A290/A590
Tools for Computing/Topics in Programming:
Interface Design and Programming for the Web
with Visual Studio and Visual C#.

"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things,
not because they are easy, but because they are hard ..."

-President John F. Kennedy, Address at Rice University, September 12, 1962

Instructor: Jeff Whitmer

• Office: Luddy Hall 2050 (IF2050).
  
  
  • Office Hours:
    
  • By appointment only.
• Office Hour Special NOTES:
  • Any changes to my office hours will be posted here.
    • Tuesday, March 11, 2025: FIRST DAY THIS CLASS MEETS.
• Office: Luddy Hall 2050 (IF2050).
  
• Phone: 855-3974.
  
• E-mail: jwhitmer@iu.edu.

MEETING Times:

MEETINGS: Tuesday and Thursday: 9:35am - 10:50am (sections 5268 and 6033)
Miles Brand Hall I W109

Spring Semester 2025 Students
Please note the following:
[Updated: 4/22/25]

• Final Project Phase 2 scores posted and emails sent: Final Project Phase 2 scores are posted on Canvas. Everyone should have received an email with their score and some comments. For those who submitted, the overall class average of 33.55/70 or 47.92% for the class. This was an expectedly low average for the class. I am obliged to point out, however, the distribution that led to this average was also not good. There were two "groups" in this submission. One group scored between 40 and 70, while the other group scored from below 30 to 15. There were no scores of 70, 3 in the 50s, 1 in the 40s, 1 in the 30s, 5 in the 20s, and 1 in the "10s." Two students did not submit Phase 2 and were not included in these totals or averages. Those who scored below 30 either simply did not provide the level of detail expected in either their storyboards, or their written account of the logical/programming components, or one of those components was missing entirely. While many of the Phase 2 submissions were well-done, even those that scored in the 50s were almost all impacted by the complete omission of some (or at least one) of the required components clearly detailed on Pages 3-4 in the Final Project Description. It appears some of you did not carefully review that important document and/or failed to carefully consider the additional resources I shared in our class meetings before Phase 2a and 2b were due. Please keep in mind these sorts of oversights will have a very substantial impact if they are repeated in your Phase 3 deliverable. We will discuss this more in our remaining meetings.
  
  Another reminder to be very careful about what you use for audio, video, or images. DO NOT assume something is free/public-domain. You need to either confirm that it is, or find something else, or create it yourself. Unless you have checked with me in advance, as some of you have, we will not be "understanding" about this issue, if you are careless in this regard. IMPORTANT NOTE: All resources you use that are not your own must be clearly credited in the "Comments" for that page, including the URI where the resource was found. Let me know if you have questions about this specific issue.
  
  ALSO NOTE: I will also repeat here that if you intend to gather data and have proposed to use SQL or something similar, OR you have plans to access a large number of "external" sites, I would advise you to exercise extreme caution. In the case of SQL/DATA, I would strongly encourage you to consider storing and retrieving your data in a local *.TXT or *.CSV file. This will be "proof" that your configuration works, without the risk that we will not be able to access the same external data that you are relying on. As far as external websites, the same issue applies, as well as the fact your project is supposed to be "your" sebsite. While you cannot store these external sites locally, it will be up to you to insure that absolutely every link works, because if it does not, we will have no choice but to apply penalties because we will not be able to thoroughly test and evaluate your project.
  
  FINALLY, I had a difficult time identifying the 5 "distinct" ASP.NET controls that are a required component of Phase 3 in many Phase 2 submissions. Be sure you understand this means 5 "different" controls, of which a "Button" PLUS the "ButtonClick" event handler and the "Visual C#" code in that event handler, would be an example of ONE control we have used. Using 5 buttons is NOT 5 "distinct" controls, it is one. Make sure you are clear about this. We will expect you to clearly identify the 5 controls in the README.TXT file that is part of Phase 3. I will discuss this in our remaining meetings as well.
  
  
• JIT 3 and MINI 3 are now available via the Homework page. NOTE the links to JIT 3 and MINI 3 point to the same file. MAKE SURE you take note of the difference in the "topics" for MINI 3 when compared to MINIs 1 and 2 as well as the different requirements for JIT 3. You should clearly understand this assignment leaves the topics up to you, as long as they are directly related to your Final Project and NOT a topic already discussed on MINIs 1 or 2. Please be sure to review the description and submission instructions so you submit each one properly. Note especially you need to VERY CLEARLY include "what" the topic is for each of your 3 JIT items by how you STATE THEM, so everyone knows what you are talking about without reading your MINI 3 or knowing your sources or project. Be sure to contact me if you have any questions. BOTH are due electronically by 10:00PM on Sunday, April 27, 2025. JIT 3 is due via direct email to Jeff and MINI 3 is due to your Canvas "MINI 3" assignment.
  
