Spring
Term, 2006
BA 272 - BUSINESS APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT
Syllabus:
About BA272:
BA
272, "Business Application Development,"
provides students with foundational skills in the disciplined
development of business application software. These skills are a
prerequisite for success in course BA 371. They are also required for
professional success in business application system analysis, design,
and project management. The software development environment used in BA
272 is Microsoft Visual
Studio .NET® and the Visual
Basic .NET® programming
language, an exceptionally productive
and effective development platform which is widely employed in
enterprise computing.
BA272
is an introduction to the world of
business software application development. To do this we will use one
of the world's most popular and powerful software development
environments, MicrosoftVisual
Studio .NET,
and the most popular language in that environment, Visual
Basic .NET. Visual
Basic .NET
is an
extremely productive way to develop production-quality business
applications which run well, perform robustly, and integrate well with
other software packages. Because Visual
Basic .NET
provides an excellent return for application developers' time, it is
also a real kick to use. I'm sure you will enjoy learning to develop
business applications in Visual
Basic .NET.
- Visual
Basic .NET
is not just a
minor revision of previous versions of Visual
Basic. It is a
top-to-bottom redesign, focused on the needs of business application
developers of the 21st century. It includes:
- Fully
Object-Oriented structure.
- Cross-language
development through the use of managed
code.
- Structured
exception handling.
- Greatly enhanced
Web services.
- Data portability
via XML.
Textbook
and other instructional aids:
- Visual
Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
- by E. Doke and S.R.
Williams
- published by Course
Technology
- ISBN 0-619-16010-1
(2005)
- is available at
the OSU bookstore
- (You won't really
need the DVD that originally came
with this book.)
- WebSites:
- We will make very extensive use of
OSU's Blackboard
course-management WebSite:
- Students registered in this course, and who have ONID
accounts, may access the BA272 Blackboard
site by logging in at:
http://my.oregonstate.edu/
- The BA272 Blackboard
site
will be your primary contact for all
your work in the
course.
- A much-used
feature of the BA272 Blackboard
site will be its Discussion
Board.
- The Blackboard
Discussion Board
will be the principal means by which students can keep in touch with
the instructor, and each other, between class sessions.
- To
achieve maximum success in BA272, you
should develop the habit of logging into the BA272 Blackboard
site and its Discussion Board
daily (7 days per week).
Grading:
-
| Programming Homework
Assignments |
25% |
| In-Class
Exercises (part of our
Thursday's classes) |
30% |
| On-Line
Quizzes |
5% |
| Hands-On
Lab MidTerm Exam |
15% |
| Hands-On
Lab Final Exam |
25% |
| Total |
100% |
- Tentative
and approximate grade ranges:
A=90-100%, B=80-89%, C=70-79%, D=60-69%, and F=0-59%
Note:
Final course grades will be adjusted so
that the class GPA approximately corresponds to COB policy expectations.
- "Incomplete"
grades:
Subject to OSU Academic Regulations, if a student has satisfactorily
completed most of the course work, but has encountered an emergency
which, in the instructor's judgment, is sufficiently serious, a grade
of "Incomplete" may be assigned.
- Other policies
regarding grading and course management
will be determined as provided by OSU Academic Regulations.
- The Gradebook
feature of the course Blackboard
site will be used to record all grades.
Students can review all of their own grades in the course at any time
by consulting the Gradebook.
Note that the Gradebook
does not provide the mathematical
functions necessary to calculate grade totals.
Time
commitment required for this course:
- A rule-of-thumb for
college courses is that you should
expect to spend 2 hours outside of class for each 1 hour in class.
So, "do the math": Our course meets for 4 class hours per week.
Therefore you should expect to devote at least 8 hours per week to your
own individual encounters with the Muse of Visual
Basic .NET.
The True Geeks
among you will devote much more!
Programming
Homework Assignments:
- There will be a
programming homework assignment for each
chapter covered in the text. The assignments will be posted on the
course
Blackboard
site.
- Each programming
assignment must
be
contained in its own properly-named folder. You must
use a Zip archiving program (there is one built into Windows XP, or you
may use a 3rd-party archiving program such as WinZip) to archive the
folder containing your programming assignment.
