assignment

Assignment: Preparing for Midterm

Introduction

For your midterm project, you will create a story map application. The midterm is due by March 30 (we will get some time to work in-class on March 27th) . The assignment for Week 7 will have you gather data and think about functions you might use in preparation for the midterm. You are also welcome to get started on writing the midterm if you are so inclined.

Task 1: Prepare Geographic Data

Think about what data you want to tell a story about. You can choose a dataset from any of the following sources:

• Use data you've been working with for another class
• Find data from an open data repository (see third party data repository for a few potential sources)
• Create your own dataset (check out geojson.io)

Data Requirements

• At least fifteen data points
• At least one property that can be used to filter the data and color the data
• Points, lines, and polygons are all fine
• Data should be real stuff (don't create a dataset with fictional locations)

Task 2: Think About Slide Data

Your story will have multiple slides, each with a title, some additional text, and geographic data. It might also need to contain information about how you will filter or style the data for that particular slide. This kind of structure is another type of data.

How will you represent this data that is about the slides? In slideModel.js, write a brief example that shows what the data for one slide might look like. Think about how it will be stored and read in Javascript (arrays, objects, etc.).

Task 3: Write Function Signatures

This midterm project might be the largest Javascript application you have written so far. An exciting milestone for sure. Since it is a larger application, it can be helpful to step back and think about the project before starting to write any code.

In midtermFunctions.js, write short descriptions of the functions that will make up your application. You don't need to write any of the code inside the functions (yet) — just think about what the functions will do, what parameters you will pass to them, and what they will return.

Example 1: Let's say we want to take a first and last name and return a single string containing both first and last name.

// take two strings and return them concatenated together
var combineNames = ???

Example 2: Let's take NO arguments and return an array of values.

// This function should return an array
var produceArray = ???

Example 3: Let's take a number and an array and return nothing. Let's go a bit further and write out some of the parts of the function we already know.

// This function takes a number (n) and an array and logs the array n times
var nValuesLogged = function(n: number, values: array) {};

Try this as an exercise in imagining the higher level structure of your code. We're not writing javascript so much as outlining how our javascript will be written. Try to describe your functions in terms of the types of things you expect to put in and the types of things you expect to get out.

1. number
2. string
3. array
4. object

Give any arguments passed into functions useful names. If no arguments are passed in, explain what the function does in comment form. Take a look at the example project this week for an idea about how you might write your comments.

Task 4: Mock up design in Figma

Now that we've had a chance to see how designers work and how they think about the work they do, we should try to apply some of that knowledge. In preparation for the midterm, mock out the design of your midterm's slides (only one figma screen should be necessary - remember, the point is to have a rough sketch).