Crunching Public Data new Online Course

Code Lesson: Crunching Public Data

This course is available for pre-enrollment at Code Lesson.

The course Description:

Go beyond the spreadsheet! Crunching Public Data is an introductory programming course intended specifically for public- and private-sector knowledge workers who want to make sense of data stored in tabular format, then analyze and visualize it in meaningful ways. In the course we make use of actual data from the US government site data.gov to give students real-world experience with data analysis, particularly with data sets in the megabyte to gigabyte range that are larger than spreadsheets can typically handle.

This has a lot of promise for the CS Principles Data Portfolio - cant wait to see what they cover. The plan is to use Python to do the processing.

Read More..

Spam video new symbol keys new seating chart

Reminder:  vocab definitions for vocab list #6 are due tonight!  Here is how many definitions still need to be completed:  1st hour - 4; 2nd hour - 6; 3rd hour - 6; 5th hour - 10; 6th hour - 8. After watching todays video we will again be learning more symbols on the keyboard.  Normally what we learned yesterday would take 2 days to go through, but since weve fallen behind a little I wanted to try and catch up a little by doubling up on the symbols.  So, well review what we learned yesterday and then continue with the new keys today.

The new keys we will be learning will be the # (right shift + L2), & (left shift + R1), + (left shift + R4), @ (right shift + L3), (  (right shift + R3), and )   (left shift + R4).

Read More..

New symbol keys

WARMUP:
P. 41, 17D lines 1-6 once

NEW KEYS:
P. 42, 18B, lines 1-3 twice (# = right shift key + L2)
P. 42, 18B, lines 4-6 twice (& = left shift key + R1)
P. 42, 18B, lines 7-9 twice (+ = left shift key + R4)

Well see where we are at when we get done with these as to what we do next.

Read More..

Vocabulary technique and new keys

With the long layoff, we have several things we need to cover.

1. Vocabulary - we will still have our regularly scheduled vocab quiz this Friday.  In order to keep things on track we have to stay with our original schedule for quizzes.  However, I will add an additional day for those who still have not posted their definitions.  This means that for those of you who have not completed this it MUST! get done by tonight.
2. Technique - we will have a technique grade again this week, even though it is a short week.  One thing regarding technique grades - if you miss the majority of a week when we have technique I will take the next technique grade we have and double it.
3. Our main priority continues to be to learn the keyboard.  We will add in some other things as we go, but until we learn all of the keys learning and practicing will be the major emphasis of things in class.

Today we will review the keys we have learned and add in the U (R1) and the C (L2).

Read More..

Learn new symbols

THIS WEEK:

*Formatting Activity 3 & 4
*Learn new keys:  symbols
*Technique grade

At this point Im sure were all tired of learning the keyboard, but rest assured that youre making great progress!  We really are nearing the end of learning the keys...my goal is to get these done as soon as we can so we can move on to bigger and better things in class.

So, with that in mind, we are going to try to get through the rest of the symbols this week (which should be easy to do).  We dont have a vocab quiz this week which will also help.

Warmup:  P. 40, 17B, lines 1-9 once

P. 41:
17C lines 1-3 twice (% = right shift key + L1)
17C lines 4-6 twice (< = left shift key + R2)
17C lines 7-9 twice (> = left shift key + R3)

P. 42:
18B lines 1-3 twice (# = right shift key + L2)
18B lines 4-6 twice (& = left shift key + R1)
18B lines 7-9 twice (+ = left shift key + R4)

Additionally, there are only 2 weeks left in the first quarter, which ends on October 10th.  We get out an hour early this Friday for Homecoming, and then have all next week.  Next week there will be a vocab quiz (#5 - Internet #1), which we will take on Friday, which is the last day of the first quarter.  BE PREPARED!!

Read More..

Vocabulary Google reminders new seating chart Learn Left Shift Key and period

At the beginning of the hour we will move to our new seats.

Once at your new seats you can log into your Google account.  We are going to look at how the vocabulary for class works.  This involves using information that is on the class blog and setting up reminders in your Google account (Ill show you how to do this today).  We have our first vocab quiz next week, so some of you will need to get definitions right away.  The only thing we wont be able to go over today is how to use Wikispaces, the website we will use to post definitions on.  We will cover how to do that tomorrow.

After going through the vocabulary information we will learn 2 new keys; however, todays keys are not letters.  Instead we will learn the Left Shift key (L4) and the period (R3).

Read More..