- You must submit your
assignments on-line via the Blackboard
"Digital Drop Box".
-
- (See tips on
how to do this, below.)
- Note: other
arrangements for on-line submitting of
assignments may be developed during the term.
If so, they will be announced in class and on the course Blackboard
site.
- Each programming
assignment must be submitted one
hour
before the beginning of class on
the date due, i.e. by
5:00pm Assignments will be
marked down 3 points (out of 10
points possible) for being late and
will not be accepted more than
one week late for any reason.
- Each programming
assignment will be worth a maximum of 10
points. Points will be earned as follows:
- 1 point:
satisfactory on-time completion of the
assignment, and attendance in
class on the due date, with
the willingness to present the assignment to the class and explain:
- how it works.
- why you
programmed it the way you did.
- 9 points: program
quality evaluated according to the VB
Scoring Guide.
Note:
If the instructor needs more information
in order to evaluate an assignment, he will make an appointment for the
student to come to his office and explain the assignment in depth.
- Programming
Homework Assignments will be graded.
Students will receive feedback on the following Tuesday.
- The proper format for
submitting programs is illustrated
in the Instructions for
submitting
the first programming assignment
and the VB
Coding Standards.
- Note: Students
are responsible for assuring
that assignments are submitted in the proper format and that all
required files are included. In the case of assignments submitted
On-Line, this includes the responsibility to find and use a reliable
network connection to the Blackboard
server. If you are in
any doubt about the reliability of an off-campus network connection,
you are advised to submit your assignment from on campus.
The
instructor cannot
make allowances for a student's failure to
submit an assignment because the student's home computer crashed,
Internet connection failed, dog ate modem, etc. etc.
- When
you ZIP your folder for submission, test it to
make sure it can be unzipped to a new location on your computer's hard
drive and that the unzipped result contains all the necessary files.
Similarly, when you upload your Zip file, test the transfer by
downloading and unzipping it. The professional "Net Geek" attitude
about file transfers is "skepticism verging on paranoia".
- The
instructor cannot
be responsible for
notifying students about assignments that were not completely received
before the deadline.
- Note that the
programming assignments exercise most
but not all
of the skills required for mastery of the course
material. Students are strongly
urged to practice their
Visual Basic programming skills by carefully following the examples and
tips in the text, as well as by "recreational"
programming
outside of the assignments.
- Note:
to understand and complete the chapters and
projects in the textbook you will probably find it useful to consult
the data files that the textbook publisher has provided. The files are
posted as downloadable Course Documents on the course Blackboard
site, or you may be able to download them directly from the publisher's
WebSite listed above.
- Some tips on how to
use the Blackboard
"Digital Drop Box":
- The Digital Drop
Box enables students to exchange
files with the Instructor.
- A file added to
the Drop Box will not appear to the
Instructor until it has been sent. Once a file has been sent to the
Instructor, it cannot be removed from the Drop Box.
- After you have
logged into Blackboard
and our BA272 course, follow the steps below:
- Click Tools
on the course menu.
- Select Digital
Drop Box. The
following functions are available from the Digital Drop Box page:
- Add File:
Upload files to your Drop Box.
- Send
File: Send a file to the Instructor.
- Remove:
Remove a file from your Drop Box.
- The following
date and time information is included in
files:
- Files sent to
the Instructor will show the date
and time submitted.
- Files that
are added to the Drop Box but not sent
will show the date and time posted.
- Files sent
from the Instructor will show the date
and time received.
- Note: The date
and time displayed in each instance is
the date and time on the Blackboard server.
In-Class
Exercises:
- Each Thursday's
class will be devoted
mainly to an In-Class Exercise during which students will
practice
the skills covered in the chapter which we are studying. (Note: There
will also be an In-Class Exercise on the Tuesday of the last (10th)
week of class.)
- In-Class Exercises
must be completed in-class, in person.
- At the appropriate
time during each Thursday's class, the
instructor will give instructions for the In-Class Exercise.
- During the class
session (up until 7:50pm), students will
complete the In-Class Exercise, with the instructor's help as needed
and possible.
- At the end of the
class session (7:50pm), students will
transfer their In-Class Exercise solutions to a file share which will
be designated
(The temporary default location will be the Blackboard
"Digital DropBox".)
