zip TwitterService.cs

Ruby On Rails - Prerequisites

posted Oct 23, 2009 6:58 AM by Bill Heitzeg [ updated Oct 23, 2009 7:10 AM ]

1) Make sure you have ruby installed somewhere, and a command-line available (either windows, cygwin, whatever). If you don't have a preferred IDE or editor, windows ruby comes with scite, which is pretty cool.

2) We will need to install some gems (ruby plugin libraries), so if your RubyGems system is old, update it by running
gem update —system

3) We will be using SQLite instead of mySQL to minimize pain. Download the pre-compiled version of SQLite3 3.5.4 from the SQLite web site (http://www.sqlite.org/sqlitedll-3_6_19.zip ) , unzip it and copy sqlite3.dll and sqlite3.def to your ruby/bin directory.

4) Now that SQLite3 is installed, just install the gem:
gem install sqlite3-ruby

5) Install the rails gem:
gem install rails

6) Read the first 2 sections of this tutorial, which we will be using: http://guides.rubyonrails.org/getting_started.html

Ruby Pre-reqs

posted Oct 15, 2009 9:12 AM by Bill Heitzeg

Install Ruby from: http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/downloads/
You should be able to use any IDE, but I'll be using NetBeans. You can get it here: http://www.netbeans.org/downloads/ You only need the Ruby version for this.
You also need the attached files. Decompress them somewhere on your computer.
I think that's it.

| Attachments: Jam Ruby Koans.zip

Problem Solving Strategies

posted Oct 6, 2009 8:10 AM by Bill Heitzeg [ updated Oct 6, 2009 9:38 AM ]

PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGIES FROM GEORGE POLYA

George Polya (1887 – 1985) was one of the most famous mathematics educators of the 20th

century (so famous that you probably never even heard of him). Dr. Polya strongly believed

that the skill of problem solving could and should be taught – it is not something that you are

born with. He identifies four principles that form the basis for any serious attempt at problem

solving:

1. Understand the problem

2. Devise a plan

3. Carry out the plan

4. Look back (reflect)

1. Understand the problem

· What are you asked to find out or show?

· Can you draw a picture or diagram to help you understand the problem?

· Can you restate the problem in your own words?

· Can you work out some numerical examples that would help make the problem more

clear?

2. Devise a plan

A partial list of Problem Solving Strategies include:

Guess and check Solve a simpler problem

Make an organized list Experiment

Draw a picture or diagram Act it out

Look for a pattern Work backwards

Make a table Use deduction

Use a variable Change your point of view

3. Carry out the plan

· Carrying out the plan is usually easier than devising the plan

· Be patient – most problems are not solved quickly nor on the first attempt

· If a plan does not work immediately, be persistent

· Do not let yourself get discouraged

· If one strategy isn’t working, try a different one

4. Look back (reflect)

· Does your answer make sense? Did you answer all of the questions?

· What did you learn by doing this?

· Could you have done this problem another way – maybe even an easier way?

[Taken from PSS Teaching and problem Solving, the attached Document, which you don't need to read unless you really want to]

| Attachments: PSS Teaching Problem Solving Strategies.pdf