Yup, I agree that by right, there should be nothing wrong. That will mean that should the accessor create only one instance of the Data class, and I eventually decide to limit clients to one lock at a time, then all his automated tests will fail. During that time, will he actually resort to failing me on the spot and not even bother to read my documentation? I hope not!
At first I thought that the so called "software test" is merely checking that your JAR file conforms to the specs (number of folders, naming convention etc). Even if they do perform a check on the Data class, what I initially thought was that it only checks if you illegally modify the DB interface, and if your Data class really implements that interface. The reason why I thought an automated
test is not possible is that everybody designs his application differently. What if the Data class relies on other classes to function correctly, and those classes
can only be instantiated under certain conditions (e.g. client connection through the GUI). If an automated test really takes place, I can see that many people will be failed on the spot, because the accessor doesn't even know exactly how it works.
According to the specs I received:
The marking is done in three phases. First, software checks that overall structure and nomenclature conform to specification. Second the examiner runs the code ensuring that it functions correctly through the specified operations. If any automatic failures are noted at this stage, the marking process terminates and the assignment is failed.
My interpretation is that the so-called "overall structure and nomenclature" refers to your JAR file organization, naming conventions, your DB interface and your Data class. When they mentioned that the examiner runs the code, it probably means that they will actually invoke the JAR file and not perform automated testing.
If an automated test really takes place, then I think it is a little unfair, as nothing about that is mentioned in my specs.
[ February 07, 2005: Message edited by: Stephen Loh ]