Jason Sathya Citro - Project Portfolio

PROJECT: Dukemon

Overview

Dukemon is a desktop flashcard application used to reinforce memory techniques. The user interacts with it using a CLI, and it has a GUI created with JavaFX. It is written in Java, and has about 25 kLoC.

Summary of contributions

Major enhancement:
- added Game Result page after game ends
  - What it does: It shows the user a page to indicate the game is over, which contains the user’s performance on the current game (score, time taken), the user’s progress (progress chart, achievement badges, high score, fastest clear), and a list of words the user has missed to help improve the user’s subsequent performance.
  - Justification: It helps game-ify the process of learning, gives the user a chance to look at how to improve their performance, and also gives a sense of accomplishment for being able to see the progress made after a game session finished.
  - Highlights: The usage of time as a metric of performance (time taken, fastest clear) required understanding on the code for the timer, which led to in-depth discussion with a group mate (Koh Yida).
- added Statistics for each word bank
  - What it does: It shows the user a page on the summary of the statistics of a word bank (can be seen in open mode). It contains the user’s progress (progress chart, achievement badges, high score, fastest clear) and a list of 5 words which the user gets wrong most often.
  - Justification: It gives the user a way to see their progress on a specific word bank, and shows user which words the user is weak at.
- added Global Statistics of overall usage
  - What it does: It shows the user a page on the main page of their overall usage of the app. It contains the user’s total games played, weekly games count, and most played word bank.
  - Justification: By showing the global statistics right on the home page, it makes the app feel more personalized. Additionally, showing the total games played and weekly games count may increase user’s app usage, as each game is recorded and it feels like the user is making their own footprint on the app.
Code contributed: Link to codebase
Other contributions:
- Refactored the models of AB3 (Person, AddressBook, and their closely-connected classes) to correctly fit the app (Card, WordBank, etc) in the very early stage of the project, which leads to increased productivity from the other members, as it was one of the biggest bottleneck of the project’s progress.
- Sourced for and integrated the avatars for Dukemon that provide a more fun and flavorful learning experience [credit to Geovanny Gavilanes].
- Created the logo for the app.

Contributions to the User Guide

Given below are sections I contributed to the User Guide. They showcase my ability to write documentation targeting end-users.

WordBank Statistics Commands

(Available in Open mode)

Resetting the WordBank statistics: `reset`

Resets the statistics of the open WordBank to an empty statistics.

Format: reset

Statistics

This section covers the Statistics shown to the user.

Game Result

The game result is shown to the user every time a Game finishes. It contains information regarding the finished Game session and Statistics for the selected WordBank.

We use a simple formula to calculate the score: floor of (Number of correct answers) / (Total questions) * 100.

Figure 1. Game Result UI.

WordBank Statistics

The WordBank statistics is shown in the Open mode and contains all information regarding the selected WordBank.

Figure 2. WordBank Statistics UI.

The high score and fastest clear timing of a WordBank will not be reset upon adding/deleting cards.

Global Statistics

The global statistics is shown on the main title page and contains all information regarding the user’s overall usage of the app.

Figure 3. Global Statistics UI.

Contributions to the Developer Guide

Given below are sections I contributed to the Developer Guide. They showcase my ability to write technical documentation and the technical depth of my contributions to the project.

Statistics component

The Statistics component includes 2 main subcomponents:

A GlobalStatistics, containing the user’s total number of games played and the number of games played in the current week.
A WordBankStatisticsList, which is a collection of WordBankStatistics, one for each WordBank.

The class diagram of the Statistics component is shown below:

Figure 4. Statistics class diagram.

Statistics Feature

Implementation

The work of the Statistics component can be neatly captured and explained using a common series of user actions when operating the app.

