Merge every table in the course into one symptom-to-tool map

applied · 90 min · Objective 5.2

Task

Collect the decision tables built across all five domains into one map from symptom to tool to what the result eliminates, and record every symptom the map cannot resolve -- which is the honest output of a course about diagnosis.

Steps

  1. Merge the tables from the lid, dock, tool-choice, USB tree, print, display and network labs into lab/map/symptoms.csv with header domain,symptom,first_tool,eliminates,cost,what_a_pass_misses.
  2. The map must contain at least twenty-five rows and cover all five domains.
  3. Sort by cost and record in lab/map/free.csv the subset whose first tool is free, with header symptom,free_tool.
  4. Write lab/map/unresolvable.md listing at least six symptoms this course's methods cannot resolve, and what each would require -- a part, an instrument, a vendor, or an escalation.
  5. Write lab/map/boundaries.csv with header tool,pass_means,pass_does_not_mean for at least eight tools used anywhere in this course.

Verify

awk -F, 'NR>1 && NF>=6 {n++} END {print n" mapped symptom(s)"}' lab/map/symptoms.csv
awk -F, 'NR>1 {print $1}' lab/map/symptoms.csv | sort -u | wc -l
awk -F, 'NR>1 && NF>=2 {n++} END {print n" free first-tool(s)"}' lab/map/free.csv
grep -c . lab/map/unresolvable.md
awk -F, 'NR>1 && NF>=3 {n++} END {print n" tool(s) with a stated boundary"}' lab/map/boundaries.csv
awk -F, 'NR>1 && $3!="" {n++} END {print n" tool(s) whose pass is qualified"}' lab/map/boundaries.csv

Twenty-five or more symptoms across five domains, a free subset, six or more unresolvable symptoms, and eight tools each with a qualified pass. A boundaries table where pass_does_not_mean is empty anywhere has recorded a tool as proving more than it does.

Notes

This is the artefact worth keeping from the whole course. It is a working technician's reference, it is specific to the equipment you actually have, and it records what you cannot do as precisely as what you can.

This is an independent study companion for CompTIA A+ Core 1 220-1201 and is not produced by or endorsed by CompTIA.