Homework 05

Due Date: Tuesday, Mar 4, by 11:00am central time

The Fountains of Flask

This homework is an extension of your previous homework - homework 04. The goal this week is to transform your simple Python3 script into a full Flask web application. Please first copy all of the homework04 files into a new folder called homework05.

PART 1

Your Flask application will be containerized and have the same (or similar) functionality as in homework 04, but in this homework each functionality should be accessible by a Flask route. The following routes are required:

Route

Method

What it should do

/epochs

GET

Return entire data set

/epochs?limit=int&offset=int

GET

Return modified list of Epochs given query parameters

/epochs/<epoch>

GET

Return state vectors for a specific Epoch from the data set

/epochs/<epoch>/speed

GET

Return instantaneous speed for a specific Epoch in the data set (math required!)

/now

GET

Return state vectors and instantaneous speed for the Epoch that is nearest in time

All of the normal Python3 script best practices apply:

  • Write appropriately formatted doc strings for your functions

  • Use type annotations where appropriate

  • Organize your code in the same way as the other scripts we have written

  • Write unit tests for all functions except the main() function - special consideration may be required to write unit tests for Flask routes

  • Implement selective logging and error handling where appropriate

Tip

For the speed function, you will need an equation to calculate speed from Cartesian velocity vectors: speed = sqrt(x_dot^2 + y_dot^2 + z_dot^2)

PART 2

Include a software diagram in your repository. This time, focus your diagram on the Flask API and how a user interacts with it. You may want to illustrate the container, the data source, the queries, and the responses, for example. Again, there is really no wrong answer here - we just want you to think about illustrating something about your software system in a way that is useful for describing it to others.

Note

After collecting Homework 05, we will share some model diagrams from the class (with permission). This will give you a chance to reflect on your own diagram and update it if necessary for inclusion in the Midterm.

PART 3

The homework must also include a README file. The README should be descriptive, use proper grammar, and contain enough instructions so anyone else could clone the repository and figure out how to run your app and interact with it. Guidelines to follow for the README are:

  • Descriptive title

  • High-level description of the folder contents / project objective. I.e. why does this exist and why is it important? (2-3 sentences)

  • Instructions on how to access and description of the data set from the original source (do not include the data itself in this repository!)

  • Instructions on how to build a container for your code

  • Instructions to deploy your containerized code as a Flask app (be careful to specify anythin the user needs to know about exposing the correct port)

  • Instructions including specific curl commands for accessing the routes in your app

  • Descriptions of what the output from each route shows / means

  • Try to use markdown styles to your advantage, give the sections headers, use code blocks where appropriate, etc.

Remember, the README is your chance to document for yourself and explain to others why the project is important, what the code is, and how to use it / interpret the outputs / etc. This is a software engineering and design class, so we are not just checking to see if your code works. We are also evaluating the design of the overall submission, including how well the project is described in the README.

What to Turn In

A sample Git repository may contain the following new files after completing homework05:

my-coe332-hws/
├── homework01
│   └── ...
├── homework02
│   └── ...
├── homework03
│   └── ...
├── homework04
│   ├── ...
├── homework05
│   ├── Dockerfile
│   ├── README.md
│   ├── diagram.png
│   ├── iss_tracker.py
│   └── test_iss_tracker.py
└── README.md

Note on Using AI

The use of AI to complete this assignment is not recommended, but it is permitted with the following restrictions:

The use of LLMs (like ChatGPT, Copilot, etc) or any other AI must be rigorously cited. Any code blocks or text that are generated by an AI model should be clearly marked as such with in-code comments describing what was generated, how it was generated, and why you chose to use AI in that instance. The homework README must also contain a section that summarizes where AI was used in the assignemnt.

Additional Resources