CITS2002 Programming and Systems - Project 2 Feedback (2016)
Q9: Any comments or suggestions about the nature of the 2nd project?
I found it fairly difficult. I had to go back and revise a lot of the
lecture material but still struggled to complete it.
I felt that I had a greater understanding of what the goal of the project
was compared to project 1.
A file system utility appears to be a common programming exercise so
the solution to the issues and problems we encountered were easy to find
through a quick web search.
The sample checker tool was extremely helpful in identify the expected
output of the program under various circumstances.
Is it possible for the marking guide to be released so we can see what
tests our program has to pass?
An excellent project - any difficulties I had where overcome by
learning(!) about the relevant concept - the entire point of a project.
While some parts were challenging and required a bit of research,
overall, I found the 2nd project more straightforward compared to the
1st project. It was definitely much easier to complete within the given
time frame. The only issue I had was with the tutorial relating to the
project not recording - I depend on the recordings due to class clashes
so I felt I was at a bit of a disadvantage here. This is obviously not
Chris's fault but it would have been appreciated if we had been notified
of the main points covered.
I'm going to be honest - I cannot overemphasise how badly the unit
material and teaching in this unit prepares you for project 2 (and by
extension, all of the unit concepts in general). This unit has been
been a total and complete hell - not because of the subject matter,
but because of the teaching in general. I love the subject matter and
would enjoy studying it on my own, but trying to learn the subject
matter through this unit has been the most painful and disheartening
experience I have had in CS. This is the type of unit that destroys CS
for people. I STRONGLY believe that project 2 and the teaching that led
up to it were a a perfect embodiment of this.
That whole linked library thing probably wasn't explained enough. A
bit confusing.
Q11: Do you have a single-line comment for future CITS2002 students?
Ensure to keep up-to-date with the coursework at all times and start the projects as early as possible.
Make sure you have some prior programming experience before you do this unit, and just because you are familiar with programming, don't take this unit lightly.
Don't ignore the lab exercises just because their are no marks involved.
Keep up-to-date with lectures and labs and you'll be fine
Stay on top of the lecture material - it really helps for the projects, and definitely utilise the recommended textbooks for revision.
Make sure you're very comfortable with pointers and allocating memory before starting.
Chris has some hell good jokes, so make sure you listen
