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Help for Tables !Tables v 1.20 by <Richard Sharpe>=Author> <Introduction> <Getting Started> <Configuration> <The Logs> <Icon Bar Menu> <Licence> <Credits> Click on the words in red on any of the pages for more help. !@# Introduction Why did I write !Tables? ------------------------ Whilst Computers, Calculators and Cockcroft, not necessarily in that order, have irreversibly improved the lot of the humble Mathematics teacher, paving the way for us to make the subject more fun than it ever was and accessible to many more children than was the case in days of yore, (is this sentence getting out of hand or what?!) one thing remains a problem, the children and, unfortunately, some misguided teachers, believe that it is no longer necessary to learn their tables. Few would dispute, or at any rate if they would, they would be wrong, that the learning 'by heart' of a poem inevitably enhances the enjoyment of said literary structure and the same applies to multiplication tables. How much fun is Number Theory going to be if you have to dig out a calculator to discover what is the highest power of 2 which goes into 56! Personally I do not think that learning tables is the funnest thing in the repertoire but that doesn't detract from its importance. Some of us just have to get it into our little skulls that the myth that everything in life has to be fun fun fun, is a load of complete and utter horse manure. I am quotable on this point and will stick with my metaphor! So I decided to write a 'Drill' program and try it out on the children and the interesting and surprising thing to report on that front is that they enjoy using it. So here is something to please everyone. Get it on your school network and see the difference! All comments, criticism, money etc. to the <Author>. !@# Getting Started Double click on !Tables in a filer window to install it on the icon bar then click on the icon to open a LogOn window. Enter your name and press return or click on \<OK>|. By default this will open a 5 X 5 grid and the Options window. Choose your <Configuration> from the Options window. Click on 'Start' button and green numbers will fill the yellow boxes. Also the Options window will close. From this moment the clock is on, so you can fill in the table, pressing \<Return>| or \<Tab>| to move on to the next cell. To make things a bit easier, particularly so that the use of !Tables is not restricted to those who can read a binary operation table quickly and easily, I have included an icon at the top of the main window which displays the current calculation. I have also found that this can help to introduce students to the idea of a binary op table in a fairly gentle way. If you make an error, pressing \<Return>| or \<Tab>| will result in your incorrect answer being removed and the caret being positioned so that you can have another go. <Scan Errors> will give you more detail on this. When you have finished filling in the table the Options window will reopen and the clock will stop. If for any reason you want to finish before completing the table, click on \<Finish>| which stops the clock and reopens the Options window. This is NOT a potential cheat as the action will be logged. When you have finished completely you should press the \<Log Off>| button which will delete your log and readys the application for the next user. !@# Configuration The Options window has five separate sections and we will deal with each in turn. ----------------------------- 1. <Grid Size> 2. <Order of Difficulty> 3. <Allow Negatives> 4. <Min/Max Limits> 5. <Operators> 6. <Scan for Errors> ----------------------------- !@# Grid Size You have a choice of a 5 x 5 grid or a 10 x 10 grid. Clicking on the appropriate radio icon will open the window of your choice. Personally I think that the 10 x 10 grid is a bit big. The children tend to find it a little daunting and I hardly ever use it. But I have left it in in case anyone finds it useful. !@# Order of Difficulty Here there is a choice of three radio icons and an option button. Fully ordered ------------- This is obviously the easiest as the numbers will always be in ascending order. The number limits will depend on the <Min/Max Limits>. Partially Random ---------------- This setting gives randomly generated numbers within the given range but repeats the same set of numbers on each axis. Fully Random ------------ This setting gives different randomly generated sets of numbers within the given range on each axis. !@# Min/Max Limits Clicking on the various bump icons allows you to choose the upper and lower limits for the numbers in the grid. The minimum difference between upper and lower limit is 4 and the maximum is 9. !@# Allow Negatives This setting can be either on or off with any of the above settings. When the button is off, it is impossible to select negative number limits and when subtracting you are in fact only finding the absolute difference between the numbers. When the button is on you can select negatives and subtraction is directional. !@# Operators This allows you to choose your operator. The only thing that needs expaining here is the peculiarity with <negative numbers>=Allow Negatives>. !@# Scan for Errors If the Scan for errors switch is on then !Tables will not allow the student to continue to the next cell until the previous one is correct. Pressing \<Return>| over an incorrect answer will result in the contents of the cell being deleted and the error being logged immediately. If the switch is off then incorrect answers are allowed and only after the table is completed or when \<Finish>| is pressed are the errors logged. !@# The Logs There are two Logs to consider. 1. <The Student Log> 2. <The Teacher Log> !@# The Student Log It is important that the student is able to monitor his/her own progress (Supported Self Study!) and to this end I have provided a log of the students progress which is very easy to access and is only available to the person who is logged on at that time. This is accessed by the student by clicking on the \<View Student Log>| button at the bottom of the <Options>=Configuration> window. It contains the following data. 1. Name of student 2. Date and time of log on. 3. Gridsize 4. Order of Difficulty 5. Operator 6. Limits 7. Negatives allowed? 8. Error scan status 9. Any errors made 10. Time taken/Completeness <Log Size> <The Teacher Log> !@# The Teacher Log The teacher log contains all of this information for all of the students who have used the program since the teacher log was last deleted. The teacher log can be viewed or deleted from the <Icon Bar Menu> <Log Size> <The Student Log> !