Overview
We want to make DueDates even more useful to users and decided to add 3 more options as follow.
1. -console
Report will be sent to the console.
usage: -console
2. -email
E-mail will be sent to the address using the supplied SMTP server.
usage: -email < emailaccount > < smtpserver >
3. -wakeup
Program will run and check for due items with given interval.
usage: -wakeup < interval >
Process
I and my partner Jeho Jung worked on this development last week. We have been working as a partner for a while toward development of DueDates and now we really understand the most efficient way to proceed is pair programming. Our houses are close, so we met a few times and shared our knowledge.
Conclusion
With this update, now this program is able to do useful task. For example, following execution will run the program once a day and checks if there are books due within next 24 hours. If there is, the program will send E-mail and if not it does nothing.
-email name@hawaii.edu mail.hawaii.edu -wakeup 1 -within 1
I think this is a very useful option since people these days are busy and tend to forget many things. For now it only notifies us about books in the library, but if it had functions to tell us anything due it would be more useful. If I had enough time, I want to add such functions in the future.
11/17/2008
11/07/2008
Software ICU
Software ICU tells us the condition of the software, indeed its health. For this time I took advantage of an open source software called Hackystat. Its role is to show various information such as coverage, complexity, coupling, and etc. I installed JavaNCSS and DependencyFinder here so that it will work on complexity and coupling respectively.
Result
Here is brief summary of vital signs.
For now coverage of duedates-green is low, so the source code should be modified to improve its reliability. Except that, Hackystat is showing we are not in danger.
Conclusion
Although it takes a while to download and setup various tools for Eclipse, Hackystat allows us to easily understand the condition and health of our software project. It is also possible to manually run each tools, but we are programmers and we should let computers to do it automatically. Hackystat is very useful which accomplishes that task.
Result
Here is brief summary of vital signs.
| Vital Signs | What to measure |
| Coverage | Percentage of code executed by tests. |
| Complexity | Density of branches and loops. |
| Coupling | Number of dependencies between classes. |
| Churn | Lines of code added, deleted, and modified in a commit. |
| CodeIssue | Number of warnings generated by QA tools. |
| Commit | Number of commits to the repository. |
| Build | Number of builds. |
| UnitTest | Number of unit tests. |
| Size | Amount of code. |
| DevTime | Time spent. |
For now coverage of duedates-green is low, so the source code should be modified to improve its reliability. Except that, Hackystat is showing we are not in danger.
Conclusion
Although it takes a while to download and setup various tools for Eclipse, Hackystat allows us to easily understand the condition and health of our software project. It is also possible to manually run each tools, but we are programmers and we should let computers to do it automatically. Hackystat is very useful which accomplishes that task.
10/24/2008
Project Review: DueDates
Overview:
It's always good to review each other. It allows us to take a look at source code of others so that we get new insight. At the same time we also get comments from other developers about what was good or what should be improved. Therefore we did review on our project, DueDates.
Process:
First of all, members of each project made a copy of their source code to "svn/tags/Review-2008-10-20". We did it because this way we can save frozen snapshot of the system. If developers want to update their source code in "trunk", they don't need to wait for reviewers to finish and can always make changes.
Next we started to review source code of other projects. From the project page I went to "Source > Browser" and took a look at "svn/tags/Review-2008-10-20". I will see the code, so if there is something I noticed and I want to make comments, I do it by double-clicking the code so that small section to post will pop up. Then I went to "Changes" which is located right next to "Browse" and clicked the version I reviewed, then left comments there.
Review:
It's really good to know how other developers tried their best for the development. Since we worked on the same problem, we can easily understand the flow of program and what the issue is. Here is something I learned from other projects. One project was showing "Processing..." while they connect to database and get a result. I was thinking the connecting process takes a little long but didn't show any words like this. I think this is very user friendly. Other project was showing menu. It's also nice since as we enhance this project later it will have a lot more capability, and instead of using option we can choose from menu. For my project, I got some comments that I should clean up a bit more, and also some comments that our output of the library information is easily understandable to read.
Conclusion:
Reviewing is a really good way to improve each other. The only con is it takes some time to give out useful comments. I thought Google Code is a very useful tool for this purpose. When I make a review next time, I will take notes of what others were doing and I will try to remember them for future use.
It's always good to review each other. It allows us to take a look at source code of others so that we get new insight. At the same time we also get comments from other developers about what was good or what should be improved. Therefore we did review on our project, DueDates.
Process:
First of all, members of each project made a copy of their source code to "svn/tags/Review-2008-10-20". We did it because this way we can save frozen snapshot of the system. If developers want to update their source code in "trunk", they don't need to wait for reviewers to finish and can always make changes.
