Sprint 1 Retrospective Blog Post

As a Computer Science major in my final year of college, I thought I had learned everything I needed to know. However, my Software Development Capstone class has proven me wrong. I’ve realized there’s still so much to learn, especially when it comes to working in a team and building a project from scratch. My team and I were tasked with creating a system to improve the University’s food pantry inventory management. This project has been both challenging and rewarding, and Sprint 1 was a great starting point for our journey.

GitLab Evidence

Throughout Sprint 1, my partner and I focused on creating the frontend prototype for the barcode scanner. Below are the links to our GitLab activities, along with a brief description of each:

  • Initial Front Page:
    GitLab Issue #7
    Description: Created the initial front page using HTML and CSS.
  • Scanner Page:
    GitLab Issue #9
    Description: Created the scanner page using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to implement the barcode scanner.
  • Barcode Scanning Functionality:
    GitLab Issue #10
    Description: Implemented the html5-qrcode library to enable barcode scanning functionality.
    Library Link: html5-qrcode GitHub
  • Displaying UPC Results:
    GitLab Issue #11
    Description: Modified the scanner page to display the results of the UPC.
  • Aesthetic Improvements:
    GitLab Issue #12
    Description: Improved the aesthetics of the front page (index.html) and scanner page (scanner.html) by updating the color palette and fonts.

Despite being strangers at the beginning of the semester, my team has worked together seamlessly. We communicate effectively, both in and out of class, and support each other not only in this project but also in our other classes. Everyone feels comfortable asking questions and sharing ideas without fear of judgment, which has created a chill and productive atmosphere. Additionally, our scrum master assigned us to sub-teams, and each member knew exactly what they needed to do. This clarity helped us stay organized and focused.

While we used GitLab to track issues, we could have utilized it more effectively. For example, we sometimes forget to update issues or document progress in detail. Also, since my partner and I were new to frontend development, we spent a lot of time learning the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which slowed down our progress initially. In Sprint 2, we plan to use GitLab more effectively to track issues, as we discussed during sprint planning. My team and I will make a conscious effort to update GitLab issues regularly and document our progress more thoroughly. This will help us track our work more effectively, avoid confusion, and ensure that everyone is aligned on the tasks and their status.

I want to dedicate more time outside of class to learn frontend technologies. This will help me contribute more effectively to the project and build a stronger foundation for my future career. In Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye, the pattern “The Long Road” emphasizes the importance of committing to a lifelong journey of learning and mastery. It encourages aspiring software craftsmen to focus on long-term growth rather than chasing quick success, promotions, or material rewards. The pattern reminds us that mastery takes time and that we should embrace the journey, even if it means being seen as unconventional. I selected this pattern because it resonated deeply with my experience during Sprint 1. As someone who is new to frontend development, I felt overwhelmed at times by how much I still needed to learn. However, this pattern reminded me that mastery is a gradual process and that I shouldn’t compare myself to others who may seem further ahead. It also reinforced my desire to focus on frontend development as a long-term career path, even if it means taking the time to build a strong foundation. If I had read this pattern earlier, I would have approached Sprint 1 with more patience and confidence. Instead of feeling pressured to produce quick results, I would have focused on learning and improving my skills at a sustainable pace. This mindset would have helped me enjoy the process more and reduce the stress of trying to catch up to others.

From the blog CS@Worcester – CodedBear by donna abayon and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Software Licensing

