Saturday, December 25, 2010

The Art of Teaching

Have you ever taught something to someone ? Even if you don't know, you have. At-least you must have taught yourself. Teaching yourself is a common thing that anybody could do. But teaching someone else is not an easy thing. To teach someone, you have to be confident of yourself and you have to be perfect in what you are going to teach. Then only your students could trust you. The trust helps immensely in the teaching-learning process. This process has to be always a two-way interaction, where the teacher requests - student responds and the student requests - teacher responds. If you know how to teach others, then definitely you know how to teach yourself.  

I guess now I have a good approach to what I'm going to tell you now. From this post, I'm going to tell you how my teaching career began. 

The students of St. Peter's College (my school) can join the academic staff as acting teachers after completing A/L exam. This is a great opportunity for the students at my school and I don't know whether it is possible in other schools also. Those who expect good results from A/L s, join the academic staff and work until the results are released. Even after the results are released, they can continue work until they get selected to a University. It is like a part time job as they are paid for the work.

So after completing A/L exam, I also joined the academic staff of St. Peter's College as an acting teacher in October 2009. I joined not because I wanted to, but some of my friends did and because they requested me to join. I thought it was a good opportunity for me to build up my career and to get exposed to some kind of employment environment.

I had to report to the office and collect the daily time table by 7.30 a.m. There wasn't any particular schedule for the acting teachers. If a teacher was absent, an acting teacher was assigned to that class. There were no  particular duties for the acting teachers, but to keep the students in the class silent and do some activity or lesson with them. There were days which I had to work all 8 periods in the time table and also there were days which I was not assigned even to a single class for a period. 

During the period of my work placement, I was assigned to almost every grade from grade 6 to grade 13 including Sinhala, English and Tamil medium classes. It was a wonderful opportunity. Two months before, I was a student and then suddenly I was a teacher. What a great transformation. 

There were so many hard times I faced and there were so many happy memories too. I got the worst experiences when teaching to grade 8 and 9. The teaching methods should vary according to the grade and what I found was like this.

Grade 6

The students are still kids. They love to play all the time. They don't find studying important at this age. (It is so due to the current education style where students are forced to study everything in the text books without letting learn new things on their own by experiments - This is only my idea). So when teaching them, use playful activities such as games.  

Grade 7

The students are becoming to show their hidden talents like singing, drawing and so on. So whenever I was assigned to a grade 7 class I gave the students to come in front of the class and present their talents to the audience. Among them there were so many good singers !! Some spent their free time on drawing. Most of the time they used to draw cartoon characters, imaginary vehicles, space ships and so on. I encouraged them a lot. 

Grade 8

Students love to play and engage in sports activities. Whenever they get a free period, they like to go to the ground and play. Most of the time they choose foot-ball, cricket or basket ball. (This may vary according to the facilities of the school). I had to take permission from the head of the section to take them to the ground and I had to take the responsibility of bringing them back to the class safely when the period was over. Students also understood this and behaved themselves well.

Grade 9

The worst best grade of schooling. The favourite subject of the students was Health Science. The favourite lesson was 'Sexuality and Reproduction'. They had so many questions in this subject and always questioned me about so many things. They said that teachers were not teaching that lesson at school. I think that's true but don't worry guys, you'll learn everything by the time pass. 

Grade 10

This is the critical year which decides your future path. Students learn so many new concepts in Science, Mathematics and Commerce subjects. How they grow their proclivity on the above subjects will help them to select the most suitable stream for the A/L s. 

Grade 11

The pressure grows on students as they are sitting for one of the most important exams in their life. Most of the students try to concentrate more on studies. Even the students who had given up studies, try to do something. 

Grade 12

More than learning the subjects on their own, students are concerned about the things like 'Who is the best Physics teacher for A/L s ?'. This is the critical period and they should guided to the correct track. 

Grade 13

Students know their own learning methods and also they like to improve them and learn new methods. They like to hear from those who have experiences. Most of the time they asked questions like 'How to remember the periodic table in chemistry?', 'What is the most efficient time to study?' , 'How many past papers should I do before the exam ?' .... 

The experiences I gathered helped me to come so far and I'll never forget them ( It is like I was following a course on 'Child Psychology' ).