- Each In-Class
Exercise must
be contained in its own properly-named folder. You must
use a Zip archiving program (there is one built into Windows XP, or you
may use a 3rd-party archiving program such as WinZip) to archive the
folder.
- The In-Class
Exercises will be briefly
graded; students will receive feedback on the following Tuesday.
- There will be 9
In-Class Exercises.
- Your grade for
the In-Class Exercises portion of the
course (30% of the course grade) will be the average of your best 7
In-Class Exercise grades.
- If you are absent
on the day of a In-Class Exercise or
are present but do not submit it, of course your grade for that
In-Class Exercise will be zero.
- Since,
as above, up to two In-Class
Exercises can be missed without any grade penalty, there will be no
make-up In-Class Exercises for any reason.
On-Line
Quizzes:
- There will be an
On-Line quiz for each chapter covered in
the text. The quizzes will be given via Blackboard.
The quizzes may be taken from any computer on the Internet.
- Obviously, quizzes
administered in this way are
necessarily "open book". You are expected to find your own answers to
the quiz questions. The main purpose of the quizzes is so you can check
your comprehension of the chapter study material. To help toward this
goal, students are strongly encouraged to complete each quiz before
we finish our class discussion of the chapter. Reviewing the Summary at
the end of the chapter will be helpful in mastering the quizzes.
- All the quizzes will
be enabled in advance of the week(s)
during which the chapter will be discussed in class, so that students
may work ahead. Each quiz will be turned off
at 10:00PM
on the date designated. The chapter study assignments and the dates
when the corresponding quiz will be turned off
are
listed on the Course
Schedule
posted
on this Web server, and also on the Schedule
of the course Blackboard site.
- There
are no "make up" quizzes for any reason,
although the lowest quiz grade will be discarded.
- Students
have the responsibility to find
and use a reliable network connection to the Blackboard server
in order to take the On-Line quizzes. If you are in any doubt about the
reliability of an off-campus network connection, you are advised to
take the On-Line quiz from on campus. The instructor cannot make
allowances because the student's home computer crashed, Internet
connection failed, etc.
Exams:
- MidTerm
exam: One MidTerm exam,
worth 15% of the course credit,
will be given during a class time as listed on the Course
Schedule.
The exam will consist
of one or more practical programming problems which you will complete
as well as possible during the avaiIn-Classle 1 hour and 50 minutes.
You may use your textbook and class notes for reference during the
exam. We will have an in-class review session to prepare for the exam,
and I will provide one or more sample problems which you can work on to
prepare for it.
- Final
exam: The Final exam,
worth 25% of the course credit, will
be given in our regular classroom at the time scheduled for it
by
the OSU Academic Calendar as listed on the Course
Schedule.
The exam will consist of one or more practical
programming problems which you will complete as well as possible during
the avaiIn-Classle 1:50 hours. You may use your textbook and
class
notes for reference during the exam. We will have an in-class review
session to prepare for the exam, and I will provide one or more sample
problems which you can work on to prepare for it.
Class
attendance:
- For legal reasons,
instructors are advised to keep track
of students' attendance in class. In addition to considerations of
Class Participation, this is made necessary by the fact that some
Student Financial Aid programs require class attendance. Instructors do
not know which students may be enrolled in such Financial Aid Programs
until the end of the term, at which time attendance information may be
required. So the best policy, which will be followed in this course, is
for the instructor to take attendance at each class meeting. This
also helps the instructor learn students' names as quickly as possible.
Interacting with the Instructor, and other students,
outside of class:
- If things are not
going well for you in the class,
contact me, Parker Swanson.
Don't wait until the end of the term to
request help.
- The best
way to contact me is
by e-mail:
mailto:swansonp@bus.oregonstate.edu
- My office hours
for Winter 2006 term will be:
-
| Time |
Place |
|
Tue,
Thu: 5:00
- 6:00pm
|
Bx
402A
(Or, if a note is posted on the door, I may be working with students in:
- Bexell
basement computer In-Class
or
- Bx
324)
|
| or: |
By
appointment. |
- My office phone
number is: 541-737-2663
- Online
Discussion: As mentioned
above, a much-used feature of the
course Blackboard
site will be its Discussion
Board.
