MT262 - TMA02, Going well

Just the filip I needed - 94% for TMA02. The funny thing is that it is so long since I did the actual TMA that I couldn't recall what any of the questions were. Anyway, things are going in the right direction on this course.
Right now I am whizzing through Block 3 so that I can get back to T224 (which requires more time and concentration because the subject matter is one that I am not quite so familiar with). But Block 3 of MT262 has us writing software that produces plots of data-values that have been collected by a thermometer (not a real thermometer, but a simulated one). And its great fun.
And already paying dividends - I was asked at work yesterday if it was possible to write some software that will check the availability of a database on a networked server. The method simply involves connecting to the database over the network (it could be SQL/Server, Oracle, MySQL etc) and then performing an SQL select for a known number of rows and logging the duration.
As soon as I was given the request the phrase 'simulated thermometer' popped into my head [Ed; you lead a sad life Simon]. So now, a few hours later, I have an application that monitors a remote database and logs the transaction time - it writes it to a log files and plots the data on a graph in real time.

All I have to do now is to persuade my employers to contribute financially to my OU studies [Ed; the words 'pigs' and 'flying' come to mind].

T224 - How to lose point - part 254.

Just received back my marked TMA02. 89% so I'm happy with that but, you know what.....it could have been higher. Could have been, that is, if I hadn't made a couple of elementary mistakes!

Mistake number 1 - Only answered part of a question. I manage to do this on almost every course that I do - just completely miss a subquestion. When I saw my tutors comments ( "Simon, I think you must have missed the question...") I thought, "No, there is a mistake, there was no part of the question like that.....", and then, just to make sure, I re-read the TMA paper. And there it was, as plain as the nose on my face. And the bit that I missed out was so easy to implement - it would have been two minutes work. How daft is that.

Mistake number 2 - only using 12 bits for a memory address instead of 16. Now this is just so obvious, and I really can't believe that I wrote what I did. At least I was consistent about it - and my tutor did pick me up on it (although didn't penalise me for it). This is what it is about: Suppose that some data is written to memory location F02. When writing that down one should really write 0F02 (ie, use a leading zero). Its pernickety, but it is correct....and its something I have always done in the past. So why didn't I do that it the TMA?

Mistake number 3 - Now this is the one that I am really going to learn from - when a TMA question uses the word 'find' it means show the workings out and write down the answer. All I did was write down the answer (which I did get correct). The question was to do with ANDing and ORing hex values. I do these in my head and just write the answers down - I've done it this way for years - and it never occurred to me to show the workings. I did raise this with my tutor and he explained that there had been some debate about this - but that the course team are insisting that this is what it means and that is how it should be done. Well, I can live with that. His advice is to always show the workings out.

But now I am wondering whether there are other 'code words' that have specific meanings when used in questions - there must be a list somewhere. If I find out what they are I will place them in a new blog entry - I'm sure I'll not be the only person caught out by these.

Well, thats it. I should get the TMA for MT262 back soon.