CoursePolicies
From CS 152
Contents |
General Course Requirements
The course requirements include weekly problem sets, reading, a midterm and a course project. Problem sets are due Wednesday.
Grades
The breakdown for final grades is as follows:
| Part | Percent |
|---|---|
| Class Participation | 10% |
| Problem Sets | 35% |
| Midterm | 15% |
| Course Project | 30% |
| Endterm | 10% |
Late Days, Penalties and Extensions
Over the course of the semester, you will have 5 late days to spend however you like. If for whatever reason you are not able to turn in your assignment by the due date, you may use a late day. This late day will extend the due date exactly 24 hours. You may do this for any problem set, but not for project milestones. You may allocate your late days in any way that you like -- you can even use all 5 on one assignment, if need be (there are a few assignments where you might not be able to use five full late days, but we will make this clear when the assignment comes out). Note that late days are not divisible: as soon as the assignment is 1 minute late, you must use a full late day. If you are working on a partnered assignment, then every late day you take will cost one late day per partner. These can be split amongst the partners in any way that they agree on. If you have questions or concerns about anything having to do with late days, please email the course stafff.
If you use up all of your late days, you will be charged 10% per day late from your assignment score (10% of the original assignment points, not 10% of your earned points on the assignment). We will often set a deadline for when the assignment needs to be turned in for any credit, which you will also need to follow (this is generally about 5 days past the original due date of the assignment).
Because of our generous late day policy, we rarely give out extensions. If one week you have unusual circumstances, please email the course staff. Extensions will be granted only for cases that were beyond your control and that you could not have predicted in advance.
Collaboration Policy
Collaboration is a difficult issue, because we want you to work together and feel comfortable talking about the problem sets. However, at the same time, we want to be able to grade your work, and not the work of your friends.
In the single person assignments, we will allow you to talk about the problem sets with other students. However, you are not allowed to talk in terms of pseudocode or real code. In the pair programming assignments, we encourage (expect) you and your partner to design and implement real code together.
We think that this is a simple and clear 3-line policy, and there should be no question about what things are crossing the line. If we detect cheating, we will not hesitate to bring it to the attention of the university. If you get stuck on something that you need to talk about real code for, the course staff will be happy to talk in terms of real code with you! If you have any questions, please contact the course staff and we would be happy to clarify.
Partner Policy
Throughout the course, there will be several partnered assignments. We expect you to work well in pairs, and complete your assignments together. We understand that this can be hard, but we also expect both partners to make an effort to do this. If there are cases in which one partner is trying hard to make the partnership work, and the other partner is not making an effort, we reserve the right to deduct from the partner causing problems. We rarely have to do this, but if you are unwilling to work with other people, we will not hesitate to deduct substantial points, depending on the severity of the problem. If you have specific concerns about working with other people, please discuss them with the course staff before the partnered assignments start.
Original Work
Generally speaking, you are encouraged to consult the vast array of resources on the web (in particular, Wikipedia, since it may give you ideas for earning Wikipoints) for learning purposes. However, copying code or copying text and turning that in as all or part of your homework solution is not allowed unless explicitly stated otherwise. If in doubt, ask the course staff in advance. In the event of any grey area or uncertainty, make sure you acknowledge any sources.
For the course project, you will be encouraged to make use of existing libraries, code, and so on -- with proper acknowledgment, and provided that your project has a significant independent contribution. Your project milestones will include information on your implementation strategy in which you document those resources. You should take advantage of office hours to discuss your plans with the course staff.
