So I'm at the halfway mark (Trumpets and fireworks) 8 weeks down and 8 weeks to go.
This week was the second full project week and the task was to create an Android App on Android Studio and Java.
The task I picked was to create a basic ToDo list. Simple in principle when you have pen and paper, but gets hard when you want to program it in Java, and even harder when you add in Google Android operating system.
No matter I set about the task on the previous Friday and planned out a basic application in a used case diagram and imagined what classes I would need to create. I had been given some notes on how to use list views so put them into practice making a very basic application.
I wanted to add more functionality and have the ability to save any tasks created in the app. I had been recommended a book called Android the Big Nerd Ranch, so after a quick look online it found its way into my Kindle.
Monday I spent my time adding Java functionality and getting to grips with fragments and adding to a basic app.
Tuesday I added SQL lite and made my data persistent and saved it to memory.
Wednesday I spent the day playing with Androids equivalent of CSS and messed about with how the App would look, changing colors, fonts and adding a splash screen.
Thursday was a big presentation day where each Cohort had 15 minutes to demonstrate their project and explain how they had coded it and discuss how they got on.
In the morning I was all set, App ready and presentation-ready and set off from Stirling on the 7:17 am train to Edinburgh… I was then massively let down by Scot-rail at Linlithgow where an announcement to come over the tannoy to say because of a breakdown at Haymarket the train would terminate at Linlithgow and could we please kindly get off and busses would be provided in a couple of hours. Anyway long story short and in a John Candy-like movie script a knight in her Shiny Honda came to my rescue and had me on a tram into Edinburgh shortly after (Shout out to the Tiny Irish person... Thank You!)
The Presentations were brilliant again and it really is amazing to see how novice programmers can produce working apps and be able to talk all the jargon in just 8 weeks.
Well done guys, you are all stars each and every one of you. We may just have to start a Company called Cohort 7 and keep working together in February. That is unless we all go work for Ross-Tech. We shall see…