New Student looking For professional Insight

[Steve Bailey]

So Eric, is this one of those 'milestone' years? Are you expecting THE LETTER from the AARP? Is this the year your doctor has recommended you get a colonoscopy? Decided to quit smoking on your birthday?

 

[Voltimus]

I know I'm going to catch some flak for this one.

I think we should try to not be too judgemental. Wolfy is taking a little bit of initiative by taking the course, and he did provide what he thought of as correct answers. His work ethic will still take time to develop though, being in high school he does not yet have to provide himself with necessities....like food. Usually the survival factor kicks in when we are forced to confront the resposibilty of adult life, Wolfy is not a member of our workforce yet. I believe what he is attemting to do is affirm that he is on the right track by going to "gurus" for that affirmation. He does not have a "team" yet to be a player on, he only has a coach(instructor). I think we sometimes let the incessant traffic light questions get us a little worked up. Let's cut this one a little slack, he's registered and he seems to have a genuine interest in making himself known to his future colleagues, and he's not getting a very good feeling of the industry by receiving a browbeating.

So, Wolfy, I hope you don't go away, and when you post again (if you do) submit all the information and theories that you have, even your code. Somebody will almost definately reply.

Also, get yourself a part number for a thick skin.....then order one.....you'll be needing it.
Keep your Wolfgang jamming, and good luck.

 

[DonsDaMan]

I don't know why one would give you flak for your statements. I wasn't going to respond until he stated it was a review. I took him at his word, and provided the best answers I could, given the situation.

I'm even giving him a "double his money back guarantee" on the answers I provided. If they aren't 100% correct, I'll refund DOUBLE what he paid me.

He seemed to me to have at least given the answers some thought (at least while typing them). I don't think he's read the text, so he's still looking for a shortcut. Of course, learning has no shortcuts, so he is stuck with advice saying, in effect, "Try reading the text."

We aren't being cruel. The answers aren't absolute, except as referenced in the text. He's going to come to that realization sooner or later. I hope it's sooner, as it* is always more expensive later. (* "it" in its previous usage refers to anything except used cars.)

And that's my 1K of answer.

 

[Kashif Mehmood]

hi
i m student of associate engineering and i search ur site is very beautiful but some things very costly i m a student i didnot purchase this please give me free or concession with me i m working in plcs but i cannot a lot of knowledge in plc plz give me simple and a large knowledge

thanks

 

[Eric Nelson]

I figured it would be too easy...

So Eric, is this one of those 'milestone' years? Are you expecting THE LETTER from the AARP? Is this the year your doctor has recommended you get a colonoscopy? Decided to quit smoking on your birthday?

• Yes...
• No (thankfully)...
• Yes...
• I probably should, but it ain't gonna happen...

-Eric

(T-24)

 

[Voltimus]

Kashif,

take a deep breath.....
finished?
The key to English (as any language) is completing one thought before moving onto the next.
The site is free.
The T-shirts aren't.
The people here have large knowledge, and it's easy to understand.
In fact, I'm sure there are some from your country.

Don't be afraid to post, unless you're looking for easy answers to homework.

This site is beautiful isn't it?

 

[leitmotif]

Wolfy

Well at your tender age there are a couple lessons. I think most of learned them when we were a little older. Consider yourselve advanced for your age -- IF you learned the lessons. Here they are
1. There is no free lunch
2. Nobody is constantly going to do your work for you.
3. People will help when they see an effort.

Unfortunately these guys get lots of college students asking for help with their homework. In some cases it is do my homework for me. That is what ticked them off here.

You should have said in your initial post your age and what you were doing. I think they would have cut some slack.

There is one other important lesson. That was the one about going with your own ideas and not going with a consensus opinion. Politicians do consensus. You want to be a technician not a politician. It was kind of harsh but as my Mom said "it will put hair on your chest and make you a man".



With these guys do not be afraid to give your opinion or best guess -- identify as best guess of course -- they will respect you for it no matter how wrong.

Read your text again to see if your answers or guesses were right or wrong

Keep coming back, remind them of your age most will give you a hand.

By the way I am a student also, just a little older

See my other post to students STUDENTS ATTENTION
Dan Bentler

 

[Eddie Willers]

These are actually very instructive if you put some information into the reasons for the wrong or right answers. I dislike the format of some of the questions (like ones with nonsensical answers and "which one is not" questions.

