CMPS 134 Fall 2019
Programming Assignment #5: GPA Application
Due: 11:59pm, Thursday, October 31

Requirements

For this assignment, you are to complete the development of a Java program, called GPAApplication, that produces as output an end-of-semester grade report that lists each student's name, birthdate, semester grade point average, and possibly an annotation (e.g., "Dean's List"). An example report, and the small input set that was used in generating it, appear side-by-side below.

Input Mary Barbara Smith 20001114 4 CMPS134 3 A ENGL101 3 B+ PSYC235 3 C+ MATH114 4 B- Richard Sharkface 20020502 3 MUSIC432 3 A ART114 3 A- HIST257 3 A- Chris Alex Glorkhead 19991221 4 T/RS101 3 B+ MATH221 4 D CMPS144 4 F HIST354 3 A-

Resultant Report Name Date of Birth GPA Annotation ------------------------------------------------------------------ Smith, Mary 14-Nov-2000 3.05 Sharkface, Richard 02-May-2002 3.78 Dean's List Glorkhead, Chris 21-Dec-1999 1.79 Academic Probation

As you can infer from the provided sample data, each student's semester performance is described using data spread over several lines:

• One line contains the student's full name, in "first-middle-last" format. The middle name could be absent.
• The next line indicates the student's birthdate, in the standard yyyymmdd form.
• On the third line is a positive integer n indicating in how many courses the student was enrolled. ("Positive" means greater than zero.)
• On each of the next n lines is a course ID, the course's number of credits (an integer), and the letter grade earned by the student in that course.

As you can see, the report has column headings and the entries in the columns are nicely aligned. The code provided to you includes the printHeading() method, which prints both the headings and the "horizontal line" underneath them. The provided code also includes the printStudent() method, which is to be used to print a student output record. Both of these methods call the System.out.printf() method, which is useful for producing nicely aligned columns of data.

As you can infer from the sample report, students' birthdates are to be displayed in the dd-Mon-yyyy format (including leading zeros where appropriate) and students' names are to be displayed in "last-comma-first" format. Thus, it will be necessary for the program to convert names and calendar dates from one form to another.

The program begins by prompting the user to enter the name of the file from which it should read input data. The code provided establishes the necessary connection between a Scanner object and the input file.

It is suggested that, to read a student's name, you use the Scanner's nextLine() method, which will return a string that includes the entire name (i.e., all two or three parts). You can then extract from that string the two needed parts (i.e., first and last names).

To read each of the other pieces of data, use either next() or nextInt(), the latter only if the token to be read represents an integer value. At the conclusion of reading each student's data, call the Scanner's nextLine() method for the purpose of advancing its cursor to the beginning of the next line, where the following student's name is found.

Suggestions

The EmployeesGrossPay application (see link on course web page in the "Programming Samples: Relevant to Chapter 6" subsection) is very similar to this one, so you are advised to examine it.

Also closely examine the code in the class that you are to finish. It provides a solid foundation on which you can build, including several stubbed methods.

As in a previous assignment, you are encouraged to develop your solution incrementally. Suggested increments are as follows:

• Mary Barbara Smith 20001114 4 Richard Sharkface 20020502 3 Chris Alex Glorkhead 19991221 4

  Increment 1: Read in, and parse, the input data. That is, get your program to the point that it produces output echoing much of the input data, including each student's name, birthdate, and the number of courses taken. Output might look something like what is shown to the right. Reading the input data correctly involves using various methods from the java.util.Scanner class, including next() and nextInt().

• Smith, Mary 14-Nov-2000 4 Sharkface, Richard 02-May-2002 3 Glorkhead, Chris 21-Dec-1999 4

  Increment 2: Do the necessary name and calendar date conversions so that the output becomes what is shown to the right. Stubbed methods in which to carry out these conversions are included in the code that has been provided to you.

• Smith, Mary 14-Nov-2000 13 39.660000000000004 Sharkface, Richard 02-May-1940 9 34.019999999999996 Glorkhead, Chris 21-Dec-1969 14 25.0

  Increment 3: Compute each student's total number of credits attempted and quality points earned, so that the output becomes what is shown to the right. As you should know, each letter grade maps to a certain number of quality points (e.g., A maps to 4.0, B- maps to 2.67) and the number of quality points earned in a course is the product of its number of credits and the quality points associated to the grade earned. For example, getting a B- in a three-credit course yields 3×2.67 (approximately 8) quality points. A method that maps letter grades into quality points is provided and one that computes the number of quality points earned in a course is stubbed.

• Smith, Mary 14-Nov-1992 3.050769 Sharkface, Richard 02-May-1940 3.780000 Dean's List Glorkhead, Chris 21-Dec-1969 1.785714 Academic Probation

  Increment 4: Compute each student's GPA and determine the annotation, if any, to include in the student's output record. A GPA is computed by dividing the total quality points earned by the number of credits attempted. A GPA of 3.5 or higher results in a Dean's List annotation, a GPA of less than 2.0 results in an Academic Probation annotation, and a GPA in between results in no annotation (or, as a programmer would view it, an annotation that is the empty string!). See result to the right.
• Increment 5: Make use of the printHeading() method to print the column headings and the printStudent() method to print each student output record, resulting in them being aligned under the headings. At this point, you're finished.

Of course, you have some freedom regarding the order in which you carry out the tasks corresponding to these increments. For example, you can wait until the last step to convert the names and/or birthdates to the desired forms, and you can start using the printHeading() and printStudent() methods a little earlier than suggested. However, it's vital that your first step be to parse the input data correctly. If your program can't do that, it can't do much of anything.

The sample data file provided to you is very small. To do a decent job of testing your work, you need apply your program to a more extensive set of data. At a minimum, it should include birthdates covering all 12 months and course grades covering all possibilities, from A through F.

Additional/Optional (Extra Credit)

To impress your instructor, incorporate either or both of these two enhancements:

1. The "Dean's List" annotation should not be displayed for a student who took fewer than 12 credits.
2. Allow for the possibility that a student was enrolled in zero courses. In that case, the displayed GPA should be zero. (Even better, display a dash in place of a number.)

Program Submission

Be aware that you can submit more than one time. Hence, if, after submitting, you improve your program (e.g., by fixing logic errors), you should submit the newer version (but always with the same name!).