Object-oriented design concepts

1. Polymorphism: a term used in object-oriented design to refer to the use of operations of the same name for a variety of purposes.

2. Inheritance: a term used in object-oriented design to refer to data and operations from the parent class used by its child classes.

3. Class: a template or pattern that defines the basic attributes, relationships and operations available to its objects.

4. Object: a container for a set of data and operations that act on this set.

5. Operation overriding: a term used in object-oriented design to refer to the situation in which a parent class provides an operation, but the inheriting child class defines its own version of that operation.

6. Overloading: a term used in object-oriented design to refer to operations in single class that have the same name. For example, two methods have the same name but different parameters.

7. Object-oriented design: a methodology that views the system as a collection of interacting objects, rather than functions, whose internal structure is hidden from the user.

8. Attribute: a characteristic or property of an object.

9. Accessor: a name for an operation that retrieves or "get" the value of an attribute.

10. Constructor: a set of instructions that creates an object and initialises its attributes.

11. Mutator: a name for an operation that provides or "sets" the value of an attribute.

12. Operation: a set of services that an object can perform.

13. Procedure-driven design: a design methodology based on the idea that the most important feature of a program is its processes or functions.

14. Data-driven design: a design methodology based on the idea that the data in a program is more stable than the processes involved.

15. Event-driven design: a design methodology based on the idea that an event can cause a program to change from one known state to another.

References
1. Lesley Anne Robertson, "Simple program design", 5th Ed, Thomson Learning, 2006.

What makes a good law?

Asking yourself about these questions.

1/ What is the purpose of the law?
2/ Is it fair?
3/ Is it clear?
4/ Can citizens be expected to follow it?
5/ Can it be enforced?
6/ Is it consistent with constitutionally guaranteed individual rights?
7/ Is it flexible?

References

1/ NJ Center for Civic & Law-Related Education, 2007.

What makes a good law?

Asking yourself about these questions.

1/ What is the purpose of the law?
2/ Is it fair?
3/ Is it clear?
4/ Can citizens be expected to follow it?
5/ Can it be enforced?
6/ Is it consistent with constitutionally guaranteed individual rights?
7/ Is it flexible?

References

1/ NJ Center for Civic & Law-Related Education, 2007.

Structure of a formal report

The structure of a formal report is as follow:

1. Title page
2. Letter of transmittal (to indicate a specific reader and calls attention to those items or sections in the report)
3. Table of contents
4. List of figures, illustrations and tables
5. Summary (to give an overview of the report)
6. Introduction
-----6.1. Aims and objectives (to provide reasons for the investigation)
-----6.2. Scope
9. Body of report
-----9.1 Method of research
-----9.2 Results
-----9.3 Discussion and analysis
10. Conclusions
11. Recommendations
12. References/bibliography
13. Appendices

References

Terry Mohan, Helen McGregor, Shirley Saunders and Ray Archee "Communicating as professionals", 3nd Ed, Thomson, 2008.

Structure of a formal report

The structure of a formal report is as follow:

1. Title page
2. Letter of transmittal (to indicate a specific reader and calls attention to those items or sections in the report)
3. Table of contents
4. List of figures, illustrations and tables
5. Summary (to give an overview of the report)
6. Introduction
-----6.1. Aims and objectives (to provide reasons for the investigation)
-----6.2. Scope
9. Body of report
-----9.1 Method of research
-----9.2 Results
-----9.3 Discussion and analysis
10. Conclusions
11. Recommendations
12. References/bibliography
13. Appendices

References

Terry Mohan, Helen McGregor, Shirley Saunders and Ray Archee "Communicating as professionals", 3nd Ed, Thomson, 2008.

The meaning of assertiveness

I. Assertive behavior is where you are able to:

1/ Act in your own best interests
2/ Stand up for yourself without undue anxiety
3/ Express honest feelings comfortably
4/ Exercise personal rights without denying the rights of others.

II. Situations where assertiveness may be appropriate include:

1/ Your manager making unfair comments on your work
2/ Another student failing to pull his or her weight in your group
3/ Another person claiming credit for your work
4/ A new salary agreement disadvantaging you
5/ A client falsely criticising your product to justify breaking a contract

III. Example of a statement to a demanding supervisor

When you ask me to take on another job with a tight deadline, I feel pressured because I don't have adequate time to do the new job properly and carry out the other work I have to do.

IV. References

Terry Mohan, Helen McGregor, Shirley Saunders and Ray Archee "Communicating as professionals", 3nd Ed, Thomson, 2008.

The meaning of assertiveness

I. Assertive behavior is where you are able to:

1/ Act in your own best interests
2/ Stand up for yourself without undue anxiety
3/ Express honest feelings comfortably
4/ Exercise personal rights without denying the rights of others.

II. Situations where assertiveness may be appropriate include:

1/ Your manager making unfair comments on your work
2/ Another student failing to pull his or her weight in your group
3/ Another person claiming credit for your work
4/ A new salary agreement disadvantaging you
5/ A client falsely criticising your product to justify breaking a contract

III. Example of a statement to a demanding supervisor

When you ask me to take on another job with a tight deadline, I feel pressured because I don't have adequate time to do the new job properly and carry out the other work I have to do.

IV. References

Terry Mohan, Helen McGregor, Shirley Saunders and Ray Archee "Communicating as professionals", 3nd Ed, Thomson, 2008.