I happened to stumble across a YouTube video by a channel called Licenseware by the title of, “A Brief History of Software Licensing – Why it exists, and why it is so important”. This video covered information about how software licensing came to be, how it is used, and why it is important in the world of software and coding. The video explains how our world has developed to become, ultimately, reliant on software for organizing and controlling everything from transportation to communication. Because of all of this, the software industry has gained many rules and regulations around when, where, why, and how software can be used. These rules and regulations are more commonly known as Software Licenses. Software Licensing is one of the topics we covered relatively early on in our course, going over the different types of licenses and their uses as well as when and in what scenarios they worked or didn’t work. The history of licensing stems from the history of copyright which came from The Copyright Act of 1710 (The Statute of Anne). This act, passed by the British Parliament, stated that authors had the right to publish and sell their work for a renewable period of time. This is relevant because Software Licensing falls under the category of Copyright Law. This is because software is ultimately seen as a type of literary work. The video goes on to talk about how the Free Software Foundation (FSF) introduced the concept of open source software which led to the development of the open source software movement and the creation of the General Public License. I found this video very interesting because, prior to watching it, I hadn’t realized to what extent and depth software licensing was similar to and fell under the umbrella of a legally documented copyright. This confusion came from the fact that open source software creates an atmosphere of open communication and sharing that doesn’t typically appear in other copyrighted pieces of work. I find it interesting that software seems to be the only field, at least to my knowledge, that has this type of sharing of information and work between other users and developers. The collaboration between maintainers, leaders, collaborators and users allows the field to expand and advance quicker and more efficiently than other fields. This video helped solidify my understanding of different licenses and the importance of not only having an active license in place but also the correct license in place. This also gave me a better concept of what to do in the future if I should choose to post any of my code online as open source material.

From the blog CS@Worcester – The Struggle of Being a Female Student in CS by Noam Horn and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Coding Practices & Standards:

From the blog CS@Worcester – The Struggle of Being a Female Student in CS by Noam Horn and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Sprint Retrospective: Learning to love Group Projects

Hi Debug Ducker here, and I just recently finished my first sprint with a group project. I have to say it went well, better than I expected. This coming from someone who has had poor experiences with group work.

Let’s begin on what exactly was working on for these past months. You see I was assigned to work on a project based on my college campus’s food pantry. We were assigned to work on an Inventory culling system based on the expiration dates of the products on the shelves. To say that I had way more different expectations of what needed to be done would be an understatement but I am getting ahead of myself.

Back to the main project, I am in a group of five and we came up with several ways to approach this project. We decided that we should split the work, two would work on a scanner that would check the items’ barcodes for identifying product information and the other 3 would work on the backend for the function of culling the inventory.

I found that working on separate parts of the project worked well in the long run allowing people to focus on one of the many aspects of the projects. Especially with the amount that got done at the end. I would know as my part of the project was going well….sorta. 

There was some trouble, such as using an already established code as the base for the project. It made me realize something, I wasn’t sure how to approach the issues as the code base was made with and due to my lack of knowledge of JavaScript, it was going to be problematic. Fortunately, I had 2 other companions that could assist me and did a great job. From this, I seek to improve my overall knowledge of JavaScript and seek ways to utilize the code base better.

Recently I read a bit of a programmer mentoring book called Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye. This experience reminds me of a pattern that I resonated with. Accurate Self-assessment, basically identifying what you know and what you don’t. A self-reflection of my skills and I found out that there is more that I can learn. I want to see this project succeed so I think I need to brush up on some skills that I am lacking so the project can come out great. That pattern is a good encouragement for me to study further.

Near the end of the project I was worried that it wasn’t going to be complete by our standards, fortunately, the other group got the scanner worker to find it, and we made some progress on the backend but I found that it didn’t reach our goal of what we wanted it to do. In the end, we were satisfied with our progress and hope to continue integrating the rest of the work.

Here is most of the work I have done it was mostly focused on trying to figure out testing our culling system and integration of product schema.

https://gitlab.com/LibreFoodPantry/client-solutions/theas-pantry/inventorysystem-culling/guestinfobackend/-/tree/main/specification?ref_type=heads

Here is the backend for the rest of the work done in collaboration with the others

https://gitlab.com/LibreFoodPantry/client-solutions/theas-pantry/inventorysystem-culling/guestinfobackend/-/tree/main/src?ref_type=heads

Thank you for your time, Have a nice one.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Debug Duck by debugducker and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

CS-443 Blog: Heuristics For Mushroom Picking (And Testing)

CS@Worcester CS-443


https://thepainandgainofedwardbear.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/heuristics-for-mushroom-picking-and-testing/ 


This blog reviews the article “Heuristics For Mushroom Picking (And Testing)“.


     The article draws parallels between the practices of mushroom foraging and software testing, emphasizing the importance of preparation and contextual awareness. Just as successful mushroom pickers need to study and understand the environment where mushrooms thrive, testers must focus on identifying areas in software that are more likely to harbor bugs. Both processes involve observing patterns, analyzing risks, and carefully distinguishing between valuable finds and potentially harmful ones—highlighting how a methodical approach enhances success while minimizing errors.

