Grading Standards for Programs

• Is all functionality provided? Use the finished project logon link above to see how the application works. Pay very close attention to what happens. You will find important programming notes also.
  
  
• Is your work free of bugs?
  
  
• Is your code clean and neat and well documented with comments? The following programming standards must be followed or your code will be considered wrong!
  
  
  • Not more than 10 lines of program code per comment.
  • Use sensible (descriptive) variable names.
  • Liberally add 'white-space' to your work.
  • Follow good clean structure.
  • Here are examples (the language here is VB but the standards apply to all languages):
    
    
    

    Correct Structure

    Notice that each block of code is indented. Always indent each level of logic - each block. Blocks are bounded by control structures such as: if..then..elseif...endif, loops of all kinds, subs and functions, select case, etc.

    if averagecost > 45 then
    	customercost = customercost + bonus
    else
    	customercost = customercost + (bonus * 0.75)
    end if
    
    

    Correct - Even Better With Comments Added

    Comments always are inline with the code they describe. Generally the beginning of a big section has a blocked in comment.

    ' **************************************
    ' * calculate the cost to the customer *
    ' **************************************
    
    if averagecost > 45 then
    	customercost = customercost + bonus
    else
    	customercost = customercost + (bonus * 0.75)
    end if
    
    
    ' *********************************************************
    ' * perform a loop 77 times and provide continuing status *
    ' *********************************************************
    
    for counter= 1 to 77
    	response.write "The counter  = " + cstr(counter)
    next
    
    
    ' ********************************************************************************
    ' * a subroutine that replaces response.write message with: saysomething message *
    ' ********************************************************************************
    
    sub saysomething (message)
    	' notice how response.write is called here
    	response.write message
    end sub
    
    

    Comprehensive Example - Correct Structure and Comments

    Notice that each block of code is indented. Comments always are inline with the code they describe. Generally the beginning of a big section has a blocked in comment and the lower less significant levels comments are not blocked. Always indent each level of logic - each block. Blocks are bounded by control structures such as: if..then..elseif...endif, loops of all kinds, subs and functions, select case, etc.

    ' *****************************************************************
    ' * determine if a customer should be informed of a special offer *
    ' *****************************************************************
    
    if customerbalance > 1000 then
    
    	' customer owes at least $1000 so an offer is possible:
    
    	if date() < cdate(offerexpires) then
    
    		' offer still active so tell customer - and count down from 10 to 1:
    
    		saysomething "We have a deal for you! The deal count down is at "
    
    		for i = 10 to 1 step -1
    			saysomething cstr(i) + "..."
    		next
    
    		saysomething "!"
    
    	else
    
    		' offer has expired:
    
    		saysomething "Too late! Sorry."
    	end if
    
    end if
    
    

    Incorrect - Poor Code Structure

    No indentation. Code is hard to read. Comments are missing.

    if ac > 45 then
    cc = cc + bonus
    else
    cc = cc + (bonus * 0.75)
    end if
    
    for a= 1 to 77
    response.write "The counter  = " + cstr(a)
    next
    
    sub saysomething (m)
    response.write m
    end sub
    
    if cb > 1000 then
    if date() < cdate(offerexpires) then
    saysomething "We have a deal for you..."
    else
    saysomething "Too late! Sorry."
    end if
    end if
    
    

    Incorrect - Comments Hard to Read

    Comments must be in line with the code they describe and you must have adequate white space around the comments and between the comments and the code. Comments are to appear before the code they explain - never after!
    
    Comment is indented too far:

              ' **************************************
              ' * calculate the cost to the customer *
              ' **************************************
    
    if averagecost > 45 then
    	customercost = customercost + bonus
    else
    	customercost = customercost + (bonus * 0.75)
    end if

    No space between comment and code it describes:

    ' calculate the cost to the customer 
    if averagecost > 45 then
    	customercost = customercost + bonus
    else
    	customercost = customercost + (bonus * 0.75)
    end if
    
    

    Comment after code it describes:

    set cn = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
    cn.open "Provider=sqloledb;Database=test;UID=sa;PWD=;" 
    
    ' just finished connecting with the database