GIS Online Student Spotlight - Michael Dumais

Congratulations to Michael Dumais on being named Student Spotlight for his outstanding work in GIS Programming (GIS 4102).  

 

Michael is an great example of the working professional and non-traditional student enrolled in the GIS Online Certificate Program. Mike Dumais is a Senior Programmer Analyst with Collier County, Florida, where he helps to manage the county's spatial data. To follow Michael’s work throughout the program, check out his blog at Mike's GeoTreks Blog

Welcome Mike and congratulations on being named the first GIS Programming spotlight of 2015!  I say it each week, but that spotlight is so bright and hot.  You might want to rethink that fur hat!  Keep up the great work!

 

Module 4: Debugging & Error Handling

Instructor: John Derek Morgan, PhD, GISP

In this Debugging Module, students practiced correcting errors in Python scripts and learned ways to identify what the errors were. Students were given three script templates containing errors. In the first two, they utilized the debugger and other methods to correct the errors. In the last script, they practiced adding a try-except statement, which will identify errors and let the script continue to run without crashing.

Student Learning Outcomes:

•  Recognize syntax errors and exceptions
•  Use debugging
•  Review the content of error messages
•  Add print statements to scripts
•  Selectively comment out code
•  Use a Python debugger
•  Handle and raise exceptions
•  Handle geoprocessing exceptions and other error- handling methods
• Watch for common errors

Mike was able to identify all the errors in the scripts and successfully implement a try-except statement. Additionally, he has been a strong presence on the discussion board, helping other students work through their own errors. Mikes blog post illustrates both his lessons-learned and creativity that makes for an interesting read. Way to kick off the semester Mike!

Next week, we will spotlight a student from GIS 4800 - Applications in GIS taught by Penelope Mitchell.