Yeah I know what you mean.

I was surprised at how well the UML I created for the program actually matched with what I ended up creating.

I was expecting to have to make massive changes, but only small tweaks were needed, which I think is normal.

As Fred Brooks wrote in his Mythical Man Month

Our coursework was released last week, and sure enough - it's an extension of this Chess game.

We have to create a GUI, and implement as many of the features asked for as possible. Stuff like 2 player mode over a network.

Either that or create a P2P instant chat program which sounds like a complete mission!

I've been looking at Swing etc today and I had forgotten how much I hate programming!

I just got my marks back for this chess project - I got 38%.

Well gutted about that - I really thought it was worth more than that. It's effectively ruined my chances of averaging a 2:1 over this year which is the worst part.

I've just lost all my enthusiasm and drive completely now.

Go and see your lecturer to see what happened.

He gave me some feedback:

"The program seems to have bugs, and there is only one mode completed. There is use of objects and methods, the individual pieces extend the piece class, but a lot more could be done"

Fair enough about only one mode being completed - you can only play against the computer, not another human over the network (which was only worth 5% anyway).

He said what he was looking for was a solid understanding of OOP and using classes/objects/methods etc comfortably. I really feel that I did that.

Oh well - he's the boss.

He failed 69% of the class.

At that kind of rate it sounds like an external moderator will look at the marking then

If it were myself I'd be looking at the tuition

Was he able to provide any actual constructive advice?

i.e. what you could have done better (and how) not just what you didn't do?

That too

No I asked him and he said all he was allowed to say was what he had written - he clarified it, but can't give more detail because apparently that is unfair to other students.

I have the opportunity to resubmit it and pull it up to 40% but it's really not a priority for me - doing better in the chat coursework is more important than a possible 2% improvement in this piece of work.

I have spoken to a friend who got 1 of a possible 5% for the networking marks available, and he said he included some networking code from the Java site, but it didn't work correctly. I'll do the same and settle for 39%.

It's a shame though because I actually don't feel as though I'm too bad at Java - I certainly don't feel as though I am a failing student!! Even SAD, which I really am not very good at I got 48% for what I know was a terrible piece of coursework!

Oh well.

I'd get all the students who failed, course rep and go speak to the course tutor and explain how you feel it is unfair because of overly harsh marking and no explanation past the written feedback.

Did anyone score highly in it? Have you compared their work to yours if possible?

I know I'm not the best programmer in the world but feel free to send it to me and I'll have a look through to see if I can spot anything (if you want).

ditto for that

Aye, +1