UMass Lowell Dept. of Computer Science
COMP 4620 — GUI Programming II
Spring 2016 Semester, Section 201
Prof. Jesse M. Heines
Notes for Class No. 16
Debriefings on Usability Tests and Alpha Presentations
and Introduction to Code Reviews
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
A video of this class is (or will be) posted at:
http://echo360.uml.edu/heines2016/comp4620-201.html
Handouts and Materials
Stop More Bugs with our Code Review Checklist - Fog Creek Software
Generic Checklist for Code Reviews
Code Review Checklist
Code Review Checklist
11 Best Practices for Peer Code Review - SmartBear Software
All of the above in a single PDF
Openings / Announcements / Reminders
What’s happening for the rest of the semester
Assignment No. 3 is now posted
I strongly encourage all students, especially females, to look at the Women Who Code site
Class Notes
Related reading for this class: Handouts
Discussion of Project Alpha Presentations
Evaluations by Your Peers
How well did the presenters ...
- ... explain the purpose of their project?
| Mean | | 4.48 |
| Median | | 4.54 |
| StdDev | | 0.16 |
- ... review their goals and how they may have changed?
| Mean |
|
4.07 |
| Median |
|
4.18 |
| StdDev |
|
0.42 |
- ... identify new issues and state how they will address them?
| Mean | | 4.08 |
| Median | | 4.11 |
| StdDev | | 0.25 |
- ... evaluate their current features?
| Mean | | 4.41 |
| Median | | 4.39 |
| StdDev | | 0.21 |
- ... assess if not yet implemented features can be implemented?
| Mean | | 4.14 |
| Median | | 4.18 |
| StdDev | | 0.31 |
- ... assess their delivery schedule?
| Mean |
|
3.99 |
| Median |
|
4.00 |
| StdDev |
|
0.39 |
- ... present their final look and feel?
| Mean | | 4.29 |
| Median | | 4.30 |
| StdDev | | 0.27 |
- ... give a clear overall picture of where their project stands?
| Mean | | 4.33 |
| Median | | 4.46 |
| StdDev | | 0.25 |
- as you review your scores from your peers, remember that such evaluations tend to regress toward the mean
- therefore, look for outliers, as I have highlighted above
What other overall comments can we make on the presentations?
Comments from me
- follow the suggested format, or at least the suggested head and subhead titles
- give reviewers what they’re looking for, at least in terms of structure
- everyone is responsible for all aspects of the project
- therefore, everyone must proofread reports such as this
- I find it hard to believe that three or four college students read some of these reports and didn’t notice the errors that I did
- common grammatical errors
- capitalization, especially with names of products
- Python, Bootstrap, Google
- jQuery — note the lowercase j and the uppercase Q
- the MEAN stack — all capitals
- and even HTML and CSS — all capitals
- run-on sentences
- use more periods
- make your report easy for readers to read
- and remember that they don’t really read, they skim
- shorter sentences have more punch, too
- avoid “lastly”
- if you have a list, make a list
- use bullets if there is no specific order
- again, remember that readers don’t read, they skim
- watch subject/verb agreement
- “time and resources was wasted”
- what is the subject?
- therefore, what should the verb be?
- “the list of issues that are shown in Table 1”
- what is the subject?
- therefore, what should the verb be?
- and the most egregious, but also the most common, English grammar error of all: it’s vs. its
- he — she — it
- possessive form: his — hers — its = “belonging to it”
- contraction form: he’s — she’s — it’s = “it is”
- I believe that the reason for the confusion is that the English language is not consistent
- Robert’s vs. Roberts — which is the possessive?
- my dogs vs. my dog’s vs. my dogs’ — what does each variant mean?
- also consider, URLs vs. URL’s, and RSVPs vs. RSVP’s
- is proper writing important to you?
Introduction to Code Reviews
Videos
- Code Reviews — Fog Creek Software (short)
- Implementing a Strong Code-Review Culture — Derek Prior, thoughtbot
Code reviews are not about catching bugs. Modern code reviews are about socialization, learning, and teaching.
How can you get the most out of a peer’s code review and how can you review code without being seen as overly critical? Reviewing code and writing easily-reviewed features are skills that will make you a better developer and a better teammate.
You will leave this talk with the tools to implement a successful code-review culture. You'll learn how to get more from the reviews you’re already getting and how to have more impact with the reviews you leave.
- How to Stop Wasting Your Time and Start Performing Useful Code Reviews — Maria Khalusova, JetBrains
Review of handouts (see sources at the top of this page)
Beginning peer code reviews
