Half Term

Having now gotten through the first half term of the course and now towards the end of the week away from college, it's time to reflect upon the recent developments on the course.

There hve been several hours of hard work put into assignments in the days up to the end of college in order to meet the deadlines required which were met with work being handed in early relieving alot of preassure and allowing for work to be focussed on what is required for the next deadline just after college recommences.

Having attended many lectures, much has been learnt in the first few weeks of the course including the following areas:

• History of computers
• The different configuration tools that can be utilised in computer systems
• Installation of two different operatnig systems side by side on the same computer
• How a processor works and what is contained within the processor chip
• The different types of processors available
• The layout of the motherboad
• The different bus types and their roles
• Principles of procedural programming
• The different data types that can be used in programming
• The different statements, functions and procedures that can be utilised in programming
• Why different programming languages maybe used for specific jobs
• The different website evaluation tools that are available
• The ways in which websites can be improved
• The features of websites
• Accesibility, legal and guideline requirements of websites to ensure user friendliness

Out of these topics, the website development related topics have been possibly the trickiest to get around bu and good attempt has been made to keep the work up to standard for every assignment and topic that has been covered.

A Month In

It has been about a month since the start of the course and it hasn't been a particularly easy start. A lot more difficult than I was prepared for but much has been learnt and discussed within lectures.

There have been several topics covered within the Computer Systems unit including the different components that make up a processor and the different types available on the market as well as the many differences and uses.

With regard to the Procedural Programming unit, many programming concepts have been practiced including loops and arrays which has been a nice refresher of a previous course I did a few years ago in programming. It has quickly become a favourite unit of mine and very interesting.

As far as the Web Development unit goes, not much has been started mainly due to issues with lectures and ill lecturers however, progress has started on the first assignment and many websites have been investigated as well as the tools that can be used to help evaluate websites.