PROJECT: The next Next Puzzle Box (TPB2)

To continue to cultivate your problem solving skills, and to demonstrate your basic scripting skills for task automation.

The first puzzlebox was in many ways a test of your observational skills. To many, the frustrations emerged from what was being taken for granted. But once you took proper notice, and could apply the appropriate skills, its secrets could be obtained.

The second puzzlebox will test both your observation skills (in a slightly different way) and reasoning skills in an abstract manner. Along with that, your scripting skills are being put to the test as well: your submission will more heavily rely upon a fully functional steps file that will entirely automate the process. If you are observant, the information you need is presented early on, but is a few layers of abstraction out of reach. Patience and perseverance will be key to victory.

This third one continues to put your skills to the test with new and exciting obfuscations.

Do note, the productive way to go about this project involves taking the following steps:

• starting early
• reading the project page
• asking questions regarding things you do not know, are not clear on, or are confused about
• as information, concepts, processes become clear, that is something you can contribute to the project documentation (so you can better remember)

If you start too late, and do not ask questions, and do not have enough time and don't know what is going on, you are not doing the project correctly.

You are to unravel the puzzle, getting to the instructions inside. Be wary of deceptions and obstacles trying to throw you off track.

You are seeking the creation of two files, that you will submit:

• tpb2.results - the final instructions correctly unscrambled
• tpb2steps - a list of the steps taken to accomplish the core task

You will want to go here to edit and fill in the various sections of the document:

• https://lab46.g7n.org/notes/unix/fall2024/projects/tpb2

To be successful in this project, the following criteria (or their equivalent) must be met:

• Project must be submit on time, by the deadline.
  • Late submissions will lose 33% credit per day, with the submission window closing on the 3rd day following the deadline.
• All code must run cleanly (no warnings or errors)
  • all requested functionality must conform to stated requirements (either on this document or in a comment banner in source code files themselves).
• Executed programs must display in a manner similar to provided output
  • output formatted, where applicable, must match that of project requirements
• Processing must be correct based on input given and output requested
• Output, if applicable, must be correct based on values input
• Code must be nicely and consistently indented
• Code must be consistently written, to strive for readability from having a consistent style throughout
• Code must be commented
  • Any “to be implemented” comments MUST be removed
    • these “to be implemented” comments, if still present at evaluation time, will result in points being deducted.
    • Sufficient comments explaining the point of provided logic MUST be present
• Track/version the source code in your lab46 semester repository
• Submit a copy of your source code to me using the submit tool

Let's say you have completed work on the project, and are ready to submit, you would do the following:

lab46:~/src/SEMESTER/DESIG/PROJECT$ submit DESIG PROJECT file1 file2 file3 ... fileN

You should get some sort of confirmation indicating successful submission if all went according to plan. If not, check for typos and or locational mismatches.

I'll be evaluating the project based on the following criteria:

208:tpb2:final tally of results (208/208)
*:tpb2:submitted tpb2.results file via submit tool [13/13]
*:tpb2:submitted tpb2steps file via submit tool [13/13]
*:tpb2:both files pushed to lab46 semester repository [13/13]
*:tpb2:tpb2.results is correctly unscrambled and assembled [26/26]
*:tpb2:tpb2.results md5sum matches project MANIFEST [26/26]
*:tpb2:tpb2steps has valid list of non-interactive instructions [26/26]
*:tpb2:tpb2steps uses shell features like wildcards, IO redir [26/26]
*:tpb2:tpb2steps contains comments explaining process [26/26]
*:tpb2:tpb2steps automates the project when executed [26/26]
*:tpb2:tpb2steps when executed outputs nothing [13/13]

• each class member is to participate in the contribution of relevant information and formatting of the documentation
  • minimal member contributions consist of:
    • near the class average edits (a value of at least four productive edits)
    • near the average class content change average (a value of at least 256 bytes (absolute value of data content change))
    • near the class total content contribution average (a value of at least 1kiB)
    • no zero-sum commits (adding in one commit then later removing in its entirety for the sake of satisfying edit requirements)
  • adding and formatting data in an organized fashion, aiming to create an informative and readable document that anyone in the class can reference
  • content contributions will be factored into a documentation coefficient, a value multiplied against your actual project submission to influence the end result:
    • no contributions, co-efficient is 0.50
    • less than minimum contributions is 0.75
    • met minimum contribution threshold is 1.00

• Solutions not abiding by spirit of project will be subject to a 50% overall deduction
• Solutions not utilizing descriptive why and how comments will be subject to a 25% overall deduction
• Solutions not utilizing indentation to promote scope and clarity or otherwise maintaining consistency in code style and presentation will be subject to a 25% overall deduction
• Solutions not organized and easy to read (assume a terminal at least 90 characters wide, 40 characters tall) are subject to a 25% overall deduction