Course requirements

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Unless it is absolutely essential, I will NOT accept attachments. The ONLY exceptions are documents for which you have obtained from me special permission ahead of time (with proper justification). ALL other messages that include attachments are deleted without opening.

Homework Assignments

Homework assignments are primarily “paper-and-pencil” assignments. Most of the assignments will be carried out through the online gradiance system. Go to http://www.aw.com/gradiance to register with gradiance. The class token is EF40C8C1. Written assignments will also be given.

You must keep the following two goals in mind when writing up your homework assignments, quizzes, and exams: Give evidence that you have put real thought into the problem, and convince the reader that your solution is correct and that you know why.

As a programmer, you have some experience with this sort of writing: an effective program must be written for both a compiler and a human reader. Similarly, solutions to your problems must be correct in the sense of solving the stated problem, but they also have to be comprehensible to the grader.

As with any writing, the first draft of your solution is usually unpresentable. All of the pieces may be there, but they tend to be chaotically assembled. The single most important thing you can do to make your solutions presentable is to rewrite them after you have discovered why they are correct, and then to throw away (or at least tuck away) your initial draft. Remember, scratch paper is cheap.

Be careful to realize that this emphasis on presentation has nothing to do with whether English is your native language or whether you prefer to write your solutions with pencil, pen, quill, or word processor. A well-written solution starts by stating assumptions and then works towards a clearly defined goal, emphasizing the overall direction and omitting the superfluous.

Homework assignments will generally be due on Tuesdays at the beginning of class. Work handed in after 2:15pm will be considered late, and see below...

No late homework assignments will be accepted. However, since there are occasional emergencies, each student is allowed one extension to the coming Thursday in class. This amount of time cannot be divided among assignments; it applies to one assignment only.

Exams

There will be two quizzes and one final exam. No early quizzes or exam will be given. Quizzes or exam may be taken after a scheduled date ONLY for documented emergencies.  It is the student's responsibility to obtain appropriate documentation. No Incomplete grades will be given.

Grading Policy

Grades measure accomplishment, not effort or enthusiasm.  You may find that you will have to work very hard for your grades, while others won’t.

Your grade in this course will be made up of written assignments, quizzes, and the final exam. 

 The approximate weights of the four components are

Attendance

Class attendance is important. I will not take attendance, but you are responsible for all scheduling and other announcements made in class. The likelihood of failing the course increases substantially if you fail to attend classes regularly.

The format of this course will be lectures, peppered with questions as they arise.  The lectures will include working through sample problems.  Certain course material will only appear during lectures, and many announcements will only be made in class. 

Honor-Code Policy

Students should be aware of, and adhere to, the University’s rules on academic dishonesty. These rules appear in the Undergraduate Catalog.

The basic presumption is that the work you do is your own.

Occasionally, especially when working on difficult problems or writing programs (but never on quizzes or exams or projects!), it may be necessary to ask someone for help. You are permitted to do so, provided you meet the following three conditions.

1. You write the work yourself. That is, you don't simply copy or type in material that someone else wrote or simply change a few notations and words of someone else’s work. Writing has styles and it is an individual activity.
2. You understand the parts of the assignment you got help with. (This mostly follows from the first rule; if you don't understand it, the chances you can write it yourself are slim.)
3. You acknowledge the help on the work you hand in.

Any other assistance by another person constitutes a violation of the honor code and will be treated as such. This applies to the providers as well.

You will automatically receive a zero grade for your work on the first Honor-Code violation and receive a zero for the entire course on the second violation.

If you have any questions about what this policy means, please discuss the matter with the instructor.