FAT

I made it. It's the last day of school for the winter semester. I feel like I have given it my best, although I didn't accomplish everything I probably should have. I ended up finishing everything except for this FAT lab for my Operating Systems 345 class. We ran out of time. At quarter-to midnight, we were tired of FAT, so we wrote up the mandatory implementation description. It went like this:


My Brother and I's Implementation of
FAT File System
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1) IMPLEMENTATION
We worked hard to complete the early stages of the project, and completed methods for detecting valid/invalid DOS file names, traversing file directories (and displaying the correct prompt), and correctly displaying entries in the current directory while using a mask.
We were also able to start on the implementation of defining files, and successfully implemented a one-file define, in which the file will be defined with the correct date and time stamp, including the appropriate cluster and size. Unfortunately, this implementation has several limitations as compared to a full-blown FAT file system, as discussed in the LIMITATIONS section below.

2) TESTING
We used unit tests to test the file name verification method, as well as the insert and extract methods. These functions were tested thoroughly and appear to be very robust.
We also tested defining files with invalid names, and could successfully detect and throw the appropriate error for bad file names.
We were capable of listing directory items with and without a filter, as well as navigating a directory tree. We tested these functions with the test cases outlined on the project specifications.

3) LIMITATIONS
Regrettably, the time expired before we were able to form a complete implementation. We think this may have had a direct impact on our inability to define more than one file. Had more time been given, we would have been able to complete more of the sections. Currently, we give no promises for any functions other than a rudimentary define file task and the fully-implemented cd and dir commmands.



Cordially yours,
The Authors