Entries Tagged 'school' ↓

A few months ago I started using a program called MindManager. It’s a very powerful program used to create very aesthetically pleasing mind maps. I’ve been using it as a primary method of note taking in most of my classes. It doesn’t work so well for math, but for anything else, it’s a great option. I like it particularly because it easily allows me to link ideas together by adding relationships within the map, which aids me in recalling the information later.

There is also a feature that lets you add attachments to topics within the map, so that you can add pictures, or anything else that is appropriate. The reason I started using this to take notes was because I watched this video, which is a very good example of how students can make use of this program.

However, it’s not only useful for students, it can be used for anything. I’ve also been using this program to plan out various projects at work, and the recipients of these maps have been very impressed.

I’ve tried out several free alternatives for mind mapping, including FreeMind, but none of them make the maps look as good as MindManager does. It is definitely worth the investment for the product.

MindManager is available for both Windows and Mac.

A while ago on Lifehacker, they did a series called “Show Us Your Go Bag“, where the readers sent in tagged pictures of the contents of their go bag. I never got around to actually sending them a picture of mine, so I’m going to post it here. Clicking on the picture will take you to Flickr where you can see the notes attached to it.

Here is the contents:

• Leather portfolio
• Umbrella (this has come in handy lately)
• Camera
• Large notebook
• Morning newspaper
• Binoculars
• 15-inch Macbook Pro
• Graph paper sticky notes (I got these in highschool, they are fantastic)
• Various pens and pencils
• Calculator
• Ethernet cable (Very thin and small, came with my Fonero)
• Moleskine notebook (to track my to-dos and work)

What’s in your go bag?

This past week marked the start of my re-entry into the world of Java programming. My first assignment in CP213: Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming was due today. I learned a few neat things while doing this assignment so I’m going to try to outline some of them in this post.

• Java has a very useful feature called Generics, and Eclipse will yell at you if you don’t use it.
  Generics allows you to define classes without a specified type. Instead, you can specify the type of an object by parameterizing it when it is initialized. This ensures that only objects of the specified type are inserted or removed from the initialized object. For this example I’ll use a stack:

  Stack<String> = new Stack<String>();

  As I’ve mentioned before, Eclipse is a very useful IDE, and thus is very strongly suggests parameterizing your stacks.

  

  Using code such as the above will yield the following:

  “Stack is a raw type. References to generic type Stack<E> should be parameterized”

  This can be easily fixed by parameterizing the code, as mentioned above.

  

  Not only will Eclipse not yell at you for using the latter code versus the former, but the latter will help ensure that only the appropriate data is inserted and removed from the stack.

• When using Javadoc, don’t use the @version tag.
  After struggling with Javadoc for a while trying to figure out why it wouldn’t properly display the version tag, just as a displays the author tag, I decided to do a little bit of googling on the subject. Eclipsepedia gave me a simple answer.

  

  Using the @version tag sort of works, but it doesn’t look as nice as the @author, or any of the other tags.

  

  Does anyone know of any way to get this to work properly? It does make sense to have a version tag for classes, so I’m not sure why it doesn’t work properly.

That about wraps it up for the tips I learned from this assignment. As I hack around with Java more, I’m going to try to post various tips that I come across.

If anyone has any tips to add to the above, or information pertaining to the @version tag, please let me know.

Well, simply put, writing an analysis of one is a terrible way to spend 6 hours on a Sunday afternoon.

On a more serious note however, it is WLU’s way of trying to help us understand problems in the business world. In reality, every case they give us takes place in Newfoundland and the only logical step seems to be to move the business to Ontario, because you’ll have a bigger market and your business won’t completely and utterly fail.

It would probably be more beneficial to analyze one every week in more detail rather than trying to cram two into every week. With everything else going on, some of it seems to just go right over my head.

The one thing that they do provide is practice for writing business reports. Although writing a business report may sound fairly easy when you first look at it, it can be quite the task. Some people find it very difficult to be very concise and keep their ideas flowing smoothly. I’ve never really had any difficulties with it but sometimes it just feels easier to write everything like an English essay.

It took me a few hours, but here it is, ready to be ripped apart. Once again, any feedback is appreciated.

Direct Link: jPod Essay