CS 257 Assignment

All assignments will be posted, sometimes with detailed clarifications, on the main course page. But if you prefer a tighter version with fewer explanations, here you go.

Notes

Friday due-times are 5:00PM; Tuesday due-times are 11:59PM.
[QUESTIONS 1] and [QUESTIONS 2] are questions for discussion group prep each week.
Similarly with [READ 1], [TASK 2], etc.

Week 0: on or before 9/14

Week 1: 9/14 - 9/20

[QUESTIONS 1] What's good software? How to get along with people?
[WATCH] Set up your dev environment
[DO] Set up your dev environment.
[WATCH] Intro to Unix part 1.
[DO 9/18] introductory tutorial on Unix, up through Tutorial Three
[QUESTIONS 2] Your questions about Unix and git
[WATCH] Intro to git part 1
[DO 9/18] Hello, World! for Teams (a lab about git)

Week 1.5

[DO] Learn to use the vi text editor.

Week 2: 9/21 - 9/27

[DO] Survey about your partnership for the Hello World for Teams assignment
[WATCH] Intro to Unix, part 2.
[READ 1] Exploring CLI Best Practices
[QUESTIONS 1] (0) What book should I add to the books; (1) What common features do you see in the command-line syntax of Unix commands? (2) Which Unix commands or command options have you found most confusing, and why? (3) What general principles would you propose for the design of good command-line interfaces?
[DO 9/22, 9/25] Books: command-line arguments and CSV
[READ 2] Test-driven development (TDD)
[READ 2] Chapters 1 (Clean Code) and 2 (Meaningful Names) from Clean Code, by Robert C. Martin.
[QUESTIONS 2] (1) What are the benefits of TDD? (2) In the Clean Code readings, what are Martin's main points? what are his biases, explicit or implicit? are his arguments persuasive? what are his strongest and weakest points?
[DO 9/28] Unit testing with PyUnit. Nothing to hand in.

Week 3: 9/28 - 10/4

[OPTIONAL] repl.it instructions
[READ 1] The Commento, from Code Complete, by Steve McConnell
[READ 1] Chapter 4 (Comments) from Clean Code
[WATCH] Intro to git, part 2
[DO 10/2] BooksDataSource: unit tests for a class interface
to be posted by Monday: info about the DG#2 code review session
[READ 2] Chapter 3 (Functions) from Clean Code

Week 4: 10/5 - 10/11

[DO 10/5] Survey about teams and the course pace
[DO 10/5] Intro to PostgreSQL, psql, and SQL
[QUESTIONS 1] Bring your questions about postgres and whatever else.
[DO 10/6] Testing your tests
[DO 10/9] Revising your books.py.
[READ] a few notes from the code reviews
[DO well before 10/13] Accessing postgres databases from Python using psycopg2
[DO 10/12] Using HTTP-based APIs
[WATCH] A brief introduction to HTTP

Week 5: 10/12 - 10/18

[DO 10/12] Intro to implementing HTTP-based APIs with Flask
[DO 10/16] Implementing a COVID-19 API.
[DO 10/17] Survey about teams for the web application project

Week 6: 10/21 - 10/25

[READ 10/23] User stories, up through section 6 (Limitations)
[READ 10/23] Use cases, sections 1 (History), 2 (General principle), 7 (Examples), 8 (Advantages) and 9 (Limitations)
[DO 5:00PM SATURDAY 10/24] Web Application: selecting your data
[READ 10/26] Database normalization, sections 1 (Objectives). Sections 2 and 3.1-3 might also be helpful to you.
[READ 10/26] Guiding Principles (Chapters 1-5) of Don't Make Me Think, Revisited (3rd edition)

Week 7: 10/26 - 11/1

[READ 10/27] More examples of database normalization: simple database of kids and pets; multipage introduction to normal forms
[DO 10/27] Web Application: database design and user stories
[DG#2] Reviewing user stories and database designs.
[DO 10/30] Web Application: wireframes
[INFO] What's next? Likely schedule for the rest of the term.

Week 8: 11/2 - 11/8

[DO 11/3] Web Application: API design
[DO] Intro to HTML and CSS
[DO 11/6] Web Application: web pages in HTML & CSS
[DO] Intro to Javascript
[WATCH] Web App Architecture.

Week 9: 11/9 - 11/15

[DO 11/10] Web Application: end-to-end system setup

Week 10 & finals week (11/16 - 11/23)

[DO 11/23] Web Application: final version

CS 257: Software Design

Compact task list