one piece of the puzzle

So the interim report was submitted today, its the first piece of the puzzle as I like to see it, I was happy enough with the PDF document I submitted although I didnt get to proff read it as much as I would have liked. I had changed some stuff but the college PDF converter completely messed up the conversion so I left it as it was so I hope it was ok.

Next is the presentation so I have to find time to prepare my slide show for that. I feel completely rushed and I'm in no way happy with most of this semesters work either within the project or other modules.

I'm not particularly good at presentations either so I'm not really looking forward to this one as although I feel like I have covered alot of research on Android I also feel that with more time I could also cover alot more in alot more detail.

So I unsure about the presentation at this point

Post Supervisor Meeting Report

Meeting went pretty well, Dermot just edited some of the text to re word it better and make it fit better within the context of my project.
I also have to talk a bit about the use of xml to create views in Android and why it is used or what benefits it has.

There is not too much additional work to be done to get it just right so I'm pretty happy with it and hopefully its good enough to help me aim for a distinction.

The deadline approaches

So the deadline for submission of the interim report is on monday and I have finally tidied up everything I have done in the report and the literature review. I have a project meeting with my supervisor now at 10 and I'm looking forward to seeing what he thinks about the content of my report.

Hopefully there will be no major issues with it as due to the time constraint and the amount of other work we have I wont have much time to edit the document substantially over the wekend, so hopefully I haven't made a total mess of it. My main concern is that the content is valid and meaningfull and that I haven't left something major out.

I'll post the feedback Dermot gives me after the meeting.

Literature Review Update

Currently working on finishing up my literature review, for today I decided to dedicate my time, to reviewing what I had, tidying it up and adding finishing touches to parts that required them. To finish off the review I am looking at a current Android application that exists and what I would like to take from it.

After I finish that then I need to redo my proposed solution as it is completely disjointed at the minute and also tidy up my plan for progress and add my references and appendices.

all in all I'm semi happy with what I have at the moment, unfortunately I missed a meeting with my supervisor last friday but I with a meeting this friday, hopefully Dermot will address any problems with the interim report and I can fix them over the weekend ready for submission on monday

The sands of time are ebbing away....

This week is an absolute disaster, with mounting projects and time running out I don't think I can devote as much time to my main project as I would have liked, I had planned to create a little application that uses Androids location API but I may not have time for that now. I also feel I'm rushing my interim report a bit and not getting a chance to edit it as I would like.

Just to remind myself I have to do the following projects along with the main project

-Create a Blackjack Java Applet
-Create a mobile app that uses RMS data storage
-Create and improve upon a Pong Java Applet
-Create an Email client using RMI
-Create a Timetable Application using Scrum Development process

And then there's the project too.

So its gonna be a hectic 2 weeks or so

Overdue Update

Been awhile since I posted, Projects backlog has taken over and its been hard to find time to update this blog, my website is also long over due an update too but this blog will have to do for now.

I have been working on both my literature review and learning Android.

I am nearly finished creating a Sudoku game for Android and I have also found an open source application that uses the location API of Android that I will hopefully get a chance to play around with.

I am about half way through my literature review, It has good content on the types of development platforms there are, the opportunities for mobile applications, a bit about Android, I just have to write a bit more about what I want to do it and how I will achieve that

SuperVisor Meeting Report

After a meeting with my supervisor Dermot, I now have some points to focus on for the project.

I have decided to look into location aware applicationss, research the area and whats being done in the area, I have looked up a sample android program called breadcrumbs that uses androids location api and I plan to base my application on something similiar.

Breadcrumbs allows the user to use a gps system to get around but it displays pictures of the area to show the user where to go.

For the next week or so I have tasked myself with

-Researching Wireless/Mobile areas
-Reading IEEE and ACM articles
-Research development platforms
-getting/reading Android Books

Mini Update

So I've downloaded the Android SDK along with the plug in for eclipse, I have played around with it a bit and looked at some of the demo's and examples that come with the SDK.

This is all software side though so I plan to concentrate more on reading up on research related topics this week, I have found an ebook that I will probably buy to have a read and a few blogs to start with, of course I will have to find more academic stuff to make sure my research is adaquate and accurate.

My project website is also up and I'm happy with the design of it now, you can keep an eye on it at http://www.donalrafferty.com

Project Research

I have provided my project proposal on my Android application proposal, so just waiting to hear if it is accepted or needs to be changed.

In the propsoal I have only vaguely described that I wanted to create an android mobile application, So this week I decided to look into what kind of application I could create, I went to the ADC Galler which is a description of the top applications that were programed for Android during a competition for developers.

I found a program that allows users to take pictures and create a route of pictures so people can visually see where they have to go to get to a destination in a building or on the street. I thought this was a nice idea so I have decided to look into a slightly less complex version and maybe create an application that will allow students find areas in the DKIT building.

So I plan to look into the API's I may require to do this and anything else I may require along the way

Project Proposal

I have decided that I will do my project on googles new programming platform known as Android.

I will try to create a mobile application using the open source Android platform that google has developed specifically for its new G1 mobile that is set to rival Apples Iphone.

I hope to create an application and also compare the android platform to the MIDP platform that we will be learning in the mobile platform development module in our course.

First Post!

This is my blog where I will be posting information about my 4th year software development project, its a substantle year long project where I have to create a piece of software and document everything along with it.

This is part of the documentation process I suppose, I'll be posting issues and hopefully successes along the way.

For now I must come up with an idea to do my project on, which is proving to be harder than I believed.

Hopefully I'll have that sorted soon