Logistics

30 points, due Friday, Sept 24th by 10PM Central time. Like all assignments, there is a 48-hour, no questions asked extensions policy. If you have a tech issue, a health issue, or some other issue that impedes making the deadline, use this policy. You or your partner need to notify me that you’re using the policy via email, CC’ing the partner. Extensions beyond the 48-hour policy will only be considered in extenuating circumstances, and circumstances that arise between the original deadline and the extension are generally not extenuating - the deadline is still Friday, not 48 hours later.

You must work on this homework with your assigned partner (if you have one) via pair programming. That means that you cannot write any code without your partner and you must both be fully engaged and discussing the code at all times while working. See the collaboration policy for details.

Goals

Demonstrate your understanding of private and class variables, ability to create objects of your own making, and use other Java functionality.

Setup

Create a folder for HW1 in STUWORK on the COURSES drive. Open VSCode, and then click File->Open..., navigate to your STUWORK folder, select the HW1 folder and click Open. Now click Terminal->New Terminal. This is where you will be able to compile and run your Java program.

Create a file Collaborations.txt and put in any help that you get on this assignment including sources that you reference and help from lab assistants or the prefect. Make sure to refer to the Collaboration page on what collaborations are allowed for homework assignments.

Specification

For this project you have the opportunity to be creative! Instead of telling you a specific thing to make, since the goal is just to get some practice making a Java class and using it, you can come up with your own example. Below I have listed the things that your code must incorporate, but you are encouraged to go beyond these requirements and have some fun making a small project that is of interest to you. The cool thing about object-oriented programming is that you can simulate nearly anything in the real world, so while I give some example ideas if you are stuck, you really can make a class for anything that interests you.

Requirements

  • Create a new class in its own file, which I’ll refer to here at YourClass
  • YourClass has and uses at least one private variable
  • YourClass tracks how many instances of YourClass have been created (using a class variable which uses the static keyword!) and uses that number
  • YourClass’s main creates at least one instance of YourClass (more would be great!)
  • main takes at least one command line argument and uses it meaningfully
  • YourClass takes user input while the program is running and uses it meaningfully (not sure how? Check the Jumping into Java reading)
  • YourClass prints out something useful
  • Follows style guide
  • JavaDocs-style method comments for all public methods
  • A detailed README file as specified below

README Requirements

Writing good and detailed documentation for your code is an important skill, so important that whole communities exist in industry that are focused on good documentation. One part of good documentation is the JavaDocs method comments that you’ll already be doing. However, another part is a README that is generally the first thing that people look at when they look into your project. If you are planning on applying for internships or full-time jobs in the computer science industry, a GitHub account with projects with good READMEs is a really helpful part of your application. Often READMEs are written in a language called MarkDown but you are not required to use it.

You should nicely format your README, but you can do that in Google Docs or Microsoft Word, or something similar.

In general (and so therefore for all homework in this class), a README should include:

  • An overview section that describes at a high level what your program does, for someone that just found it randomly
  • A small example of your code running and showing its main functionality

For this class in particular, your README must also include:

  • Discussion for each rubric item of how your project meets that requirement and how to run your code to see that the requirement is met, or where in your code to look at see the requirement being met, or a snippet of code as an example that meets the requirement. Your goal should be to make it as easy as possible for the grader to see how you met each of the rubric items.

  • Answers to any README prompts, which will often ask you to include discussion of the pros and cons of a certain data structure or implementation choice.

I have an abbreviated example README that you can look at for this homework.

README Prompts

For this project in particular, you should make sure that you argue clearly for why your code does the various rubric items “correctly.” For example, for the private variable, you should be sure to both explain how you used a private variable and also argue why a private variable was appropriate in that case.

Ideas

  • Library catalog
  • Sport stats displayer
  • Song recommender
  • Tweak the above ideas to be about cooking recipes, video games, workouts, or anything else that interests you

Code Notes and Tips

  • Command line arguments are what is captured in args in your main(String[] args) function, NOT just user input after the program is running!
  • Remember that you have to construct variables before you use them. If you run into null pointer exceptions or exceptions about not using a variable before it has been initialized, one possible cause is that you have declared a variable (e.g., List<Integer> list;) but you haven’t assigned it a value (e.g. list = new ArrayList<>()).
  • Your code should not produce any warnings. Warnings are extra messages from the compiler like: Note: RandomList.java uses unchecked or unsafe operations. Note: Recompile with -Xlint:unchecked for details.

If you see a message like this, you should follow the instructions and add -Xlint:unchecked after your compiler command.

  • If you want to turn a command line argument into something other than a String, you need to use a method to do so. You will probably want either parseInt(String in) or parseDouble(String in): 
      int myInt = Integer.parseInt("1");
  double myDouble = Double.parseDouble("1.0");

    (Add this to your reference sheet!)

Rubric

Item Points
Compiles without warnings and runs 3
New class created correctly 3
Private variable used correctly 3
Class variable used correctly 3
Instance of class created correctly 3
User input used correctly 2
Command line argument used correctly 2
Useful output 1
Sufficient JavaDocs-style documentation 2
Follows style guide 2
Complete and thorough README 6

Submitting

Remember to update your Collaborations.txt file with any sources that you consulted.

Then make a .zip of your files and upload it to Moodle.