Debugging Functions¶

Project Goals¶

This assignment invites you to run and observe two Python programs called perform-primality-check and perform-abs-computation. Instead of using the Poetry tool for managing dependencies and packaging these programs, which the technical skills advise as a best practice, these programs are scripts, without any dependencies on other Python packages, that you can run through the Python interpreter. As you continue to practice a different way to run a Python program, this project offers you the opportunity to improve your understanding of how to debug and test Python functions that have a defect inside of them. Specifically, you will write test cases that (i) create an input for a function, (ii) pass that input to the function under test, (iii) capture the output of the function under test, and (iv) assert that the captured function output equals the expected output if the function was implemented correctly. Instead of using a test automation framework to run these tests you will organize them into functions in the same module as the function under test.

Project Access¶

If you are a student enrolled in a Computer Science class at Allegheny College, you can access this assignment by clicking the link provided to you in Discord. Once you click this link it will create a GitHub repository that you can clone to your computer by following the general-purpose instructions in the description of the technical skills. Specifically, you will need to use the git clone command to download the project from GitHub to your computer. Now you are ready to ensure that you understand the debugging process for Python programs by practicing the skill in a hands-on fashion.

Code Survey¶

If you change into the source/ directory of your GitHub repository, you will see two Python files called perform-primality-check.py and perform-abs-computation.py. The perform-primality-check module contains a defective function with the signature def is_prime(x: int) -> bool. Your task is to identify and fix the defects inside of this function! To aid your debugging efforts, you should use and extend the def test_is_prime() -> None function that should subject the is_prime function to several tests. The first test in the test_is_prime is implemented in the following fashion:

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def test_is_prime() -> None:
    """Implement test cases for the is_prime function."""
    input_zero = 0
    expected_output_zero = False
    output_zero = is_prime(input_zero)
    if output_zero is not expected_output_zero:
        print("Expected output not correct for input of zero!")
    else:
        print("Expected output correct for input of zero!")

In the first part of this function, line 3 indicates that the test will input the value of 0 to the is_prime function and line 4 shows that the expected output of is_prime for this input is False because 0 is not a prime number. Line 5 of this function calls the is_prime function with the previously constructed input and then lines 6 through 9 provide some diagnostic output that explains whether or not the output was correct. Specifically, if the actual output from the function is not equal to the expected output, then line 7 displays a message indicating that the output is not correct. When the expected output is equal to is_prime's actual output, then line 9 displays a message revealing that the function works correctly. Even though this test does not use a specific test automation framework it illustrates the key steps that a test case should take to both find defects and establish a confidence in the correctness of is_prime.

After adding more test cases to the perform-primality-check module, you should follow the same process when you debug and test the abs function in the perform-abs-computation module. Ultimately, you should ensure that both of the defective functions no longer have defects inside of them! For instance, when the test cases for the is_prime function are passing correctly they should produce the following output:

Expected output correct for input of zero!
Expected output correct for input of one!
Expected output correct for input of two!
Expected output correct for input of forty-one!

Running Checks¶

Since this project does not use Poetry to manage project dependencies and virtual environments, it does not support the use of commands like poetry run task test. However, you can leverage the relevant instructions in the technical skills to run the command gatorgrade --config config/gatorgrade.yml to check your work. If your work meets the baseline requirements and adheres to the best practices that proactive programmers adopt you will see that all the checks pass when you run gatorgrade. You can study the config/gatorgrade.yml file in your repository to learn how GatorGrade runs GatorGrader to automatically check your program and technical writing.

Project Reflection¶

Once you have finished all of the previous technical tasks, you can use a text editor to answer all of the questions in the writing/reflection.md file. Since this is a source code survey, you should provide output from running each of the provided Python programs on your own laptop and then explain how the program's source code produced that output. A specific goal for this project is to ensure that you can explain each defect that you found in the function and how the test cases that you implemented helped you to find it. You should also reflect on how the tests that you created as part of this source code survey are similar to and different from the ones you might create with a framework like Pytest. Finally, make sure that you take time to think through the strategy you have adopted for debugging Python functions, further considering the ways in which you can improve it.

Project Assessment¶

Since this project is source code survey, it is aligned with the remembering and understanding levels of Bloom's taxonomy. You can learn more about how a proactive programming expert will assess your work by examining the assessment strategy. From the start to the end of this project you may make an unlimited number of reattempts at submitting source code and technical writing that meet the project's specification.

Seeking Assistance¶

Emerging proactive programmers who have questions about this project are invited to ask them in either the GitHub discussions forum or the Proactive Programmers Discord server. Before you ask your question, please read the advice concerning how to best participate in the Proactive Programmers community. If you find a mistake in this project, please describe it and propose a solution by creating an issue in the GitHub Issue Tracker.