@# Log Size Storing the logs in memory so that they can be displayed in the log window can sup up quite a bit of the application memory as the file gets larger. In order to stop this becoming a problem for users with 1 or 2Mb machines, I have limited the size of the logs quite drastically. However this should not be a problem, as when the size of the log file becomes critical you are prompted to save it as a text file and view it from there. The standard \<Save>| window will appear automatically and the icon should be dragged to an appropriate filer window. N.B. This should never arise with the student log but may well occur with the teacher log when a lot of students have used the application. !@# Icon Bar Menu This is what you will find on the Icon Bar Menu. --------------------------- * <Info> * * <Help> * * <Set Password> * * <View Log> * * <Delete Log> * * <Quit> * -------------------------- !@# Info Info does what Info always does. If you do not know what this is then please consult a RISCOS User Guide. !@# Help If you are reading this you have probably discovered what Help does. !@# Set Password To reset the <Password> click on the Set Password item in the Bar menu. This will open a window with three writable icons. In the first one you must type the current <Password>. If this is correct the caret will go down to the second in which you should type the new password. This is then repeated in the third icon. The reason for this is that if you make a typing error you would never be able to access the Log again, so your new password is verified by being typed twice. !@# Password By default the password is Woodpecker. This is because Tom Robbins has written a new book and I am happy again. I suggest that you change it immediately as denying your students access to this help file is your only other alternative and that would be silly. The security is not watertight but why should it be. Any student who can crack it deserves quite a commendation. Perhaps that would qualify as a piece of GCSE coursework! Please note that all passwords are case sensitive. !@# View Log Type in the current teacher password and press return. This will open the teacher log, which can be perused at leisure and saved as a text file if desired. !@# Delete Log Typing the teacher password in this window and pressing return will delete the teacher log permanently. Make sure that you want to do this as you get no second chances. !@# Quit Quit, like Info, does what Quit, not Info, always does. !@# Author Richard Sharpe 5 Camberwell Terrace Leamington Spa Warwickshire CV31 1LP Tel: 01926 422040 !@# Licence This application is SHAREWARE. If you find it useful you are required to register. (Within 30 days of first using it). You may <distribute>=Distribution> the UNREGISTERED version to whoever you like as long as you leave the application intact and you make the recipient aware of the application's Shareware status. ** REGISTRATION IS £5.00 for individuals, £10.00 for a school.** Registration is so that I know who's using the application and hopefully get some feedback. Also I spent a lot of time on it and want to be appreciated! The advantages of Registering and paying the far from exorbitant fee are as follows: 1. You will not be breaking the law. 2. You will encourage me to write more educational software at low cost. 3. You will make me ecstatically happy. 4. You will be entitled to free upgrades (for a while at least!) 5. You will have the opportunity to tell me how to make the program better! 6. You will have the opportunity to suggest other projects that you desire an author for. !@# Distribution You may distribute the UNREGISTERED version of this program to anyone you like so long as you pass on the whole application including ALL of the files in the application directory. You may not alter any of the files in any way nor may you claim to have written any of the code. Send your money, name, address, telephone number, comment, criticisms and anything else you like to The <Author>. !@# Credits The Wimp Procedure Library that I used was written by <Paul Hobbs> and is part of his excellent <!EventShell> package. I appended it to the program using <!Blib>=Blib> which is likewise a very fine piece of work by <Ian Palmer>=Blib>. It was then well and truly squashed using <!BasShrink=>Wallace> by <John Wallace>. !@# !EventShell This is the most comprehensive Basic Wimp library available. It is SHAREWARE so if you do get hold of a copy and find it useful, do pay the registration fee which for what you get is very little indeed. £10.00 is a lot cheaper than !WimpGen. It is written by <Paul Hobbs> and is available from most P.D. libraries or from the author. (Despite the address he is English but you can write in English or German.) <Click here>=EventShell> for what <Paul Hobbs> wants to say about his very excellent work. !@# Blib A Basic library linker by Ian Palmer available from various P.D. libraries. !@# Paul Hobbs Rheinpfalzstrasse 2 85049 Ingolstadt Germany !@# EventShell This program has been written using the routines supplied with the EvntShell library which is copyright <Paul Hobbs>. EvntShell is a starting point for developing your own applications that run under the RISC-OS wimp system. The EvntShell library contains code to handle most of the 'Events' (i.e. opening a menu, closing a window etc) that can occur, and all your application has to do is inform the library what it should do when certain events occur. For example a menu can be attached to a window or to an icon - the library will open the menu for you (in the correct position!) when the MENU button on the mouse is used. Normally writing a wimp application is a very complex business, involving much reading of the Programmers Reference Manuals, magazine articles and examining other applications. The aim of the EvntShell library is to reduce the need for this and to enable the speedy creation of easily maintained and robust applications. <Distribution (EvntShell)> !@# Distribution (EvntShell) You have permission to use any part or the whole library in any Public Domain/ShareWare project ONCE YOUR COPY HAS BEEN REGISTERED, as long as I am fully credited (via the inclusion of this file in the program documentation). If you wish to use these routines in a program that is for sale (for however much and for whatever reasons) or released as copyright material then my express permission in writing must be obtained. I maintain copyright on all the material supplied as part of the EvntShell system (except where noted below) and reserve the right to amend these conditions in cases where I deem misuse. The library code is supplied free of charge to everyone 'as is'. There is no guarantee that it is free from bugs and no warranty is given about its suitability for use. Further details about EvntShell may be obtained from the <author>=Paul Hobbs>: The heap manager routines used by EvntShell are copyright Risc User and are used with permission. Copyright for all of the supplied relocatable modules remains with the original authors. !@# John Wallace Supplier of !BasShrink which costs £5.00p. !BasShrink_PD is the Public Domain version and is available from various PD libraries. John Wallace, Architype Software, 54 Parkes Hall Road, Woodsetton, Dudley, West Midlands, DY1 3SR ENGLAND.