Talk:SE250:lab-5:tlou006

Comments from John Hamer

• sample_size = 1000; — why did you choose this value? You need to justify your choice. It matters. Get it wrong, and all the data you collect will be worthless.

• "Not sure what these results mean yet" — I appreciate your honesty in reporting what you don't know. I also need you to articulate an awareness of the importance of the numbers, and a strategy for finding out what they mean.

• excellent observations. Clear evidence that you are thinking about things.

• "llps = 999 suggests that a lot of values is bunched up in one place" — good observation

• "many unexpected results" — say what they are, don't hide them away with some explanation marks deep in the output.

The sample size is not too large, but if it gets much bigger you'll run out of words for the typical entropy source. Generally, the bigger the better when it comes to sampling, at least up to the limits of time and resource.

Overall, a good effort, but a pity you didn't get further. Producing a ranked list of hash functions was the objective of the lab.