User action Statistics work UI Statistics updates

User action	Statistics work	UI Statistics updates
User opens the app.	User’s `GlobalStatistics` and `WordBankStatisticsList` are loaded into `Model` by the `MainApp`.	User is shown their `GlobalStatistics` and their most played word bank from the `WordBankStatisticsList` in the main title page.
User selects a word bank.	The selected `WordBankStatistics` from the `WordBankStatisticsList` is loaded into `Model`.
User opens the selected word bank.		In open mode, User is shown the `WordBankStatistics` of the opened word bank.
User plays the game.	A `GameStatisticsBuilder` is used to record user actions during the game.
User finishes the game.	A `GameStatistics` is created from the `GameStatisticsBuilder`. The `WordBankStatistics` and `GlobalStatistics` are updated accordingly and saved to disk.	`GameStatistics` and the corresponding `WordBankStatistics` are displayed to user in the game result page.

User opens the app.

User’s GlobalStatistics and WordBankStatisticsList are loaded into Model by the MainApp.

User is shown their GlobalStatistics and their most played word bank from the WordBankStatisticsList in the main title page.

User selects a word bank.

The selected WordBankStatistics from the WordBankStatisticsList is loaded into Model.

User opens the selected word bank.

In open mode, User is shown the WordBankStatistics of the opened word bank.

User plays the game.

A GameStatisticsBuilder is used to record user actions during the game.

User finishes the game.

A GameStatistics is created from the GameStatisticsBuilder.
The WordBankStatistics and GlobalStatistics are updated accordingly and saved to disk.

GameStatistics and the corresponding WordBankStatistics are displayed to user in the game result page.

We will discuss each step with its implementation details primarily on the statistics work.

1. User opens the app

When the user opens the app, their GlobalStatistics and WordBankStatisticsList are loaded into Model by MainApp.

Figure 5. Sequence diagram for loading statistics

2. User selects a word bank

When the user selects a word bank, the selected WordBankStatistics from the WordBankStatisticsList is loaded into Model.

Figure 6. Sequence diagram for selecting a word bank statistics.

It is necessary to set the active WordBankStatistics in the Model such that when the user opens the WordBank, the WordBankStatistics can be found in Model and shown in the UI.

3. User opens the selected word bank

In open mode, the user is shown the WordBankStatistics of the opened word bank, which is set in Model at step 2.

4. User plays the game

A GameStatisticsBuilder is used to record user actions during the game.

When the user starts the game by calling a StartCommand, the GameStatisticsBuilder is initialized. Additionally, the GameStatisticsBuilder is updated with every GuessCommand or SkipCommand made during the game. It receives the timestamp from the GameTimer which also resides in AppManager.

Figure 7. Sequence diagram when user makes a guess.

5. User finishes the game

When the user finishes the game, a GameStatistics is created from the GameStatisticsBuilder. The GameStatistics is shown to the user in the game result page.

The GameStatistics is used to update its corresponding WordBankStatistics, which is then saved to disk. Additionally, the GlobalStatistics is also updated and saved to disk.

Figure 8. Sequence diagram when the user makes the final guess.

The work done in step 4 and 5 is executed in AppManager and the checks to decide what to do are done in the same method updateGameStatisticsBuilder(CommandResult).

Figure 9. Activity diagram when AppManager receives a CommandResult (Details unrelated to statistics are omitted).

Design Considerations

There were some design considerations on implementing the statistics.

Alternative 1

Alternative 2

Aspect 1:
How to store WordBankStatistics in the storage?

Store in a separate file from the WordBank json file, but with the same name in a different directory.

Example: WordBank data is stored at data/wordbanks/pokemon.json while the WordBankStatistics data is stored at data/wbstats/pokemon.json

Pros:
More abstraction to separate the data.

Cons:
The data is linked by name, so if the user changes the file name, the link is broken.

Store WordBankStatistics data in the same file as WordBank

Pros:
Less number of files.

Cons:
Data is combined into one which lowers abstraction.

Why we decided to choose Alternative 1:
We decided that abstraction between the data is important as each team member should work in parallel, such that it is easier for one person to modify the storage system for the word bank and another person to modify the storage system for the word bank statistics freely.