#1 is definitely "9-bit". I see where Don is coming from with the serial framing and parity, but in this context "9-bit" makes no sense so it is the odd one out.

#2 "The CPU" is out of place. All the rest are software components that need memory.

#3 I would lean toward "B", because I can say "The controller's CPU contains a microprocessor", when I consider the "controller" to be the whole shebang (CPU, I/O cards, chassis, etc).

#4 Mike and Don are right; a Word is 16 bits, so the answer is A.) 128,000 bits.

#5 I would argue with the instructor on this one. Using "K" instead of "kb" for kilobits or "kB" for kilobytes is common but incorrect. However, in the next question he uses "K" to describe memory sizes that we know are measured in kilobytes, where 1 kB = 1024 bytes. I agree that you should presume he is defining "K" = 1000 bytes.

#6 Wow... hard to say. The smallest ControlLogix has 750 kilobytes of memory, but the biggest SLC-5/03 has 32 kilobytes. I'd play it safe and say "often 32K or less".

#7 I agree with E. for this one. I think of the "big thing in Slot 0 with all the lights on it" as a "CPU" when I am talking about PLC's, but of course on this PC, the CPU is the Intel microprocessor chip.

I was very pleased to see a "student" question that showed some work being put into it. It's sort of like discussing "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" before you say "Final answer, Regis".

 

[JesperMP]

They are REVIEW QUESTIONS, for the end of chapter 1

Does that mean that it is a test ? That the school needs to verify that Wolfgang has acquired the knowledge to let him pass onto the next level ?

If so, helping Wolfgang with these questions potentially nullifies the screening function of the test.

If it is not a test, then the only "damage" is that Wolfgang may appear as a clever student without really being it.

I always say this: The student must try to solve his homework by himself. It is not important that he finishes it 100% perfectly. What is important is that he grapples with the material himself.

 

[elevmike]

Jesper,

The whole point is Wolfgang is NOT a student but a self learner at this point. In this context, and noting that he actually did attempt to provide answers.. I think a few people jumped the gun, then others jumped on the bandwagon. My 1st ever programming lesson was from my brother-in-law. I was not yet involved in a class at the time, and my questions were simmiler..It was a great jump start, so I commend Wolfgang for getting into it early.

 

[JesperMP]

Mike,
are the questions a test or not ?

 

[hd_coop]

I always say this: The student must try to solve his homework by himself. It is not important that he finishes it 100% perfectly. What is important is that he grapples with the material himself.

It appears to me that he has tried to solve his homework by himself. Although I am a student I normally side with the 'regulars' on these types of questions but his question pales in comparison to this one http://www.plctalk.net/qanda/showthread.php?t=13477

Also, there isn't always an assigned text to refer to for reference. I had a class entitled "Logic Systems for Manufacturing" this past term which had no book and my instructor was trying to teach us 20 year old information. He wouldn't allow us to use the term PLC because it was "copywrighted by Allen-Bradley and using it with any other brand of PLC was wrong"....hmmm going to automationdirect's web site I see they sell "PLC Hardware".

My point is that it can be hard, especially for those new to this field, to sift thru the outdated information and get to the truth, which is what I think he was trying to do here.

 

[Tom Jenkins]

Now, y'all know thet I likes t' come down on students askin' fer free rides. Howesome ever, this yung feller did whut we always say we wants - he fessed up t' bein a student, he showed his own work and his reasons fer doin' whut he done, and was very polite. I cain't get on his case none atall.

I also cain't think of nuthin t' add to the hep he's already gotten.

 

[elevmike]

Jesper,

He's a High School student. He's doing the PLC learning thing on his own..not in a class. In that context I feel that his questions were ligit...I think some of the responders didnt read his initial post very carefully, and made the wrong presumption.

 

[JesperMP]

hd_coop,

I didnt mean to say that he had not done his homework (its just one part of what I say to student).
However, I did mean to say that it is not important to achive 100% correct answers in the answer to his teacher, if that means getting the answers from someone else. In the end he will get the answers from the teacher when he goes through the questions after the test. What does Wolfgang achieve by getting all the answers right by just getting them from some one else - apart from looking much smarter than his fellow student ?

And, is this a test the screens students to the next level or not ??