Coding a 213 approach Before you Start go to classes go to recitation read the textbook before the lecture or no later than 24 hrs afterwards if you miss any go over the lecture slides with a classmate Print out Assignment Specification we mean it you can annotate it Gathering Information Read handout once also re read relevant parts of textbook Read handout again what functionality will you need put boxes around the things you don t understand look for over arching concerns is runtime really important source size etc what are you not allowed to do write down your questions on the printout Read given code existing code if applicable don t reinvent the wheel note on your print out things you need to know to use provided code if there is testing code provided pay particular attention to what it doesn t cover Make a checklist of what your code needs to do what support code will you need what is being asked what can happen out of order Sketch out a design for your program try to turn your checklist into pseudo code outline what data structures algorithms could help what are the drawbacks Ockham s Occam s razor Make an outline of your Testing Plan what tools can help you debuggers what debugger features will you use what test code will you write what race conditions are likely to show up and how will you know Write down some execution stories For example 1 The user types bin sleep 10 2 The shell forks 3 The child 4 The shell 5 Eventually 6 The shell Using your outlines will your code agree with the story Read your Assignment again does your pseudo code outline violate spec does your testing plan violate any policies Repeat Steps as Necessary Programming Debugging If you get stuck bring your outlines printout checklist to a TA go back to your stories using debugging where does your code diverge from your story Course staff can help you best with specific describable problems but cannot write code for you or debug It just doesn t work emphasis on describable the more documentation you have on your bug the better it will be Write your code and test code together not in the same file but similar times comment your code as you go so you know what you were thinking when you work on it again Before Turning Project in review code comments remove inane old or useless comments make sure all functions have block comments at the top explaining what they do and special algorithms etc document any standing bugs TAs reserve the right to be lenient if we can see you were on the right track
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