Thinking about that trip overseas? Whenever possible, it is best to go when the exchange
rate is in your favor. When your dollars buy more in the foreign currency, you can do more
on your vacation. This is why it would be nice to have a tool that could tell you how much
your cash is worth in another currency.
However, there is no set mathematical formula to compute this conversion. The value of a
currency (with respect to another) is constantly changing. In fact, in the time that it
takes you to read this paragraph, the exchange rate between the dollar and the Euro has
probably changed several times. So how do we write a program to handle something like that?
One solution is to make use of a web service. A web service is a program that, when you
send it a request, automatically generates a web page with the information that you asked
for. In our case, the web service will tell us the current exchange rate for most of the
major international currencies. Your job will be to use string-manipulation methods to
read the web page and extract the exact information we need. Full instructions are
included below.
Authors: W. White, D. Yoon, Q. Jia, L. Lee, and S. Marschner
Learning Objectives
This assignment is designed to give you practice with the following skills:
How to write a self-contained module in Python
How to write a script that uses a self-contained module
How to use string methods in Python
How to connect Python to a web service
How to read specifications and understand preconditions
How to use docstrings appropriately for specifications
How to follow the coding conventions for this course
How to thoroughly test a program
The functions we ask you to write in this assignment are relatively short and
straightforward. The emphasis is testing and “good practices”, not complicated
computations. You will find that the most recent lab
is very helpful in understanding this assignment.
This assignment is a slightly modified version of an assignment given in previous
semesters. Please do this assignment without consulting (or seeking) previous solutions.
Since you are allowed to revise and resubmit, with help from us, until you have mastered
this assignment, there is no reason for you to look at previous solutions.
We also ask that you do not enable violations of academic policy. Do not post your code
to Pastebin, GitHub, or any other publicly accessible site.
Collaboration Policy
You may do this assignment with one other person. If you are going to work together,
form your group on CMS as soon as possible. This must be completed before you submit
the assignment. Both people must do something to form the group. The first person
proposes, and then the other accepts. You have to do this early because CMS does not
allow you to form groups once grades are released. Once you have grouped on CMS, only
one person submits the files.
If you do this assignment with another person, you must work together. It is against
the rules for one person to do some programming on this assignment without the other
person sitting nearby and helping. Furthermore, this assignment is not designed for
you to split the work cleanly between partners. Sit together and take turns “driving”;
alternate using the keyboard and mouse.
With the exception of your CMS-registered partner, we ask that you do not look at anyone
else’s code or show your code to anyone else (except a CS1110 staff member) in any form
whatsoever. This includes posting your code on Piazza
to ask for help. It is okay to post error messages on Piazza, but not code. If we need to
see your code, we will ask for it.
Before You Get Started
These instructions may seem long, but that is because we have tried to give you all the
information you need in one document. The meat of the instructions are
Parts I, II, and
III. Those cover exactly what code we want you to
write. However, we expect you to read all of these instructions, since the other parts
give you a better understanding of exactly why and how we are asking you to do these
things.
We recommend that, before you write any code at all, you read the instructions in their
entirety. This will greatly increase your chances of completing the assignment quickly.
Many requests for resubmission are caused not by issues with programming but simply by
not following instructions.
Assignment Scope
Everything that you need to complete this assignment should have been covered by Lecture 6
(Specifications and Testing) in class. In particular, you may not use if-statements
anywhere in this assignment, as they are not necessary. Submissions containing
if-statements will be returned for you to revise. Similarly, students with prior
programming experience should not try to use loops or recursion.
We also recommend that you start early. If 800 students try to contact a web service
at once this will slow everybody down. Connecting to, and reading from, a web page is
not instantaneous. It will take several seconds for some of the functions you will
write to complete their calculations. Furthermore, if you wait until the last minute
to test this assignment, you will be connecting to the same web page as everyone else
in the class, so things could slow down even more.
Grading Policy (Revise-and-Resubmit Cycle)
To ensure that everyone masters this assignment, we will use an iterative feedback process.