This photo was taken while we were working as acting teachers. From left to right, Rajeendra, myself and Nilupa. 
Rajeendra got selected to the University of Sri Jayawardenapura for Physical Science and currently studying Computer Science, Mathematics and Statistics. Although Nilupa got selected to the University of Colombo School of Computing for Information and Communication Technology degree, he did A/L s again and this time he has got 2 A's and a B with a sufficient Z-Score to get selected to the Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa. 

I learned so many things during that period and I experienced the Teaching-Learning process practically. A teacher likes to see his / her students become successful people in the society. Good teachers are always ready to guide and motivate their students towards success. I have met some great teachers like that during my schooling. I take this opportunity to thank Mr. Sunil Aponso, Mr. K. Arayasinghe, Mr. Rohan Ferdinandaz, Mr. W. L. Sirimanne and finally Mr. Wasantha Jayasuriya. I'm ever grateful to them. 

If not for their proper guidance, I would not be here to write this post. I dedicate this post to all my teachers. 


This photo was taken while I was teaching a lesson in Software Technology subject to some of my friends at SLIIT. From left to right - myself, Madhushan, Amalsha and Thejith. Before teach others, I teach myself (Have you ever noticed why 'Sams' books come with the phrase 'Teach Yourself' ? )  because I know what teaching is.

Finally I would like to tell you something. Never disturb your lecturers or teachers while they are teaching. Show them respect so that one day you'll get it back. The best way to understand your lecturer is to think like him / her. If I were you, what would I do ? This has helped me most of the time when I was in trouble. I learned to think like that while I was teaching at my school. When I found students misbehaving in the classes, I never punished them. I just looked back and imagined how I was at his age. I used to think like him and found that there was no difference between us because I was doing the same at his age !!! 

P.S - I worked there for nearly two months as an acting teacher and resigned on 22nd November 2009, in order to join the SLIIT orientation program on 23rd November.

If you are interested, watch the movies, 'To Sir With Love' part I and part II. A movie which speaks to your heart !

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Friday, December 24, 2010

Don't ever screw your GPA


Yeah
My mind was brighter
Then a bonfire
No way you'd hear me say 
That I screwed my GPA

But then
Parties at the Frats
Late nights at the keg
made me say 
That i screwed my GPA

Tell me why 
Face book took all my time away
Tell me why 
You Tube-ing every single day
Tell me why 
I'm feeling more and more each day
That I screwed my GPA

I tried to study
Instead I read about Britney
Yes I know it's too late
to save my screwed GPA

Mamma says "why don't you just concentrate?"
Booze and babes
"Ain't nothing but a headache !"
Why, oh why
If I listened
I won't have to say 
That I screwed my GPA

Multiple mid-terms
And tough problem sets
Make life miserable
For me, yeah

I spent all that time
And still just get a C
When I can be
playing Frisbee !

I must do better
When I 
play poker !
Win more !
Win more !
Win more !
Win more !

Don't wanna hear you say
10 page paper due
Tomorrow at 8 (AM)
Playing Warcraft
was a mistake
Don't wanna be a Mage !!
I never wanna have to say Oh no!!
I screwed my GPA

Tell me why 
Facebook took all my time away
Tell me why
You Tube-ing every single day
Tell me why 
I'm feeling more and more each day
(more and more each day)
That I screwed my GPA

Tell me whyyyyy....
I haven't got a single 'A'
My parents showing their dismay
Why, oh why
I never thought I'd have to say
(never thought I'd have to say)
I never thought I'd have to say
That I screwed my GPA

Heck !!
Let's just go and play!!!











Thursday, December 23, 2010

1st Year, 2nd Semester Results

Given below is the results I obtained from the 1st Year 2nd Semester Examination.

Period : June 07, 2010 - November 26, 2010

Course No
Subject Title
Credits
Grade
105
Software Technology I
4

A
112
Database Management Systems I
4

A
111
Data Communication and Computer Networks I
4

A
207
Internet Technology and Applications
4
A
117
Foundations of Computer Science
4
A

Semester Credits = 20
Semester Grade Points = 80
Semester Grade Point Average (GPA) = 4.0

Cumulative Credits = 40
Cumulative Grade Points = 160
Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) = 4.0


Last semester I became the batch top. Now I'm the 'Best Performer' of the 1st year !!!

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

1st year 2nd Semester Mid exam Marks

Given below are the marks I obtained from the 2nd semester mid exam of the 1st year. The marks were given out of 30.