Additionally, the article delves into the uncertainty inherent in both activities. Mushroom pickers often face the challenge of distinguishing edible species from toxic ones, akin to testers identifying false positives among suspected bugs. Both scenarios demand a balance of curiosity, caution, and decision-making skills under incomplete information. The comparison sheds light on how these heuristics can be applied to improve efficiency and reliability in software testing while also drawing lessons from the exploratory and thoughtful nature of mushroom foraging.

I think that this article does a good job at explaining the similarities of mushroom picking and software testing. I think it benefits from the comparison because it allows software testing to be explained in a simpler way, helping a larger amount of people understand the topic.

From the blog George C Blog by George Chude and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

CS-443 Blog: Heuristics For Mushroom Picking (And Testing)

CS@Worcester CS-443


https://thepainandgainofedwardbear.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/heuristics-for-mushroom-picking-and-testing/ 


This blog reviews the article “Heuristics For Mushroom Picking (And Testing)“.


     The article draws parallels between the practices of mushroom foraging and software testing, emphasizing the importance of preparation and contextual awareness. Just as successful mushroom pickers need to study and understand the environment where mushrooms thrive, testers must focus on identifying areas in software that are more likely to harbor bugs. Both processes involve observing patterns, analyzing risks, and carefully distinguishing between valuable finds and potentially harmful ones—highlighting how a methodical approach enhances success while minimizing errors.

Additionally, the article delves into the uncertainty inherent in both activities. Mushroom pickers often face the challenge of distinguishing edible species from toxic ones, akin to testers identifying false positives among suspected bugs. Both scenarios demand a balance of curiosity, caution, and decision-making skills under incomplete information. The comparison sheds light on how these heuristics can be applied to improve efficiency and reliability in software testing while also drawing lessons from the exploratory and thoughtful nature of mushroom foraging.

I think that this article does a good job at explaining the similarities of mushroom picking and software testing. I think it benefits from the comparison because it allows software testing to be explained in a simpler way, helping a larger amount of people understand the topic.

From the blog George C Blog by George Chude and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

CS-443 Blog: Heuristics For Mushroom Picking (And Testing)

CS@Worcester CS-443


https://thepainandgainofedwardbear.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/heuristics-for-mushroom-picking-and-testing/ 


This blog reviews the article “Heuristics For Mushroom Picking (And Testing)“.


     The article draws parallels between the practices of mushroom foraging and software testing, emphasizing the importance of preparation and contextual awareness. Just as successful mushroom pickers need to study and understand the environment where mushrooms thrive, testers must focus on identifying areas in software that are more likely to harbor bugs. Both processes involve observing patterns, analyzing risks, and carefully distinguishing between valuable finds and potentially harmful ones—highlighting how a methodical approach enhances success while minimizing errors.

Additionally, the article delves into the uncertainty inherent in both activities. Mushroom pickers often face the challenge of distinguishing edible species from toxic ones, akin to testers identifying false positives among suspected bugs. Both scenarios demand a balance of curiosity, caution, and decision-making skills under incomplete information. The comparison sheds light on how these heuristics can be applied to improve efficiency and reliability in software testing while also drawing lessons from the exploratory and thoughtful nature of mushroom foraging.

I think that this article does a good job at explaining the similarities of mushroom picking and software testing. I think it benefits from the comparison because it allows software testing to be explained in a simpler way, helping a larger amount of people understand the topic.

From the blog George C Blog by George Chude and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

CS-443 Blog: Heuristics For Mushroom Picking (And Testing)

CS@Worcester CS-443


https://thepainandgainofedwardbear.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/heuristics-for-mushroom-picking-and-testing/ 


This blog reviews the article “Heuristics For Mushroom Picking (And Testing)“.


     The article draws parallels between the practices of mushroom foraging and software testing, emphasizing the importance of preparation and contextual awareness. Just as successful mushroom pickers need to study and understand the environment where mushrooms thrive, testers must focus on identifying areas in software that are more likely to harbor bugs. Both processes involve observing patterns, analyzing risks, and carefully distinguishing between valuable finds and potentially harmful ones—highlighting how a methodical approach enhances success while minimizing errors.