If one of the objectives below is not properly met, we will give you feedback and expect
you to revise and resubmit. This process will continue until you are done. This process
should be done by Wednesday, October 2. Once you finish
you will receive a perfect score of 10. In our experience, almost everyone is able to
achieve a perfect score within two submissions.
In grading your code, we will focus on the following issues in order:
Correct function specifications and/or formatting
Adequate test cases
Correct implementations (does it pass our test cases?)
If your code fails one of the three criteria above, we will notify you and ask you to
resubmit. We stop checking once we find the first few errors, so you should not assume
that the errors we point out are the only errors present.
Until we have decided that you have mastered (e.g. 10/10) the assignment, your “grade” on
CMS will be the number of revisions so far. This allows us to keep track of your progress.
Do not be alarmed if you see a “1” for the assignment at first! The assignment will be
considered completed when it passes all three steps outlined above.
Development Environment
To do this assignment, Python must be set up properly. If you have not already done this,
follow the installation instructions to set it up
on your computer. Alternatively, you can just work in the ACCEL lab.
You should also create a folder on your hard drive that is dedicated to this assignment
and this assignment only. Every time that you work on a new assignment, we want you to
make a new folder, to keep things organized and avoid problems with naming collisions.
Make sure that the command shell and Atom Editor are both open in the current folder
before you start.
Assignment Help
If you do not know where to start, if you do not understand testing, or if you are
completely lost, please see someone immediately. This can be the course instructor, a
TA, or a consultant. Do not wait until the last minute. A little in-person help can do
wonders. See the office hours page for more
information.
The Currency Exchange Web Service
Before you do anything at all, you should play around with the currency exchange web
service. You do not need any Python to do this; just a web browser.
For this assignment, you will use a simulated currency exchange service that never
changes values. This is important for testing in Part C.
If the answer is always changing, it is hard to test that you are getting the right
answers. We explain how you can make a few minor changes to get real-time
currency-exchange results in an appendix. However,
we do not want you to submit such code for your assignment. Stick with the fixed,
unchanging server.
To use the service, you connect your web browser to the following address:
http://cs1110.cs.cornell.edu/2019fa/a1?
This prefix is followed by a currency query. A currency query has three pieces of
information in the following format (without spaces; we have included spaces here
solely for readability):
src=currency1 & dst=currency2 & amt=value
where currency1 is a three-letter code for the original currency, currency2 is a
three-letter code for the new currency and value is a float value for the amount of
money in currency1. For example, if you want to know the value of 2.5 dollars (USD) in
Cuban Pesos (CUP), the query is
src=USD&dst=CUP&amt=2.5
The query is not enough by itself. To use it, you have to make it part of a web page URL.
The full URL for this query combines the prefix and the query together, like this
You will note that the “web page” in your browser is just a single line in the following
format:
{ "ok":true, "lhs":"2.5 United States Dollars", "rhs":"64.375 Cuban Pesos", "err":"" }
This is what is known as a JSON representation of the answer. JSON
is a way of encoding complex data so that it can be sent over the Internet. You will
use what you know about string operations and methods to pull out the relevant data out
of the JSON string.
You should try a few more currency queries to familiarize yourself with the service. Note
that if you enter an invalid query (for example, using a non-existent currency code like
AAA), you will get the following response in error:
{ "ok":false, "lhs":"", "rhs":"", "err":"Source currency code is invalid." }
Similarly, if you enter a query with two valid currency codes, but with an invalid
quantity value, you will get the following error:
{ "ok":false, "lhs":"", "rhs":"", "err":"Currency amount is invalid." }
For all error responses, the lhs and rhs values are blank, while ok is false. The
value err is a specific error message describing the problem. This will be important
for error handling in this assignment.
Currency Application
Your primary goal in this assignment is to write an interactive application that queries
the user for input and responds as follows:
[user@machine]:a1 > python a1app.py
Enter source currency: USD
Enter target currency: EUR
Enter original amount: 2.5
You can exchange 2.5 USD for 2.158923 EUR.
To create this application, you will create three files:
a1.py : a module with a collection of functions to perform the calculation.
a1test.py : a unit test script verifying that a1.py is working correctly.
a1app.py : a script to receive user input and provide an answer.
