91.304 - Foundations of Computer Science - Spring 2009
Dr. Robert Lechner, Professor Emeritus/Adjunct
Computer Science Department OS209
University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA

 

RJLRef: $PH/09s304/student_requirements.htm (last update 20090119)

Grading Policy

Your grade in this course will be based on written assignments,  exams and class participation. Grades measure accomplishment, not effort or enthusiasm.  Some of you will have to work very hard for your grades, while others won’t. 

·       Exams - Two hour exams and one final exam, each worth 20%.

·       Homework - 30% of grade.

·       In-class Participation - 10% of grade.

Exams

·       All exams will be open-book and notes, but electronic access is not permitted.  Take-home problems may be assigned as part of an exam.

·       No early exams will be given. Makeup exams after a scheduled date require documented emergencies.  It is the student's responsibility to obtain appropriate documentation.

Homework Assignments

·        Weekly problem sets - Ten of more, normally handed out on Tuesday, and due the next Tuesday. Solutions will typically be placed online and reviewed on the Thursday after the due date. Homework submitted after that time will not be graded but will be kept for reference.

·        Cooperation - is permitted.  Each problem solution must be written up individually (not copied) and all collaborators must be acknowledged.

Class Participation

·        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.

·        Course format will be lectures, peppered with questions as they arise.  The lectures will include working through sample problems.  Most lecture presentations will be based on Chapter Notes that are posted online, but certain elements will only appear in class. Last-minute  announcements and reminders will be emailed to you.

Some Practical advice

·        Many students find this course challenging and demanding. It covers a lot of material, and should not be taken during a busy semester. I will be happy to help you evaluate your preparedness for this course. The best way to communicate with me is by e-mail.  I will use email often. You need to verify my email alias for you, and/or forward my emails to where you can read them

·        Do NOT skip assignments. Exams will require knowledge of techniques that require experience in solving assignments. This can only be absorbed by doing creative work on your own before solutions are published.

·       Keep in mind the following two goals when writing up your homework assignments 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, compared to the mistakes you save.

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

·        Sipser (Tips for producing a proof, p. 19 of text) gives this advice  to maximize your productivity while doing assignments in this or any other course:

o       Have patience,  take a break then return, to escape from prolonged mental blocks.;

o       Be careful and neat to avoid subtle mistakes;

o       Be precise and concise, but do not skimp on or gloss over details: you are communicating with the reader.

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 (see Course Homepage link).

The basic presumption is that the work you do is your own.  Often, when working on difficult problems (but never on exams!), it may be helpful to collaborate with others,  ask someone for help, or search for on-line resources. You are encouraged 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, by identifying names or URI's.

Any other assistance by another person constitutes a violation of the honor code and will be treated as such. This applies to the providers of help as well.  You will automatically receive a zero grade for your work on an Honor-Code violation. If you have any questions about what this policy means, please discuss the matter with the instructor.

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