Software report - schoolwork

Soldato
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Son has his GCSEs coming up - programming with Python etc and they are currently doing a 20hr project involving RLE (wasn't aware of RLE!)

As well as the working software they have to produce a report on what the program is/does etc and some tech breakdown.

Any links to any similar types of software report i can show him so he has an idea of what is required.

Ta
 
Soldato
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So they have a compression algorithm to write if it's Run Length Encoding.

We did the same (and dictionary based compression) with BBC and Z80 assembler for kicks in school. How to make games load faster off tape :)

It sounds like they want them to explain how the algorithm works and how the program performs it.

I would split into compression and decompression.

First - show using blocks for bytes and then show how the algorithm works for blocks. Something line:

screenshot.jpg


Then show how the program identifies the run length blocks.

Finally show how the program does the other way around for decompression and show the final image reversed like above.
 
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Soldato
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That's interesting - but way above my head! I'll show the thyread to him and hope he knows what you're on about :D

But what about an example actual report?

I've managed to grab an example assessment paper from a different school and the task is:

  • Input and store customer details
  • input and store customer booking details
  • check if a customer can have a discount
  • calculate and store the cost of booking
  • display customer booking details
Once the application is written, they are too:

"produce a report that includes the task objectives, your report should be about 2000 words"

Does anyone have any examples of this type of report/essay i can show him?

Ta
 
Soldato
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Does anyone have any examples of this type of report/essay i can show him?

I'd say he just needs to explain how he wrote the code: how he broke down the task objectives, how he decided on the structure of the code and some finer-detail of what each main section of code does.
It's so easy to find code examples online which he could have just copied and pasted so the point of the report is just to show that he understands the code and hasn't just copied it.
 
Soldato
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yeah, i get that, i was just looking for an example. I can write essays/reports, i was looking for structures etc, hence why an example would be useful.
 
Soldato
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I'm a bit late to this but does the class teacher not have anything ? Many of us can offer advice for what the real world would do but that is probably irrelevant as it is what the examiners are looking for that counts.
 
Soldato
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Lad said they are doing the whole process methodically - currently doing the task based stuff and the report writing will come later.

Would have been interesting to see some examples of real time reports though - more information the better.
 
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