Of the three files, a1app.py will be the easiest. It will be no more complex that than
scripts you wrote for lab. The vast majority of the work will be in the file a1.py.
This file will contain a definition for following function:
defexchange(src,dst,amt):"""
Returns the amount of currency received in the given exchange.
In this exchange, the user is changing amt money in currency src
to the currency dst. The value returned represents the amount in
currency dst.
The value returned has type float.
Parameter src: the currency on hand (the LHS)
Precondition: src is a string for a valid currency code
Parameter dst: the currency to convert to (the RHS)
Precondition: dst is a string for a valid currency code
Parameter amt: amount of currency to convert
Precondition: amt is a float
"""
This function will involve several steps. You will get the JSON string from the web
service, break up the string to pull out the numeric value (as a substring), and then
convert that substring to a float. As this is the very first assignment, we are going to
take you through this process step-by-step. However, not every function that we ask
you to implement will be used by exchange.
This assignment might feel like you are working in reverse. You will write the functions
to break up the string first, and the functions to interact with the web service last.
This is because we want you to develop the following programming habit: always complete
and test the helper functions before finishing the functions that use them.
Currency Tests
In addition to the application, you will also create a test script. As we said, we have
fixed the exchange rates on the server so that they never change, making it possible for
you to design test cases. If you would like to see these fixed rates, they (and the
supported currencies) are included in an appendix.
Note however, that you should not use this table in any of the functions that you write
in a1.py. The table is for testing your functions, not for writing them. There is no
reason for you to waste your time hard-coding in all of the currencies listed in the
table into your program, since the web service you will contact already knows them all
anyway.
Part I: The Assignment Files
One of the most important outcomes of this assignment is that you understand the
importance of testing. This assignment will follow an iterative development cycle.
That means you will write a few functions, then fully test them before you write any
more. This process makes it easier to find bugs; you know that any bugs must have been
part of the work you did since the last test.
Iterative development requires that you work on each of the files simultaneously. In
particular, you will write some code in a1test.py, move to a1.py and then back to
a1test.py. Therefore, to get you started we want you to first create all three files.
You are not going to put (much) code in the files right now. We just want you to have
the files created so that you have a starting point to work from.
The very first thing you should do is specifically create a directory for this assignment.
This folder should contain the three assignment files and nothing else.
The Module a1
In your newly created directory, you should create the module a1 (with file name a1.py).
This will be the main module for this assignment. Following the
style guidelines your file should start with a
descriptive docstring, and the last two lines should be (1) the name and netid of the
authors and (2) the date the file was last editted. This is the docstring that we would
like you to use:
"""
Module for currency exchange
This module provides several string parsing functions to implement a
simple currency exchange routine using an online currency service.
The primary function in this module is exchange.
Author: YOUR NAME(S) AND NETID(S) HERE
Date: THE DATE COMPLETED HERE
"""
Cut-and-paste this docstring into a1, making sure to insert your name and date as
appropriate.
The Script a1test
Iterative development hinges on proper testing, which was covered in both
lecture and
lab. In the same folder as a1.py,
create the file a1test.py. This will be the test script for the a1 module.
As with a1.py, this file should start with a docstring specification that includes
(1) your name and netid and (2) the date the file was last editted. This is the
docstring that we would like you to use:
"""
Test script for module a1
When run as a script, this module invokes several procedures that
test the various functions in the module a1.
Author: YOUR NAME(S) AND NETID(S) HERE
Date: THE DATE COMPLETED HERE
"""
After this docstring, add the following two lines.
importintrocsimporta1
Normally a test script has a test procedure for each function being tested. However, to
simplify this activity, you are only going to write four test procedures: testA, testB,
testC, and testD. Each test procedure will test a group of functions, and these
groups correspond to the sections in Part II.
To get this test script started, you should add a procedure stubs for each of the four
test procedures. Remember that a procedure stub should have the keyword
pass (indented) after the header, but nothing
else. For example, here is the code for the first one.
deftestA():"""
Test procedure for Part A
"""pass
These procedures will eventually contain your test cases, which we talked about in
Lecture 6. If you are curious about how they
are supposed to work, look at the example code
from that lecture.