- The Blackboard
Discussion Board
will be the principal means by which students can keep in touch with
the instructor, and each other, between class sessions.
- Students with ONID
accounts may
access the BA272 Blackboard
site by logging
in at:
http://my.oregonstate.edu/
- To
achieve maximum success in BA272, you
should develop the habit of logging into the BA272 Blackboard
site and its Discussion Board
daily (7 days per week).
- If you see a
question posted by another student, feel
free to help if you know the answer. The instructor will also monitor
the Blackboard
Discussion Board
and respond
to questions.
- In general, it's
much better to bring up a subject on
the Blackboard
Discussion Board
instead of
e-mailing it to the instructor. The instructor strongly prefers that
all students should have access to all substantive discussions about
course material.
- A tip about using
the Blackboard
Discussion Board:
try to post your contributions under
the appropriate Topic. (For example, for most postings you can probably
think of someplace more appropriate than "General Topics".) You will
have the ability to create new Threads so that topics can branch
appropriately.
- Another tip: If,
as usual, you are asking about a Visual
Basic .NET
program, code snippets copied from your
program and pasted into a text message are of very
little use. In order to figure out what your problem is, the instructor
(or other students) need your entire VB.NET
Solution,
in the form of a Zip file attached to your posting. After you have made
your posting with its attached Zip file containing your VB.NET
Solution, check that it was
properly posted by downloading the
Zip file, extracting it to a new location on your computer hard drive,
and opening the resulting VB.NET
Solution in Visual Studio
.NET.
Skills
required for success in this course:
- Time
management: The ability to plan
ahead, start
assignments early, ask for needed help early, and submit assignments
according to specifications and on time.
- Patience:
The ability to look calmly at a problem,
analyze how to solve it, and concentrate on its solution.
- Skill
in analytical and logical problem-solving:
A
genuine liking for solving puzzles, and satisfaction in having done
your best work to produce a solution.
- A
sense of humor: Working with
computers humbles a
person every day. Learn not to take it personally!
Academic
Honesty Policy:
- Much of what you
learn in this course will be through
interactions with other students. As you will often teach each other,
it is difficult to draw the line between getting legitimate outside
assistance and outright cheating. Students who receive too much
assistance ultimately cheat themselves by not attaining the computer
skills needed in their college careers and the competition for jobs in
the "real world."
- Despite the preceding
disclaimer, you are to do your own
work on all activities and exams. Direct or indirect use of exams or
other student work from previous terms to complete your exams or
assignments is a violation of academic honesty. If you turn in all or
part of someone else's work as your own or allow someone else to turn
in your work as theirs, then you have committed a violation of academic
honesty and will be dealt with in accordance with regulations of the
University. Possible penalties include a failing grade for the work in
question, a failing grade for the course, and suspension from the
College or University.
Note
about cell phones in class:
- Please set your cell
phone ringer to "Vibrate Only" mode
(or turn it off) before you enter the classroom. If you need to answer
or place a call, please step outside the classroom while you do so.
Accomodations:
- Students who have any
emergency medical information the
instructor should know of, who need special arrangements in the event
of evacuation, or students with documented disabilities who may need
accommodations, should make an appointment with the instructor as early
as possible, no later than the first week of the term. If additional
assistance is required the student should contact the Office of
Disability Services.
Discrimination
or harassment:
- Discrimination or
harassment will not be tolerated in the
classroom. Most cases of discrimination or harassment violate Federal
and State laws and University Policies and Regulations. Intentional
discrimination or harassment will be referred to the Affirmative Action
Office and dealt with in accordance with the appropriate rules and
regulations.
- Unintentional
discrimination or harassment is just as
damaging to the offended party, but it usually results from people not
understanding the impact of their remarks or actions on others, or an
insensitivity to the feelings of others. We must all strive to work
together to create a positive learning environment. This means that
each individual should be sensitive to the feelings of others and
tolerant of the remarks and actions of others. If you find the remarks
and actions of another individual offensive, please bring it to their
attention. If you believe those remarks and actions constitute
intentional discrimination or harassment, please bring it to your
instructor's attention.
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