RackMultipart20160502-2583-tud4n8
quiz '1/22/15 (W1 L2)' do
select_multiple :tag => "quiz 1" do
text %q{Around 2007, the claim "Rails doesn't scale" was attributed to
Twitter engineers, and the fact that Twitter later moved
away from Rails was cited by some as evidence that the claim was true.
Which of the following statements (there may be more than one) describe Raffi
Krikorian\'s (Twitter Director of Engineering) views on this subject?}
answer "Rails itself isn't the problem, but the original Ruby VM does have some performance problems that impede scaling for heavy server workloads."
answer "Rails itself isn't the problem, but the development processes typically used around Rails don't scale well to large teams."
distractor "If you're building a startup and expect high volume, Raffi Krikorian would advise you to stay away from Ruby and Rails from the start."
answer "If Twitter had been architected as a service-oriented architecture from the start, they might have stayed on Ruby/Rails somewhat longer than they did."
end
select_multiple do
text %q{Which statements comparing Plan-and-Document (P&D) with
Agile software engineering processes are true?}
answer "The basic types of activities involved in software
engineering are the same in P&D and Agile methodologies",
:explanation => """
True: requirements analysis, design, testing, development,
deployment/delivery, and maintenance are all part of both
P&D and Agile, but their interaction over the project
lifetime differs between P&D and Agile.
"""
distractor "Because Agile tends to focus on small teams, it cannot
be used effectively to build large systems.",
:explanation => """
False: many Agile-developed small services can be connected
together to form large services in a Service-Oriented Architecture.
For example, Amazon.com is architected this way.
"""
answer "The Waterfall methodology involves the customer much more heavily at
the beginning and end of the lifecycle, whereas the XP (extreme
programming) methodology involves the customer throughout
the lifecycle.",
:explanation => """
True: a basic tenet of XP is getting frequent feedback from
the customer and using it to inform the next iteration of
work.
"""
answer "The Spiral methodology combines elements of the waterfall model
with intermediate prototypes."
end
end
quiz '1/29/15 (W2 L2): Ruby; HTTP/HTML/CSS basics' do
choice_answer :raw => true do
text 'In an HTML5 document, what would be the best way to apply the same text-styling rules to several pieces of text that are scattered over the page and are part of <i>different types</i> of HTML elements (<p>, <span>, etc.)?'
distractor 'Make sure all the elements to be styled have a common parent (ancestor) element',
:explanation => "Even when this is possible, it isn't enough to be able to selectively pick out just the elements you want. Indeed, on a legal HTML 5 page, all the elements already have the common ancestor <body>."
distractor 'Give all the elements to be styled the same "id" attribute value',
:explanation => 'The "id" attribute value must be unique across all elements on a page.'
answer 'Give all the elements to be styled the same "class" attribute value',
:explanation => 'Since the same class can be applied to many elements, even if they are of different element types, it provides an easy way to apply a set of CSS style rules to many elements at once.'
distractor 'Any of the above techniques would work'
end
choice_answer :raw => true do
text <<EOq1
Consider the following Ruby class for a student with
instance variables for first and last name, and an incomplete method for
returning the student's full name:
<pre>
class Student
attr_accessor :first, :last
def full_name
____________
end
end
</pre>
Which of the following would be legal ways to fill in the blank
so that the <tt>full_name</tt> method returns a student's full
name (first followed by space followed by last)? You can assume
first and last name are legal strings, and that '+' can be used to
concatenate strings.
EOq1
answer '<tt>@first + " " + @last</tt>',
:explanation => '<tt>@first</tt> and <tt>@last</tt> are instance
variables, so this statement works.'
answer '<tt>self.first + " " + self.last</tt>',
:explanation => 'The <tt>first</tt> and <tt>last</tt> methods are
created by the call to <tt>attr_accessor</tt>.'
distractor '<tt>Student.first + " " + Student.last</tt>',
:explanation => 'This would be correct if <tt>first</tt> and <tt>last</tt>
were class ("static") methods, but they are instance methods.'
answer '<tt>"#{first} #{last}"</tt>',
:explanation => "Here <tt>first</tt> and <tt>last</tt> are resolved
as method calls on <tt>self</tt>, though it's often clearer
to include <tt>self</tt> explicitly."
distractor '<tt>self.@first + " " + self.@last</tt>',
:explanation => '<tt>a.b</tt> always means "Call method <tt>b</tt>
on receiver <tt>a</tt>", but <tt>@first</tt> cannot be a
legal Ruby method name.'
end
end
quiz '2/3/2015 (W3 L1): P&D cost estimation, 3-tier, HTTP' do
select_multiple do
text 'Comparing plan-and-document vs. agile approaches to cost estimation, which statements are TRUE:'
answer 'Both try to identify and estimate the impact of possible risks',
:explanation => 'Agile uses risk information to estimate the scope of a customer estimate, whereas P&D uses risk information up-front to adjust the schedule, but both methodologies take account of risk.'
distractor 'Frequent iterations of the prototype are a risk-reduction tactic that is present in Agile but absent from P&D methodologies',
:explanation => 'Spiral and RUP incorporate frequent iteration as part of risk reduction.'