Subject Title
Marks(30)
Data Communication and Computer Networks I
29
Foundation of Computer Science
28
Software Technology I
28
Database Management Systems I
27
Internet Technology and Applications
26.6

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

1st year 1st Semester Mid exam Marks

Given below are the marks I obtained from the 1st year 1st semester mid exam. The marks were given out of 30.
Subject Title
Marks(30)
Information Systems I
30
Mathematics for Information Technology
29
Introduction to Pragramming Environments (C++/ UNIX)
28.5
Technical Communication
27
Computer Fundamentals
25

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

C++ assignments !!!

I have one of my friends studying Physical Science at the University of Sri Jayawardenapura. He is a 2nd year student and for his Mathematics subject, he had to do a C++ programming assignment. The thing is he is not familiar very much with C++ and programming since he is not doing an IT degree. But his professor had given the assignment and asked him to do it before the final exam. He told me that they are getting marks for the assignment and it was really important to finish the assignment. Since I'm the IT guy he sent me the assignment details.

Click Here to download the assignment details. (44.9 KB)

I got only two days to finish the project as he had to upload it before the deadline. The project is to develop a system to ABC Company. Given below is the main menu.

I think now you have an idea about it. It is a system to enter employee details, sales details and generate a salary report and a business analyzer report. Given below is how the user enters employee details and sales details.

Given below is the salary report for some sample data. The important feature in it is that if the employees are having a same amount of sales, they get the same rank. Rank is given according to the descending order of the total sales of each employee.
eg: If the top two employees who have the maximum sales are having a same amount of total sales, both of them get the Rank 1. The next employee will get the Rank 3 instead of 2. I think now you got it. In the below image, there are two employees with Rank 3. So the next employee's Rank is 5 instead of 4.

 Given below is the Business Analyzer. It analyzes data and generates this report. The percentages of the each product is represented graphically.
Click Here to Download the source code and the application. (116.48 KB)

I finished the project before the deadline and explained every single line in the coding to my friend. I don't know whether he understood. But It was a great opportunity for me to test my programming skills in C++ and analytical thinking. I learned C++ for the 1st semester of the 1st year at SLIIT and mastered it on my own. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the lecturers who taught me C++ at SLIIT,  Ms. Anjali Gamage, Ms. Tania Fernando and Ms.Abarnah Kirupananda.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10-

Thoughts of the 'Batch Top'

It's 12.30 a.m and i'm still awake. What a great day today is... (Sorry, it should be 'yesterday was') .I woke up around 7.00 a.m and I was really tired because yesterday I slept around 1.00 a.m as I was doing some programming project in C++. It was messy and I had written hundreds of lines of coding and I was really fed up. But I had to deliver the project soon so as soon as I got up, I started working on it. 

I checked the output and there were some problems with the output. It was not showing the correct output. I used the debugger and put some breakpoints and tested it. Finally found where the problem was. I had used 2D Arrays in the project and by mistake, I had written a function with logical errors. The function should put data to a particular column in the array, but as I had written the function wrong, it was putting the data in some other row. Finally I corrected the mistake and it was working properly. 


While I was doing that, my dad had telephoned Malabe SLIIT and had asked about the 1st year 2nd semester results. They had told that the results were released and can be collected. I didn't believe that because last semester also they were telling about releasing the results and they took a long time to publish them. 

I kept on working on my project and my phone was ringing suddenly. It was Isuru. He had gone to SLIIT to get registered for the 1st semester of the 2nd year. He said that the GPA was released. He had checked my GPA and told that I had got 4.0 . Wow !!! I was expecting that as I did the exams well and even I had got good marks for the mid exam. But I didn't expected it at that moment. 

I called 'Guru' and asked his GPA. He told that still he could not go to SLIIT and asked me to check it for him if possible. So I took his registration number, called Isuru back and asked him to check it. He replied me soon and told Guru had got 3.94 GPA. 

This is strange. I got 4.0 GPA for the 1st semester and so did in the 2nd semester. Guru got 3.94 GPA for the 1st semester and so did in the 2nd semester. Is there a cycle or something ??? I don't know. 

Then I hurried up and went to SLIIT. I wanted so much to collect my results sheet. I met Sasika at SLIIT and he had come to get registered for the 2nd year. He had got 3.84 GPA. Last semester he got 3.86 GPA, but still that's good as he was following the week end course while doing a job for the 2nd semester of the 1st year. 

Since the orientation program is begun for the new batch, there were some juniors in the 12th floor common room. I observed them and found that they were talking about GPA and stuff like that. I heard some of them saying stuff like getting a GPA about 3.0 is really hard. I felt like telling them how stupid they are and so on, but I kept quiet. 

