Is pset8 really very difficult

Question

Just finished the 22 min video of David Malan in the specs of pset8 and I feel like I just understood 10% or even less of what he said, Really scared now dont wanna quit on the last pset. What study material should I look into if I have problems in completing this pset or what functions do I need to really understand in the the distribution code , in order to complete this pset? Any help or hint or tip would really be appreciated

Answer 1

Congratulations on finishing Problem Set 7! :)

Problem Set 8 is a lot to learn all at once, but don't quit.

As with other Problem Sets, just break this one down into small steps and tackle each one at a time.

First, work on writing the import PHP script. It's easier than it looks.

It's a lot like those C programs you wrote a long time ago, the ones that indexed into the command-line argument vector argv. Except in PHP it will be called $argv!

It will also use the CS50 Library to connect to a database, which should be familiar now that you have completed Problem Set 7.

In pseudo-code:

#!/usr/bin/env php
<?php
    // TODO: import places from US.txt into mySQL db

    // display errors, warnings, and notices

    // CS50 Library

    // Validate arguments
    // open a filehandle to read data
    // US.txt is basically a CSV, but delimited by "\t" instead of ","
        // put it in the database
    // remember to close the filehandle
?>

Once you have the locations in your database, move on to the next task.

Follow the Problem Specification closely. Do things one step at a time!

Do not attempt to understand everything all at once, or your head may explode.

Good luck!