Reading Assignments
I had pre-read this week's material so there is little to comment on in this section. There is one aspect of it which I felt wasn't adequately explored. This is surrounding the issue of "cleaver coding". Since Mips are cheap, it is rarely advisable to trade maintainability for efficiency. This is particularly true of business functions. There are appropriate uses and requirements of such code (particularly when encapsulated in a function), but it gives the impression that cleaver code is the norm, and a desirable approach to programming. Since people use these examples as templates for their own coding, this aspect should have been mentioned.
Programming Assignment
Programming this week went smoothly. From a development perspective the programming assignments are done in a rather artificial environment. Usually, confirming the requirements after converting them into structured English, is a key step in the process to synchronize what is being asked for, and what the users actually require. An example is this weeks assignment which could be interpreted as a loop where users are requested three times to enter data (from the table) and a comparison is done and displayed. The sample shows no actual input, but draws the data directly from the provided table. Without the key step in confirming the logical requirements, it becomes a guessing game which can be frustrating for both the student, and professor dealing with rigid student assessments. …show more content…
Although I did include an external reference, It was done mostly to satisfy the grading criteria. Some people still have a problem giving out a 10. I've become far more relaxed in my grading, choosing to put more weight on the effort and depth of