Description
CS3423 – Systems Programming
For this assignment, you will use Python 3 to create a simple templating engine. Your program
should take as input a generic template with placeholders for generic data, a set of input files
containing data which should be applied to the template, and a date. Instantiated templates using
the input data will be output to a subdirectory.
This assignment requires only Python. Do not use the command line utilities used in the previous
assignment. You are encouraged to explore the Python standard library (the shutil module may be
particularly useful).
Data Format
Data will be stored in the same format as the data in Assignment 1. For each course with an
enrollment greater than 50, your program will use the provided template to generate an advisory
report specifically for them.
1. Data files (i.e., of the same format as those generated in Assignment 1) will be stored inside
a directory specified by the user.
2. Each file within that directory will be named based on the department code (two or three
uppercase alphabetic characters), a course number (exactly four digits), and ending with an
extension of .crs.
3. A course file consists of exactly five lines:
• dept_code (two or three character string) dept_name (string with possible whitespace)
• course_name (string with possible whitespace)
• course_sched (string: either TH or MWF) course_start (start with no whitespace)
course_end (string with no whitespace)
• credit_hours (integer)
• num_students (integer representing number of enrolled students)
4. Example file named MAT1311.crs
MAT Mathematics
Calculus I
TH 8/26/19 12/11/19
3
62
Assignment 5: More Scripting – Python Edition Page 1 of 4
Templating
Templates will include variable names to be filled in with data using double square brackets. For any
data file of the format described above, each of the variables (including the square brackets) should
be substituted with the data’s actual value. Your program should work for arbitrary templates
using the same variables listed below corresponding to the item values described. More than one
variable may appear per line.
• [[dept_code]]
• [[dept_name]]
• [[course_name]]
• [[course_start]]
• [[course_end]]
• [[credit_hours]]
• [[num_students]]
• [[course_num]] (the course number as specified in the filename of the .crs file)
• [[date]] (see below)
Example Template:*
1 < html >
2 < body >
3 <h1 > NOTICE OF OVERENROLLMENT – COURSE [[ dept_code ]] [[ course_num ]]←-
– [[ date ]] </ h1 >
4 <p >
5 Dear Instructor ,
6 </p >
7 <p >
8 Your course , [[ course_name ]] , scheduled from [[ course_start ]] to←-
[[ course_end ]] , has exceeded normal capacity with an ←-
enrollment of [[ num_students ]] students . This must be ←-
corrected within thirty days or this issue will be referred ←-
to the [[ dept_name ]] department for further review .
9 </p >
10 <p >
11 – Administration
12 </p >
13 </ body >
14 </ html >
* This is only a single example of a single template! You must assume that multiple different
templates, with various combinations of variables, will be ran against your program. Experiment
with exercising your program using your own custom scripts, as none will be provided to you. This
is to emphasize the notion that no single template should be used as a test instrument; your script
will be tested against several unknown-to-you templates.
Assignment 5: More Scripting – Python Edition Page 2 of 4
Date Argument
The third command-line argument should be a date manually entered by the user of the format
MM/DD/YYYY. This value should be substituted anywhere where [[date]] appears.
Output
All output files should be written to the directory defined by the last argument. This directory may
or may not already exist. Each file should be named by the course’s department code and number,
and with the extension .warn.
Script Execution
Your program should be invoked through a single bash file (see below) with four arguments:
data directory, template file, date, and output directory. Assuming the program executes correctly,
no output should be printed to the screen.
$ assign5.py ./data assign5.template 12/16/2021 ./output
Assignment Data
Sample input files can be found in:
/usr/local/courses/ssilvestro/cs3423/Fall19/assign5/data.
Script Files
Your program should consist of exactly one file:
• assign5.py – the main file which is initially invoked
Extra Credit (5 points)
Allow your program to take optional fifth and sixth arguments describing the character(s) surrounding the variables instead of double square brackets. This feature should work for the following
characters as either the opening or closing symbol, “/”, “|”, “}”, and “{”. Note that these can be
in any combination (e.g., starting with “{” and ending with “|”) If no fifth and sixth arguments are
passed, the program should behave as normal. You may assume that if a fifth argument is passed,
a sixth will be present, too.
Example:
$ assign5.py ./data assign5.template 12/16/2021 ./output ’{’ ’|’
The above invocation should replace variables in the template such as {date| instead of [[date]].
Assignment 5: More Scripting – Python Edition Page 3 of 4
Extra credit is not given to late assignments. All requirements must be met to qualify for extra credit.
Submission
Turn your assignment in via Blackboard. Your zip file, named abc123.zip should contain only your
Python file.
If you attempt the extra credit, name your file abc123_EC.zip. Without the _EC, your submission
will be graded as normal.
Assignment 5: More Scripting – Python Edition Page 4 of 4