Finally at the end of a1test, you will need to add code to call the test procedures.
Remember that any function – even a test procedure – does nothing until you call it.
Add these lines:
testA()testB()testC()testD()print('Module a1 passed all tests.')
Again, see the relevant lecture for an explanation
of why you are doing this. The script code will call your four test procedures, which are
(currently) empty. If everything is working, then the module will print out the message
Module a1 passed all tests
Try this out.
The Script a1app
You will write the script a1app.py last. We do not want you to put any code in this
file until a1.py is complete and fully tested. However, it is a good idea to have all
three files in your directory, so you should create a file called a1app.py right now.
When you create this file, add the following docstring:
"""
User interface for module currency
When run as a script, this module prompts the user for two currencies and
an amount. It prints out the result of converting the first currency to
the second.
Author: YOUR NAME(S) AND NETID(S) HERE
Date: THE DATE COMPLETED HERE
"""
You can now ignore this file until Part III of the
instructions.
Part II: The Core Functions
Iterative Development
In this part of the assignment, you will work on the files a1.py and a1test.py.
It is is broken into four parts (listed as Parts A, B, C, and D).
In each part, you will do the following:
Add a function stub to a1
We will give you the function header to write. We will also give you a detailed docstring
specification for the function. You should copy-and-paste the specification into the
function body, indented.
Add test cases to a1test
Yes, this means you are writing tests before writing the function bodies. We talked about
this in lecture.
Unless otherwise instructed, each test case should be a call to an assert function in the
introcs module. Furthermore, your tests should be representative. While we talked about
this in class, you might be a little unsure of what we are asking for here. If so, you
should review lab 3 with a consultant
before going any further.
Write the function bodies
Make sure that the function satisifies the specifications exactly. If the specification
says to return something, you need a return statement. Make sure that the value returned
is of the correct type.
Run the test script a1test
If errors are found, fix them and re-test. Keep doing this until no more errors are found.
Function Specifications
The descriptions that we provide in each part below represent the level of completeness
and precision we are looking for in your docstring comments. In fact, it is best to
copy-and-paste these descriptions to create the first draft of your docstring comments.
If you do not cut and paste, please adhere to the conventions we use, such as using a
single line, followed by a blank line and a more descriptive paragraph, or by using
“Returns …” for fruitful-functions. While we have provided the contents of the
specification, we have not always formatted them properly for you.
If you want to see if your specifications are written correctly, start an interactive
Python shell and type
>>>importa1>>>help(a1)
This should list all the functions with their specifications.
Part A: Breaking Up Strings
A large part of this assignment is breaking up a JSON string. Conceptually, you want to
separate the currency amount from the currency name. For example, if we are given the
string "4.502 Euros", then we want to break
it up into "4.502" and
"Euros" .
This is the motivation for the two functions below. The implementation of these functions
should be relatively simple. We were able to implement them both in one or two lines.
before_space(s)
Returns a copy of s up to, but not including, the first space
Parameter s: the string to slice
Precondition: s is a string with at least one space
after_space(s)
Returns a copy of s after the first space
Parameter s: the string to slice
Precondition: s is a string with at least one space
Implement these functions according to their specification, as described in
Iterative Development. In other words,
Write the header and specification in a1.py.
Place test cases in the procedure testA of a1test.py.
Implement the functions in a1.py.
Test for and correct errors until no errors remain.
To test the functions, you should make use of assert_equals in the module introcs to
compare the result of each functions with the string that you expect to get back. Our
solution has four test cases for each of the two functions above. When you think about
what test cases you want to include, consider the following:
Does the specification allow for strings with more than one space?
Does the specification allow for strings that start with a space?
Does the specification allow for strings that don’t have any spaces?
Keep in mind that the answer to any of the above questions might be No. In addition,
do not forget to add a specification to testA. Just because it is used for testing does
not mean that it should not be properly specified.
When you write your test cases write a single-line comment (#) just above the test case
explaining what it is testing. If you make it clear what you are testing, this can help
us provide better feedback when we return the graded assignment.