Then we went to meet the lecturers to tell the results. First we met Jagath sir, who taught us ITA subject. Both Sasika and I had got 'A' s for ITA subject so Jagath sir was happy. He advised us and we asked a lot about how to work in the 2nd year, about the assignments, IT Projects and stuff like that. We were talking for nearly an hour. Then we met Dammika sir who taught us DCCN subject. He advised me to maintain my GPA well. Then we met the Instructors Ms.Isuri and Ms. Mihiri. They also congratulated us and wished us good luck for our future studies. Then I came home and finished the project.

I updated my Facebook Status like this. 

"Became the 1st year best performer of SLIIT getting 4.0 GPA and 4.0 CGPA. Special thanks to Sasika Suchithra Kalupahana and Isuru Madanayake ...... This is the time to thank all my lecturers and instructors. Without you it would be impossible. Thanks once again... I'm ever grateful to you.....!"


I specially thanked Sasika, because he was in my group all the time when doing assignments and helped me immensely. I thanked Isuru because I got an 'A' for DBMS because of him.I thanked the lecturers and instructors because they are really doing their job as best as they can. I'm telling you this because I had been to a government University for sometime and when comparing the lecturers in the University and the SLIIT, there is a huge difference. The lecturers in the University were coming to the lecture, telling something, giving a huge list of reference books and they just go. But lecturers at SLIIT are really helpful and friendly. It doesn't mean that they spoon feed everything. But they are dedicated to teach us, guide us and motivate us. 

So.....Of course I'm the best performer of the 1st year.Getting 4.0 GPA is a great thing. But getting a CGPA of 4.0 for the 1st year is even greater. Everybody was wishing me on FB and calling me... I was busy with answering telephone calls for the whole evening. Then I went to deliver the C++ project and came home around 7.30 p.m. Since then I was on Facebook, chatting and thanking those who wished me. Finally I decided to update my blog as I couldn't for a few days.

Now the time is 1.30 a.m. I want to sleep badly. I'm going now.


-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Help others to get Good Results !

I told you about one of my best friends at SLIIT from my TC Presentation post. Now you know him. This is also about Isuru ( we call him madhaya ). So I saw this picture on facebook recently and thought I must write something about him on my blog.
This picture was designed by another student at SLIIT and had uploaded to facebook. You may wonder why they call him 'sir'. I'll tell you why.

First I must tell you about some of the students at SLIIT. Students come from different backgrounds and with different goals. Some join SLIIT just to earn a degree. Some come to SLIIT just because their parents send them. Some are there who really want to do their best but finds it difficult due to various reasons such as lack of fluency in English. But I'm happy to say that among them, there are students who really do well, who are eager to learn and gain good results while helping others (Believe me, I'm one of them). 

So Isuru also belongs to the last category. He has a lot of friends and he helps them to pass the exams well. When the exams are near by, he conducts discussions (Kuppi) to solve problems, do past papers and they are really helpful for those who are weak. Not everyone is like that. I have seen some students who get a high GPA and do studies very well, but not helping others. It is really bad. So if you are a SLIIT student, always help others if they need and also do your best.

I forgot something to tell you. When I was in the 2nd semester of the 1st year, I had so many problems in the subject DBMS - I. Even before the day before the final exam my problems were not solved. So on the day before the exam, I went to Isuru's place and studied DBMS with him. I spent that night learning many things. I taught him where he found it difficult and he taught me where I found it difficult. Finally I got an 'A' for DBMS !! Thanks Isuru again. 

DBMS - I was a critical subject. My friend 'Guru' who got 3.94 GPA from the 1st semester of the 1st year had got an 'A-' for DBMS-I and he finally ended up with getting 3.94 GPA for the 2nd semester also. He had got 'A' s for all the other subjects. 

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Antitrust (2001)

This is one of the greatest movies I have ever watched. I've been reading more about open source projects for the last few days and found how important they are. They promote free software. If something is available free, why pay for that? I told this because the movie is related to that. 

This is a movie that IT people must watch. I'd like to quote something from the movie. "Human Knowledge belongs to the World". 

If I tell you the story of the movie, you won't get the maximum entertainment. So watch it. 

Friday, December 17, 2010

SLIIT scholarships for academic performance

Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology has many scholarship awarding schemes. From this post I'll tell you about the full and half semester scholarships awarded for academic performance.