Next we started to review source code of other projects. From the project page I went to "Source > Browser" and took a look at "svn/tags/Review-2008-10-20". I will see the code, so if there is something I noticed and I want to make comments, I do it by double-clicking the code so that small section to post will pop up. Then I went to "Changes" which is located right next to "Browse" and clicked the version I reviewed, then left comments there.
Review:
It's really good to know how other developers tried their best for the development. Since we worked on the same problem, we can easily understand the flow of program and what the issue is. Here is something I learned from other projects. One project was showing "Processing..." while they connect to database and get a result. I was thinking the connecting process takes a little long but didn't show any words like this. I think this is very user friendly. Other project was showing menu. It's also nice since as we enhance this project later it will have a lot more capability, and instead of using option we can choose from menu. For my project, I got some comments that I should clean up a bit more, and also some comments that our output of the library information is easily understandable to read.
Conclusion:
Reviewing is a really good way to improve each other. The only con is it takes some time to give out useful comments. I thought Google Code is a very useful tool for this purpose. When I make a review next time, I will take notes of what others were doing and I will try to remember them for future use.
10/20/2008
Creating a project DueDates
Overview:
DueDates is a command base program that allows us to access library database and get information about our own account. I worked with Jeho Jung to enhance this project.
Procedures as a team:
It was challenging to do project with partners since our schedule are different, but we discussed about the project somehow and worked on it step by step. Since there were many things to do, we split work into subproblems and set deadline for each. That way we don't feel too much pressure and we can see if we are on the right track in terms of schedule.
Enhance:
First of all, we worked on formatting output. Since the original project didn't show due date, we added a feature to access it and format using String.format(). It was interesting to know we can use format such as "%1$-15s %2$-70s", which is similar to C language. Then we worked on error handling to check if it shows user friendly message. Lastly we worked on test case to make sure everything works well.
We also worked on writing Wiki page for UserGuide and DeveloperGuide while we enhance DueDates. Those Wiki pages are guide to others and at the same time they are notes for ourselves to remember later.
Conclustion:
Dealing with DueDates was a good review of what we learned so far in software engineering class. Now I'm confident with working on any projects in the world with other developers.
Our project, duedates-green
http://code.google.com/p/duedates-green/
executable jar file
http://duedates-green.googlecode.com/files/DueDates.jar
DueDates is a command base program that allows us to access library database and get information about our own account. I worked with Jeho Jung to enhance this project.
Procedures as a team:
It was challenging to do project with partners since our schedule are different, but we discussed about the project somehow and worked on it step by step. Since there were many things to do, we split work into subproblems and set deadline for each. That way we don't feel too much pressure and we can see if we are on the right track in terms of schedule.
Enhance:
First of all, we worked on formatting output. Since the original project didn't show due date, we added a feature to access it and format using String.format(). It was interesting to know we can use format such as "%1$-15s %2$-70s", which is similar to C language. Then we worked on error handling to check if it shows user friendly message. Lastly we worked on test case to make sure everything works well.
We also worked on writing Wiki page for UserGuide and DeveloperGuide while we enhance DueDates. Those Wiki pages are guide to others and at the same time they are notes for ourselves to remember later.
Conclustion:
Dealing with DueDates was a good review of what we learned so far in software engineering class. Now I'm confident with working on any projects in the world with other developers.
Our project, duedates-green
http://code.google.com/p/duedates-green/
executable jar file
http://duedates-green.googlecode.com/files/DueDates.jar
10/08/2008
Working with other developers on Google Code
This time I will experiment how to work with other developer using Google Code. Since I joined my partner's project stack-klau4, I checked out from https://stack-klau4.googlecode.com/svn/trunk.
After I checked out, I did verify as usual and it passed as I expect. Since there didn't exist any problem, I improved javadoc and committed.
The very important step is to do SVN Update right before I commit, so that if multiple developers made a change to the code it can be merged. Also I need to do verify and it must pass.
TortoiseSVN is a very useful tool that tells me if I made some change to the code. Its interface such as SVN Update or Commit is also easy to understand. It can be invoked from command line and there are more features that I need to explore. I haven't tried other SVN clients but I recommend TortoiseSVN.
With such useful tool, now I got how to work with other developers.
After I checked out, I did verify as usual and it passed as I expect. Since there didn't exist any problem, I improved javadoc and committed.
The very important step is to do SVN Update right before I commit, so that if multiple developers made a change to the code it can be merged. Also I need to do verify and it must pass.
TortoiseSVN is a very useful tool that tells me if I made some change to the code. Its interface such as SVN Update or Commit is also easy to understand. It can be invoked from command line and there are more features that I need to explore. I haven't tried other SVN clients but I recommend TortoiseSVN.
With such useful tool, now I got how to work with other developers.
Configuration management
In software engineering configuration management is one of the most important factor. For this time I will experiment SVN to work with other developers.
