Course Policies

Grade Components:

MPs(5) 60%
Quizzes(3) 40%

MPs (Machine Problems) will be programming problems. The purpose of each exercise will be to use a particular feature of the Java language that was covered in class. The emphasis will be more on getting practice with the language feature than on problem solving.

MPs will be graded by handing in the source code using the handin program provided. MP0 will not be graded. each MP will account for 8-16% of the final grade. MP will be due by the midnight of the due day, NO late MP will be accepted.

Quizes will be written tests, typically a mixture of objective questions and some coding. Quizzes will be closed book and closed notes. If you need any specific information that is beyond reason for you to memorize, it will be provided on the quiz.

There will be 3 quizzes total. The quizzes will not be cumulative. Programming itself, unfortunately is cumulative. Therefore, a firm knowledge of material from earlier in the semester is usually necessary to answer questions about later material.

Your grades will be put up on the campus Gradebook, at regular intervals. Make sure you check regularly. If you have problems accessing your grades on the gradebook, contact your TA.

Missed Quiz Policy

Any missed quiz will be given a zero. Makeup quizzes will not be given except under special circumstances. If you do need to miss a quiz, you need to inform your TA by e-mail well in advance (at least 4 days). If you do so, and only if, you will be given a make up quiz.

Regrading Policy

All students requesting regrades will submit a WRITTEN (not emailed) request of at most 1 paragraph concisely stating the reasons for a regrade request. This request will be accompanied by your email address, alias and name, along with a hard copy of the MP or the original copy of the quiz. You MUST submit these requests within ONE week of the release of grades for that MP or Quiz.

Newsgroups vs. e-mail'ing your TA

The newsgroup wins hands down. As far as possible, use the news group to ask questions, clarify issues, and (heavens!) even answer someone else's questions. The reasons for this are

1) your question may be somebody else's question as well, and it does your TA's good to answer stuff only once.

2) there's no difference in the amount of work you have to do to post to the newsgroup as opposed to e-mail.
3) you are responsible for reading all the announcements that your TAs make on the newsgroup, so you'd better get into the habit of using the newsgroups anyway. Having said that, there are a few situations where you would want to e-mail your TAs directly. Anything personal, which you would rather not have the class know about, or which is completely irrelavent to the rest of the class is fit for e-mail. Also, if you want to TA to look over your code, then posting it on the newgroup is not a good idea, because you are giving away your attempt at a solution to an MP.
In fact, anyone who posts large amounts of code is in serious danger of being found in violation of the Code of Conduct and could be failed in the course.

Cheating Policy

We would like to remind you of the terms of rule 33 in the Code of Policies and Regulations Applying to All Students (campus "codebook"), specifically to sections I-A, I-C and I-D.

In general you are expected to work independently, but you may discuss the general requirements of the problem and/or general strategies to solve it with other students. Do not discuss specific solutions to a problem; do not share code. If your in doubt, ask your instructor.
Cheating includes, but is not limited to, the following practices:

turning in program code that was not completely written by yourself alone.
allowing other persons to use any of your code in their solution.
during quizzes, referring to unauthorized material unless the instructor has specifically allowed such use.

In general, common sense should be used to distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable practices. In the unhappy event that cheating is discovered, penalties will be imposed as appropriate, in accordance with the university code.
Collaboration: No collaboration on MPs is permitted. The problems that will be assigned are too modest in size to warrant pooling efforts -- they will not be term projects suitable for teaming.