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prototype

The Viva Presentation

The Viva presentation was sorted two weeks ago and all the examinations are now done and dusted. Barring some very unexpected poor results, it should confirm that I have achieved my original aim - when I started back at University - of obtaining a good degree from a quality university. My academic career will continue for another year, which will allow the transformation of that presumed Bachelor's degree into a Master's degree. Continue reading →

Knowing When To Stop…

Knowing when to stop is an art-form in itself. This weekend has been spent doing very little which is work related. That is not to say that I have not been thinking about the project, but it certainly has not involved writing any of the report, drawing any design or banging out any code. I had found myself in the position of being completely unmotivated and agitated by any change of direction. Continue reading →

The Project Sandwich

Project Sandwich Different supervisors have different aspirations for the students they work with. Whereas I have the relative luxury of a hands-off supervisor who steps in when needs be, there are others who run to a tight timetable. One of my fellow students was asked to complete his report in draft form before the start of the Easter holiday. With my project in its current state, I would find such a request difficult to fulfil. Continue reading →

The Ash-powered clock is ticking

The Ash-powered clock is ticking [1]. This device of torture is the countdown clock which reaches zero at the hand-in deadline of the individual project. Never has such an small block of Javascript, developed by so few, terrorised so many. ECS Helpdesk were good/evil enough (delete as appropriate) to put a version of the website clock on the main screen in ECS Undergraduate labs for a few days. As Alex Ferguson once put it: now is squeaky bottom time [2]. Continue reading →

The Second Half Kicks Off

Second-half kick off An individual project at University feels very much like managing a football club for a season. Getting points on the board each week is important, and there are a dozen different distractions which have bearing, but the most important thing is consistent good results and by the end of May the result will be fairly clear if not final. This does not apply to the uber-genius class of people who wake up one day and have it done within a month. Continue reading →

Began Making Real Progress with the Prototype

Ethically sound In the immortal words of Professor Farnsworth: "Good news, everybody...": yep, Ethics approval got given for my questionnaire and it is now out in the wild. So the natural progression has been to get anyone and everyone to fill it in. If I haven't got around to ask you yet, it can be found here. Some people in the computer world appreciate getting Slashdotted. In ECS, one can get Joyced. What is Joyced? The term (coined by Samuel Weston esq. Continue reading →

Eureka!

Eureka! I think I may have finally hit one of those eureka moments. Fortunately for the residents of Southampton, I wasn't in the bath at the time and simply just expressed this is as a knowing grin for the rest of the day. For many months, I have had a vague idea of what I wanted to achieve in my third-year project, but was struggling for the academic justification and/or supporting evidence to provide foundation for my work. Continue reading →

Evaluation, evaluation, evaluation

Evaluation, evaluation, evaluation Repeating something three times is a method to emphasis heavily à la mode of Tony Blair's 1996 conference speech. Evaluation is very much at the core of the project. It is all about user requirements and fitting them not only well, but very well. In a typical application, one focuses on functional requirements and does the best to fit the non-functional requirements first. Continue reading →