Designing VB Applications across Multiple Platforms - Essay Example

? Designing VB Applications Across Multiple Platforms How to design Visual Basic Applications In programming, the term naming conventions refers to a group of rules used in selecting the sequence of the characters that are to be used as identifiers which represents the variables, functions, and types, among other source code entities. The following are reasons why it is important for programmers to use the naming convention system: It makes the source code easy to read and comprehend. It helps to improve on the appearance of the source code. It helps the programmers to even out the application’s structure, the style of coding, and its logic. It enables the programmers to create a source code that is specific, easy to read, and explicit. Some of the advantages of implementing the naming convention system are: It supports the use of the tools used for searching and replacing, which has minimal possible of incurring an error. It makes it clear for one to understand the source code since ambiguity will is made minimal. It gives the source code a look that is professional-like. It also gives the code an aesthetic look. So we can conclude that the naming convention beautifies the code. It facilitates consistency, hence enabling the readers to base their focus on the content of the source code, rather that its layout. In the code, the content as opposed to the layout is the most important. It gives extra information about the source code, hence making it easy for the reader to understand the code. This additional information makes the code to be self-descriptive. The user is able to understand the function of each line of code. One is able to make amendments and maintain the source code with ease. It makes it easy for other programmers to easily understand your code. This enables other programmers to be able to upgrade your code with ease in future. Some of the naming principles that help the programmers of Visual Basic include: The names of labels and functions should start with an uppercase while the consequent letters should be in the lowercase, and there should not be any separation between the words. As for the constants, they should be in uppercase, and an underscore should be used to separate one word from the other. The physical units of variables and not supposed to be cased, for instance, kg in place of kilogram. The unit is supposed to come last, starting with an underscore and without being cased. The use of the Option Explicit. This statement entails the declaration of all variables used in the Visual Basic code. Declaring of variables helps in saving on the programming time, by minimizing the amount of bugs caused as a result of typos (Snell & Powers 2010). The following steps can be used to create a calendar scheduling system: On the Start Menu, Go to All Program, then the Windows Calendar. Click on the New Task Button, or the New Appointment’s Button. This enables one to start on a new and an empty appointment that one can add on their Windows Calendar. One is now able to add information on the new appointment. This is done on the details pane. This is where one specifies whether they want the Windows Calendar to remind them about the task. Click anywhere outside of the Appointment’s Pane to view the task that you added to the created appointment. The View Button enables one to make a cycle throughout the views. One can be able to select the required view from the sequence of views. A Calendarscope is a calendar developing software that enables one to plan, manage, and schedule special events, for instance meetings, appointments, among others. It enables one to view all their events on a daily, a weekly, a monthly, or a yearly basis. One can be able to get a quick glance of one day using any view of the calendar. Using this software, one can be able to create single or frequent responsibilities and events, set a reminder for events that are upcoming, put different colors for the different types of items, among other things. It supports many features, among them the drag and drop, which enables the rescheduling of events or even make amendments to its time interval with ease. The Task and the TaskPad view show the all tasks that have been scheduled, including the active tasks, the overdue tasks, and the completed tasks, among others. One is also able to create and keep track of those tasks that are about to reach their deadline as well as those which do not have a date that is due. The reminders contain fonts, sounds, and colors, that can be able to be customized, and can also include email addresses as well as the web URLs. Several features of the main program can be accessed from the tray icon. This software allows one to coordinate their data with the Google’s Calendar or their handset device using a feature know as the HandySync, or one can also print their calendar to carry it around . It can also be saved as a HTML document to be published on the Web or to an intranet company. It has strong encrypted algorithms that are used to restricted unauthorized parties from gaining access to one’s data. This encryption serves as a very strong security measure against unauthorized entry to the otherwise confidential data. The software is able to communicate with the DS Clock, which enables one to view the reminders that are up coming and harmonize one’s computer clock with the time of the Atomic Servers. The calendarscope has the following advantages: It is easy to set up, construct and use and has a low system requirement. It saves on the cost and time and also manages the user’s right of accessing data. The calendarScope, however, has one drawback. It only allows individual use as opposed to it being used as a calendar for a group of people. This software therefore, cannot be used for creating a group calendaring or scheduling. d) A System Administrator is a person who has the responsibility for installing and sustaining the system. The main task of the system administrator is solving problems. An administrator should have a vast knowledge on the operating systems, applications, as well as the hardware and the software skills of troubleshooting (MacDonald 2006). The following are activities carried out by the systems administrators: One should be able to supervise, assess, and document. The system administrator is accountable for the system, so any complaints in regards to the system will upon him/her. The administrator in that case, should be able to supervise, assess, and document data. This is vital because it helps in upgrading of hardware, as well as proving that a certain issue in the system maybe as a result of an obsolete software , instead of concluding that the server has a problem, when it is performing its operations effectively. This enables the administrator to know the core cause of the problem and tackle it. Supervising, assessing, and documenting give the administrator information that is consistent. This will help administrator to easily identify something in the system that might not be ordinary, hence facilitating troubleshooting. One should be able to make a diagnosis of the problems related to both the hardware and the software, and make a replacement of the components that are obsolete. Obsolete software can cause the system to experience problems and this may in turn be of an inconvenience the users. All the software in the system is supposed to be up to date. Any component that is defective should be replaced immediately, and any problems in regards to the system should be tackled so as not to inconvenience the users and paralyze the system’s operations. Carry out the data backup and the disaster recovery processes. It is normal for a person to lose a very important piece of information due to some challenges in the system. In such a situation, Data backup proves to be of essence, because one is able to recover a copy of the data from the backup. Implement the measures needed to be taken to ensure security is attained in the network, for the purpose of protecting hardware, software, and data. Security in a network is very important. This is the only way to prevent the unauthorized parties and programs from gaining access to the network to corrupt. The administrator should ensure that security measures are in place. Manage the master console to supervise the network and the system’s performance, as well as synchronizing the use and access of the network. Monitoring the performance of the network enables the administrator to establish whether the systems requires any adjustments to be made, as well as establishing whether any changes should be made to the system in future. Carry out a regular startup and the shutdown processes for the network, and preserve the control records. Designing, constructing, and testing hardware, software, and the software of the operating system. Carry out a discussion program with the users of the network on how to go about solving the existing problems of the system. The users are supported to be included in the problem solving process. Their ideas can be gathered and analyzed to come up with a concrete ways of solving the problems at hand. Training people on how to use the system Training people on the use of the system enables them to have the knowhow of the system, thus making minimizing the chances of them making mistakes while working on the system. Training the users also facilitates high productivity of the organization since the users have a clear knowledge of the system (Hummel 2001). References Hummel, J. (2001). Effective Visual Basic: How to improve your VB/COM+ applications. Boston: Addison-Wesley. MacDonald, M. (2006). The book of Visual Basic 2005: .NET insight for classic VB developers. San Francisco: No Starch Press. Snell, M., & Powers, L. (2010). Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 unleashed. Indianapolis, Ind: Sams. Read More