The grade will be calculated
based on a combination of homework, in-class exam (sometime in April), and (for
those taking 11-761) a final project. The exact composition of the grade
is as follows:
You may take this course
Pass/Fail if you wish. Keep in mind that
a Pass may or may not satisfy your degree requirements – check first with your
degree requirement document or your advisor.
A formal 'Audit' option is not
offered.
An informal audit (simply
sitting in class and even participating) – is welcome, as long as there are empty
seats in the classroom. There is no need
to ask special permission.
Assignments: Communication, Deadlines and
Lateness
· Each assignment has a designated TA-in-charge. Please
direct all private communication regarding the assignment to the TA in charge of that
assignment, not to the instructor, nor to the other TA(s). General
public questions about the assignment should be posted on Piazza.
· Extensions: If you have an
unavoidable conflict that prevents you from completing an assignment on time
(such as travel to a conference or a medical emergency), please send an email
to the TA in
charge of that assignment, as soon as you become aware
of the problem, briefly stating the circumstances and how much
more time you need. The TA-in-charge is authorized to grant an
extension as long as you requested it promptly. Do not send extension
requests to the Instructor, nor to the other TAs.
· Assignments turned late without prior approval will incur a 25% penalty per 24-hour period or any part thereof.
Course Policies (Read this
carefully!)
Previously
Used Assignments
Some of the homework
assignments used in this class may have been used in prior versions of this
class, or in classes at other institutions, or elsewhere. Avoiding the use of heavily tested
assignments will detract from the main purpose of these assignments, which is
to reinforce the material and stimulate thinking. Because some of these assignments may have
been used before, solutions to them may be, or may have been, available online,
or from other people or sources. It
is explicitly forbidden to use any such sources, or to consult people who have
solved these problems before. It is
explicitly forbidden to search for these problems or their solutions on the
internet. You must solve the
homework assignments completely on your own.
For programming assignments, this means you must
write your programs completely by yourself, and not use any code from any
source whatsoever. I will be actively monitoring your compliance, and any violation
will be dealt with harshly.
Collaboration with other students who are currently taking the class is
allowed, but only under the conditions stated below.
Collaboration
among Students
·
The purpose of student collaboration is to facilitate learning,
not to circumvent it. Studying the material in groups is strongly encouraged.
It is also allowed to seek help from other students in understanding the
material needed to solve a particular homework problem, provided no written
notes are shared, or are taken at that time, and provided learning is facilitated,
not circumvented. The actual solution must be
done by each student alone.
·
The purpose of programming assignments in this course is to make
sure you truly understand the relevant techniques. In my ~20 years of teaching, I have found no
better way to achieve this than by having each student struggle by him/herself
to implement these techniques “from scratch”.
For this reason, in the case of programming assignments all code must be written by each student alone. We will strictly enforce this policy, by carefully inspecting
your code using sophisticated detection techniques. You have been warned!
· The presence or absence of any form of help or
collaboration, whether given or received, must be explicitly stated and
disclosed in full by all involved. Specifically, each
assignment solution must include answering the following questions:
1.
Did you receive any help whatsoever from anyone in solving this
assignment? Yes / No.
§ If you answered 'yes', give
full details:
____________________________________
§ (e.g. "Jane Doe
explained to me what is asked in Question 3.4")
2. Did you give any help whatsoever to anyone in
solving this assignment? Yes / No.
· If you answered 'yes', give
full details: _____________________________________
· (e.g. "I pointed Joe
Smith to section 2.3 since he didn't know how to proceed with Question 2")
3. Did you find or come across code that
implements any part of this assignment ? Yes / No.
(See below policy on “found code”)
· If you answered 'yes', give
full details: _____________________________________
· (book
& page, URL & location within the page, etc.).
·
If you gave help after turning in your own assignment and/or after
answering the questions above, you must update your answers before the
assignment’s deadline, if necessary by emailing the TA in charge of the
assignment.
Collaboration without full disclosure will be handled severely, in
compliance with CMU's Policy on Cheating and Plagiarism.
Policy Regarding "Found Code":
You are encouraged to read books and other instructional
materials, both online and offline, to help you understand the concepts and
algorithms taught in class. These materials may contain example code or pseudo
code, which may help you better understand an algorithm or an implementation
detail. However, when you implement your own solution to an assignment, you
must put all materials aside, and write your code completely on your own,
starting "from scratch". Specifically, you may not use any code you found or came across.
If you find or come across code that implements any part of your assignment,
you must disclose this fact in your collaboration statement.
Duty to Protect One’s Work
Students are responsible for pro-actively protecting their work
from copying and misuse by other students. If a student's work is copied by
another student, the original author is also considered to be at fault and in
gross violation of the course policies. It does not matter whether the author
allowed the work to be copied or was merely negligent in preventing it from
being copied. When overlapping work is submitted by different students, both
students will be punished.
To protect future students, do not post your solutions publicly,
neither during the course nor afterwards.
Severe Punishment of
Violations of Course Policies
All violations (even first
one) of course policies will always
be reported to the university authorities, will carry severe penalties, usually failure in the course, and can even
lead to dismissal from the university. This is not an idle threat – it is my
standard practice. You have been warned!
Last
modified: Aug 27, 2017