Vol 4 No 3 May 2009

15 February 2009 Sunday
sponsored by S. Satorre


This Month's Issue
~May Events
~Tech News: Classroom Tools: Teaching Introductory Programming with Jeliot
~Video/PPT Tutorials: C++ Beginner Tutorials
~Download of the Month: Songbird
~On The Lighter Side... Basic Fire Safety



Summer's sun is ending quite prematurely this season, as the rainy months barge in. have you been missing CCSBoost for a few months? Well, sometimes contributors and writers need their vacations too. :)


College Events
May 30: Final Exam for Summer Term


Faculty Events
Monthly meeting TBA



Tech News
Classroom Tools: Teaching Introductory Programming with Jeliot
It is not news to computer programming teachers that a deep understanding
of even simple programming concepts can be difficult to students to acquire.
However, student understanding can be improved by using a program animation
system that dynamically illustrates the execution of a program or segment of
code so that students can "see" what is happening in the computer.

Jeliot is a code animation system that accepts a Java program as input and
automatically creates an animation of its execution including memory allocation,
control flow, and expression evaluation. Jeliot produces instantaneous animation,
allowing teachers to demonstrate how to modify programs in response to questions
and to review concepts with a history of recent animation frames. Teachers
can also add annotations to point out important events, for example, "leaving the while loop".

Jeliot was developed as a collaborative project supervised by Morderchai Ben-Ari at the
Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and Erkki Sutinen at the University of Joensuu in Finland. This classroom tool has proved to be especially suited for improving the learning of average students who are capable of understanding abstract CS concepts, but need some help to deepen their comprehension.

Currently, Jeliot is use in Israel, Finland, Germany, Spain, U.S., and Brazil.

For more information about Jeliot, you may visit this site (http://cs.joensuu.fi/jeliot/index.php).





Video/PPT Tutorials
C++ Beginner Tutorials
Begin programming C++ with these C++ video tutorials.
They will get you started programming C++ from the very beginning--starting with installing a free Microsoft compiler.





Download of the Month
Songbird
Songbird is an open-source customizable music player that's under active development. Click here.




On the Lighter Side...
Basic Fire Safety
Click here.

Vol 4 No 2 February 2009

15 February 2009 Sunday
sponsored by R. Caadlawon


This Month's Issue
~February Events
~Tech News: Virtual Private Network Basics
~Video/PPT Tutorials: How To Install and Configure RRAS NAT&VPN
~Download of the Month: Free VPN Downloads
~On The Lighter Side... Technical Magic



Happy Valentine's Day!
Establishing networks within computer systems have never been easy and effective.
This issue, as sponsored by Mr Ronnie Caadlawon, talks about virtual private network (VPN) technology.
Read on and get the facts straight from Engr. Caadlawon.

CONGRATULATIONS to Efren Viscarra and Fernando Yray under Ms Sheryl Satorre's tutelage for bagging the Championship in the recent CESAFI Computer Quiz Bowl last Feb 11, 2009!


College Events
Feb 18: SWU Honoris Causa Investiture for Manny Pacquiao
3rd week February: Semifinal Exams


Faculty Events
Monthly meeting TBA



Tech News
Virtual Private Network Basics
A virtual private network (VPN) is a computer network in which some of the links between nodes are carried by open connections or virtual circuits in some larger network (e.g., the Internet) as opposed to running across a single private network. The link-layer protocols of the virtual network are said to be tunneled through the larger network. One common application is secure communications through the public Internet, but a VPN need not have explicit security features, such as authentication or content encryption. VPNs, for example, can be used to separate the traffic of different user communities over an underlying network with strong security features.

VPN service providers may offer best-effort performance, or may have a defined service level agreement (SLA) with their VPN customers. Generally, a VPN has a topology more complex than point-to-point.
A VPN allows computer users to access a network via an IP address other than the one that actually connects their computer to the Internet.




Video/PPT Tutorials
How To Install and Configure RRAS NAT&VPN
Setting up a VPN is a complicated process that can yield great rewards. Learn how to properly set up and configure a VPN through this video




Download of the Month
Free VPN Downloads
If you are looking for free downloadable VPN programs, try this link for 5 VPN-supported offerings that will surely connect with the discussion above. Read more.




On the Lighter Side...
Do the following steps and see technical magic!

1. Go to Google/Yahoo images.
2. Search anything (hats, guitars, babies)
3. Then copy and paste the code below in the address bar, and click enter...

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200;DI=document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i-DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style;DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=Math.sin (R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5;DIS.top=Math.cos(R* y1+i*y2+y3 )*y4+y5}R++}setInterval('A()',5); void(0)



Feedback Questions:

1. Which section of this issue did you enjoy? Why?
2. Do you see a need to use the VPN technology in your scholarly life?
   

Please provide your feedback as comment. Thank you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CCS Boost! e-Newsletter v.3 ©2007-2009.
A project of the SWU CCS Faculty Development Committee.

Vol 4 No 1 January 2009

30 January 2009 Friday
sponsored by J.Almero


This Month's Issue
~February Events
~Tech News: Exploring Shared PowerPoints (of ANYTHING!)
~Video/PPT Tutorials: History of the Internet
~Download of the Month: Microsoft PhotoSynth
~On The Lighter Side... The Worst Mistake



Happy Chinese New Year! At least this issue still is on time. Finally, the first issue of the year. As promised, new authors and features will be showcased for the coming issues. As always, enjoy reading and learning. And do not forget to leave a comment, if you must.

Welcome to the College, Ms Sombilon and Mr Undang!



College Events
2nd week of February: Proposed CCS Days 2009
Feb 14: Valentines Day
3rd week February: Semifinal Exams

Faculty Events
Monthly meeting TBA



Tech News
Exploring Shared PowerPoints (of ANYTHING!)
The future of the Internet lies on the collaborators and the sharers of knowledge. More and more multimedia files are being criss-crossed all over the world for the bigger benefit of acquiring knowledge. With Slideshare, you get powerpoints in share mode. It promises to be a goldmine of ready-made presentations whatever topic you have in mind. Of course, content authenticity and reliability should be monitored and checked. Otherwise, this is another great site for sourcing more references.



Video/PPT Tutorials
History of the Internet
"History of the Internet" is an animated documentary explaining the inventions from time-sharing to filesharing, from Arpanet to Internet.




Download of the Month
Microsoft Photosynth
First there was the snapshot, and then came video. Now there is Photosynth, a new service available at photosynth.com that will change the way you experience and share photos.

You can share or relive a vacation destination or explore a distant museum or landmark. With nothing more than a digital camera and some inspiration, you can use Photosynth to transform regular digital photos into a three-dimensional, 360-degree experience. Anybody who sees your synth is put right in your shoes, sharing in your experience, with detail, clarity and scope impossible to achieve in conventional photos or videos.

Synths constitute an entirely new visual medium. Photosynth analyzes each photo for similarities to the others, and uses that data to build a model of where the photos were taken. It then re-creates the environment and uses that as a canvas on which to display the photos. Read more.

Photosynth in CSI NY:

On the Lighter Side...
The Worst Mistake





Feedback Questions:

1. Which section of this issue did you enjoy? Why?
2. Which video will help you as a teacher?
   

Please provide your feedback as comment. Thank you!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CCS Boost! e-Newsletter v.3 ©2007-2009.
A project of the SWU CCS Faculty Development Committee.