Personal Blogs

In the last blog entry I was worried that I would even continue to the end of the Honours. It depended on me passing TM352. In my heart I couldn't believe that I would fail but I had to have a plan - I always have a plan! I didn't fail. I got a Grade 3 - which given that I didn't answer 30% of the questions in the EMA was very good. This meant that I could continue with TM470.

TM470 TMA03 went in on 4th July and I hoped for a quick turnaround so that I could have. as long as possible to work on the EMA (10,000 words!). However, I had to wait until yesterday to get my result. It was a little disappointing as, previously, I had got 70% and 81%. I ended up with 66% but it seems that there was a gaping hole in my report. In the Learning Outcome groups I got 16, 7, 15,14, and 14. As you can see, I am pretty consistent in my marks - except LO4/LO6/LO7. These are the areas where I am supposed to get others involved in the project to comment and offer suggestions. Plus, it seems that I must quote lots of sources of information to back up my project. 

Well, firstly, I have tried to get others involved but instead of discussing what I am doing as an overall project those that have commented seem to either believe that I am designing a system based on 1970s technology or that I am trying to emulate a "real" railroad. "Why aren't you using SQL; wouldn't searching be quicker if you used SQL - and so on. Well, I am working in a disposable world - once you have defined and run a single train, all that you need to know is where everything ended up. Retaining the train details, etc. isn't necessary. Hence, I am using an Amazon-like Key/Value database where I can quickly get the one piece of information that I need and save back a new copy.

With regards to the "real" railroad - the immensely complicated Java Model Railroad Interface includes a supremely competent routing package - under "Operations" but it is way to complex for people who just want to "run the next train" on a small model railroad.

The other problem is one of quoting sources. The only relevant sources for explaining and assisting in my project are either books that I own - i.e. not in an on-line library - or similar items of software already available. The books that I have are quite detailed at the level I am working but my tutor doesn't seem impressed that I am using 1950s documentation. However, as I am modelling a railroad system that ceased to be around 1975, then these books are very relevant. After 1975, railroads moved much more heavily to intermodal traffic and the - we deliver to your factory - hasn't disappeared but is not very common nowadays. The existing systems are either PC/Mac based or spreadsheet packages. My project is to develop a tablet front end using technologies and techniques gained from my OU studies. It is NOT to develop a commercial package that suits everyone's needs. That would be an impossible task in the timeframe of TM470. As it is, because of the TM352 fiasco, I have had to drop some of my functionality so that I can have a working version by 11th September.

Happy days. I am currently struggling to build a dynamic HTML table using JavaScript and the data from my database. Once that is sorted, all I have left to do is to build the tablet interface to the - build a train, run a train, confirm new locations - functionality and the software will be done. Then, I have to try and grasp what my tutor is telling me and to compose a 10,000 word report that will get me a Grade 2 or 3. I am hoping for a Grade 2 in which case I ought to get a 2.1 Hons. That will do me at 72 years of age.