Serialization Showdown

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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 programmers_survey_[year].* to see examples of these two file formats. Please read all the following instructions before starting.

1. Coding 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
  • Only work on improving your code after you've passed all tests
• REPL: Use irb/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: ask others to review your code or suggest improvements – even publicly on our class Slack!

2. 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:

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

$ ruby serializer_spec.rb
(this should report 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. 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 programmers_survey_2017.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: 8/30/2017 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. You would run it like this:

$ ruby yml_to_tsv.rb programmers_survey_2017.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).