Notes on Homework 2: Mad Libs

Contents:

• Evaluation Criteria
• Comments
• Grades

Evaluation Criteria

A grade of B on this assignment represents something that works correctly, generates and uses correct HTML, and meets the other basic requirements of the assignment.

Lower grades are often due to error messages, incorrect HTML, and similar problems. If the incorrect HTML seems to be my fault (e.g., my libraries aren't working correctly), I won't penalize you.

Higher grades are often due to particular creativity, some nice coding, or other stuff like that. What kinds of nice coding did I look for? For one thing, I looked for assignments that worked correctly, even if someone didn't enter values on the form. (I would have accepted default values on the form, but many of you found that to be inelegant.)

Comments

Mike Claveria and Ben Wallenberg

• http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS151/2003S/Examples/MadLibs/ClaveriaWallenberg/
• Complains if you don't fill in data. Better than telling a senseless story, but given the number of things to fill in, still a pain.
  • However, if I don't choose a color, it crashes!
• Nicely formatted entry page. Too bad it's invalid HTML.
• Lots of different kinds of inputs.
• Uses words in different order.
• Generates different stuff for different genders.

Andy Cook and Brett McMillian

• http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS151/2003S/Examples/MadLibs/CookMcMillian/
• Invalid HTML on opening page.
• Input style is somewhat awkward (entry field and then question).
• If someone doesn't enter a word, you use "Sam". Oh boy.
• Clever base text to convert to a Mad Lib.
• Includes a conditional.
• Nice, but undocumented, "getvariable" procedure.

Povilas Dapkevicius and David Wylie

• http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS151/2003S/Examples/MadLibs/DapkeviciusWylie/
• Valid HTML on opening page! Yay!
• If you don't enter information, it doesn't work. (Not a penalty, just a note.)
• Uses words in different orders.
• More than two different kinds of inputs (checkboxes, radio, fields).
• Includes useful procedures "checker" (badly named and undocumented) and "a-an" (better named, also undocumented). The "checker" procedure does a nice job of combining words.

Sarah Fullmer

• http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS151/2003S/Examples/MadLibs/Fullmer/
• Nicely designed site.
• Nice use of cascading style sheets.
• But invalid HTML on opening pages (and generated pages).
• I like that you add an "s" onto verbs.
• More interesting topic than most.
• If you don't enter information, it doesn't work. (Not a penalty, just a note.)
• It would have been nice to see your requested words appear in a different order in the story than in the input (e.g., you could have grouped the nouns together).

Jennifer Karam

• http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS151/2003S/Examples/MadLibs/Karam/
• Data entry page not valid HTML.
• Nice (albeit undocumented) "style" procedure.
• Uses style sheets.
• Some reuse of variables.
• It would have been nice to see your requested words appear in a different order in the story than in the input (e.g., you could have grouped the nouns together).
• If you don't enter information, it doesn't work. (Not a penalty, just a note.)
• Incorrect grammar. ("Mad Lib's" instead of "Mad Libs".)

Nathalie Lauze

• http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS151/2003S/Examples/MadLibs/Lauze/
• Uses one of the entered words in the header.
• HTML file didn't include standard parts (e.g., HTML version).
• If you don't enter information, it doesn't work. (Not a penalty, just a note.)
• Lines in your Scheme file are much too long.
• It would have been nice to see your requested words appear in a different order in the story than in the input (e.g., you could have grouped the nouns together).

Alex Leach and Yvonne Palm

• http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS151/2003S/Examples/MadLibs/LeachPalm/
• Data entry page is not valid HTML.
• Used a style sheet for entry page.
• If you don't enter information, it doesn't work. (Not a penalty, just a note.)
• Good reuse of words (e.g., the animal gets used many times).
• Different stories for happy/sad.
• Clever way to get appropriate pronouns (not ideal, but good).

Dan Nemchonok and Amanda Perry

• http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS151/2003S/Examples/MadLibs/NemchonokPerry/
• Even if you don't enter information, it still works. (I know you had to consult me for a technique to get that to work, but you still worried about the details.)
  • Of course, your no-empty procedure should have had some documentation.
• Invalid HTML on opening page.
• Cute story.
• It's nice to see you reuse a few of the words (the animal and the first past-tense verb).

Kirsten Plowman

• http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS151/2003S/Examples/MadLibs/Plowman/
• If you don't enter information, it doesn't work. (Not a penalty, just a note.)
• Invalid HTML on opening page and sonnet 18 data entry page.
• Three different kinds of input (radio buttons, fields, and a popup menu).
• Some clever attempts to ask for particular numbers of syllabus (as poetry probably requires).
• It would have been nice to see your requested words appear in a different order in the story than in the input (e.g., you could have grouped the nouns together).
• Like the Shakepearean source.
• Very nice use of CSS for the side-by-side output.

Richard West

• http://www.cs.grinnell.edu/~rebelsky/Courses/CS151/2003S/Examples/MadLibs/West/
• If you don't enter information, it doesn't work. (Not a penalty, just a note.)
• Invalid HTML on your Enter Information page.
• Lines in your Scheme file are much too long.
• It would have been nice to see your requested words appear in a different order in the story than in the input (e.g., you could have grouped the nouns together).

Grades

I've emailed you your grades on this assignment.