Viewing Feedback on Labs

In this class, we will provide grades and feedback on your lab assignment via git and GitLab. Oftentimes, feedback from one week on the lab will help you improve for the next week, so it is important to go through your feedback!

To do this, a new “feedback” branch has been created in your repository with the filled in GradeSheet.txt file. This grade sheet will contain high-level comments from all graders as well as the letter grade you received on the lab. There will also be a TestResults.txt file that contains the results of the autotester we used to help assess the assignment.

We have issued a “Merge Request” on GitLab for this feedback branch, which allows you to see what has been changed or added when compared to your main branch. You have the option of merging the comments into your own main branch or keep the feedback branch as a separate branch.

To view the feedback, you can follow these steps:

  1. Open the Project in GitLab by logging in to https://evolene.cs.williams.edu and clicking on the ‘Projects’ button in the upper-left corner. Select the Lab project for which you’d like to view the feedback.

  2. Open the Project in GitLab and navigate to the Merge Requests option in the side bar: Step 2

  3. Select the “instructor feedback” request: Step 3

  4. Select the “Changes” option to view the diff between the two branches: Step 4

  5. You can choose to view either “Inline” or “Side-by-Side” (everything that has been added shows up with a +next to it in green): Step 5

  6. If you want to merge the feedback into your own code, go back to the “Overview” tab and select the green “Merge” button. Make sure you uncheck the “Delete source branch” option if you don’t want to delete your feedback-branch. Step 6

  7. You will only have access to your repositories on the server while you are enrolled in cs134. If you want to keep a copy of your feedback, please make sure to save it on your own machine by doing a git pull in the repository after you finish the Merge.

These steps may seem like a somewhat convoluted way to view your program’s feedback, but this choice was intentional. Git is a tool that is central to almost all modern software engineering workflows, and both “branches” and “Merge Requests” are standard practice for managing changes in git repositories. Becoming familiar with branching and merging is an important skill. And we are here to help answer any questions that you have!