Finish FA3 new symbols

REMINDERS:
Crossword puzzle 1-4 is due tomorrow
Vocab definitions for week 5 vocab list are due next Tuesday

TODAY:
Finish FA3 - it should be emailed (make sure to complete your email correctly)

Once you are done with FA3 you need to open your book to page 43 and type lines 1-9 twice on 18D.  @ = right shift key + L3
( = left shift key + R3
) = left shift key + R4

When you get done with these raise your hand so I can see that you are done, and then you can go to the practice websites.  Tomorrow we are going to begin a speed test tournament (we wont get it all done in one day), and you should see the brackets posted on the walls.  This is simply for fun!!  I will explain that in greater detail tomorrow.

Read More..

1st full week learning new keys

THIS WEEK:

Learn the following keys on the keyboard - H, E, I, R, O, T
Google - Add a signature and add a contact
Technique grade sheet

TODAY:
We will spend the beginning of the hour reviewing the home row.  After reviewing we will then add 2 new keys - the H and the E. 

What we are using is called a QWERTY keyboard (you should be able to find where QWERTY is on the keyboard); there is another keyboard called the DVORAK keyboard, but it is very uncommon (designed in the early 1900s; see image below).  The QWERTY keyboard has been in existence since 1870, but didnt become really popular until about 15 years later.  Ever since that time, however, it has been the standard for keyboard layouts.

The purpose of the QWERTY keyboards layout is to avoid having keys stick together as they were being typed - the idea was to have a layout in which you alternated using your hands often while typing - this helped to eliminate having the typewriter arms get stuck.  The DVORAK keyboards purpose was to have the most commonly used keys on the home row - thus your fingers moved less while typing, but the problem was that the keys got stuck more often.
 

Just a few things to keep in mind as you are keying:

1. When keying your forearms should not be resting on your thighs.  Remember that your fingers are the only "things" touching anything - everything else on your lower arm should not be touching the keyboard, countertop, or anything else.
2. If you keep your keyboard at the edge of the countertop you will avoid having issues with #1 above.  This will also be a benefit when it comes to the technique sheet and grading.
3. The speed skins will move slightly as you are typing - I understand your frustration in this regard, but do the best that you can.
4. In order to be able to key at a proficient level you need to fight through the urge to constantly look at your keyboard (thats part of why we have the speed skins).  This will probably be a "weird sensation" - you are used to using your visual senses to help you accomplish what you do on a daily basis.  However, we want to get to a point where looking at your keyboard is not necessary.

Read More..

Keypad practice and new keys

We will review the keys that we learned yesterday on the key pad.  Once we are done with the review we will learn the other numbers on the keypad.

And then...we will be completely done with learning keys on the keyboard!

Read More..

Whats New in AutoCAD 2011 Part 1

The new start up screen in AutoCAD 2011. Make sure to go through the New features Workshop to see whats new.

AutoCAD 2011, the 25th release of Autodesk’s world famous design program AutoCAD, has been released. It has many updates, new features, and new tools added to it. Some of the more flashy additions are the new surface modeling tools as well as the new point cloud abilities. But perhaps the greatest additions are the new design tools that are intended to help your design process and workflow.

This is the first in a six part series. To see the other posts, follow the following links:
Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six


Changes to the Interface
Don’t be afraid, AutoCAD doesn’t have a new interface again, only a few tweaks. Rest assured that the default background color has changed again. It is now a dark gray. If you want to change it, open the OPTIONS window, go to the Display tab, and click on the Colors button. Pick the option, and then pick the color you want it to be. Since AutoCAD is often used for design drafting purposes, Autodesk decided to change the visual display of the grid to an actual grid instead of the series of dots we have all known and loved for so many years. I have to say that I “never” use the grid; but, now that it looks like graph paper, I will give it a try. Drawing on graphing paper has always been fun, maybe this new feature will make drawing in AutoCAD even more fun than it ever was before!

The grid feature in AutoCAD is now displayed as lines in a graph instead of a series of dots.

The Quick Access Toolbar has had a face lift. It now displays the name of the current workspace. The workspace selection field has been move from the status bar and placed in the QAT. Click the selection arrow to change your workspace. Out of the box, the QAT now contains the Save As tool.