Initial Setup
I'm Windows user so that I installed TortoiseSVN, which is a client software of SVN. Next I decided where to store all the data, which is called repository. Since TortoiseSVN works with right click, I did it and chose "SVN Check Out" to connect to host. When I do check out, very important thing is to use https instead of http. This allows me to commit after change.
Create a new Google Hosting Project
Next I tried to experiment being an owner of the project, so that I made "stack-yasu" and dicussion list called "stack-yasu-discuss".
http://code.google.com/p/stack-yasu/
http://groups.google.com/group/stack-yasu-discuss
I also checked if codesite-noreply@google.com is working, and it does.
Now I can share my project and take advantage of it when I work with other developers to build a large system.
Initial Setup
I'm Windows user so that I installed TortoiseSVN, which is a client software of SVN. Next I decided where to store all the data, which is called repository. Since TortoiseSVN works with right click, I did it and chose "SVN Check Out" to connect to host. When I do check out, very important thing is to use https instead of http. This allows me to commit after change.
Create a new Google Hosting Project
Next I tried to experiment being an owner of the project, so that I made "stack-yasu" and dicussion list called "stack-yasu-discuss".
http://code.google.com/p/stack-yasu/
http://groups.google.com/group/stack-yasu-discuss
I also checked if codesite-noreply@google.com is working, and it does.
Now I can share my project and take advantage of it when I work with other developers to build a large system.
10/02/2008
StackOverflow
A programming Q&A site called StackOverflow was released. I like this kind of Q&A site and I have been using such website for a while when I cannot solve problems. Sometimes I get answers in 3 minutes and sometimes I don't get any reply, but it is wonderful that I can get right answer without any fee. I also think it's ok to pay if somebody gives me right information that I really want.
When I opened StackOverflow, the first thing I looked for is category. On this website category is called Tags, which can be found on top. When I clicked on that, many different tags can be found. I'm impressed that it has a lot more tags than other websites have. Minor topics such as regex, jquery, and flex were also there.
Make a post
Then I posted a question to see if I can get answers. Right before I make a post, it showed related questions and I thought it was good idea, since they can prevent overlap. My question is about JavaScript, "Can I pass parameter from different page?".
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/163444/can-i-pass-parameter-from-different-page
Surprisingly, I got a reply in 1 minute and got totally 5 replies in 8 minutes. Their answers are very specific and I got how to do it.
Vote and point system
I looked around the website and thought its voting and point system is interesting. If developers think the question is useful, they vote and we can find useful Q&A more easily. For the point system, developers with more points have more authority on this website. I think this is a good idea, but comment also requires people to have 50 points. This has good and bad aspects. With that they are able to prevent spam, but at the same time people who can comment will be a little limited.
Look around
There are a lot of questions that look interesting such as "How many people disable Javascript?" or "How Should a Non-Designer Interview a Web Designer?", and reading those will be more useful than reading ordinary newspaper.
Conclusion
For now StackOverflow doesn't have any ad posted, but since it is useful I think it is ok to put it in the future. It costs for hosting and maintenance, so it can be covered with that. The most impressed thing about this website is that I get quality responses very fast. It makes me think a lot of developers check this website often, and it is also very important thing for this kind of site. I'm glad that I get to know this website and I will use more to improve my technical skill.
http://stackoverflow.com
When I opened StackOverflow, the first thing I looked for is category. On this website category is called Tags, which can be found on top. When I clicked on that, many different tags can be found. I'm impressed that it has a lot more tags than other websites have. Minor topics such as regex, jquery, and flex were also there.
Make a post
Then I posted a question to see if I can get answers. Right before I make a post, it showed related questions and I thought it was good idea, since they can prevent overlap. My question is about JavaScript, "Can I pass parameter from different page?".
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/163444/can-i-pass-parameter-from-different-page
Surprisingly, I got a reply in 1 minute and got totally 5 replies in 8 minutes. Their answers are very specific and I got how to do it.
Vote and point system
I looked around the website and thought its voting and point system is interesting. If developers think the question is useful, they vote and we can find useful Q&A more easily. For the point system, developers with more points have more authority on this website. I think this is a good idea, but comment also requires people to have 50 points. This has good and bad aspects. With that they are able to prevent spam, but at the same time people who can comment will be a little limited.
Look around
There are a lot of questions that look interesting such as "How many people disable Javascript?" or "How Should a Non-Designer Interview a Web Designer?", and reading those will be more useful than reading ordinary newspaper.
Conclusion
For now StackOverflow doesn't have any ad posted, but since it is useful I think it is ok to put it in the future. It costs for hosting and maintenance, so it can be covered with that. The most impressed thing about this website is that I get quality responses very fast. It makes me think a lot of developers check this website often, and it is also very important thing for this kind of site. I'm glad that I get to know this website and I will use more to improve my technical skill.
http://stackoverflow.com
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