CIS 201 Assignments: Assignment 4

CIS 201 Assignment 4: The Rocket

This assignment was developed and written by Stuart Reges, University of Washington and Marty Stepp, University of Washington, Tacoma.

Due: Wednesday, Feb 24, class time

Description

This program tests your understanding of expressions and variables, for loops, and global constants, and also reinforces your previous material on static methods and println statements. You should write a Java class called Rocket that should be saved into a file called Rocket.java. Your program should produce the following "rocket ship" figure as output:

     /||\
    //||\\
   ///||\\\
  ////||\\\\
 /////||\\\\\
+-*-*-*-*-*-*+
|../\..../\..|
|./\/\../\/\.|
|/\/\/\/\/\/\|
|\/\/\/\/\/\/|
|.\/\/..\/\/.|
|..\/....\/..|
+-*-*-*-*-*-*+
|\/\/\/\/\/\/|
|.\/\/..\/\/.|
|..\/....\/..|
|../\..../\..|
|./\/\../\/\.|
|/\/\/\/\/\/\|
+-*-*-*-*-*-*+
     /||\
    //||\\
   ///||\\\
  ////||\\\\
 /////||\\\\\

You should reproduce the format of this output exactly. This includes having identical characters and spacing. One way to write a Java program to draw this figure would be to write a System.out.println statement that prints each line of the rocket. However, this solution will receive NO credit. A major part of this assignment is showing that you understand for loops; therefore, in lines that have repeated patterns of characters that vary in number from line to line, represent the lines and character patterns using appropriate nested for loops. (The Hourglass program in Chapter 2's case study is a good example of this.) It may help you to write pseudo-code and tables to understand the patterns in the output, as described in the textbook and lecture.

Another significant component of this assignment is the task of generalizing the program using a global constant that can be changed to adjust the size of the rocket ship.

Stylistic Guidelines

The following are the criteria on which you will be graded:

Use of for loops (nested as appropriate)
This program is intended to test your knowledge of Chapters 1 and 2, especially nested for loops.
Use of static methods for structure and elimination of redundancy
Continue to use static methods to structure your solution. Structure your program in such a way that the methods match the structure of the output itself. Avoid significant redundancy; make sure that no substantial groups of identical printed lines or other statements appear in your code. No non-empty println statements should appear in your main method.
Source code aesthetics (commenting, indentation, spacing, identifier names)
You are required to properly indent your code and you will lose points if you make significant indentation mistakes. See the textbook for an explanation and examples of proper indentation.

Give meaningful names to methods and variables in your code. Follow Java's naming conventions for class ClassNames, methodAndVariableNames, and CONSTANT_NAMES.

Localize variables whenever possible -- that is, declare them in the smallest scope in which they are needed.

Include a comment at the beginning of your program with basic information and a description of the program and include a comment at the start of each method.

Global constant for rocket ship's size

You should create a global constant to represent the rocket ship's subfigure height. The various subfigures in the middle of this output have a height of 3, so 3 should be the value of your constant. These subfigures have the property that their height determines their width; therefore, you do not need a second constant to represent the width (and you should NOT use one). Your constant must use the value of 3 to receive credit.

On any given execution your program will produce just one version of this figure. However, you should refer to the global constant throughout your code, so that by simply changing your constant's value and recompiling, your program would produce a rocket ship figure of a different size. We will be certain to do this! For example, if your global constant is changed to 5, your program should produce the following output:

         /||\
        //||\\
       ///||\\\
      ////||\\\\
     /////||\\\\\
    //////||\\\\\\
   ///////||\\\\\\\
  ////////||\\\\\\\\
 /////////||\\\\\\\\\
+-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*+
|..../\......../\....|
|.../\/\....../\/\...|
|../\/\/\..../\/\/\..|
|./\/\/\/\../\/\/\/\.|
|/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|
|\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/|
|.\/\/\/\/..\/\/\/\/.|
|..\/\/\/....\/\/\/..|
|...\/\/......\/\/...|
|....\/........\/....|
+-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*+
|\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/|
|.\/\/\/\/..\/\/\/\/.|
|..\/\/\/....\/\/\/..|
|...\/\/......\/\/...|
|....\/........\/....|
|..../\......../\....|
|.../\/\....../\/\...|
|../\/\/\..../\/\/\..|
|./\/\/\/\../\/\/\/\.|
|/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\|
+-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*+
         /||\
        //||\\
       ///||\\\
      ////||\\\\
     /////||\\\\\
    //////||\\\\\\
   ///////||\\\\\\\
  ////////||\\\\\\\\
 /////////||\\\\\\\\\

Submission Requirements

Once you have your program working correctly and commented, print a hard (paper) copy of Rocket.java for submission.
You must also submit this same file electronically.

Make sure that the file is on our lab system in Dunn 358. If you did your work there, this is no problem. Otherwise, have your assignment on a USB drive and put it in your account. Your program must compile and run correctly on the lab system. That is where it will be graded.
If you discover after submission that you want to change your program and then resubmit, you may do so using the same submit command. The new program will then replace the old.

If you wish to double check that your submission succeeded, enter this command (replacing the xxxx with your own login name):
```
    
        more /home/student/Submit/201/xxxx/Rocket.java
     
```
This goes to the submission location and displays the copy of your program found there.

Grading Criteria

Your program MUST compile ERROR FREE to receive any credit! Your program MUST use for loops to receive any credit.
Correct submission of project (both electronic and hard copy) 3 pts
Correct program behavior 9 pts

Program uses a constant that can be changed to change the number of terms printed 6 pts

Program uses static methods to remove redundancy 6 pts

Program aesthetics 6 pts
Total 30 pts

Your program MUST compile ERROR FREE to receive any credit! Your program MUST use for loops to receive any credit.
Correct submission of project (both electronic and hard copy)	3 pts
Correct program behavior	9 pts
Program uses a constant that can be changed to change the number of terms printed	6 pts
Program uses static methods to remove redundancy	6 pts
Program aesthetics	6 pts
Total	30 pts