Navigation has a new tool. Yes another! This new tool is called the Navigation Bar. It replaces the navigation tools that were previously on the Status Bar. It can be moved around to either the left or right side of the screen, or to either the top or bottom of your screen. You can even turn it off you want to. The Navigation Bar has the Steering Wheel on it, the View Cube, Show Motion, Pan, Zoom and Orbit. If you are using a 3D Connexion Device (a 3D Mouse) then the Navigation Bar has integrated support for it, when AutoCAD sees the appropriate hardware driver. On top of that, the View Cube can now be used with the 2D Wireframe visual style. If you like the View Cube in 3D, try it out in 2D.

The UCS Icon was changed to show a different color for each axis. Red is for the X axis. Green is for the Y axis. Blue is for the Z axis. The cones at the end of each axis line have been removed.

The Ribbon
The Ribbon has had some minor tweaks and twists added to it; nothing major, just some cosmetic surgery so to say. A new pull down menu option has been added to the Minimize Ribbon arrow button. Before 2011, when you clicked the Ribbon Minimize Arrow, the Ribbon would cycle through all of the possible minimize options one at a time. Now you can set that as the default setting, or you can tell which one of the options (minimize to Tabs, Panel titles, Panel Buttons, or all) you want the Ribbon to Minimize too. This is handy because you can toggle through the full Ribbon, to just the titles, or whichever setting you prefer. If you minimize the Ribbon to Panel Buttons, large icons are shown for each panel. You can expand them by hovering over them, just like when the Ribbon is minimized to Panel titles.

The View Tab of the Ribbon has a new Windows Panel. It is similar to the Windows Pull Down Menu form the Menubar of old. This panel has options to choose between open files, tiling of open files, toolbar display options and user interface options. The toolbar display options works just like right clicking on an open toolbar. It lists the available toolbars in your workspace. Here you can toggle specific toolbars on or off.
A new Fold Panels feature has been added to the Ribbon. When you change the size of the AutoCAD window, add or remove Ribbon Panels, the Fold Panels feature comes into play. Fold Panels resize themselves horizontally to fill the available space. When you make a panel a Fold Panel, you can define default, minimum and maximum button sizes.

Visual Styles
AutoCAD has had five visual styles available for us to use: 2D Wireframe, 3D Wireframe, 3D Hidden, Conceptual, and Realistic. AutoCAD 2011 has added five more visual styles. They are: Shaded, Shaded with Edges, Shades of Gray, Sketchy, and X-ray.

AutoCAD 2011 has added five new Visual Styles, each one having a different look

Visually Isolating Objects
AutoCAD 2011 has given us new visual display control tools. These new tools allow us to control the visibility of objects outside of the layer controls. We can now isolate objects based on selection and not just on layer values. These new tools are accessed through the right-click menu. When you use the Isolate Objects tool, only the selected objects will be seen. All other objects are hidden. Right click again to make everything visible again. The second visibility tool is the Hide Objects tool. This tool hides the selected objects, keeping everything else visible. This is useful when you need to work in a busy area of your model. You can use both visual tools at the same time, meaning that you can hide certain objects first, then isolate a few of the remaining objects. Once you have finished working, right-click and pick the End Object isolation tool. Isolated or hidden objects will remain in that state if you end your drawing session. The status bar has an icon that looks like a light bulb. If it is yellow, no objects are isolated or hidden. If it is red, then objects are either isolated, hidden, or both. You can also click the light bulb to start either tool.

Conclusion
AutoCAD 2011 has added many new and useful tools. We have only begun going through them. There are even more 2D tools that we haven’t touched yet and there are tremendously powerful new 3D modeling tools now available to us in AutoCAD. Stay tuned.

(Reprinted with permission from Autodesk User Group International - AUGI)

Read More..

Napsters New Serivce Review

Napster has recently just come out with a new subscription offering that sounds almost too good to be true. Their website states, “Get 5 MP3 credits and unlimited access to on-demand music with a plan starting at $5 a month.” First time reading this I was optimistic thinking they were giving the user a Zune subscription service for only $5 a month and on top of that allowing you to keep 5 tracks DRM free each month.

Well they do offer the same service that Zune where you can put unlimited songs on your mp3 player while under the subscription, but that is a completely different service called Napster to go and it costs $15 a month which is the same price as Zunes service.

The $5 plan only allows you to stream their 7 million song collection on your desktop pc and only the 5 DRM free track each month are able to go on your ipod/mp3 player. Napster has also included more than 60 commcial-free radio stations, over a 1,000 pre-programmed playlists, and a feature similar to Pandora to create your own playlists.

Overall sounds like a good deal if you listen to music mainly at your computer, but for people who mainly listen to music on your iPod then this is not for you.

Read More..