Through examples in Java, he presents a rundown of the basic functional programming concepts (Higher Order Functions, Laziness, Composition).

It was great for establishing a sense of how programming in a functional language can:

• improve code design, and therefore testability
• afford reuse and parallelism
• encourage thinking at a higher conceptual level
• fit naturally into an agile context

I hope that others may enjoy it too!

1. Log into your student record
2. Paste the following link into your browser – https://studentrecord.aber.ac.uk/en/cascade.php

You should be able to see your full results and final degree percentage until graduation

Hope this helps!

After four years at University in Wales my time as a student is finally coming to an end! All that remains to be done is to travel back for one last week of drinks, laughs, goodbyes and the ceremony!

I’ve grown a lot as a person and learnt far more than the material contained in the lectures  - and what more relaxed and beautiful a backdrop to do it all against than Aberystwyth!  I’ve also met and studied with some awesome people, with whom I’ll be sure to stay in touch.

If you’ve happened across this post and are considering studying in Aberystwyth, I thoroughly recommend it. It’s such a nice place with an atmosphere to match, and I’ll definitely be visiting for years to come!

I’ll leave this post with my favourite picture of a regular occurrence at sunset in Aber; thousands of starlings swarming in in huge bubbles to roost for the evening.

Starling Sunset, originally uploaded by Bobby:.

Here is a list of the applications I’ve found useful since having it

Used Often

These are applications I use regularly.

Locale – $10.99

This application lets you create situations specifying conditions under which your phone’s settings should change.
While it may have a high price tag, it’s useful for making sure your phone automatically switches itself to vibrate-only when you’re within a certain distance of places you don’t want it ringing, using the GPS to detect whether you’re within the trigger zone

Seesmic

Seesmic is my favourite Twitter client. Another great example of how to write an Android application; it’s got a great user interface taking cues from Tweetie on the iPhone in places. Supports most if not all the latest Twitter features and also integrates nicely with Android sharing context menu.

Astrid

A great example of how Android applications should be written, Astrid is a to-do list application with Remember The Milk integration. Astrid also links in with Locale, so you can set reminders to accomplish certain tasks based upon your GPS position.

Meebo IM

I’ve not tried a great number of IM clients, but Meebo seems to do a good job. Supports loads of protocols, including Facebook Chat.

Google Maps Not a lot to say here – this is the Android flavour of Google Maps! Great if you’re lost, or don’t know your way around.

GDocs

Allows you to view your Google Docs on your Android phone.

Evernote
The Android client for Evernote, an online synchronised notes application. Useful for jotting down something important and retrieving it from your computer later.

News Rob

RSS reader that syncs with Google Reader.

Neat/Useful

Applications I don’t use as regularly, but they’re still good.

Layar

One of the most famous Android applications; Layar is an augmented reality browser which lets you lift your phone to your scenery and enhance the landscape with data provided from various sources. Definitely worth a look!

Last.fm

Last.fm’s Android client – which allows you to listen to Last.fm radio stations based upon your musical taste.

Shazam

As per the iPhone app, this application lets you point your mobile phone at a music source and attempts to identify it for you.

My Tracks
I use this for recording .gpx trails for geotagging photos or tracking walks and runs.

Where’s My Droid
Allows you to set up a secret phrase which, when received by your phone as a text message, will set the ringing volume to maximum and ring for the length of time you specify. Great if you’ve misplaced it and it’s on silent.

ConnectBot
SSH Client.

ASTRO File Manager

A file manager which lets you view and move files both on the phone and memory card. You can install applications using ASTRO, also.

aTrackDog

Useful for tracking which of your applications require updating.

AppManager / AppMonster

Useful for quickly uninstalling applications. Also allows you to back up all applications to the SD card.
I think it’s changing name to AppMonster for newer platforms; I can’t see it in its latest incarnation as I’m restricted to viewing Android 1.5 compatible apps only.

Barcode Scanner

Allows you to read QR codes and barcodes and search the Market for apps quickly! Useful when browsing the internet and someone links to an Android application using a QR Code; you can scan it with this application and head straight to the market to download it.

ShopSavvy

Allows you to scan bar codes of items to compare prices online. Works very well!

Flashlight – free
Makes the screen white and turns the brightness up to the maximum. Better than nothing, if you’re desperate for some light

Ones to watch..

These are the unreleased applications I’ve come across that look good!

Dropbox
Android client application for the most useful service I’ve found in the past year at least!
Check out the blog post to see what features it has.

Swype
A seriously nice alternative to touch text entry; this application lets you swipe your finger or thumb through the letters you’d use if typing normally. It works very well, and accurately.

Flicka
This looks like it might be a promising Flickr client for Android

I hope this list has helped! I’ll try and keep it up to date as I find good new stuff.