Part B: Processing a JSON String
All of the responses to a currency query, whether valid or invalid, contain the keywords
"lhs" and "rhs".
If it is a valid currency query, then the answer is in quotes after the keyword
"rhs". If it is invalid, then the quotes after
"rhs" are empty. Hence the next step is to
extract the information in quotes after these keywords.
While working on each of the functions below, remember to write the test cases in at1test.py
before implementing the body. All test cases in this section go in the procedure testB,
which you should remember to specify. You should thoroughly test each function before
implementing the next one.
first_inside_quotes(s)
Returns the first substring of s between two (double) quotes
A quote character is one that is inside a string, not one that
delimits it. We typically use single quotes (') to delimit a
string if want to use a double quote character (") inside of it.
Examples:
first_inside_quotes('A "B C" D') returns 'B C'
first_inside_quotes('A "B C" D "E F" G') returns 'B C',
because it only picks the first such substring
Parameter s: a string to search
Precondition: s is a string containing at least two double quotes
You should have completed the function above in lab 3.
Because this function is technically part of the lab, and not the assignment, you may
talk to students other than your partner about it (collaboration is always allowed on labs).
This is the only function for which this is allowed. The rest of the functions are part
of the assignment, so you may only collaborate with your partner.
Once you have this function completed, you should move on to the following functions.
get_lhs(json)
Returns the lhs value in the response to a currency query
Given a JSON response to a currency query, this returns the
string inside double quotes (") immediately following the keyword
"lhs". For example, if the JSON is
'{ "ok":true, "lhs":"1 Bitcoin", "rhs":"9916.0137 Euros", "err":"" }'
then this function returns '1 Bitcoin' (not '"1 Bitcoin"').
This function returns the empty string if the JSON response
contains an error message.
Parameter json: a json string to parse
Precondition: json is the response to a currency query
get_rhs(json)
Returns the rhs value in the response to a currency query
Given a JSON response to a currency query, this returns the
string inside double quotes (") immediately following the keyword
"rhs". For example, if the JSON is
'{ "ok":true, "lhs":"1 Bitcoin", "rhs":"9916.0137 Euros", "err":"" }'
then this function returns '9916.0137 Euros' (not
'"9916.0137 Euros"').
This function returns the empty string if the JSON response
contains an error message.
Parameter json: a json string to parse
Precondition: json is the response to a currency query
has_error(json)
Returns True if the query has an error; False otherwise.
Given a JSON response to a currency query, this returns the
opposite of the value following the keyword "ok". For example,
if the JSON is
'{ "ok":false, "lhs":"", "rhs":"", "err":"Currency amount is invalid." }'
then the query is not valid, so this function returns True (It
does NOT return the message 'Source currency code is invalid').
Parameter json: a json string to parse
Precondition: json is the response to a currency query
Note that three of the functions above have json is the response to a currency query
in the precondition. This just means that your test cases should only consider strings
that can be returned by the server. So the string
is not. Again, write a single-line comment (#) just above each test case explaining
what it is testing. This will help us give you better feedback.
You should not use a conditional statement to implement these functions. Simply find
the position of the appropriate keyword and extract the value in quotes immediately after
it. Your implementation must make use of the find
or index string methods.
Part C: Contacting the Server
Now it is time to interact with the web service. In this part, you will implement a single
function. The test cases for this function should go in procedure testC in a1test.py.
Do not forget to specify testC properly.
currency_response(src, dst, amt)
Returns a JSON string that is a response to a currency query.
A currency query converts amt money in currency src to the
currency dst. The response should be a string of the form
'{ "ok":true, "lhs":"<old-amt>", "rhs":"<new-amt>", "err":"" }'
where the values old-amount and new-amount contain the value
and name for the original and new currencies. If the query is
invalid, both old-amount and new-amount will be empty, while
"ok" will be followed by the value false (and "err" will have
an error message).
Parameter src: the currency on hand (the LHS)
Precondition: src is a string with no spaces or non-letters
Parameter dst: the currency to convert to (the RHS)
Precondition: dst is a string with no spaces or non-letters
Parameter amt: amount of currency to convert
Precondition: amt is a float
While this function sounds complicated, it is not as bad as you think it is. There is a
function inside of the introcs module called urlread.
