A lot has happened in this time, I’ve finished my exams. Most of which went relatively well, barring of course the Grid Computing exam which was always going to be a wildcard. I’m now officially finished University as well after handing in my research dissertation last Monday. All-in-all it went well, however running out of time towards the end, my personal calling card, did mean that the report tends to tapper off in quality towards the final sections – but at least it’s finished.

Since finishing I’ve been looking after the pub at home as my parents were on holiday and returned yesterday. Other than that I’ve been sitting here at my computer playing World of Warcraft a hell of a lot, watching the majority of the Friends seasons on DVD and over the past two days watching Supernatural season one on DVD as well.

After only a week and a half of freedom from University I’m starting to feel lost as there’s no paticular direction to my life just now. I’m hoping to start a PhD next year but that all depends upon a funding grant from the EPSRC, so I’m currently caught in limbo between either finding a real job or a filler one until I hear for sure about the funding.

Procrastinating isn’t half as fun as it is when you’re meant to be doing something else. Sitting playing WoW doesn’t appeal as much now as it did when I had work which I was supposed to be doing at the time. Doing things you do to “take a break” from something doesn’t appeal when the thing you’re doing is actually the thing you’re taking a break from [some punctuation was harmed in the making of this sentance].

Other than playing world of warcraft and starting to keep a World of Warcraft blog to track your progress in the game (killer of a good few hours that could’ve been used for work), watching DVDs and playing cards I’ve not done anything. It sounds great but not doing anything when there’s nothing to do is pretty damn boring.

Other than doing nothing I’ve also managed to break my new XDA Exec which is currently en-route to O2 who will be replacing it with a new unit. Somehow whilst trying to flash the new WM5 version onto the device it seems to have deleted the original version, as expected, but not written the new version, not as expected. This means that when I did a hard reset on the device to update the OS there was nothing there to install and the device would just hang at an O2 splash screen. After some searching on the web and trying some wierd fixes nothing worked so it was on to O2 who asked me to send the device to them.

There’s nothing much left to add really, suppose I’d best start looking for a job to fill in the time between watching DVDs, playing World of Warcraft and sleeping; but I’ll get around to that later as it’s Friday night and I can hear a game of cards a-calling me from the pub…
- Chris

The rubrik of this exam was 7 questions out of 7, so no room for breathing space.

Question 1

• A – Easy question outlining the three driving factors for integration driving factors and tactical vs. strategic initiatives
• B – Another easy question to indicate the level of integration that should be used in three different companies, giving justification for each

Question 2

• Seemed initially an easy question, although upon reflection may have been harder than I thought. Basically give reasons why using a MOM and integrated enterprise would be better than the existing system. The part I was unsure of was the discussion of “integration facets”, a term which I don’t remember ever hearing – hopefully it just refers to the properties and isn’t something I’ve totally missed

Question 3

• Discussion of a paper by Nicholas Carr called IT Doesn’t Matter, just mentioning the main points of the paper and explaining your standpoint

Question 4

• A – Discussion of how to integrate legacy systems
• B – Legacy system maintenance, wasn’t quite sure how to answer this question, ended up reiterating parts from A

Question 5

• Another tricky question, in two parts to discuss the use of either interoperability, federation, consolidation or integration with respect to two companies. For a total of 8 marks there didn’t seem that much to say.

Question 6

• Easy question to discuss the issue of performance in Internet-Based systems and to draw a couple of failsafe devices used for the hardware

Question 7

• Another simple question to write a small essay based upon parts of the course, I did the essay on EDI vs. XML as a method of data exchange

All in all not a bad exam, one of the nicer ones to have as the first anyway.
- Chris

So I decided to do all of Matthew’s questions as the question Phil wrote contained too much that I didn’t know. Details of the questions are given below:

Question 1

• A – Functionality of DigitalDesk focusing on user context [3]
• B – Affordances, descriptions of basic affordances illustrating via the DigitalDesk example [9]
• C – Ubicomp, description of and examples of “focusing on the task, not the tool” [5]
• D – Weiser’s ubicomp approach is “unachievable or incomplete”, argue for this claim [8]

Question 2

• A – Name 3 wide area positioning systems, outlining coverage, accuracy, cost and availability [6]
• B – RF positioning for ubicomp, factors that affect quality, transmission and detection in terms of objective and subjective satisfaction [6]
• C – Outline two design methods for using RF tags with spacial and temporal variation taken into account[7]
• D – Critique the notion of separate physical and digital worlds, explain why ubicomp can be treated as part of language [6]

