miscellany: tired...

Oh, fine, so I'm only up two or so hours more than I should have been. Not too bad, at least until I can't get to sleep, and the kids wake up after I've had my eyes shut for ten minutes.

Let's get that report done tonight! Hell, why not two of 'em?

(Investigative and progress reports, yippee!)

miscellany: Another three classes down.

April: Java, Algebra/Trig II, Technical Writing I, and maybe half of Technical Writing II. Don't know if I'll be able to complete the second writing course by the end of the month, as I don't have the guidelines re: the research paper.

But still not too bad, eh? Three classes in a month is a decent enough pace. Eleven credits this month, nine credits last month. Fifty-four credits to go.

Now just have to see what to start with the MS, and how that will affect completion of the bachelor's program.

miscellany: Onward to letters of reference...

"Congratulations! You have been accepted into the Master of Science in Information Systems program"

Going to be busy, busy, busy. [big grin]

miscellany: Application to potential brain explody started...

So let's see how it goes. Submitted the resume and application fee, so perhaps it'll get evaluated in the next week, at which point it'll be go time. Or not. Don't necessarily know that undertaking two degree programs at the same time is prudent, but it should be a challenge.

Need to see about getting accepted, first.

webweaving: Happy locking knee dance!

The instructor looked over the assignments again, along with the code documentation, and decided to give full credit for them all due to my willingness to explain and expend some effort.

I am really glad that I took the time to do that, even if it did slow me down for the other courses a bit. And I'm really thankful that the instructor was willing to review the submitted code again.

Onward to finish up that last math exam, then it's time to start writing some reports. Yippee.

miscellany: ... two more sections to complete.

A little more done. Resubmitted the Java assignments, along with a little more explaining, and an offer to explain even more, if that isn't sufficient.

And two left on the second math class. Hurray. My eyes, they are a'bleedin, so it isn't exactly simple to read the book at this moment. Time to sleep... then try and cram through the rest Monday/Tuesday, then start the next class Tuesday/Wednesday.

webweaving: "I took off more on the others... because I had no idea what was going on in the code"

Sigh. Even if one had no idea what the code actually does, one could guess based on the comments.

webweaving: "I am just having trouble following what you have sent in."

Please work on this some more. I cannot pass you as is. I am just
having trouble following what you have sent in.

import java.io.*;// import for using BufferedReader, BufferedWriter

public class Palindrome
{
  public static void main( String args[] ) throws IOException
  {
       try
       {
       BufferedReader inputStream = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("pals.txt"));
       BufferedWriter outputStream = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter("palsout.txt"));// using BufferedWriter instead of PrintWriter
       String line;
       String lineCopy;
       line = inputStream.readLine();// starts reading file by the line
       while( line != null )
       {
               // strip punctuation, spaces, and special characters, then convert to lower case
            String stripArray[] = { "\"", "'", ".", " ", ",", ";", ":", "!", "@", "#", "$", "%", "^", "&", "\\", "(", ")", "_", "-", "+", "=", "?", "[", "]", "{", "}", "<", ">", "/" };
            lineCopy = line;
            for(String charReplace:stripArray)// remove each element in stripArray from lineCopy
            {
                 lineCopy = lineCopy.replace( charReplace,"" );
            }
            lineCopy = lineCopy.toLowerCase();
            StringBuilder copyString = new StringBuilder(lineCopy);
            copyString.reverse();// reverse the character order in copyString
  
            if( lineCopy.equals(copyString.toString()) )// it's a palindrome
            {
                 System.out.print( line + " Is a palindrome.\n" );
                 outputStream.write( line + " Is a palindrome." );
                 outputStream.newLine();
            }
            else// it's not a palindrome
            {
                 System.out.print( line + " Is not a palindrome.\n" );
                 outputStream.write( line + " Is not a palindrome." );
                 outputStream.newLine();
            }
            line = inputStream.readLine();// read the next line
       }
       inputStream.close();
       outputStream.close();
  }
  catch( java.io.FileNotFoundException e )
  {
       System.out.print("The file \"pals.txt\" must be located in the same directory as this application.");
  }

 }

}

webweaving: I did the exception handling again, anyway

Added a try... catch to the last assignment. Why? To avoid what happens if the file it needs isn't there.

