what is involved in SDD? (2 Viewers)

[treelovinhippie]

This year (year 11) I'm doing software, but thinking of dropping it cos I have too many subjects and no study periods that I can do homework and assignments in. This entire term we have been making an address book in VB and haven't really progressed to much. I finding it slightly boring and would rather learn more complex languages like c++ or something.

So can people give me an idea of what is to come in software over the next 2 years? Like what languages do you learn, topics you cover, things you make etc.

cheers

 

[treelovinhippie]

I also think that what we're doing at the moment I could easily find info on on the net - like a VB forum/tuts

 

[Winston]

you don't learn languages in SDD, you got it wrong, languages are based on teacher preference, they teach you the one they're strong in. That's it, like it or not, if you wanna be someone who advances you can learn it on your own. In my opinion SDD is a good course if you plan to do programming in uni, i.e. Soft Engineering or Comp Science, it gives u a nice foundation. But if you're not intending to touch it in uni, and you're just in it so that somone can sit there and teach you how to program in C++, and that's all you want, then i'm sorry to say, you should drop it, in SDD, the content is more theory than programming.

 

[juventino]

treelovinhippie mate, you got your facts wrong big time. Winston said it the best, however, I don't really plan to do Sdd at uni- I study it just more of an ' option' for later on in case I change my mind and do want to carry it on at uni.

And I don't get it- you said you want to do something harder cause you feel it is easy yet you want to drop it? Riiiiigghhhttt

 

[Beaky]

I felt that my studies aided my computing subjects at uni. "Computer Fundamentels" deals with Binary, Hex, Logic Gates etc- all delt with in the option topic (software developers view on hardware). It should also aid my studies next semester (Programming Fundamentals)

However, if you dont plan to study IT and dont enjoy the course I would suggest you would drop it, unless your ace at it, i.e it doesnt take too much time and you still have good marks.

Its a great course, my favourite subject during Year 12, but thats because I had an excellent teacher. Ultimately, its your decision!

 

[fatmuscle]

The most important thing you need to do in SDD is TO HAVE FUN AND ENJOY IT.
SDD is one subject where you can enjoy it.
If your teacher teaches you in groups, the learning experience can be quite fun.

 

[jason120au]

I'm just wondering why you are making an address book in VB at Year 11 stage?, plus why wouldn't you use a RAD approach with Access?

 

[treelovinhippie]

yep i know - from the beginning of the year to now (week 10) we have begun making an address book in vb and so far can get text entered to be saved to the hard disk as a txt file - woohoo!! - no search, edit or any other functions

 

[jason120au]

Looks like your teacher is expecting too much from you at a very early stage

 

[acidicFury]

Um, no.

There is no point in creating an address book in Access - not on a programming/algorithm level as Access does that part for you which is what you'll be tested on in the HSC exam.

They are going fine. If they can create address books on their own by the time the HSC exam comes around, they'll rip the programming side of it, all that's left to learn is the theory.

 

[jason120au]

But at the stage of 10 weeks into the pre lin course the teacher is asking too much. I simple shape area/volume calculator is able to assess someones algorthims and how they transfer the algorthims into VB code.

 

[Kulazzi]

I'm also doing SDD in yr 11 and currently we're designing a program, for yr 7 and 8 kiddies on the software and hardware components, on VB........................so like, isn't that more complex than an address book?

 

[Merforga]

Hmm in YR 11 you should have to do the following assessments programming wise or something that touches on the same areas:

1) A RAD project
2) A major project

Im in yr 12 now and SDD is one of the subjects i look forward to the most...mostly coz of the bludginess in class ^^. I do SDD as an interest topic rather than academic and so its a plus for me. But like everyone said before..SDD is a lot about theory and not much practical which is what everyone thinks. I say go with what you think will help you more. SDD requires a lot of time and effort to get into those top bands.

 

[this_guy]

at about the same time as you (10 weeks in) we had to make a calculator

 

[Skywalker]

Originally posted by Slide Rule
Besides, I noticed in year 12 you cover things like binary addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. That should be heaps fun.

That's assuming you do the option topic which covers that stuff. It's not that hard or fun, if you're good you should be able to pick it up in about a lesson.

 

[Beaky]

Originally posted by Slide Rule

Besides, I noticed in year 12 you cover things like binary addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. That should be heaps fun.

Yeah easy stuff... Logic Gates are cool aswell... If you like maths: Hardware, if you like english: Evolution.

 

[Winston]

Originally posted by Beaky
Yeah easy stuff... Logic Gates are cool aswell... If you like maths: Hardware, if you like english: Evolution.

lol english? Well i'd have to say if you're a experienced programmer, and you know the OOP concepts off by heart, Evo is about the easiest.

 

[Beaky]

Originally posted by Winston
lol english? Well i'd have to say if you're a experienced programmer, and you know the OOP concepts off by heart, Evo is about the easiest.

You do have to agree with me that most of that topic was just essays. So therefore if your good at english, its easy...

 

[Winston]

Originally posted by Beaky
You do have to agree with me that most of that topic was just essays. So therefore if your good at english, its easy...

Heh yeah i guess so ...

 

[hornetfig]

Originally posted by Winston
lol english? Well i'd have to say if you're a experienced programmer, and you know the OOP concepts off by heart, Evo is about the easiest.

I dunno, between all the text books there was no concensus on the topic - I mean there were disparaties between Excel and Heinnman and PDC. On top of that they were generally vague. Object Oriented and Procedural are fairly straight forward (polymorphism excepted, but that's due to conflicting explanations and poor examples in texts), but Logical and Functional caused us as students and seemingly the text book writers too, much pain. You just have to know the main points, and memorise the code examples given. Other than that it comes down to the most convincing BS. In the HSC exam, the option topic took me around double the time they say you should allocate to it - i.e. over an hour.