Additionally, the article delves into the uncertainty inherent in both activities. Mushroom pickers often face the challenge of distinguishing edible species from toxic ones, akin to testers identifying false positives among suspected bugs. Both scenarios demand a balance of curiosity, caution, and decision-making skills under incomplete information. The comparison sheds light on how these heuristics can be applied to improve efficiency and reliability in software testing while also drawing lessons from the exploratory and thoughtful nature of mushroom foraging.

I think that this article does a good job at explaining the similarities of mushroom picking and software testing. I think it benefits from the comparison because it allows software testing to be explained in a simpler way, helping a larger amount of people understand the topic.

From the blog George C Blog by George Chude and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

CS-443 Blog: Heuristics For Mushroom Picking (And Testing)

CS@Worcester CS-443


https://thepainandgainofedwardbear.wordpress.com/2017/09/26/heuristics-for-mushroom-picking-and-testing/ 


This blog reviews the article “Heuristics For Mushroom Picking (And Testing)“.


     The article draws parallels between the practices of mushroom foraging and software testing, emphasizing the importance of preparation and contextual awareness. Just as successful mushroom pickers need to study and understand the environment where mushrooms thrive, testers must focus on identifying areas in software that are more likely to harbor bugs. Both processes involve observing patterns, analyzing risks, and carefully distinguishing between valuable finds and potentially harmful ones—highlighting how a methodical approach enhances success while minimizing errors.

Additionally, the article delves into the uncertainty inherent in both activities. Mushroom pickers often face the challenge of distinguishing edible species from toxic ones, akin to testers identifying false positives among suspected bugs. Both scenarios demand a balance of curiosity, caution, and decision-making skills under incomplete information. The comparison sheds light on how these heuristics can be applied to improve efficiency and reliability in software testing while also drawing lessons from the exploratory and thoughtful nature of mushroom foraging.

I think that this article does a good job at explaining the similarities of mushroom picking and software testing. I think it benefits from the comparison because it allows software testing to be explained in a simpler way, helping a larger amount of people understand the topic.

From the blog George C Blog by George Chude and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Path Testing

This week in class we learned about path testing, which is a white box method that examines code to find all possible paths. Path testing uses control flow graphs in order to illustrate the different paths that could be executed in a program. In the graph, the nodes represent the lines of code, and the edges represent the order in which the code is executed. Path testing appealed  to me as a testing method because it gives visual representations of how the source code should execute given different inputs. I took a deeper dive into path testing after this week’s classes and found this blog that gave me a deeper understanding of path testing.

Steps

When you have decided that you want to perform path testing, you must create a control flow graph that matches up with the source code. For example, the split of direction between nodes should represent if-else statements and for while loops, the nodes towards the end of the program that have an edge pointed at an earlier node. 

Secondly, pick out a baseline path for the program. This is the path you define to be the original path of your program. After the baseline is created, continue generating paths representing all possible outcomes in the execution. 

How many Test Cases?

For a lengthy source code, the possible outcomes could seem endless and could therefore end up being a difficult, time-consuming task to do manually. Luckily, there is an equation that determines how many test cases a program will need with path testing.

C = E – N + 2P

Where C stands for cyclomatic complexity. The cyclomatic complexity is equivalent to the number of linearly independent paths, which in turn equals the number of required test cases. E represents the number of edges, N is the number of nodes, and P is the number of connected components. Note that for a single program or source of code, P = 1 always.

Benefits

Path testing reveals outcomes that otherwise may not have been known without examining the code. As stated before, it can be difficult for a tester to know all the possible outcomes in a class. Path testing provides a solution to that by using control flow charts, where the tester can examine the different paths. Path testing also ensures branch coverage. Developers don’t need to merge code with an existing repository because the developers can test in their own branch. Unnecessary and overlapping tests are another thing developers don’t have to worry about.

Drawbacks

Path testing can also be time consuming. Quicker testing methods do exist and take less time off further developing projects. Also in many cases, path testing may be unnecessary. Path testing is used often by many DevOps setups that require a certain amount of unit coverage before deploying to the next environment. Outside of this, it may be considered inefficient compared to another testing method.

Blog: https://blog.testlodge.com/basis-path-testing/

From the blog Blog del William by William Cordor and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.