Question 3

• A – Outline Wegner’s proof that human interaction with a computer cannot be reduced to an algorithmic representation [3]
• B – Describe basic functionality and interaction design of Coordinator workflow system [4]
• C – Draw upon this and ‘situated action’ critique to discuss limitations of the Coordinator’s central representations [6]
• D – Describe the Placeless Documents systems, and the SE tool built with it [8]
• E – How does Placeless’ design fit with philosophical and sociological theories? [4]

Question 4

• A – Describe the GOMS model of task performance [5]
• B – Fitt’s Law, relationship between it and GOMS-based predictions of task completion times [6]
• C – Text entry on mobile devices, findings of performance studies and relationships to GOMS performance measures [7]
• D – Plasticity, reference models and how they are linked to task modeling and empirical studies [7]

I was sitting through the whole exam, missing out the questions which I couldn’t do, but still feeling like it was all going fine because I knew that come 11.15 I would be finished. It feels good. From there it was off to the pub for a night out.
- Chris

Question 1

• A – Definition of Turing Test in AI [4]
• B – Advantages and disadvantages of learning capabilities in intelligent agents [3]
• C – Define problem generator give trade-offs [3]
• D – Define memes and how they play a part in agent design [4]
• E – Compare behavior-based, classical and hybrid approaches to robot design [5]
• F – Issues related to evaluation functions in search-based game players [3]
• G – Alpha-beta pruning, effects on computational cost and quality of results [3]

Question 2

• A – Defining precepts and actions [3]
• B – Three novel features to be included in mobile system [6]
• C – Define utility function and give refinations for the features in part b [4]
• D – Fundamental issues in perception, examples with features in part b. Sensor fusion. [6]
• E – Role of emotions in design of agents, relevance to mobile agent [6]

Question 3

• A – 3 reasons for not using deterministic logic in medical diagnosis [3]
• B – Definition of belief networks. Benefits in terms of computational, knowledge elicitation and interpretability [6]
• C – Define maximum expected utility, relationship with AI and human decision making [4]
• D – Explaining away in belief networks [3]
• E – Probability computations [5]
• F – Same as part E, using natural frequencies [2]
• G – Draw and explain risk-averse utility curve for a lottery [3]
• H – Equation to support decision process [4]

The exam was not as bad as could have been expected. I did manage to draw some random graph for the risk-averse utility curve, with axes labeled risk and averse respectivley. Hope I managed to scrape a decent grade.
- Chris

Then PD pulls off an exam which was, not easy, but not the complete enema which I was expecting.

So the exam wasn’t easy as I said, but I managed to do some of the questions, unlike I had expected – I even did the programming question!

Question 1

• A – Define interfaces/classes for a remotely-accessible membership service [12]
• B – Lamport clocks, illustration of wrong orders amongst messages [7]
• C – Token-passing, failure modes, impact on dissemination of messages [7]
• D – Vecotr clocks, description and how it doesn’t solve the ordering problem [4]

Question 2

• A – Spanning trees, building a spanning tree [7]
• B – Description of problem efficiently solved with spanning trees [7]
• C – Spanning trees vs. diffusion trees [4]
• D – Wave vs. Traversal algorithms, either totalling values or finding maximum in a 2-D torus [12]

Question 3

• A – Large-scale distributed file systems, problems, solutions, trade-offs and design issues [23]
• B – Problems when implementing a CMSS [7]

Question 4

• A – Distributed workflows using tuple-spaces. [10]
• B – 2 aproaches to leader election with a tuple-space [10]
• C – Different ways a Byzantine node can disrupt distributed tuple-spaces [3]
• D – Why if > N/3 Byzantine nodes cannot have consensus on common value [7]

I managed to do question 2, which I felt most comfortable then questions 3 and 1. I didn’t have a clue about tuple spaces, having briefly read the notes on them and not feeling too confident about how to use them, there was no way I was going to do a whole question which centered around them!

Anyway, not as bad as it could have been. But then again, I said the same about OS3 last year and it didn’t turn out too well for me! Hope everyone else did shit, and thus making my grade slightly better!
- Chris

The exam was not actually as bad as it could have been. For a lot of stuff I answered I could have gone into a lot more detail. I managed, however, to write for the entire time and wouldn’t have any more time to go into more detail for most of the parts of the paper.