This function takes a single web address as an argument, and returns the contents of the
web page. Try this now in the interactive shell by typing
You will notice that this function does exactly what you want. So what is the challenge?
The challenge is coming up with the correct web address. Revisit our explanation of how
the currency service works to see why this is a
potential challenge.
When you test this function, you need to ensure that it returns exactly the right JSON
string for the value given. The best way to test this is to use a web browser to manually
get the right JSON answer. For example, one test case can be constructed by seeing the
result of going to the URL
You can copy the value from this web page into a test case in testC (but do not
forget to add quotes). Then check that the function returns the same JSON string.
Remember to be thorough with your choice of test cases. One is not enough.
Important: Fetching a web page takes time, especially if too many people are trying
to do so simultaneously. You should give each call to this function at least 5-10 seconds
to complete before restarting any tests.
Part D: Computing the Exchange
We are now ready for the final part of the assignment. Implement the following specifications,
again using our test-case-before-function-body approach. The test cases should go in procedure
testD in a1test. When making your test cases, reread the introcsdocumentation. There is a case in which
you will want to use assert_floats_equal instead of assert_equals.
is_currency(code)
Returns: True if code is a valid (3 letter code for a) currency
It returns False otherwise.
Parameter code: the currency code to verify
Precondition: code is a string with no spaces or non-letters.
In implementing is_currency, you should not use the table of currencies.
That would make a very large function with a lot of if-statements; you are not allowed
if-statements in this assignment. Instead, you must use currency_response and has_error
as helper functions. However, you will find the table of currencies useful in in determining
correct answers for your test cases.
exchange(src, dst, amt)
Returns the amount of currency received in the given exchange.
In this exchange, the user is changing amt money in currency
src to the currency dst. The value returned represents the
amount in currency dst.
The value returned has type float.
Parameter src: the currency on hand (the LHS)
Precondition: src is a string for a valid currency code
Parameter dst: the currency to convert to (the RHS)
Precondition: dst is a string for a valid currency code
Parameter amt: amount of currency to convert
Precondition: amt is a float
You may also use the table of currencies to craft some test cases for the function exchange.
However, you might find it easier to use a currency query URL to look up the correct answer,
and then paste the answer into your test case.
A bigger issue with testing exchange is that problem that we saw in class: real numbers
cannot be represented exactly. This creates problems when you try to test equality
between floats. To solve this problem, introcs provides a function called
assert_floats_equal. You should use this function to test exchange instead of
assert_equals. There is an example of this issue in the exercises of lab 3.
Finally, bear in mind that, like currency_response, these functions connect to the web
service, and so are not instantaneous. In our solution, with complete test procedures for
everything, it can take up to 2 seconds to run the unit test on campus. This will be a
bit slower if you are working closer to the deadline.
Part III: The Application Script
You are essentially done. The last part of the assignment is to complete the file a1app.py.
This file will be no more complicated than the script dice.py that you made for
lab 2. In fact, it will have a similar
number of lines.
At the top of the file a1app.py remember to add the line
importa1
This will allow you to access the exchange function in this script. This is the only
function of a1.py that you will need to use. Everything else will be either an input
function, a print function, or some other built-in function, just as you did in the lab.
We are not going to give you much more guidance than that. Use your file dice.py as a
guide if you are unsure what to do. In this end, the script should prompt the user and
provide an answer, as shown below.
[user@machine]:a1 > python a1app.py
Enter source currency: USD
Enter target currency: CUP
Enter original amount: 2.5
You can exchange 2.5 USD for 64.375 CUP.
Obviously you will get different answers for different currencies and amounts. But otherwise,
the output displayed must look exactly like it does above. You must use those exact words
for your final print statement and end with a period.
Finishing Touches
Once you have everything working you should go back and make sure that your program meets
the course and assignment coding conventions, including the following:
You have indented with spaces, not tabs (Atom Editor handles this automatically).
Functions are each separated by two blank lines.