When awarding these scholarships, only the semester GPA is concerned. The minimum required GPA depends on the results of the students as there are limited number of scholarships to be awarded.

It is like this. If you get a high GPA from this semester examination, you'll be awarded a scholarship for the next semester. But the problem is they take some time to release the results and by the time they release the results, you'll be already paid and registered for the next semester. Then if you are eligible to receive a scholarship, that will be applicable for your next semester.

This happened to me. I got 4.0 GPA (maximum) from the 1st year 1st semester examination. When I got registered for the 2nd semester, still the GPA s were not released. So I had to pay for the 2nd semester and got registered. The GPA was released while I was in the 2nd semester and for my excellent performance I was awarded a full scholarship. If you are eligible to receive a scholarship, you'll be notified by a letter ( So when getting registered at SLIIT, make sure you give the correct contact details of you).

I used the scholarship when getting registered for the 1st semester of the 2nd year so that I didn't have to pay for that semester.

I got to know that the full scholarship was awarded to those who had got a GPA more that 3.9 and the half scholarship was awarded for those who had got GPA between 3.8 to 3.9. As I told you earlier, it depends on the results of the students for that particular semester. My friend 'Guru' (3.94 GPA) also had received a full scholarship and my friend Sasika (3.86 GPA) had received a half scholarship.

Full scholarship means the total fee for a semester. Half scholarship means the half of the amount for a semester. This is a great opportunity for students. I haven't seen other institutes awarding such scholarships. There are many other scholarship schemes also. I'll tell you about them from my later posts.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Technical Communication - (118)

This is one of the most important subjects in the 1st semester of the 1st year. This is not a hard subject but the thing is this is the subject which checks how good your English is. If your are good in English you don't even need to do a past paper before sitting for the final exam. I'm telling this because I only did 2008 past paper before the exam and finally I got an 'A' for this subject.

The importance of the subject is that it affects your GPA. Some of my friends had got all 'A' s except for this subject and finally ended up with getting half scholarships for that semester.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Learning Maths is Easy !!!

MIT - (103) is one of the most important subjects of the 1st semester of the course. If you have done Mathematics for A/L s then you don't need to worry about this subject at all. The only new thing you'll have to learn is the unit, Matrices . 

There are many students coming to SLIIT who haven't done maths for A/L s. They find this subject very hard. I have a friend called 'Guru'. He had done Biology for his A/L s. He got 'A' s for all the subjects except Maths from the first semester subjects. He got an 'A-' for Maths and finally ended up with getting 3.94 GPA. 

'A-' is given for the marks range '75 - 79'. If he could get 80, then he would get an 'A' and then the GPA would be 4.0 (the maximum). So now you know how important this subject is and you know, every single point counts !!!

I'm introducing a website to you which is really helpful for learning maths. Click Here to visit

Using this website you can do almost everything in the MIT (103) subject. Click Here to view the examples.
The above image shows how to plot a graph for a given equation. You just need to type the equation then it will be automatically computed and give you the answer. This is a basic example, but there are many advanced features also. Try it and you'll find that learning maths is really interesting.

P.S- Try the questions yourself and use this website only to check your answers. You'll learn something only by doing it by yourself. Only the practice will give you good grades from the exams.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

TC Presentation - Part 3 (Presentation Day)

On the presentation day, we had lectures and practicals from the morning. Around 3 p.m the lectures were over and we all got together to do rehearsals for the presentation. According to the presentation schedule, our presentation was the last one and so we had to be perfect in our speeches because by the time we presented our solution, the lecturer had seen all the other presentations. The time allocated was from 4.45 p.m to 4.55 p.m.  

These photos were taken while we were practicing for the presentation.

From left to right, Insaaf, Saumy, myself, Ravishan, Rinaz and Pasan.


From left to right, Saumy, Pasan, Rinaz, Insaaf, Ravishan, Danushka and finally myself. 

We all were nervous as it was our first experience of doing a presentation. We went to the 9th floor for the presentation. It was a great relief because only the lecturer (Ms. Ahinsa Vithana) was there when we were delivering our speeches.

We had the presentation slides in a pen drive (we took a copy in another pen drive also as a backup) and Ravishan copied the slides to the computer in the presentation room and turned on the projector. 


I handed over the final report (written) to the lecturer. Then Rinaz started the presentation by delivering his speech. He really did well than I expected. Then Danushka started his speech. He was not fluent in English then, but he had memorized the whole speech which I wrote for him. He didn't even make a single mistake and did his job well. 


