The App:

Erica’s app met all of the requirements listed in the assignment. I found that her app was fun and interactive. I liked how there were different features the user could utilize, such as, changing the screen color, changing the pen color and size, and having the ability to draw different shapes. I think the only thing that would make this app more user-friendly would be to include a key somewhere on the game or to have the instructions displayed for a longer amount of time. When I first ran the program I wasn’t expecting instructions at first, so I wasn’t able to read through them all before the game screen appeared. Having a key somewhere on the screen would aid users as they work on their drawing. Erica did include a pen size indicator at the bottom depending on the thickness of the pen. This feature was nice and helpful. It was also placed in a way that is easily to see by the user, yet not in the way of their drawing.

The Code:

Erica’s app ran without errors and her code includes all of the requirements of the assignment. When looking through her code I found that it was easy to follow because it was well-organized and well-commented. The separate modules in Erica’s app allowed for the app to function in the way it does. For example. The “scrnsetup.py” module set up the screen with the four screen color options available to the user. By having this in a separate module, Erica was able to call the functions used to create the screen in the main module in the order necessary for the drawing app. The functions Erica created also reflect the functionality of the app itself. She created separate functions for each feature of her app. I found this was helpful when I initially ran the drawing app and was unsure of the key controls available to the user. I couldn’t remember all of the keys for the drawing app so I looked in the code and was able to easily find the different options/features available in the drawing app.

The Process:

Erica’s initial milestones were very detailed, which I think was very helpful to her as she started creating her drawing app. There doesn’t seem to be a big variation between her initial milestones and her final milestones. Overall, her milestones were clearly stated and realistic. Looking through Erica’s milestones I see there were a couple of milestones she did not mark off as achieving. It seems she choose to leave them out because her plans changed as she worked on her program. One of these unchecked milestones mentioned displaying shape mode to the user. I think it would have been helpful to have a shape mode displayed somewhere on the screen similar to the way the pen size was displayed to the user.

Self-Reflection:

My app and Erica’s drawing app differed in that the user had more freedom to draw what they wanted in Erica’s app. In my app, the user had to choose from options given to them in terms of the drawing. When examining our processes I noticed that Erica had clear milestones from the beginning, whereas I found my milestones developed over the course of the program. I think that having clearer, more concrete milestones could be helpful and I will definitely try doing that in the future.