distractor 'In both methodologies, nontechnical risks are more likely to jeopardize the schedule than technical risks.',
:explanation => 'In both methodologies, neither technical or nontechnical risks are inherently more serious than the other; either type could potentially have a serious impact on the schedule.'
answer 'Both must deal with customers asking for changes after schedule is in place and project starts'
end
# the following question is a DELIBERATE near-repeat from a previous uquiz
choice_answer :raw => true do
text <<EOq2
Consider the following Ruby code:
<pre>
class Student
attr_reader :first, :last
def initialize(first, last)
@first = first
@last = last
@full = first + ' ' + last
end
end
</pre>
Suppose from OUTSIDE the class we execute <tt>@student = Student.new('Armando','Fox')</tt>.
Which of the following expressions will return this student's full
name (first followed by space followed by last)?
EOq2
answer '<tt>@student.first + " " + @student.last</tt>',
:explanation => 'This works by using the accessors for first and last.'
distractor '<tt>@student.full</tt>',
:explanation => 'There is no accessor method defined for the <tt>@full</tt> instance variable.'
distractor '<tt>@student.@full</tt>',
:explanation => '<tt>a.b</tt> always means call method b on object a, but <tt>@full</tt> is
not a legal method name.'
distractor '<tt>Student.first + " " + Student.last</tt>',
:explanation => 'This would be correct if <tt>first</tt> and <tt>last</tt>
were class ("static") methods, but they are instance methods.'
end
end
quiz '2/10 (W4 L1): Rails basics of controllers/views, forms, redirect, new vs edit actions' do
select_multiple do
text 'Which statements are TRUE regarding Rails routes and the resources to which they refer?'
answer 'In an MVC app, every valid route must eventually trigger a controller action.'
answer 'One common set of RESTful resource actions are the CRUD actions on models.'
distractor 'A route always contains one or more wildcard parameters, such as ":id", to identify the particular resource named in the operation.',
:explanation => "Some routes, such as those to list all resources of a given type or create a new resource of a given type, don't require any such identifier."
end
choice_answer do
text "Which rendering system - Haml or Erb - uses indentation to indicate element nesting?"
answer 'Haml'
distractor 'Erb'
distractor 'both'
end
choice_answer do
text "Which rendering system - Haml or Erb - allows not only Ruby variables but arbitrary Ruby code to be interpolated into a template?"
distractor 'Haml'
distractor 'Erb'
answer 'both'
end
end
quiz '2/12 user stories and requirements' do
select_multiple do
text "Your customer explains that it's really important that some UI elements on her site's signup page use a fancy new animation called Swizzle. Your developers learn that the effect is only available by using a new JavaScript library called jWiggle, and they are concerned about whether there may be compatibility problems between jWiggle and other JavaScript code in your app. In terms of requirements, the use of jWiggle is:"
distractor 'a nonfunctional requirement',
:explanation => 'Nonfunctional requirements encompass areas such as reliability and security, but
this requirement is strictly about app behavior.'
answer 'a functional requirement',
:explanation => 'Correct, because functional requirements are about customer-specified app behavior.'
answer 'an implicit requirement',
:explanation => 'Correct, because it derives from the explicit requirement that the Swizzle animation be used'
distractor 'an explicit requirement',
:explanation => 'The explicit requirement is that the Swizzle animation occur. The way in which this is accomplished entails implicit requirements, such as the use of a particular library.'
end
choice_answer do
text 'Which statement best reflects how Agile Scrum-based teams would prioritize and deliver User Stories?'
distractor 'The Product Owner sets the number of points each story is worth',
:explanation => 'The team typically votes or comes to group consensus on point values for stories.'
distractor 'The Project Manager sets the number of points each story is worth',
:explanation => 'The team typically votes or comes to group consensus on point values for stories.'
distractor 'Anyone can work on a story and mark it Finished, but only the Product Owner can officially Deliver it to the customer'
answer 'Anyone can mark a story Delivered, but only the Product Owner can mark it as Accepted or Rejected'
end
end
quiz '3/7 version control' do
choice_answer do
text 'Assuming you are using the "deploy from master" methodology in your team, which of the following is NOT a good practice for adding code for a new feature?' # '
distractor 'Fork, develop the feature on master of your own fork, and do a pull request',
:explanation => "Since deployment is from the main repo's master branch and not your fork, it's OK to pollute your master branch."
distractor 'Fork, develop the feature on another branch of your own fork, and do a pull request'
distractor "Create a branch on the main repo, develop on that branch, then merge the branch into master"
answer "Develop directly on master if the feature only affects one or two files",
:explanation => "Never develop directly on whichever branch is the 'clean' branch that is safe to deploy. By assumption, in this question that would be the master branch."
end
choice_answer do
text "Please answer without asking a colleague or reviewing the lecture videos from this Tuesday: Which topic was NOT included in Armando's Computer History Minute this week?" # "
answer 'Why your xterm window defaults to 80 columns'
distractor 'The first computer offered for sale to consumers'
distractor 'Mabel the swimming wonder monkey'
end
end