I've been asked to post more examples of "good" (well-written) programs. Here they are:

• NumberNamer.java and NumberNamerTest.java
• McGame.zip

Questionnaire results

• Non-credit language courses
  • 10 uninterested, 4 interested if cheap/free, 7 interested.
  • Much more interest by my CIT597 students: 5 interested, 1 if cheap/free, 1 uninterested.
    • I think CIT591 students overestimate how much other languages, such as C++, are in the curriculum.
• Starting with Python
  • Big win: 17 were in favor, 3 had mixed feelings, 3 didn't like
  • Biggest problem: Java was too rushed, transition was difficult.
    • I can abbreviate Python a bit, and I have some ideas about smoothing the transition.
• Pair programming
  • 11 people didn't like it at all, 7 had mixed feelings, 5 liked it.
  • Biggest problem: Incompatible schedules, making it hard to work together.
  • Other problems: Skill levels too different, unhelpful partners.
• Test Driven Development/Design
  • 11 people reallly liked it, another 8 liked it somewhat, 2 didn't like it.
  • Only 1 person admits to not trying it, but complaints from partners suggest there are more.
  • In some cases, writing the tests was too much of a hassle.
    • I need to give more instruction on testing difficult cases, e.g., methods involving randomness.
• How to improve this course
  • Many suggestions to drop PowerPoint, teach Java like I taught Python.
    • Eclipse isn't as easy as IDLE for this; maybe if I move to a simpler IDE, like DrJava?
  • More individual assignments, especially when beginning Java.
  • Get to Java sooner, so students can get more familiar with it.
  • More of x, where x takes on a large number of different values.

I have been forgetting to post partner evaluation forms. My apologies. Remember, these are a required part of the course.

• Evaluation form for Assignment 8: Eliza
• Evaluation form for Assignment 9: Three Musketeers
• Evaluation form for Assignment 10: Flash Cards II
• Evaluation form for Assignment 11: Frogger

To keep from forgetting again, I have posted the evaluation form for the last assignment. Please fill out this form immediately after submitting the assignment.

Because so many people will be leaving early for Thanksgiving, I have tried to make it as painless as possible to skip the November 25 class, by making it clear that no new material would be covered. I've now decided that's just foolish.
No class November 25. No lab November 27.
Happy Thanksgiving!

I recommend going to this talk. --Dave

Cracking the Technical Interview:
Advice for CS students on interviewing for software engineer positions

Gayle Laakmann
4:30pm, Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Wu & Chen Auditorium

The Partner Evaluation form for 06 Balanced Ternary is now available. Please note that these form are mandatory, even if you had no partner.

If you are having trouble submitting a partner evaluation form, please wait a bit and try again. The server is hosted at my home, and we are having intermittent telephone problems that Verizon is not rushing to fix.
The three current forms are:

• 03 Playfair Cipher partner evaluation form
• 04 Readability measures partner evaluation form
• 05 Small Town Traffic partner evaluation form

No lab this Friday (although it would be a good time for you and your partner to come in to work on the final Python assignment).

No help session today after class. Will resume next week.

Please submit this form:

• 05 Small Town Traffic partner evaluation form

I finally have the partner evaluation form program working again. Please fill in the following two forms:

• 03 Playfair Cipher partner evaluation form
• 04 Readability measures partner evaluation form

I will post the evaluation form for the Small Town assignment after the final due date for it. Again, these evaluations are mandatory and completely confidential.

Here are some sample files of varying levels of "readability:
TheBookofOneSyllable.txt, war-of-the-worlds.txt, constitution.txt, critique-of-practical-reason.txt.
(Note: The last of these, the Critique, is quite long, and take almost 15 seconds on my laptop. If it takes your program more than a minute or two, you are probably trying to work with extremely long strings.)

Below are examples of the numbers you should be getting.

    def testAllMeasures(self):
        text = ['This is a simple sentence. This is a more',
                'complicated sentence. This sentence is ',
                'incredibly complicated and polysyllabic.']
        countEverything(text)
        self.assertAlmostEqual(8.383332, getKincaidMeasure(), 3)
        self.assertAlmostEqual(7.99833,  getARImeasure(), 3)
        self.assertAlmostEqual(12.33278, getColemanLiauMeasure(), 3)
        self.assertAlmostEqual(11.28888, getGunningFogMeasure(), 3)
        self.assertAlmostEqual(9.725611, getSmogMeasure(), 3)
        self.assertAlmostEqual(45.64501, getFleschMeasure(), 3)
        self.assertAlmostEqual(50.44444, getLixMeasure(), 3)

totalWordCount =  16086
totalComplexWordCount =  12
totalLetterCount =  55701
totalSentenceCount =  972
totalBigWordCount =  596
totalSyllableCount =  16140

Kincaid      2.704
ARI          3.154
ColemanLiau  2.813
GunningFog   6.650
SMOG         3.764
Flesch       105.153
Lix          20.254

totalWordCount =  2279
totalComplexWordCount =  252
totalLetterCount =  10344
totalSentenceCount =  95
totalBigWordCount =  660
totalSyllableCount =  3314

Kincaid      10.925
ARI          11.943
ColemanLiau  9.704
GunningFog   14.019
SMOG         12.433
Flesch       59.465
Lix          52.950

totalWordCount =  7541
totalComplexWordCount =  1080
totalLetterCount =  36007
totalSentenceCount =  175
totalBigWordCount =  2557
totalSyllableCount =  11618

Kincaid      19.395
ARI          22.605
ColemanLiau  11.639
GunningFog   22.965
SMOG         17.321
Flesch       32.759
Lix          76.999

totalWordCount =  62719
totalComplexWordCount =  10079
totalLetterCount =  292489
totalSentenceCount =  1421
totalBigWordCount =  19627
totalSyllableCount =  98992

Kincaid      20.248
ARI          22.604
ColemanLiau  11.000
GunningFog   24.083
SMOG         18.344
Flesch       28.508
Lix          75.431

Sample code involving classes:

• FirstNational.py and AccessAccount.py, basically from the textbook.
• classyFlashcards.py --This is a refactoring¹ of the flashcards.py program. A Card class is defined, and a new object of this class is constructed² for each individual flash card.
• classyFlashcards2.py -- This adds to the Card class some instance variables³ and instance methods⁴ to keep track of how many times this flash card was answered correctly and answered incorrectly.
• classyFlashcards3.py -- This adds a class variable⁵, presentations, to the Card class, and class methods⁶ for incrementing it and reporting its value.

