CSC 148H: INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER SCIENCE

Old Announcements -- Week 8

Friday 01 November: Assignment 2 -- testing does count

Testing was not explicitly included in the draft marking scheme, but this was an oversight. There will be marks for testing. But even if this were not the case, your testing is essential as evidence that your program is correct. That's why the marking sheets say that you can get as little as zero for correctness if your testing is very poor or completely missing.

Remember that good testing means (1) a good strategy that is well explained, and (2) test runs that are well organized and annotated. See the marking sheet for A1 for some specific sorts of things we look for as well as a not-too-bad set of cases for A1. The handbook also includes sample assnts with good testing strategies.

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Friday 01 November: Assignment 2 -- make sure you can produce output files

I strongly suggest that you try (right now) running your program with output redirected to a file. You don't want to discover on Thursday afternoon that you used some input/output related statements (like "locate") that will not work with output redirected to a file.

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Friday 01 November: Assignment 2 -- what if you can't get the pointers working?

If you can't get the pointer-based data structure implemented in Part C of the assignment, here's a strategy for getting part D working: implement your module for the game data using a simple 2D array of tiles -- with no pointers at all. This won't earn you much, if anything, for Part C, but it will allow you to run your whole part D program and show that it works.

Implementing that module using a 2D array can also be a useful stepping stone to implementing it the required pointer-based way.

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Friday 01 November: Assignment 2 -- the module signature

For part B of the assignment, I said that you should type in your module signature and run it through OOT to check for syntax errors. As many of you have noticed this is a little awkward to do. For example, you'll need to add an "end" onto each subprogram so that OOT won't complain.

You should be able to make your signature compile just by adding these "end"s. For example, here is an example of a signature OOT will accept without complaining. (The corresponding complete module is also there, for your information.)

Whatever you do, do not include inappropriate things in the signature just to satisfy OOT. For example, do not include any secret data structures in the signature. If OOT seems to want you to do this, you probably have designed your module poorly -- rethink it, and go to an office hour if you can't find a way around it.

Some students have been using separate module stubs and implementations (as shown in the BHH textbook). That's fine (although not necessary), but do be sure not to include inappropriate things in the signature that you hand in for Part A.

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Thursday 31 October: Exam solutions -- more

Solutions to all of the midterms are now available through this web site (as well as in the Engineering library). See the assignments and tests page.

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Thursday 31 October: Tic-tac-toe ADT (from yesterday's tutorial)

Fyi, click here to see the tic-tac-toe ADT material that was covered in tutorial this week. It should help you with Assignment 2.

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Thursday 31 October: Assnt 2 -- a 5-by-5 array is not allowed

Some students have been asking about using a 5-by-5 array of pointers to the board structure. This is not permitted. Having such an array allows you to circumvent the data structure that we have said you are to use.

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Thursday 31 October: Assnt 2 -- a special case

Question: What if, when sliding in the spare tile a prize is knocked off and must wrap around to the opposite side, but there's already another prize on that tile?
Answer: Good question! Choose an appropriate action and document your choice. One possibility is that such a prize would push the other prize (that's already on the tile) over. Followup: Our TA Steph pointed out that this special case cannot occur because the tile that the prize would wrap around to must be the spare tile that was just pushed in -- and it cannot have a prize on it.

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Thursday 31 October: The drop date is tomorrow

Reminder: the last day to drop csc148 without academic penalty is tomorrow, November 1st.

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Thursday 31 October: Small office our changes today

My 3:00 office hour will begin and end 15 minutes early; and my 5:30 office hour may start a little late. -- Diane

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Thursday 31 October: Exam solutions

Solutions to Diane's first midterm, for both the 1:00 and 6:00 classes, are available in the course folder in the Engineering Library (Sandford Fleming, room 2402 -- down the hall from Horton's, Cook's, and Borodin's offices.)
Solutions for the Borodin/Cook 10:00 midterm are available here.

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Wednesday 30 October: Didn't get your A1 or test back?

If you didn't get your assignment 1 or test back in tutorial, go to one of Diane's office hours to pick it up -- leftovers are kept there. Remember that if you have a concern about your mark on either of these items, you must raise it with us by Friday. (Click here to find out how.)

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Wednesday 30 October: For Diane's 1:00 class

As announced in class on Monday, Diane's 1:00 section will have a lecture today instead of a tutorial. If you are in this section, go to the lecture hall today for your class at 1:00.

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Sunday 27 October: Check your marks!

Marks for all course items submitted so far (Assignments 0 and 1, and the first midterm) are now posted on Diane's corkboard. Check that your marks were entered correctly. Report any errors to Diane.
Statistics are also available on the corkboard, as well as here.

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Sunday 27 October: Bubblesort handout

The bubblesort handout, used in tutorials last Wednesday, is available here.