Question 1

• A – Requirements capture with respect to plan-driven process, details of prototyping [5]
• B – Verification and Validation definition and specification within agile methods [6]
• C – URP, use case driven? [5]
• D – DSDM, links to agile processes [4]
• E – “Agile processes rely heavily upon tacit (undocumented) interpersonal knowledge for success”, discussion [5]

Question 2

• A – Axis of the Boehem & Turner polar chart. Identify home grounds for plan-driven and agile processes based upon the chart. [7]
• B – Examples of two axes where polar chart don’t capture necessary system characteristics. [4]
• C – Position waterfall development on polar axis. [5]
• D – Position web-based application/agile process on polar axis. [5]
• E – Problems for plan-based software teams undertaking agile-based project. [4]

Question 3

• A – Discussion of features of XP programming from The Manifesto for Agile Software Development. [8]
• B – Show how points in question are radical moves away from plan-based design [8]
• C – Limitations of XP that make it unsuitable for some types of software design [4]
• D – Potential problems of plan-based development switching to an agile process. [5]

The exam consisted of question 1 and then a choice of either question 2 or question 3. I chose to answer question 3, as I had forgot what one of the axis of the polar chart was supposed to be labeled (I knew what it was and what it was for but just couldn’t get the name!). Anyway, I was very happy with the way it turned out, so happy that I decided to go out to the pub and got really drunk.

Only 3 more to go!
- Chris

Being four out of four questions, I was a bit dubious about some of the course material that I was less clued-up-on coming up. The spread, however, was quite pleasing; covering all the main points of the course – none in too much detail!

Question 1

• A – Definition of statelessness wrt HTTP, naming an advantage and disadvantage[3]
• B – Outlining DNS resolution[5]
• C – Comparison of UDP to TCP [3]
• D – Discussion of IPv6 improvements on IPv4 [7]
• E – Public key algorithms, use for encryption and integrity verification [7]

Question 2

• A – Passing parameters to middleware applications [2]
• B – Scripting for DB update (I used PHP) [12]
• C – Justification of technology used in B and comparsion with other technology [5]
• D – Benefits challenges of using JavaScript, example solution to earlier problem [6]

Question 3

• A – Define valid and well-formed wrt XML documents [2]
• B – Writing DTD for specified XML document [7]
• C – Schemas question, advantage and disadvantage of use [3]
• D – XPATH question [3]
• E – Main differences between SAX and DOM [4]
• F – SAX or DOM pseudo-program [6]

Question 4

• A – E-commerce effects on offline shopping [5]
• B – Increasing search engine exposure [4]
• C – Desirable features of DB for web content [5]
• D – Web service advertisement and location [6]
• E – CORBA expansion and explination of how a request is demultiplexed [5]

Although most of the paper went fine, I forgot how to update a DB using PHP! Also I just didn’t know the CORBA expansion and didn’t have a clue about the demultiplexing (didn’t read it). I did however draw a COBRA in the exam, labeled it and gave it red eyes.

Here’s hoping tomorrow goes as well,
- Chris

As was foretold the exam contained all the topics that Chris had suggested it would. The questions are outlined below:

Question 1

• A – Redundancy, hot and cold standbys [3]
• B – Risk assessment, describing and writing [7]
• C – Situation awareness [10]

Question 2

• A – White box testing [5]
• B – Contrast in software checking [7]
• C – Software checking [8]

Question 3

• A – Electromagnetic interference [3]
• B – Demonstration of EM safeness [7]
• C – Use of redundancy to combat EM protection [10]

Question 4

• A – ALARP [20]

From an initial look at the paper it became apparent that I was going to be doing questions 1, 2 and 3, because I knew nothing about ALARP at all (I couldn’t find anything about it in the course). Question 1 stared off reasonably well with a redundancy question, then got slightly harder with the inclusion of risk assessment and situation awareness. This wasn’t helped by my inability to recall half the things I knew about either subject. A quick semi-FMECA and some utter dribble about situation awareness (where I repeated the same paragraph thrice), it was off onto question 2.

The initial white box testing part of this question was reasonably straight forward. The second and third parts were rooted in the realm of checking the software used in Formula One cars. ‘Nuff said really. Didn’t know what to write for all the marks, waffled a lot and hopefully picked up a few stray marks.

Question 3 was one which I thought I would have got on well with, all about EM interference (a topic I had read just 2 hours before coming to the exam). When I started to answer the question I was totally stumped for anything meaningful to say. Again, more waffle and then some padding with even more waffle. Chris is going to have fun marking this!

Quite a disappointment, I was feeling Ok about this exam until looking past the first question – probably due to the intoxicating tiredness. I’ve been up for 29 and a half hours, so I’m off to bed!
- Chris

Chris Johnson, as many of you will know, has the (self proclaimed) reputation for giving out the content of questions in his exams before the exam date. He did it last year for IS3, kinna.