Notes:

1. Refactoring is rewriting code to improve it, without changing in any way what the code does.
2. To construct an object is to use the class definition to make a new object.
3. An instance variable is a variable belonging to a particular object (instance). The class definition determines what the instance variables will be, but each new object gets its own copy of those variables.
4. An instance method is a method used by an object (instance). Within the method, the object refers to itself and its objects with the variable conventionally named self.
5. A class variable is a variable associated with the class itself, not with individual instances. There is only a single copy of each class variable.
6. A class method is a method executed by the class itself, not by any individual instance of the class. Instead of the variable self, used to refer to an instance, the class can refer to itself with the conventionally named cls variable.

Dear MCIT students and any friends/guests/etc....

Our next event will be to watch Fermat's Last Tango together over self-brought dinner. Snacks and drinks will be provided.

Fermat's Last Tango
6:20pm Thursday October 8, 2009
Levine 315

This movie is a silly musical comedy, written for the "General Public" (not just mathematicians... but there are a few math-only jokes thrown in as well...) http://www.claymath.org/publications/Fermats_Last_Tango/ This link tells you more about this very silly musical. See you there!

--Dr. Dietz

In response to student questions:

• When you pair program, please turn in only one copy of your assignment, with both your names on it. (If for some reason you didn't get a partner, please indicate this fact.)
• Turn in your test file(s) along with the code being tested (zip all files and turn in the zipped file). Testing is part of this and future assignments, and you will be graded in part on the quality of your tests.

Clarifications (Playfair Cipher):

• Put an x between double letters only as nee
• ded to break up a pair.
  Example: This message --> th is me sx sa ge ...
  But: The message --> th em es sa ge
• If the last letter isn't in a pair, you should add an x: super --> su pe rx
  But this would be a bad idea if the last letter is an x: The ox --> th eo x?
  I haven't told you what to do in this case, and the general rule for the course is, If I don't say what to do, it's up to you--but do something reasonable! When we test your code, we can't look for any specific encoding, but we can test that, for instance, your code doesn't go into an infinite loop.

I have posted my writeup on Unit Testing and TDD.

I had a link to someone else's writeup on TDD, but that page seems to have disappeared. To replace it, I've linked to a page on TDD in a wiki. Please read as far as the comments (starting at the book image). There are a lot of interesting links here, which you can ignore but might find interesting. Note: When an article talks about a "green bar" or "red bar," they assume the testing is done from a graphical framework (green = all tests passed), which we don't currently have.

def readFlashCards(fileName):
    flashCards = []
    file = open(fileName)
    flashCard = file.readline()
    while flashCard:
        flashCard = flashCard.strip() # remove line endings
        if len(flashCard) > 0:     # ignore blank lines
            flashCards.append(eval(flashCard)) # notice the 'eval'
        flashCard = file.readline()
        file.close()  # this line must be further to the left!
    return flashCards

Response from Penn Libraries:

Blackboard has been experiencing some system wide problems with uploading documents recently. The problem seems to especially affect users of Firefox. The current workaround is to use Internet Explorer after updating your machine to the most recent version of Java.

Java can be downloaded here: http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

If this does not resolve the issue, please ask the affected students to email us directly so we can troubleshoot the issue further. Emails can be sent to bb-support@pobox.upenn.edu

The following is from Karl E. Morris, at CETS:

Some students have reported problems when trying to login to the Linux workstations in the lab. The solution is for the student to run virgin on their account to reset the account so that KDE will not fail while logging in.

The user should follow these steps:

1. From within another user's logged in terminal: ssh username@eniac.seas.upenn.edu
2. At the command prompt (%) type: %virgin
3. The user should now be able to login directly to their own account.

The user can also login to a Windows workstation in the computer lab, open a session using SecureCRT to eniac.seas, login to their account and run virgin.

Beginner's section 4:45-? Today (Wednesday), in Jaffe B17.

Submitting assignments via Blackboard (ignore last year's instructions):

1. Go to Blackboard and click on CIT 591-001 2009C.
2. Click the  Assignments  tab.
3. Click View/Complete Assignment: Assignment name.
4. From here on, it should be fairly obvious how to upload and Submit your assignment.

Important changes from past years:

• I have to post the assignment via Blackboard before you can submit your solution.
• You can only submit once. If you need to change your submission, you have to contact me or the TA and ask us to discard your previous submission.
• When you submit, you can submit more than one file for the assignment.
  • However, we don't want to have to download more than one file; so to submit multiple files, please zip them and submit the zipped file.
  • Note: "Zip" means .zip, not .rar or .tar or some other random format that we may or may not be able to open easily.

Avi will hold office hours in Moore 207 today, from 5:15 to 7:00.

I will have the first "Beginner's section" this Wednesday, starting at 4:45; the room hasn't yet been assigned.

These may or may not become regular times; our schedules are still being determined.