Monday, November 7, 2011

Summary

I think throughout the semester my idea has definitely evolved and can potentially be a very succesful addition to college campuses. Although it started off as a simple idea and I really did not know all of the technological communication necessary, I think this can actually evolve into a realistic program. Through each lecture, I learned one new component necessary to make my idea to work better and I am sure there are a lot of other parts I must still learn about.
The project helped me to understand some of the information we learn in lecture in a different way than the labs do. In other words, although the labs help me to practice using certain topics, the blog helped me to relate it to the real world. Some lectures did not apply to my idea but it helped me to understand that creating something in the technology world is not easy and comes with many different parts.
I found the blogs to be fairly easy to write because I enjoy writing. It was interesting to write about computer parts and media because I have not done so before.

-Jamie

blog review

Arianna Huffington is a famous blogger; she is well known for her blog "Huffington post." She is a Greek American writer and columnist. Arianna was married to the former Republican congressman Michael Huffington. This helped her rise to national prominence because of the publicity from her husband; she soon became known as a reliable supporter of conservative causes. Her and her team was nomincated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety or Music Program after her Comedy Central coverage in the 1996 presidential election. She also had a few television appearances on shows such as Roseanne and How I met your Mother.
Huffington's blog became so well known that it recruited professional columnists and celebrity bloggers; it isone of the most influential and popular journals on the web. Many people it is a landmark moment in the evolution of web blogging. The topic of the "Huffington Post" is current events. It is an American news website that updates readers on current news topics through blogs. These blogs include factual,recent events along with opinions and comments.
You can access this blog through this link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

-Jamie

Monday, October 31, 2011

week 8- databases

Databases are used almost daily by most of the population. Since there are many different types of databases, the one we will use will be electronic. It will allow people to make decisions about what they would like to eat and it will also store all the information people put into the system as well as all options offered.
The database will sort all the information into catagories such as toppings, bread and meat so it is easy to keep track of it all. The type of database will be a flat file which is a simple, 2 demensional model with no specific rules for avoiding redundancies. This will work because the formatting does not have to be fancy; in fact, if it is simple it will be much less confusing and more efficient.
In this database, there will be multiple queries which will basically be questions for each student so they can order personal sandwiches. The way people will be able to "answer the questions" and place their order will be through a table. There will be a table-like format; each column will have all of the different options to make a sandwich and students will either fill in a bubble or type an "x" next to any ingredient they want added to their sandwich.

-Jamie

Monday, October 24, 2011

week 7- networks

Having a telecom network allow people to send messages to other locations in a secure, fast way. It is important to be knowlegable about this since that is the whole point of this APP. A modem is necessary to have in place in order to translate between each computer.
It will be important to have little to no latency when receiving orders. If orders are not receieved within a short amount of time, they may not be ready when can make a student late for class.
There are many steps a message goes through in order to reach the receiving computer from the sending one. With a correct network and modem in place, we should be able to allow students from different locations to send a message to the main computer in dining halls.
Overall, it will be important to set up a system to ensure fast, secure communication between students and dining halls.

-Jamie

Monday, October 17, 2011

Week 6- Advanced Hardware

I do not think this APP would need to use advanced hardware. It is not necessary to include too many sounds or pictures. The point of this APP is to be efficient and save time and by adding unnecessary things such as sounds, students can become distracted or bothered.
However, there are some possibilities to include advanced hardware. One being a sound to indicate to the student that their order has been sent; this would be very discreet so it does not alarm people around them. Another way a sound would be useful would be in the dining hall to notify the servers when an order has been placed.
Pictures should not be used because it will be important for the pictures to be accurate to the actual food and that may be hard to produce on a small cellphone. Since there is no way to transmit smells to people via computers, we cannot do that. Although, it would be a great marketing technique to help sell items!

-Jamie

Monday, October 10, 2011

Week 5- Hardware cont.

Along with all of the internal hard and software that is necessary for this program to work, the computers and cell phones must have the correct physical hardware. Although I will not be responsible for actually building the computers we will use in the dining halls, there are parts that must be purchased. Most of these are already included if wesimply purchase a laptop or desktop computer.
One important part that must be included is the motherboard, this is the piece of hardware that is the base to your entire computer and alomst all other pieces are attached to it. It is worthwhile to spend a great deal of money on this piece since it will tell the other parts of the computer how to function. If your motherboard is not working or does not last for a long time, my program will eventually have problems.
Other parts include a memory and a case. A case is the face of the machine and it controls the air flow. It is also worthwhile to purchase an expensive case because I do not want the system to over heat and shut down. Each piece of hardware is crucial because if the system is shut down for a long period of time the students will not be happy and it will cause chaos and difficulty in the dining halls. 

-Jamie

Monday, October 3, 2011

Week 4- Hardware

This application will have encoded information that displays options and directions to students so they know how to operate the ordering system. Form will allow students to input what they would like to order. There will be mutlitple ways for them to order including drop down menus to pick toppings, meat and bread and a text box where they can enter any special instructions.
Although it may seem like there are a lot of choices, each item will be binary. Which means, either yes or no. For example, when a student inputs that they would like turkey but no other meat the computer willl read it as 1 for turkey (1=yes) and 0 for all other meats (0=no). Each option (bread and toppings) will be binary as well.
This will enable students to have simple yes/no options to make their lunch. However, they will also be able to feel in control and specialize their order by typing in their own istructions.

-Jamie