Anyway, here is the low-down on what will apparently be in the SCS4 exam tomorrow, broken down into four main topics covered:

• Redundancy
  • Issues to do with hot and cold standbys
• Risk assessment
  • Application of risk assessment
  • FMECA, fault trees (key elements)
  • High-level system description, describe a risk assessment
• Situation awareness
  • White box testing
• Electromagnetic interference
  • ALARP

This is the list which I made in the revision lecture, although some of it makes no sense to me (probably copied it down wrong!). We’ll just have to wait and see, not for too long, if the stuff he has listed will actually come up in the exam.
- Chris

The exam was one which I was dreading, I was ill prepared and shitting myself. Hoping like hell that the questions would be on something which I had some clue about. Fortunately (or unfortunately) some of the stuff that I knew came up.

The rubric for the exam was 2 questions out of 3, both for 25 marks. Choosing which question to do was a tough decision. All the questions contained parts which I knew and some which I didn’t.

Question 1

• A – Integer arithmetic and homomorphism [10]
• B – Knapsacks, normal and super-increasing [10]
• C – Secret key storage, 3-part keys [5]

Question 2

• A – UNIX user authentication [5]
• B – Kerberos authentication and weaknesses [10]
• C – Electronic voting [10]

Question 3

• A – Exponentiation in encryption, Diffe-Hellman algorithm [10]
• B – Weaknesses of Diffe-Hellman and how Oakley improves it [5]
• C – Weaknesses of three tier web interface [10]

I had a fair idea about parts of each of the questions, none more so than the others, so I decided that I’d do questions 2 and 3. Not the best exam I’ve ever done, managed not to answer a few points, writing some bullshit to try and pick up some marks.

Hope it went better than I thought, or that everyone did as badly as me!
- Chris

I’m now at home drinking a 710ml bottle of Beck’s, but no less than 35 minutes ago I was walking out of a Real-Time Embedded Systems exam. The once project supervisor turned torturer lecturer was in style today, producing a not-so-bad exam (says he who knows not his result!).

The paper consisted of an answer 3 out of 4 structure with questions roughly falling into the categories of:

• Schedulers
• Servers
• RT Networking
• RT Operating Systems

Question 1

Question on schedulers as was expected. Did this question as it’s the typical RTES question. The content was from the start of the course, slightly easier than the rest and covered to the death in the lectures. Contained a some server points but on the whole focusing on the scheduling.

Question 2

The second of the typical RTES questions. Again, as expected this question was on servers, mainly sporadic ones in my answers (not sure if this should have been the case though).

I had a few concerns with this question as the section of the course on servers was all pretty much similar throughout. This meant that it was slightly like writing the same answer for both of the 8 mark parts at the end of the question (one of which I am sure I got totally wrong!).

Question 3

The third main section of the course was covered in this question, Real-Time networking. Being a toss up between this and question 4 for my final choice of question, and due to my slightly greater knowledge in this area, this question won.

Parts of this question were about networking problems and quality of service concerns, implementations of weighted fair queuing algorithms (WFQ) and comparisons of that with the weighted round robin algorithm (WRR) with respect to RT networking.

The last part of this question was a random 4 marker about the behavior of traffic flow through the network when using WRR vs. WFQ, emphasising on the load on the servers. Took a wild shot in the dark and hopefully scored a few marks.

Question 4

Question 4 covered the RT operating systems section of the course with a mention of the word POSIX was greeted with a pass from me. Mainly about choice of schedulers to run on a Linux based set top box, some stuff on two-level schedulers and the performance comparisons of RT operating systems against general-purpose operating systems with RT extensions.

This paper seemed a whole lot easier than the sample that Colin produced, however that may just be because I don’t know what the answers to this exam should be. Well, 1 down 7 to go!
- Chris

Tomorrow sparks the start of my exam digest for this year. The line-up looks like this:

• Thursday, 12th May: Real-Time and Embedded Systems (M)
• Monday, 16th May: Security and Cryptography 4
• Tuesday, 17th May: Safety Critical Systems 4
• Thursday, 19th May: Database and Internet Technology 4
• Friday, 20th May: Software Engineering Processes 4
• Monday, 23rd May: Distributed Algorithms & Systems 4
• Tuesday, 24th May: Artificial Intelligence 4
• Thursday, 26th May: HCI Issues in Collaborative & Distributed Systems 4

This is it then, the final haul of my honors course at Glasgow, other people have already had some exams. Right now I’m sitting trying to study more of this RTES stuff in-between crying and trying to hang myself (and writing this post!). RTES (with perhaps the exception of DAS) promises to be the most traumatic of the exam diet I have, still, you have to laugh!

Good luck to all those who are starting/have started their exams, I hold some hope that we’ll all get through this alive.
- Chris