Homework Policy
All work is due by the date and time specified in the respective assignment; there are no extensions. It is much better to submit partially complete homework on time and get partial credit for your work than to submit late homework for no credit. Homeworks submitted after the respective deadlines when they are due are considered late. Late homeworks will not be accepted unless there is a letter from one of the student deans explaining the circumstances.
Submissions should be made electronically via Courseworks. You can submit multiple times, but the last submission is what counts. Each submission will be time stamped. Proper submission is your responsibility; we strongly urge you to make sure you understand the submission process and submit early. You can always submit again up until the deadline, so we strongly urge you to submit well before the deadline and then submit again if you have a more updated assignment to submit later.
Grading Policy
If you disagree with any homework grade, submit your grievance via email to the w4118 staff mailing list, documenting the merits of your case. The grader responsible will respond likewise via email. If you are still dissatisfied you may appeal in like manner to the instructor, who will only examine the email record of the dispute, and will respond in email. If you disagree with any exam grade, submit your exam and grievance in writing (not email) to the grader responsible, documenting the merits of your case. The grader will respond likewise in writing. If you are still dissatisfied you may appeal in like manner to the instructor, who will only examine the written record of the dispute, and will respond in email. For a grade dispute to be considered, the written grievance must be submitted in writing within two weeks of when the respective assignment or exam is returned.
Programming Policy
For your convenience, all programming can be developed on any Linux machine. However, only those programs which compile using the gcc compiler in the VM you are given to work with will be graded. Furthermore, it is critically important that all submitted program listings and executions be thoroughly documented.
All programs must compile and all kernels you modify must also boot; programs and kernels that do not compile and boot will receive a grade of zero. Usually the homework assignments will only state the major objectives of the program to be written; it will be often up to you to make design decisions about things like I/O, efficiency, error handling, and so on. Make sure you provide adequate test cases to indicate the correctness and robustness of your approaches.
Grouping Policy
Group assignments will be based first on mutual student preferences and then random assignment to groups. Groups will be reassigned as needed throughout the course. Reassignments will be done such that students who do not substantially contribute to their group assignments will be regrouped together.
Group members may be fired by a majority of the group. A fired group member must either find a new group to work with or complete the remaining assignments of the class by himself. A three step process is involved for firing a group member. First, a majority of group members need to email the group member documenting the problems and indicating what needs to be done to fix the problems. Second, if the problems remain unresolved, a majority of the group members need to email the W4118 staff and the problematic group member, including the previous email correspondence with the problematic group member in question, and indicating what steps need to be done to continue working in the group. The problematic group member has 72 hours to comply. Third, if the group member remains out of compliance, a majority of the group members may fire the group member by emailing the group member and the W4118 staff the termination notice.
Collaboration/Copying Policy
We encourage you to help one another in understanding the concepts, algorithms, or approaches needed to do the homework assignments for this class. However, what you turn in must be your own work. Copying other people's code, solution sets, or from any other sources is strictly prohibited. Students in previous years have often been caught cheating by copying answers from the web, which turn out to be incorrect. The homework assignments must be the work of the students turning them in. Anyone found violating the class collaboration policy will be punished severely.
You must explicitly cite ALL sources of information that you reference as part of your homework submissions. For each citation, you should describe how that source was referenced. You do not need to cite conversations with instructional staff or the course textbooks, but you should cite everything else, including any conversations with other students related to the homework assignments, and any Web sites used. Referencing any uncited sources other than the course materials is considered cheating.
All students whose assignments are determined to be obviously very similar will receive a zero on the respective homework assignment for the first offense, and will receive an F for the course for the second offense ("all" means both the copy-er and copy-ee). More serious cases of cheating, such as copying someone's work without their knowledge or cheating on exams, will result in the person cheating receiving an F. In addition, offenses will be reported to the Dean's office, which may result in further disciplinary action, including suspension or expulsion from the program. Penalties will be given without discussion or warning; the first notice you receive may be a letter from the Dean. Note that you are responsible for not leaving copies of your assignments lying around and for protecting your files accordingly.
Open Door Policy
We would like the course to run smoothly and enjoyably. Feel free to let us know what you find just, good, and interesting about the course. Let us know sooner about the reverse. See us, leave us a note, or send us email.