Is project management a worthwhile skill to learn?

My opinion here is it depends on whether you are going to become a team manager for big projects or not.  If your team is just working on smaller projects for small businesses, maybe developing a website, or setting up a network for the business, you would only need some basic knowledge and skill in directing a small team through a series of jobs.  On the other hand, if the project was something big, like developing and programming software for a big company that will be widely used, or undertaking a big restoration task for an old building, then this is an extreme case where you will need expert skills to be able to do the job efficiently and effectively.

Yeah... about the embedded javascript...

Apologies about the immediate prompt as soon as you enter the blog.
I'm putting up my JavaScript folio tasks embedded into the blog posts.

I'll have it fixed shortly

Here's a 7 minute video that I made to give you a better idea on how to use the basic for loop.  Enjoy :)

My four folio items

Folio 1:
//Convert a given temperature to a comment on the weather
var temp = prompt("Enter Temperate in Degrees Celsius") 
//Gather temperature data from the user and set the var temp to it.

if(temp < 0)
//if statement tests for entered temperature and categorises it accordingly {
document.write("It's freezing out there!")
}
else if(temp > 25) //High temp
{
document.write("It's hot out there!")
}
else //i.e. 0 <= temp <= 25
{
document.write("You don't need skis or boardshorts")
}

Folio 2:

var width = prompt("Enter the width of the window in meters:")

var height = prompt("Enter the height of the window in meters:")

var sqm = prompt("Enter the price per square meter in $:")

document.write("Width = "+width)
document.write("<br>")
document.write("Height = "+height)
document.write("<br>")
document.write("Area = "+(height*width))
document.write("<br>")
document.write("Price = $"+(height*width*sqm))

Folio 3:

var noPizza = prompt("Please enter the number of pizzas:")
//get no. of pizzas

var toppings = prompt("Please enter the toppings per pizza:")
//get no. of toppings every pizza

var toppingstotal = noPizza*toppings
//calculate the total no. of toppings required

var baseprice = noPizza*7
// coz each pizza costs $7

var toppingsprice = toppingstotal*0.6
//coz each topping costs 60 cents

var totalcost = baseprice+toppingsprice

document.write("Your order price is $"+ totalcost)

Folio 4:

var name = prompt("Please enter your name:")
var no1 = parseInt(prompt("Please enter the first number of your operation"))
var no2 = parseInt(prompt("Please enter the second number of your operation"))
var op = prompt("Please enter the mathematical operation (+, -, * or /)")

if (op === "+")
{
document.write(no1 + no2)
}
else if (op === "-")
{
document.write(no1 - no2)
}
else if (op === "*")
{
document.write(no1 * no2)
}
else if (op === "/")
{
document.write(no1 / no2)
}

document.write("<br><br>")
document.write("Well done "+name)

Functions

I've been learning all about functions in JavaScript and C.  They're very interesting and useful, especially in passing arguments when calling them, and I have been using functions this way in programming my christmas lights.

Here's what I'm up to on the Codeacademy website:

More progress on code academy is going well.  I'm just learning about functions - how to declare them and call them - a very useful concept and also available in basically all other programming languages.  I've also been told about interrupts which I think are so cool.  Interrupts are basically a subroutine (function) that is automatically called based on some form of input or a clock (timer).

From http://tldp.org/LDP/tlk/dd/interrupts.html

Google Chrome Experiments

I have just found out about the Google Chrome experiments - some new uses of JavaScript.  I especially liked the 'All Is Not Lost' (on the right) by OK Go - some very creative choreographers who also have some awesome videos on YouTube,  and Pilobolus.

What is JavaScript?

Currently I am doing a course in JavaScript.  JavaScript is a simple code which is used in making webpages.  We have only just touched base on it at the moment, but I can tell you that it is different to C and basic in that it the is given to the browser as the source code, which means that your browser has to compile it before it displays it on the screen, unlike C, which is compiled before it is released as software, so the user doesn't normally get to see or change the source, unless it is opensource (such as Firefox or Linux).

Introduction and Christmas light projects

Hi all
My name is Andrew.  I am quite interested in writing programs - which I have done a fair bit of through writing programs for robots using graphical programming, C and basic.  I have moved from robots to modifying Christmas lights and getting a picaxe chip programmed with basic to control them.  Here's a video of what this does:

This year I am using a different chip - the Atmel tiny programmed with C, to control a bus of 74HC4094N's (made by Phillips or NXP) using clock pulse and data wires to transmit the signal along.  To see how the 74HC's do this, visit the NXP website and check out the datasheets available for the 74HC.