CST338: Software Design, Week 4

Project 1: Legally Distinct Pocket Monster

With whom did you work with?

I collaborated with Cody Hopkins for this journal and project reflection.

What was your strategy for solving the assignments?

I normally like to plan things out on paper first, but for this one, I jumped right in and followed the prompts closely. My approach was to stub out the code to make sure everything compiled, then use the assignment instructions and unit tests to guide my implementation. Once the basic structure was in place, I refined the logic to meet all the requirements and pass the tests.

What was their strategy for solving the assignments?

Cody mentioned that he read through the prompt and unit tests first to get a general understanding of the assignment. He then began implementing code incrementally, using the test results to refine his approach.

How would you change your strategy having worked on the assignment?

I think my strategy worked well overall. If I were to change anything, I might spend more time mapping out class interactions and abstract method expectations early on to avoid a few of the roadblocks I hit during implementation.

According to your classmate(s): How well does your code follow the Google Java Style Guide? Did you know you can automate applying some of the style guide rules?

Cody said it looked good overall. Yes, I know that’s possible, but I haven’t set it up yet. It’s something I want to do before the next project to streamline formatting and catch small issues early.

What was the most challenging part?

Getting the overridden abstract methods to behave correctly, especially with overloaded methods like setDefensePoints() and setDefensePoints(), was a challenge. Troubleshooting strange behavior, like unexpected output from toString(), also took some trial and error.

What was the most interesting?

I really enjoyed seeing how the elemental type interactions affected attack strength. It added another layer of logic that made the battles feel more dynamic and gave the project a fun, game-like quality.

What are you most proud of?

I’m proud that I passed all the tests without modifying any of them (that's not allowed anyways). My final code was clean, readable, and surprisingly not a disaster. 

How did you celebrate completing the assignment?

I treated myself to Joe’s Italian Ice and took the evening off to relax. I’m also planning to bike to a new coffee shop this weekend as a post-project reward.