Speculation of “some time in March” has been rife for a while, but as the month drags on it’s looking less and less likely that HTC will meet their deadline – even more so given the latest rumours indicating an April/May release date.

Hype about a March release has been based on a representative from the Irish mobile carrier Meteor posting on their forums:

Just got another update on this and HTC have said they are releasing 2.1 on the Hero and we are hoping to have this available by the end of March.

.. and then the team at HTC Benelux announcing that the Hero would get Android 2.1 with Sense in “mid March”.

The most recent rumour has come from a member of the xda-developers forum, who posted the contents of an email received at work containing the update schedule for European carriers:

 2/4/2010 - HTC EU (Nordic/Greek/RUS/UKR/SA)

 16/4/2010 - T-Mobile UK

 16/4/2010 - UK/ES Orange

 16/4/2010 - T-Mobile DE

 22/4/2010 - SFR Signature Orange

 22/4/2010 - ZA (Vodacom) HTC

 22/4/2010 - H3G UK

 4/5/2010 - HTC BE

 4/5/2010 - HTC TUR

 10/5/2010 - T-Mobile PL

 10/5/2010 - T-Mobile HU

 10/5/2010 - T-Mobile MK

This is not only good news for European customers but also for Sprint Hero users in the US, who will also be receiving 2.1 in April according to advice issued to Sprint employees in the last few days:

Let your customers know we are actively working on having the Android 2.1 platform available to our Hero and Moment customers over the coming weeks.
Look for more information coming in April about Android 2.1 platform for Hero and Moment.

I’m hoping for a noticeable speed increase on my Hero with the 2.1 update (mainly for text input) as well as looking forward to being able to use applications from the market which don’t support 1.5!

If you’re trying to get this working, the following may be helpful.

There’s a guide provided by Information Services which covers sharing your computer’s internet connection on Windows, which can be found here.

As per the guide, you’ll need to open up some ports in the University’s firewall using the online tool here.

The ports you’ll need to open for Xbox Live are:

88 - UDP
3074 - TCP+UDP

If anyone has any more useful information leave a comment and I’ll keep this updated

This was taken on Aberystwyth seafront on a really hazy day – I wasn’t holding out hope for many good photos, and decided to keep my 100mm macro on all day as a bit of a challenge!

In the end the haze worked out quite well – I think without it there wouldn’t have been as much emphasis on the lone man!

I’m loving the 100mm macro; it’s like two lenses in one! It might not have the fastest AF and hunt slightly when repurposed, but a little patience and it’s very usable! Check out the full size version of this shot on flickr to see how sharp it can be.

I’d like to try and capture more moments like this when someone’s just taking in what’s around them

As I did an industrial year as part of my course it includes the band for these results, but shouldn’t be too hard to adapt for those who didn’t.

To use it, click here and select File > Save a Copy, and use this copy to enter your module codes and results. Read on for further instructions if needed.

In the first sheet, enter your full module codes and their results. The second sheet uses these entries to look up results when you add a “one line per 10 credits” to it. This means if you delete CSXXX from sheet 1, you’ll need to make sure it’s not being referred to by sheet two also.

In the second sheet enter your full module codes, using one line for every 10 credits. Results will be looked up from the first sheet automatically and added next to your module code. If you took a 40 credit module and achieved 67, you’ll need 4 lines of CSXXX40, so it appears as 67, 67, 67, 67.

The final sheet is the calculations.

If you spot anything wrong, please let me know so I can fix the template

Hope this helps!

Disclaimer : I can’t make the same guarantees of accuracy as the University can with their cascade calculator.  I’ve tested it a little bit and it seems fine, but all the same don’t take it as 100% accurate as it might not be. It’s just designed to help, in the absence of the proper tool. I’m not responsible for anything you decide to do or not to do as a result of using it!

Reference – Computer Science Department Undergraduate Student Handbook, Section 6

Update – Since the University has released the official cascade calculator, it appears that mine is optimistic by a few percent. Good for a rough approximation, but knock off a few points

To adjust the computer to compensate for known inaccuracies, follow these steps.

1. Hold in the trip computer’s stalk button.
2. Turn on the ignition. The trip computer’s display will now read “ON”. (Careful here, as setting this to “OFF” will leave you with a display of outside temperature only)
3. Release the trip computer’s stalk button.
4. Press and release the trip computer’s stalk button once only. The display will show the MPG symbol and a number representing the current offset.
5. Using the S and R buttons, set this number to the desired value.
6. Press the trip computer’s stalk button to store the value and return to normal operation.

Done! You’ll need to let the computer average out over a few hundred of miles each time you try a new value.

These steps worked for me on a Mk1.5 Ford Focus, but your mileage may vary. Couldn’t resist the awful joke.

Hope this helps!