remote-control-competition instructions unclear

[berson-andrew]

I was mentoring this problem, and the only places where the expected behavior of the drive method was specified were in comments in a code block in the instructions or through reverse engineering the test case. The code block says:

ProductionRemoteControlCar prod = new ProductionRemoteControlCar();
TestTrack.race(prod);
ExperimentalRemoteControlCar exp = new ExperimentalRemoteControlCar();
TestTrack.race(exp);
prod.getDistanceTravelled();
// => 10
exp.getDistanceTravelled();
// => 20

Even then, it is only through indirect inference that the desired behavior can be understood.

I think it should be explicitly specified that ProductionRemoteControlCar.drive() should travel 10 units and ExperimentalRemoteControlCar.drive() should travel 20.

I would be happy to make these changes myself if this issue gets assigned to me.

[andrerfcsantos]

@berson-andrew Feel free to make the instructions more clear!

I agree this could use some more clarification.

[IAmLuisJ]

I was just looking at this exercise and thought the same, glad it's being worked on :)

One additional note - the HINTS.MD file could use some additional info as well. I like that it links to the Oracle documentation but I think there is an opportunity to add more context to implementing interfaces, and in general more hints for this exercise.

@berson-andrew would this fall in scope with your enhancements or should I open a separate issue?

[berson-andrew]

That is definitely an expansion of scope, but seems reasonable, I'll include better hints in my PR
I actually tutored someone yesterday who needed clarification on the difference between interfaces and classes.

[mrbeardy]

Just chiming in to agree with this also, as I am in the same position and feel like I can't complete the exercise without fudging together a solution.

I feel like the number of tests can definitely be expanded, as at the moment there's far too much work to be done between tests and it's not letting the tests guide the work which is a big part of learning TDD.

[leitzke-andre]

Hey there!
I can see that the changes are already implemented and this has been quiet for a while, which indicates there is no further need of changes.
I believe it can be closed, then?

[sanderploegsma]

Yes I think you are right, thanks!

[leitzke-andre]

Thank you! 😃