Mini Project Checkoff Protocol

General Checkoff Protocol

To obtain all 5 pts of MP marks, you need to submit your project to Vocareum AND complete the in-person checkoff. Please approach your cohort’s TA or your cohort’s instructor during Mini Project session of the week for checkoff.

Ensure that you have submitted the code to Vocareum and done with the checkoff this BEFORE the deadline (refer to your course handout and Vocareum).

There are 3 criterias for the grading as reflected in Vocareum. They make up the 5pts:

1. [2pt] Working Test Case
2. [2pt] Understanding of Code
3. [1pt] Code Quality

Before you approach them for checkoff, you need to ensure that all components above are fulfilled:

1. [1pt] Code Quality: Ensure that your project can compile and MUST run in Vocareum. Running locally does not count (will lose this point). We will scan your code for quality (consistent variable naming, clear comments). You can read this article (take it lightly, we won’t be so strict) for starters.
2. [2pts] Working Test Case: Ensure that the items in the checklist (see respective heading below) are functioning.
   • If any checklist item is missing, your grade will be prorated accordingly
3. [2pts] Understanding of Code via Q&A: we will verbally ask 3 related questions to any student in the team. There are two question categories, at least 1 question from each category will be selected. You’re required to score 2 out of 3 questions accurately to obtain fullmarks. Simply open your related project files during the checkoff and give a verbal explanation.
   1. About your implementation (exercise related)
   2. About the project in general (background knowledge)

Our instructor/TA will then record the points for your MP in our internal excel sheet (and/or Vocareum). We will release it after the MP deadline.

Please bring your laptop(s) and open your project when you approach our TA/Instructor for checkoff. We want to see your program in person.

Q&A Grading Breakdown

The Q&A session is important and will fulfil the Understanding of Code criteria. It really tests the understanding of your implementation and your general knowledge about the project. You may get various marks between 0 to 1 pt per exercise with granularity of 0.25pt depending on your answer.

Total max mark for this section is 2pts. 1pt max for each exercise in the MP.

Here’s the general rubric for the Q&A section for each exercise:

Points	Explanation
😄1	Can answer 2 out of 3 with clarity (googling, internal discussion, reference to old notes allowed)
🙂0.75	Can answer 2 out of 3 but with hints from TA/instructor, and takes a comparably long time (lots of staring, silent moments)
😐0.5	Only can answer 1 question accurately, the rest are smokey
😟0.25	Cannot answer any question accurately, but at least know which file contain their answer, and some explanation
😵‍💫0	No idea at all about the project, not even about admin matters like which file should contain their answer

Note that we might ask any of you for answers. Please ensure that everybody knows all parts of the project, at least the big picture. This is where you will learn.

Mini Project 1 Details

There are 8 checks for both exercises in MP1. Each is worth 0.25 pts, totalling of 2pts under “Working Test Case” criteria.

Exercise 1 [4 checks]

1. 10 integers (OK to have repeated value) appear when Generate 10 numbers button is clicked
2. Totally sorted integer output is displayed when Sort button is clicked
3. In /app/static/library.py, the implementation in sortnumber1() is NOT hardcoded like this, but some sorting function is called to actually compute the sorted value.
4. A custom sort function (e.g: bubble_sort with actual implementation) is used to compute (2), and not using python’s default list.sort()

Exercise 2 [4 checks]

1. The textbox can accept integers, separated by a comma. NO NEED to test for float, string, or other weird data types (but it is good practice, just that we aren’t so strict for this checkoff)
2. Some kind of warning should appear when the textbox is empty but Sort is clicked (no error)
3. The output integers are sorted properly when the button Sort is clicked.
4. A custom sort function (e.g: bubble_sort with actual implementation) is used to compute (2), and not using python’s default list.sort()

Q&A

Exercise related question involves questioning how and why you implement certain things in your project.

It is pretty clear cut what it entails: we will ask about any instruction (program) that you wrote for this project (anything that you wrote is fair game). Examples include your sort implementation, how did you display the values to the webpage, how did you manipulate certain values, etc.

Project-related question involves understanding the project structure:

1. Command-line related question (all commands that we ask you to type for MP1 is fair game)
2. Flask project structure brief overview (what each file is for?)
3. Web Server and Browser Client communication (very basic idea)
4. General understanding of Python modules used in the project
5. General understanding of the Python virtual environment

Don’t worry, it will be very basic. If in doubt, please read this handout about CLI background and this handout about the Web that we have asked you to read in Week 1.

Why do you have to know all these: CLI/Web/structure of project as well?

It is important to be independent and curious about things you’ve worked on, so that you can apply this knowledge in other circumstances and not just studying for the sake of the MP only. Doing things for one-off purposes are such a waste of time. And of course, for those of you who are going to ISTD, it is crucial to have this mindset and not to mention the knowledge about CLI and the Web. The material provided in the background handouts are nothing compared to what you will face in Term 4 and Term 5 as most details are omitted, but they will give you about 2% heads up 🥹.

Mini Project 2 Details

There are 8 checks for both exercises in MP1. Each is worth 0.25 pts, totalling of 2pts under “Working Test Case” criteria. This is similar to MP1.

Exercise 1 [3 checks]

1. In /app/serverlibrary.py, there exist a mergesort implementation from scratch, no other sorting libraries can be used.
2. Able to create users and login as that user.
3. Able to create many users and display all registered users under Users page.

Exercise 2 [5 checks]

1. In /app/serverlibrary.py, there exist a Stack implementation in there from scratch, e.g: pop, peek, etc is implemented/
2. In /app/serverlibrary.py, there exist a EvaluateExpression implementation in there from scratch.
3. Users can create questions and the answer displayed in /questions page is correct. Users can also send it to multiple other users.
4. Users can Show/Hide questions and enter the correct answer in the /challenges page, afterwhich the timer value is displayed at the row.
5. In the Hall of Fame, we can see the ranks properly, where each ROW is a question, and WITHIN the same row of question, the display of username and score must be shown properly (top 3)/

Q&A

Similar protocol like MP above. Please read all necessary markdown files: Bootstrap, Database, and Forms that was available at the mini project 2 repository before going for the checkoff.