Mid Term 1 Review

Exam Policies and Rules

Make sure you've read over and understand the Assignment and Exam Policies for this course.

• The exam is part closed-book quiz and part practical. You will need your computer with all the required software and the ability to connect to the internet and SLATE, and the ability to run Respondus. It is your responsibility to make sure you have these things before the exam begins. Accommodation will not be made at the last minute.
• The first 30 minutes will be for completing the closed-book portion of the exam. This portion will be short-answer knowledge/understanding questions e.g. multiple-choice and short-answer, along with at least one explain/describe question.
• The practical portion is 2 hours and is "open book" - you may use your notes, sample programs you've written, my web notes, any resources I've linked to, and other course resources. You may not copy code from the Internet that isn't yours. You will be creating a small application using the skills and knowledge you've gained from doing the practice exercises and graded exercises.
• No other paper, notes, or books (except those mentioned above), nor any calculators or other devices are allowed on the desk during the exam (this includes phones).
• All phones/devices must be turned off during the exam (not just silenced or on vibrate: they must be OFF). You may not answer your phone or use any electronic device during the exam except your computer.
• You are not permitted to discuss the exam with anyone else while you are writing it. You are not permitted to ask another person for help/advice/etc.
• You are not permitted to communicate with any other person during this exam except your professor during this exam. This includes but is not limited to chat communication, voice communication, and forum or discussion board postings.
• You may not share/post or otherwise make public or give to anyone else your exam answers during or after the exam. This would constitute a breach of academic integrity on your permanent record and will be dealt with accordingly.
• If you are late for the exam, you will not be given extra time. If you miss the entry window to the closed-book portion, you will not be permitted to complete the closed-book portion of the exam. (NOTE that in this case, you must notify me so that I can open the practical portion of the exam.)
• There are no make-up exams.
• Failure to follow any instructions given by your professor will result in a grade of 0 on the entire exam.

Plan ahead!! Make sure you don't sleep in, as that is not a valid reason for missing a test. For in-person exams, make sure you leave for school earlier than normal in case you encounter transportation problems on the way (i.e traffic jam, broken-down bus, etc). If you drive, make sure you have a bus schedule - if your car won't work when you leave for school, you'll have the time and resources to take the bus, instead.

Exam Format

For the closed-book quiz portion of the exam, you will have a series of short-answer questions that test your knowledge and understanding of the skills and concepts you've learned from doing the hands-on exercises and demonstrations.

• For ONLINE EXAMS using Respondus Monitor: Follow all on-screen instructions. Make sure your ID is clearly visible when asked to show it. Make sure when you do the ENVIRONMENT CHECK that you show your desk and area, otherwise you will receive a grade of 0.
• The closed-book portion of the exam will open for entry 5 minutes after the lesson's start time (5 minutes after the hour).
• The entry window for this portion is 5 minutes: if you do not enter within 5 minutes, you will not be allowed to enter the exam. We have a strict timeline to follow.
• You have 30 minutes to complete the closed-book portion of the exam.
• All closed-book exams must be submitted before the practical portion begins.
• For IN-PERSON EXAMS only, there will be a short break before the practical.

For the practical, you will asked to write a complete Java web application, which may include the creation of HTML forms, POJO/JavaBeans, and in-memory database access.

• You will have the remainder of the scheduled class time minus 10 minutes to complete (e.g. if your class ends at 3pm, you have until 2:50pm).
• Once you have completed the practical, you will upload your application to an assignment drop box as a zipped Eclipse project and also as a text (.txt) file that contains all of your code (the text file is to verify the originality of your work with TurnItIn).
• The drop box will close at exactly 10 minutes before the end of class. If you miss this deadline, you will receive a 0 on your exam.

Tips:

• Re-watch the videos:
  • Write down on paper anything you think you won't remember how to do.
  • Make a text file of URLS with time stamps of the parts of videos you think you might need to view during the exam (go to the point in the video you want to remember and click the SHARE button, then check the "Start at" box, then copy the URL and paste it into your note file.
• Review the web notes
  • Write down anything you think you won't remember during the exam.
  • Write down the exact locations of anything you think you might want to refer to during the exam.
  • Summarize any lists of things e.g. steps to add a controller, steps to create a database table, or whatever.
  • Redo all the exercises. If you get bored, make up new ones using the existing ones: different data, different inputs, different ideas: think of what a client might want and try to do it.
  • Review any follow-up or informational posts on Piazza.

Summary of Topics

Review

• JavaBeans/POJO - industry standard design - constructors, accessors/mutators, toString(), data members, exceptions, etc.
• HTML Forms - creating HTML forms
• CSS - esp. basic styling (including tables, lists), HTML form styling

Java Web Applications

• Terminology: dependency, dependency injection, artifact, inversion of control, spring / spring boot, etc.
• MVC design pattern
• Dependency injection and how it works, Inversion of Control and the IoC container, etc.
• Technologies used so far: Maven, Spring and Spring Boot, Lombok, Thymeleaf, JDBC, In-Memory database, H2.
• Creating the controller class, mapping URLs, request parameters, etc.
• Form binding, model attributes, parameters, etc.

Lombok

• What is it, how does it work
• The different annotations and what they do, how to customize them (or where to find out how to customize them)

Thymeleaf

• Syntax, how it works
• Thymeleaf attributes, selections, iteration, utility objects and their methods.

Database

• In-memory database vs. persistent database, using the h2-console
• Database Configuration class vs. Database Access class; database configuration properties
• Creating a data-driving spring app: h2, schema.sql, data.sql, etc.
• JDBC templates / thymeleaf
• Performing basic CRUD operations

Sample Questions

Make sure you've done all of the practice exercises in each lesson.

You can also practice by creating applications that follow the basic pattern we've learned so far:

1. Choose some kind of data to manage: your sock inventory, your favourite movies, your kids' old toys, your contact list, your household expenses, a collection of some sort, a shopping list, etc.
2. Create a database table to manage your collection, and at least one look-up (e.g. think Players -> Teams or Books -> Genre)
3. Create a bean that models one item in your collection. Tip: make sure the data member names and table column names match!
4. Create an input form so a user can enter an item in your collection. Make sure there's a field that looks up values from the look-up table (e.g. think the Teams drop-down list, or you can do a set of radio buttons or a regular list box)
5. Upon form submit, gather the input data and construct an instance of your bean. Add that bean as a record to the database.
6. Retrieve an updated list of the items in the database.
7. Output the list of items to a Thymeleaf template page.

Do a few of those kinds of applications so that you become familiar with the process, the pattern of tasks you're doing. If you can do one of those without looking up too many things, you'll be fine.

Challenge yourself and be curious: try things you haven't done before. For example, display the collection of items on the same page as the input page, or add some extra functionality like a search for specific items. Try different things you can do with the Thymeleaf utility objects or by customizing Lombok annotations.