CMPSC 100-01 Participation

Introduction

Designed for use with GitHub Classroom, this repository contains the class participation materials for Computer Science 100-01. All of the work that you do in class will count towards your class participation grade.

Commands

In this class students will use Gradle and GatorGrader tools to help check and complete assignments. Gradle is a build automation tool that compiles (builds) and runs programs for you so that you do not have to enter multiple commands. Additionally, it can perform extra checks, for example ensuring that your program satisfies the styling guidelines.

GatorGrader is an automated grading tool developed by Allegheny computer science students under the direction of Dr. Kapfhammer. It relies on Gradle and can be used to check the correctness of the assignment completion before submitting it. GatorGrader will be used for all lab and practical assignments.

Using Gradle via Docker

If you are using Docker Desktop you will run a docker run command to execute and test your programs. First, navigate to your "class_activities" directory. To ensure that the docker run command will work correctly, you should create the cache directory by running the command mkdir $HOME/.dockagator. To enter an "interactive terminal" that will allow you to repeatedly run commands within the Docker container, enter the following docker run command into your terminal.

docker run -it --rm --name dockagator \
  -v "$(pwd)":/project \
  -v "$HOME/.dockagator":/root/.local/share \
  gatoreducator/dockagator /bin/bash

This command will use "$(pwd)" (i.e., the current directory) as the project directory and "$HOME/.dockagator" as the cached GatorGrader directory. Please note that both of these directories must exist, although only the project directory must contain something. Generally, the project directory should contain the source code as provided to a student through GitHub. Additionally, the cache directory should not contain anything other than directories and programs created by DockaGator, thus ensuring that they are not otherwise overwritten during the completion of the assignment.

Now you can type gradle build to compile your class program and gradle run to execute it.

Using Gradle Directly

On Windows Home, if you have installed the specified software during lab 01, then you can run the gradle build and gradle run or gradle -q --console plain run commands directly in the terminal from your "class_activities" directory.

You can also complete several important Java programming tasks by using the gradle tool.

• gradle clean: clean the project of all the derived files
• gradle check: check the quality of the code using Checkstyle
• gradle build: create the bytecode from the Java source code
• gradle run: run the Java program in the command-line
• gradle -q --console plain run: run the Java program while suppressing unnecessary gradle output
• gradle tasks: display details about the Gradle system

To run one of these commands, you must be in the main (or "home base") directory for this assignment where the build.gradle file is located. Then, you can type the command in the terminal and study the output.

Updates

When the course instructor provides the new material for the in-class activity, you can type this command in the main directory for this repository:

git remote add download https://github.com/allegheny-computer-science-100-01-f2019/participation.git

You should only need to type this command once; typing the command additional times may yield an error message but will not negatively influence the state of your repository. Now, you are ready to download the updates provided by the course instructor by typing:

git pull download master

This second command can be run whenever the course instructor needs to provide you with new source code for this assignment. However, please note that, if you have edited the files that the course instructor updated, running the previous command may lead to Git merge conflicts. If this happens, you may need to manually resolve them with the help of the instructor or a teaching assistant.

Problems

If you have found a problem with this assignment's provided source code, then you can go to the Computer Science 100-01 Participation repository and create an issue by clicking the "Issues" tab and then clicking the green "New Issue" button. If you have found a problem with the GatorGrader tool and the way that it checks you assignment, then you can follow the aforementioned steps to create an issue in its repository. To ensure that your issue is properly resolved, please provide as many details as is possible about the problem that you experienced. Students who find — and use the appropriate GitHub issue tracker to correctly document — a mistake in any aspect of these in-class assignments will receive free GitHub stickers and extra credit towards their grade for it.

Assistance

If you are having trouble completing any part of this project, then please talk with either the course instructor or a teaching assistant during the laboratory session. Alternatively, you may ask questions in the Slack workspace for this course. Finally, you can schedule a meeting during the course instructor's office hours.