Lines are short enough (~80 characters) that horizontal scrolling is not necessary.
The specifications for all of the functions are complete.
Function specifications are immediately after the function header and indented.
Docstrings are only used for specifications, not general comments.
Each test cases has a single-line comment before it, explaining what is being tested.
Your name(s) and netid(s) are in the comments at the top of the modules.
One of the things that you may have the biggest difficulty with is breaking up long lines.
First, you may not be aware when your lines are too long. If you are using Atom Editor,
you should see a vertical line on the right side of the window. This is the wrap guide.
If you go past this, you have gone too far; it is time to break up your lines.
As for breaking up long lines, there are two solutions. First, Python allows you to
“hit Return” within any expression inside of parentheses. So if you are adding together
several expressions together, like
a='Hello '+name+', it is good to meet you'
you can break it up over several lines, using parentheses, as follows:
a=('Hello '+name+', it is good to meet you')
Another solution is to use the backslash symbol \. Remember that this is the escape
character for making special characters in strings. It also has a special effect
outside of a string. If you type this symbol, immediately followed by a return, then
Python will know to continue to the next line. So you can rewrite the addition above as
a='Hello '+name+ \
', it is good to meet you'
Turning it In
Upload the files a1.py, a1test.py, and a1app.py to CMS
by the due date: Wednesday, September 25. Do not submit
any files with the extension/suffix .pyc. It will help to set the preferences in your
operating system so that extensions always appear.
Check CMS daily until you get feedback from a grader. Make sure your CMS notifications for
CS 1110 are set so that you are sent an email when one of your grades is changed. To find
the feedback, click on the Assignment 1 link in CMS. On the page you are brought to, click
on the red word “show” in the line Grading Comments & Requests (show). You can contact
your grader if you have questions about their feedback; you can see their netid in the
place you can see their feedback.
Within 24 hours, do RRRRR: Read the feedback, Revise your program accordingly,
Resubmit, and Request a Regrade using the CMS. If you do not request a regrade,
we have no simple way of knowing that you have resubmitted.
This whole process – starting from first submission on September 25 –
continues until you submit a solution that demonstrates complete mastery. In some cases
this may require multiple additional resubmits by you. You need to complete this process
within one week. You need to have submitted a final, correct version by
Wednesday, October 2, which means you will probably
want to have re-submitted at least once before then.
Appendix: Live Exchange Service
This section is not part of the assignment. It is optional. Furthermore, do not make the
changes in this section to the file that you submit for grading. It will be sent back to
you to fix.
This assignment was first designed back in 2012, to take advantage of a service called
iGoogle. iGoogle was a JSON service provided by
Google (hence the name) which supported simple Python programs. It was intended for any
data that might be changing often, such as currency exchange rates, weather data, or
similar types of things. Unfortunately, Google discontinued the service in November 2013,
two months after we ran the assignment for a second time.
This meant that we could still simulate a fake currency exchange service, but we no longer
had a real-world example to show off the power of this assignment. Most replacements to
iGoogle typically charge for their service (because they are used by currency traders),
and we could not justify the subscription cost for a single assignment.
Fortunately, there is now a great service called Open Exchange Rates.
This service still charges, but it is free if you only need a new currency value once an
hour. This is a pretty good compromise, because that is frequent enough for anyone who
is not a currency trader.
The data from Open Exchange Rates is not in a format usable by this assignment. However,
it does allow your instructor to turn the fake currency service into a real currency
service. We are actually running two currency servers in this class. In the
web service instructions we told you to use the
URL prefix
http://cs1110.cs.cornell.edu/2019fa/a1?
If you change that prefix to
http://cs1110.cs.cornell.edu/2019fa/xchg?
you will get our real server instead.
The server updates once an hour at 40 minutes after the hour. To see this in action, run
a query just before this time, at say 8:38. Wait 5 minutes and run the same query again.
See how it changes? This is one of the reasons we did not use the real service in
development. It is too hard to test against. In fact, even professional software engineers
would do what we did: write a program against an unchanging exchange service before
deploying it against the real thing.
We promise to keep the real server running for at least the next year, should you wish
to show this off to other people.
