Back when I was a PhD student at McGill, our lab had a rule of thumb when it came to robot tests: if the robot can't repeat the test at least ten times then it can't do it. You can see this in Dave McMordie's thesis, in Ned Moore's thesis, in Neil Neville's thesis and […]
When developing a stand-alone Java program all by yourself, it's typically preferable to do so from an IDE. However, a lot of projects rely on automated compiling and testing and this is really best done from the command line. While you may be used to using jUnit from inside an IDE like IntelliJ, it can […]
Building on the second post on jUnit 6, here is a parametric unit test set up with an external CSV file: This file, test values.csv, has comments and a header line that is to be ignored. It can be included in an IntelliJ project. We assume that a Calculator class is available that contains an […]
I started examining jUnit 6 in an earlier post. It turns out that in jUnit6, the common separated values data can use delimiters other than commas. Very cool. Before getting into the import of CSV files for testing, let's look at two features that are useful for setting up a bank of tests. We'll assume […]
Here at YorkU the bells ring for AI. We're all in on AI in all kinds of systems and services. We've declared that each student will have their own AI "private tutor". While we keep being told there is no money for building maintenance or new teaching initiatives, there seems to be an unlimited supply […]
This past year has seen the release of an update to jUnit, arguably the most important testing framework in software engineering and computer science. Now in its sixth release, jUnit makes a significant jump to eliminating support in anything before Java 17. When I got started with Java in 2020 most of the teaching material […]
This is the parts list for the EECS 1011 & 1021 lab kits. It supercedes the 2025/26 version. For students or clubs using the older kit you can use this list to update your kit. Description SEEED SKU New in 2026 SEEED link alternative source Grove Beginner Kit for Arduino (1 unit) 110061162 no https://www.seeedstudio.com/Grove-Beginner-Kit-for-Arduino-p-4549.html […]
I'm updating the lab kit for the intro to programming courses, EECS 1011 and EECS 1021. The goal is to find a variety of 5v-compatible, low-current micro servo motors that can be used in student lab kits. These micro servos are sold by multiple vendors, both online and in brick-and-mortar shops, like traditional hobby stores […]
This past semester I realized that I was struggling to get grades out to students in a timely fashion. Every semester I start the grading spreadsheet from scratch and add to it as we progress from one assessment to the next. I populate a Google Spreadsheet with the official student list (the class list post) […]
Recently, York University's Information Technology (UIT) department blocked access to our Learning Management System with a message about AI called "AI Features in eClass". You could not get to eClass without clicking on the "I acknowledge" button. I didn't click the button because I actually read the message and I don't accept it. And, because […]