Software Engineering Exam

I had my Software Engineering (CSE3308) exam this morning.

I left around 8.30am to ensure I got there on time. Ended up parking a few blocks away from the racecourse on Balaclava Road as I figured a walk would be a good idea to relax and clear my mind. It also helped that parking there was free, while the uni were charging $6 to park at the exam venue.

The exam was easier than expected. There was a fairly standard question on object-oriented design, one on data-flow diagrams, one on entity-relationship diagrams, one on process specifications, and a few on various aspects quality. The only thing that surprised me was there was no question about user interfaces. Still, that was fine, since that part of the course focussed too much on regurgitating words from lecture slides (e.g. sovereign versus transient versus parisitic) rather than designing a good user interface (a la Joel Spolsky and Jakob Nielsen).

I finished all the questions in about two hours, so I had an hour to spare. I went over my answers, but decided I couldn't add any more, so I left early.

I decided to treat myself and get the keyboard I had been wanting for a while. A Yamaha PSR-E303. It's a fairly cheap portable electronic piano keyboard ($280 Australian) that's touch sensitive (i.e. the harder you press, the louder the notes are) and sounds like a piano.

When I go shopping for music (which isn't nearly as often as I'd like), I usually go to Allan's Music in Kew. Since my brother Chris lives nearby in Hawthorn, I decided to drop in on him first.

We had a chat about life, love, the universe, and everything, and went to get lunch at Grill'd, a gourmet hamburger shop on Glenferrie Road. I had the Garden Vegetable burger, which tasted great. Chris had the Hot Mama! Mmm...

Ended up at Allan's around 4.30pm. Had a quick look at a Casio for the same price, but decided to get the Yamaha because it sounded more like a piano. Including a stand and a power adapter, it cost $350.

I got home around 5.15 and had a bit of a play. The main music I'd been wanting to play was some Whitlams song books I bought at their gig a few months back at the Corner Hotel. Most peeple know their songs from Eternal Nightcap, such as No Aphrodisiac, but I think their stuff off Torch the Moon (Royal in the Afternoon, I Will Not Go Quietly, Ease of the Midnight Visit) is even better piano music. Had a bit of a play and realized I desperately needed practice!

Jodie noticed the keyboard and decided she needed to lend me her headphones. Don't think I was playing too loudly, but she's studying for her pilot's license, and it's only fair to try not to bother her.

Megan also noticed the keyboard. I expect it won't be too long until we're fighting over who gets to play it! :-)

Hit and Run

When I got back home tonight, there were a number of people gathered outside, and Megan's silver Ford Telstar was looking very unhappy.

Apparently somebody had been driving up Clarence Street, lost control, and careened into the right side of her parked car. Apparently they didn't think it was a good idea to stop and leave their details.




A passing motorist stopped to help give details while our neighbors called the police, but unfortunately they only got half the number plate details, which might not be enuff to determine the offending car or its owner.

The police were quite helpful, calling the tow truck and providing advice on what to do.

I was somewhat fortunate that I was out for the night, because her car was parked where mine would usually be!

Types of Melbourne Trains

There was an article in today's Age about Melbourne trains. It mentioned some problems with the newer Siemens trains, which got me to thinking about the different kinds of trains on the network.

I went on my first train on a visit to Melbourne when I about 12. It was a big silver train with cloth seats covered in graffiti and had green and yellow stripes down the side.

When I moved to Melbourne in 2003, I was surprised they were still in use. They are really noisy, and smell of burned metal.

The article says that these original trains are not supposed to be in use anymore, but there are problems with the brakes in the newer ones, so they had to bring the old ones back.

What was of interest to me was the names and the history of the trains. I discovered that the old smelly silver ones are called Hitachi trains and were first introduced in 1972.

Hitachi "silver" train leaving Gardenvale station

The next trains were Comeng trains. They were bought to replace the last wooden trains in 1981. They are quite similar to the ones in Adelaide.

After the network was privatised in 1999, it was broken up into Hillside (which became Connex) and Bayside (which became M>Train).

Connex bought 58 Alstom X'Trapolis trains from France. They're the ones with the small face plate and two headlights on each side.

M>Train bought 72 Siemens MOMO trains. They have long face plates and a single head light on each side. They were rebranded as Connex trains in 2004 when Connex bought out M>Train.

39° - Thankfully this Siemens train is air-conditioned!

I live on the Sandringham line, which used to be run by M>Train, which explains why I've been seeing the Hitachi trains again lately.

There's a heap more information about the Melbourne network here and here but I'm just glad I finally know what to call the old trains!