Monday, July 31, 2006

What this blog is about.

When designing this blog I thought about what I wanted to say and could not narrow it down to a single topic. You would probably notice that the description of my blog include a number of topics such as: Struts, Hibernate, J2EE, JSTL, JSF, Java Programming, UML and the Baha'i Faith. These are just a few of the topics that I want to write about. I would like to explain why.

I have two jobs at the moment. First, I am a lecturer at the School of Business and Computer Science (SBCS) where I lecture a number of courses that fall in the field of computer science. Second, I am a software developer that use these technologies and more in my development work. In addition to my work I also have some thoughts on the Baha'i Faith that would like to share.

As far as lecturing is concerned, I hope that students would find some of these posts useful. I would try to post answers to questions that students frequently ask as well as pointers and tips on the various courses that I teach. The courses are:
  1. Object Oriented Software Development - Level 3 - BSc. Degree in Computing - University of Greenwich.
  2. Introduction to Computing and The Internet(CIS110) - Level 1 - BSc. Computing Information Systems - University of London
  3. Advanced Programming Concepts(CIS212) - Level 2 - BSc. Computing Information Systems - University of London
  4. Software Engineering(CIS210) - Level 2 - BSc. Computing Information Systems - University of London
There are a number of short courses and corporate training packages that I also deliver along the same lines.

As a developer I develop software for corporations as a consultant. In some cases I use the Java Platform and in some cases I use the .NET platform. I use Java whenever I have some degree of flexibility to choose the development platform and I use .NET when the company dictates the environment based on their own internal criteria. Maybe they have a team of inhouse developers that are already trained in the .NET environment.

Recently I put together a number of technologies into a single framework that will serve as the starting point for my future development work. I used Struts, Hibernate, Tiles, JSF and others. Later I discovered the AppFuse project. I haven't had a chance to evaluate that framework but it is doing exactly what I was trying to do. It most likely is superior so if you are looking for such a framework I suggest that you try it. In the mean time I learned a few things and wanted to share them with others who may be attempting to get these technologies to work together.


Finally, (but most importantly) I am a Baha'i and I wish to share some of the ideas that I have come across while reading and investigating the Faith. It is not my intention to repeat a number of facts about the faith here. You can get that at the Baha'i International Site . However, I would discuss some concepts and experiences I have had as a Baha'i.

As time goes by I will re-evaluate my content to see if I could focus the discussion better. But thats the best I could do for now.

Some Notes on Plagiarism

I just returned from a seminar at the University of Greenwich that focused some attention on delivery of the University's degree programmes in external colleges. One of the themes that was discussed was Plagiarism.

I thought that I could start with this same theme since most of the students that I deal with would be faced with this issue. Plagiarism comes in many forms and it is important that students are aware of both the forms of plagiarism as well as the implications of plagiarism.

From dictionary.com I found this definition:

"Plagiarism

n 1: a piece of writing that has been copied from someone else and is presented as being your own work 2: the act of plagiarizing; taking someone's words or ideas as if they were your own"
- http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Plagiarism

A question that is frequently asked is "how much could be copied before it is considered plagiarism?" The answer should be NONE AT ALL. Even a sentence or part of a sentence from a web site or a book will be considered plagiarized IF it is nor referenced. That is the main distinction. Any work taken from another source must not be presented as your own.

If you find a definition on line, and wish to use it then you should make a reference to the source. If you leave out the reference then you are saying that you developed the definition and you are guilty of plagiarism. It is also useful to mark the copied sentence so that it is clear that it is not part of your work. For example, you may wish to format the sentence in italics and use double quotes. The reference should then be placed immediately after the quoted text.

Having said that it is also important to note that a student cannot copy an extensive piece of work, reference the entire thing and hand it in as an assignment. You should keep the quoted sentences to a minimum. Remember that you are being marked on you own contribution (or work). If you copy every line in your report then you did not do any work that is worthy of marks.

As for the implications of plagiarism. The first and most obvious implication is that you are going to be penalised if you plagiarise. That is, you could be marked as fail for the assignment that you did, or marked as fail for the entire course. There is also some implications for the honours that you get for the degree.

Another less obvious implication is in your future career. Plagiarism is not only a concern at the university but is a serious concern in the cororate environment. A mark of plagiarism against you has some serious consequences later in your career. Another point to note is that your lecturers play an important role in your career development. They provide recommendations to your potential employers for instance. If a lecturer suspects plagiarism, you will not get a good recommendation.

So to conclude, do not copy any words or code from any source unless you clearly mark it and reference it. There is more than a good chance that your lecturer will discover it and the consequences would be dire.