Then came Pasan. Although he didn't have much time to practice, he managed to present the content well. Since he was good in the Technology, he described the technical aspects of our solution.  

Then Saumy started delivering his speech. I was always worried about him because he was not good in English  (This led him to repeat all 5 subjects of the 1st semester of  the 1st year). He had memorized the speech but suddenly he got stuck. He tried hard to recall but finally failed. Then he requested Insaaf to continue the presentation.

Insaaf also did well than I expected. The last speech was done by me. I discussed the advantages and the disadvantages of our solution and gave a summary. Finally I asked the lecturer to ask questions if any and to give her comments. She didn't have any question and I knew that because we discussed everything related to our solution from our speeches. 

She told that we were better than other groups and advised Saumy to improve his English. She told that the colors we used for presentation slides were not good, because some of the colors were not appearing properly on the screen. It wasn't our fault, but a technical issue of the projector we used. 

One week later, we received the marks for the presentation. For the written document, we had got 3.6 points out of 4. The lecturer told that we had not used the correct format when giving references. 

For the speeches, points were given out of 6. Ravishan had got 6 and all the others except Saumy had got 5. Saumy had got 3. The average point of the speeches were taken as the final mark for the oral presentation.
Total mark was 8 out of 10. I think our group was the best group who got the maximum points and I'm proud to be the leader of the group.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Sunday, December 12, 2010

TC Presentation - Part 2 (Getting Prepared)

We had to suggest a suitable application to be added to the SLIIT course web to make the course web popular among the students. As the leader of the team, it was my responsibility to lead my team for a better solution. We got together when we were not having lectures and discussed what to do. Pasan was not coming to SLIIT as he was running his own web designing firm and he was busy with that. Other members were with me all the time and I had the doubt whether Pasan would come for the final presentation. Rinaz promised me that he would bring Pasan some how. 

This picture was taken during the preparations for the presentation. From right to left, myself, Danushka, Infaas and Rinaz. I think Saumy captured the photo. Pasan was absent that day as he always did, so did Ravishan.

We wasted so much of time on discussing what to do without doing something. All the members were suggesting so many things but I felt like many of them were not suitable. Finally we were running out of time and had only three days to finish writing the report, prepare the slide show and get ready for the presentation. 

At last, we came up with a solution. We named it as 'Moodle Personalizer' because using our application the students could personalize the course web as the way they want.

Following are some features of the suggested application.


  • Checking email and use social networking website facilities while in the course web.
  • Online Dictionary in Sinhala, Tamil and English.
  • Youtube video search from the course web.


I started writing the report and within one or two hours I completed the whole report. 
Click Here to download the report (38 KB).

I prepared the power point presentation on my own.
Click Here to download the presentation (2.32 MB).

Next thing was to get prepared for the presentation. I asked the members to take slides that they would like to describe and to prepare speeches on their own. As Pasan was not coming, I prepared a speech for him and emailed to him with the slide show. He promised me that he would come on the day of the presentation. The following day I checked the speeches of the members of the group but all of them were having mistakes. So I had to write speeches for each member on my own. I did it with pleasure. I didn't write a speech for myself. I knew everything about the application because I was the one who suggested it. I knew every thing in the speeches because I wrote them myself. 

Click Here to download the speeches (38 KB).

The day before the presentation was held, we all got together. Even Pasan came for a short period. We practiced doing the presentation. We had to concentrate more on time management because we had to do the presentation within 10 minutes.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Basic C program to multiply two numbers



#include <stdio.h>

int mult ( int x, int y );

int main()
{
  int x;
  int y;
 
printf( "Please input two numbers to be multiplied: \n" );

printf( "Enter Number 1: " );
 scanf( "%d", &x );

printf( "Enter Number 2: " );
scanf( "%d", &y );

printf( "The product of your two numbers is %d\n", mult( x, y ) );

getchar();
return 0;
}

int mult (int x, int y)
{
  return x * y;
}


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Saturday, December 11, 2010

Download SLIIT Orientation Past papers [2002 to 2010]


SLIIT M.A.S.T.E.R.M.I.N.D Group had uploaded the past papers to a free file sharing website and had published the downloading link on facebook. The capacity of that file was around 11 MB. So I download that, separated the files and uploaded back to mediafire. So that those who are having slow internet connections can download only the required past papers.  