  
• The A290/A590 Final Project Description and Calendar is now available via the Homework page (at the bottom). It is due in three (3) phases on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 by 9:35am, Tuesday, April 22, 2024 by 9:35am, and no later than 11:59:00.00pm (SHARP) on Friday, May 2, 2025. Please read through ALL of it (5 pages) at your earliest convenience so that I can make any corrections or updates as promptly as possible. I will mention it only briefly in class on 4/8/25 since Homework PROJECT 1 is due that evening. PLEASE be sure you read through it at least three (3) before our class meeting on Thursday, April 10. I will dedicate part of our Meeting 7 time on April 10, 2025 to discussing and clarifying what I am asking and expecting you to do, especially regarding Phase 1 (+ Phase 0). This will be your only chance for additional questions before Phase 1 (+0) is due on Tuesday, April 15. I will dedicate appropriate parts of future meetings to those components that are due later in the semester.
  
  
• AI preferred appointment times now available. You will now find the and preferred appointment times for the AIs in A290/A590, Sreya, and Nikhil, on the Course website Homepage just below the section with announcements. Please note that "preferred appointment time" means just that. These are the times it is the most likely each of them would be able to meet with you online or in person to answer questions that have not been answered in the meetings or course resources. I do not ask them to hold regular "office hours," as that is not a very effective use of their time. If you have a question about a Homework PROJECT, you are welcome to contact either of them to set up an appointment. Keep in mind we expect appointments to be kept and a missed appointment without notice may impact your options for future appointments. ALSO keep in mind that both of them are always in class on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:35am - 10:50am (classtime) to answer your questions. Finally, you are free to set up an appointment with any of them, regardless of which is doing the evaluations of your submitted work.
  
  
• Welcome to A290/A590: Web Interface Design and Programming with Visual Studio, C#, and .NET The Registrar shows you are enrolled in this course. The first meeting is Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
  
  This message is coming to you via the Canvas site for this course which will be our secondary source of shared information and our primary source for submitting assignments. You will also get a message about the course website, which will be our primary source for sharing information and resources.
  
  As noted in the course title, we will be using Visual Studio. We will be using Visual Studio Community 2022, to be exact. This is the Windows version and only the Windows version will work for this course. If you have a Windows system, you will be able to download and install your own copy at no charge. If you do not have a Windows system of your own, your available options are to do all your work in a Windows STC lab on campus, or use one of two options on IUAnyWare. There is a "standalone" version available and there is a version available via the "Luddy Desktop" option. This latter may be your best choice if you do not have access to a Windows system of your own. If you have questions or concerns about this, be sure to contact me.
  
  
• IMPORTANT NOTE FOR Spring Semester 2025: You will have to have a valid IU NetworkID AND be officially enrolled in A290 or A590 in order to gain access to detailed course resources like Meeting Guides, Homework Assignments, and other such resources. If you are officially enrolled in A290 or A590 as of Monday, March 10, 2025, you should be able to access these restricted resources on that same day. For Example, the "JIT 0" assignment will be available on the "Homework Assignments" page of the course website on the morning of Tuesday, March 11. All the primary links on the course Homepage are now live, so you should be able to access all those primary links. If you get the "Forbidden" message, it means I have not yet unlocked that resource. HOWEVER, if you get "permission denied" or "authorization required" it means you are not officially enrolled, or not on my access list. If you believe you are officially enrolled and cannot access these resources on or after 3/11/2025, please contact me.
  
  

Graduate Associate Instructors (AIs), Spring 2025:

Sri Sai Sreya Sadasivapetkar

Email: ssadasiv@iu.edu

• Office Hours/Appointments: Usually part of class meeting time. Appointments also available and strongly encouraged.
  PREFERRED Appointment times:
  
  
• Monday: - 1:00pm - 3:00pm and Thursday: 1:00pm - 3:00pm

Nikhil Sai Jaddu

Email: njaddu@iu.edu

• Office Hours/Appointments: No formal office hours. Preferred appointment times available and appointments strongly encouraged.
  PREFERRED Appointment times:


• Tuesday: 1:00pm - 3:00pm and Thursday: 3:00pm - 5:00pm