Lab 4 Reflection - Part 4 (Final)

Before you continue please read posts "Lab 4 Reflection - Part 1", "Lab 4 Reflection - Part 2", and "Lab 4 Reflection - Part 3". These posts will give you much needed context on this entry and since this is the last in the series it will be even more important that you read them. Without further a due this is the final entry in my lab 4 reflection series and will give you my thoughts on the three week journey working on this lab.

To begin this conclusion I will start when myself and others were given this assignment. We were told it was based around text input and you are to complete two of the four tasks given to you. After a brief discussion with a few of my peers I decided to complete tasks named "Option 1" and "Option 4". Option 1 required you to create a program where the user can add two numbers they typed together. And option 4 required to make a program where the user can control what colour is shown on the bit mapped display through a text list they controlled. Of the two tasks I selected I felt that option 4 would be handled first as it felt the most approachable. While option 1 definitely felt like a bigger challenge and would require more time to think about.

The process of working on option 4 took about four days to complete as I was able to separate its tasks in manageable chunks. It first began with me trying to get keyboard input working. Then trying to get the keyboard to control the colour shown on the screen. And finally it concluded with me trying to get text colour list to work and making sure it lined up with what colour was selected. Of all the tasks that took the most work it was the text colour list that takes that honor, as it was the first time I worked with character output on the 6502.

Finally there is option 1 which took a couple weeks to think of. This was due to me feeling overwhelmed and not knowing where to begin. At first I tried to use existing sample code as a base for my work but it felt like I had no control over it so I scrapped it. I also tried to go for the two digit input scheme. But after struggling how to get a single digit number working for two weeks, I ultimately decided to scope down and only get single digit input to work just so that I have something to show. In the end I'm glad I made that decision as I was able to have a clear idea on what to do as well as gain encouragement to do the best I can.

Overall working on this lab and more so than the previous ones taught me the lesson of sticking with the problem as in the end it will workout.

Thank you for reading this 4 part series on lab 4 and as always see you on the other side :)

My code for lab 4

Option 1: https://gist.github.com/Megawats777/11f462dee4a9330403d791444fda966e

Option 2: https://gist.github.com/Megawats777/30f5b436042aff848263d483ebaf051d