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B&S - odd requirement

 
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Hi, all.

I'm doing my final, highly paranoid check of all conditions in the instruction sheet for Bodgett&Scarper. One requirement strikes me as odd. I have my network and standalone clients, both with persistent properties, etc etc, but hidden away in the document is this:

Network Approaches
Your choice of RMI or serialized objects will not affect your grade, but no other approach is acceptable. In either case, the program must allow the user to specify the location of the database, and it must also accept an indication that a local database is to be used, in which case, the networking must be bypassed entirely. No authentication is required for database access.


Okay, now obviously my app allows the specification of the database location (and server port / socket in the case of networked mode). But the other requirement, effectively a checkbox saying 'local DB' strikes me as odd - surely the selection of network / local DB is governed by the parameter passed to the application jarfile on startup, and not by a configuration setting?

Is this a WTF, or is it something I should actually implement?

Your opinions would be greatly appreciated; I really don't feel like suffering an automatic failure for what seems to be something which is open to interpretation?

Jeremy
 
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I'm a day or two away from submitting; I wish I could say that I've
passed the test and knew what I was talking about.

One good interpretation of the word "indication" is the "alone" in
"java -jar runme.jar alone". I had to look up the meaning of WTF...it fits
the B&S specification in a number of places.
 
Jeremy Botha
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I'd have to agree with you there. The B&S spec has a lot of redundancy in it. Quite irritating when you're attempting to build a concordance of all the conditions that you have to check.

It seriously doesn't make sense that, having implemented 'separate' network and standalone apps, you need to be able to bastardise their functionality. I'm also of the opinion that the flag passed on startup should be all that is needed.

Oh well. If I fail automagically I will protest, I guess.

J
 
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