Serialization Showdown

1. Download files

Download all the files in this repository using the green 'Clone or download' button on Github. You may download the whole repo as a ZIP file and then unzip it in your working directory. Do NOT fork this repo.

Assignment:

You will write two small ruby applications in this assignment. First, write a command-line application that converts a spreadsheet of students programming skills from a TSV (tab separated columns) file format into a YAML file. Second, write another command-line application that converts a YAML file back into a TSV file. Take a look at the files called surveys/programmers_survey_*.* to see examples of these two file formats. Please read all the following instructions before starting.

2. Coding Best Practices

Let's put together all the good programming practices that we discussed in class to do this assignment.

• Tests:

  • Continuously test your code as you write it
  • First write code to pass all tests (shameless green)
  • Only refactor after you've passed all tests

• REPL: Use irb or pry to try each step as you are coding

• Idiomatic code:

  • “No more for loops!”: use functional idioms for iteration (map/reduce/select/each/etc.)
  • Make sure your code has no rubocop violations (ask us about any unusual violations)

• Readability:

  • Run flog on your code to see if it is too complex
  • Ask yourself when the metrics are good enough to stop refactoring

• Experience: Ask classmates to review your code! Remember that it is fine to share your assignment code on our discussion channels.

3. Testing

Before beginning, take a look at the test file that you are given: serializer_spec.rb

Setup our testing framework by running the following commands from the command line, in the directory with all the files:

$ rbenv local [version]
# (set the latest version of ruby for your project)

$ bundle install
# (only need to run this once; bundle should report success)

$ ruby serializer_spec.rb
# (all tests should fail or produce errors before you've written any code)

While you are coding, remember to keep running ruby serializer_spec.rb on the command line to see if tests are passing.

3. TSV to YAML

Create a ruby command-line application: tsv_to_yml.rb

This file should have a script that converts a TSV file into a YAML file. You should use the yaml gem to produce the parsed output. Your YAML output should be saved into a YAML file of the user's choosing.

Let your Ruby program take two parameters from command line: the name of input and output files. You would run it like this:

$ ruby tsv_to_yml.rb surveys/example_23.tsv outfile.yml

You can access command line parameters from your Ruby code using the ARGV array (ARGV[0], ARGV[1]).

If the user does not supply an output filename, please print output to screen.

If you have done this correctly, each student in your output should look something like:

- date: 8/30/2022 15:40:19
  student_id: '3522933'
  languages: Java, C#, C++, Python, Javascript, Oz, Racket Lang, Go Lang, Php, Hack
    lang, Ruby on Rails
  best_language: Javascript, PHP, Phyton, C#, Java
  app_experience: Command line Apps, Desktop GUI Apps, Web Front-end Apps, Web Back-end
    Apps, Mobile Apps, Maths/Statistics Coding, Database Driven Apps
  tech_experience: Command Line, Version Control, Database, Software Testing, Web
    Design, Cloud Platforms, Regular Expressions

You must submit tsv_to_yml.rb as a Gist URL (use your Github account on https://gist.github.com).

4. YAML to TSV

Create a ruby command-line application: yml_to_tsv.rb

This file should have a script converts a YAML skills file into a TSV file. Do NOT use a CSV gem or library to create the TSV file!

You would run it like this:

$ ruby yml_to_tsv.rb surveys/example_23.yml outfile.tsv

Your generated TSV file should have the correct header information in the top row, and should be identical to the corresponding TSV file we've provided.

You must submit yml_to_tsv.rb as a Gist URL (use your Github account on https://gist.github.com).

5. Error Checking

Try to ensure that you have handled some basic errors that might occur when others run your scripts:

• Input file could not be found
• Input file could not be parsed properly (Yaml or TSV format incorrect)
• Output file already exists (and you do not want to overwrite it)
• Could not save to the output file (some system level error)

You can use if-else logic or rescue blocks to detect errors. If you catch one of these errors, you may print and error message and exit.