I can take another hit. Give me some more fuel, I've got a couple of lighters.

My code works, and it's probably a little different than the one they have archived. Wonder how many points it'll cost, this time.

webweaving: this is not a coding assignment

Well, submitted that pseudocode and diagramming exercise that I discussed with Xianzhi last night. (By the way, bro, it's also up at Docs.)

Don't think I'm going to start the last assignment 'til tomorrow, since I'm getting a little cranky. Humid, nasty, want to cruise around the property with the Gorilla Bar cranky. Maybe even the little old three pound forging hammer. It's a good thing I can't move quickly, eh?

Though the stubborn streak says that I should go look at the assignment anyway. It's something about file reading and palindrome testing, which, if the other assignments are any indication, I will complete, compile, test, have working, and then get marked down a random amount because my code will not look exactly like the answer key.

But I would much rather have the feedback on all of the assignments before I start banging my tanker boot on the table and start shouting that I'm burying anyone. After all the grades are returned, it's go time.

webweaving: very, very cranky

Okay, so how is "it should look more similar to the attached" valid feedback re: working code?
(Does it work? Yes. Then where is the issue?)

Is it like "there seems to be some things missing"?
(...such as? My for loops are different than the ones in the example? So what?)

Or is it like "the code could have been more readable and considerably shorter"?
(Yes, without validating user input in any way, if you don't mind having InputMismatchException crop up several times in a row. Or calculating a circumference with a negative value.)

So my work is being evaluated by someone who either isn't looking at the code, or is looking at the code, but isn't really sure what it is supposed to do. Which, of course, hardly garners any confidence on my part for quality instruction.

Going to need to do a line by line code breakdown, Barney style, and ask for some valid feedback. Because I don't need to have my grade killed by a strict "it doesn't look like the answer key" kind of thing.

And Xianzhi, re: "I almost wonder, now that I think of it, if your grader doesn't actually know the language and was "overwhelmed" by your verbosity. It looked different than the "answer" so it must be somehow wrong, even though the code worked."

That's the sinking feeling I have, too.

webweaving: Seven assignments down, three to go.

Might not quite make the weekend for this course. Or I might. Have some skeletal classes with placeholder methods for the next assignment, so completing it tomorrow should not be exceedingly difficult.

Then two more assignments. And it'll be another four credits.

I don't believe that I will drop below the A range for this class, unless I bomb the last three assignments horribly-- won't compile, produce the wrong output, etc. Though the comments received back are largely too vague to be helpful.

I still don't understand the rationale for marking code down if it does what the assignment asks. I may have to ask about that.

(Edit: two of the prior assignments were marked down 20%, and a third 10%. Total feedback basically boils down to "it's missing some stuff, look at the attached code". Whoever is evaluating the course doesn't seem to have any idea what my code does.)

webweaving: well, only because it should really be under miscellany.

Meaning that it oughta be under miscellany, but since it's vaguely coding related, webweaving applies just as well.

Finished the first five assignments for the intro to Java class. Want to take a break and see how I do on the three I submitted tonight before I continue on.

(Actually decided to just sorta follow along with whatever the book says, instead of trying to guess at how I'd do it with PHP. Y'know, when faced with malicious user input and needing some semblance of error handling.)

edit: Just did the barebones for the sixth assignment(compiles, works within given parameters). Should probably go and add some vaguely helpful comments before submitting it.

miscellany: not too shabby for a month.

Three courses down: Intro to Microeconomics, Intro to Management, and Algebra/Trigonometry I.

Two assignments into Intro to Java Programming. Book is good, but I have to say that I still like the ready access to information provided by the online PHP manual by far. Unfortunately, it's a Java class, so that doesn't help very much, now does it?

However, it's time to at least get some basic familiarity with the stuff. Doesn't mean that I need to complete any of my personal projects in Java, just enough to be able to hack code reasonably.

Next course is in the mail, and hopefully should be done with the introductory Java course by next weekend. Well, maybe. Should probably sneak a little peek ahead to see what kind of exercises will need to be completed before I get too cocky about it.