Download 2002 to 2007 past papers. (1.71 MB)
Download 2008 past paper. (3.14 MB)
Download 2009 past paper. (940.12 KB)
Download 2010 past paper. (5.42 MB)

My advice for the freshers is that you don't need to do all the past papers to get good results. The papers of last two years would be more than enough.

Good Luck with your exams.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10-

A website using basic HTML and CSS

During a lab session of ITA subject at SLIIT, we were asked to create a website for a bank. We were given basic instructions and it was a group activity.



We used Macromedia Dream Weaver when developing the website. We had to manually code some parts of the website as the instructors were counting on that.

The technical stuff in the website

  • Linking pages.
  • Using images.
  • Basic CSS styles.
  • Use tables to represent data.
  • Ordered and Unordered Lists.
  • Change font colors and size.
  • Design a form including text boxes, radio buttons and tick boxes.
  • The consistency of website.


Click Here to visit the website we designed.

Click Here to download the source code (173.06 KB).

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Monday, December 6, 2010

Hackers (1995)

This movie exposes you to the community of Computer Hackers. This doesn't teach you hacking but shows the possibilities. All the computer lovers must watch this movie.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

How to copy a Microsoft SQL Server Database to another computer ?

From this post, I'll show you how to copy a MS SQL Database in one computer to another with an example.

When you go to the Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, it shows all the databases.

As you see in the above image, I have a database called ITA. I'll show you how to copy that.

All the databases are stored in the following location by default in your computer. 

Local Disk (C:) -> Program Files -> Microsoft SQL Server -> MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER -> MSSQL -> DATA

(If you have changed the location when you installed MS SQL Server, go to that location.)
You need to have administrator privileges to access that location.


When you go there, as in the above image, it shows all the databases.

For each database, there are two files as in the image below.
Now I'm going to copy the database named 'ITA' . Right Click on the two files and select 'Copy'.
Go to the location where you want to paste them (eg: your Pen Drive), right click on the window and click 'Paste'.

Then the following Dialog Box appears. 
It says that I need to provide administrator permission to copy the files. Since I have, I'll click 'Continue'. 
OOPS !!! What happened ? It says that the database is opened in SQL Server so that I cannot copy it. So before copying the database, I have to detach the database from the MS SQL Server.


As in the above image, go to MS SQL Server Management Studio. In the Object Explorer, in the Databases folder, it shows all the databases. Right Click on the database you want to Detach, select 'Tasks' and select 'Detach'. Then the following window appears.
Press 'OK'.
Then your database will not appear under the databases list in MS SQL Server Management Studio. In the below image, my 'ITA' database is not appearing now.
 Then go to the location where databases are stores. 

Now you see a small padlock symbol near the database files I detached. Right Click on them, select 'Copy', and 'Paste' them in the location you want to copy them. Using a Pen Drive, you can copy them to another computer. 

After copying the files, you need to Attach the Detached files. Go to MS SQL Server Management Studio. Right Click on the Databases folder and select 'Attach'.

Then the following window appears.


Click on the 'Add' button. Then it'll show all the databases.




Select the particular database and press 'OK'.Then the following window appears.



Press 'OK'.

Now the Databases folder shows my database. 

Now you have copied the database files to your pen drive. In the other computer, paste them in the location where databases are stored. Then open MS SQL Server Management Studio and 'Attach' the pasted database as I described earlier.

-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Serial ATA Power Cable

My cousin brother had bought a SATA DVD writer and he asked me to fix it to the system unit of his computer. My cousin is not an IT guy and so he didn't know what to consider before buying that. He had just gone to a computer shop and had bought the SATA DVD writer.

Before you buy a hard disk or a device like CD/DVD ROM/Writer, first you need to check what is the suitable type of it for example IDE or SATA.

I was not sure whether the motherboard had sata ports because it was a Pentium IV machine, so I checked it first. Fortunately it had sata ports. 



Then I fixed the device to the Casing and connected the SATA data cable to the motherboard. Then I checked for the SATA power connector but the Power supply unit didn't have any but the IDE power connectors. 

The only option left was to buy a Serial ATA Power Cable.It cost Rs. 150/= . 


Serial ATA Power Cable 
Connects any Serial ATA drive to a standard internal power connector.




After connecting this, it worked properly. So if you find such a problem, no need to replace the device or to buy another Power Supply Unit. 


-Tharindu Edirisinghe-
-SLIIT 10'-