CS 162  Introduction to Computer Science II  (Home)
Course Policies and Expectations          Fall 2006

Preparation and Attendance
    Please be on time for lectures with reading assignments completed.
    Please be on time for recitation sections with the "recommended activities" completed.
    Some of the material covered in lectures is not covered in the textbook, and much of the material in the reading assignments will not be covered in lectures.  Most of the information required for completing projects and other assignments will be presented in lecture and/or recitation.  All of these sources are covered on exams.  Do not expect a private tutorial if you skip lectures and/or recitations. 

Participation
    You are expected to participate in class discussions and answer questions.
    You are encouraged to ask questions in class, as this can often benefit the entire group.

Accommodations
    Students with documented disabilities who may need accommodations, who have any emergency medical information the instructor should be aware of, or who need special arrangements in the event of evacuation, should make an appointment with the instructor as early as possible, and no later than the first week of the term.  Class materials will be made available in accessible format upon request.

Academic honesty
    Honesty is absolutely essential in order for learning to take place.  It will form the foundation of your professional integrity in your career.  In homework and programming assignments, it is often difficult for a grader to distinguish between legitimate help and plagiarism.  Therefore, you might be able to get a good score without really understanding what you have handed in.
    If you are having trouble with an assignment, you are encouraged to discuss it with other students, TAs, the instructor, or anyone else who will listen, but don’t just have someone else tell you how to solve the problem!  If other students ask you for help, don’t just let them copy your work!  It is possible to discuss problems without plagiarizing.  One of the best methods of debugging is to explain your solution to someone else.
    If you get help from, give help to, or "work together" with someone, you must (in the program header block) list that person as a collaborator and describe the help.  Programs that are very similar will be subjected to review unless both programs indicate that they were produced collaboratively.
    If you get help from printed or online sources, you must cite your references.
    The bottom line is:  Each student is expected to understand all aspects of the programs s/he submits for credit.

Evaluation criteria

Homework assignments are not graded, but are assigned as "recommended activities" to help you prepare for projects, quizzes, and exams.  These assignments will typically be the basis for discussions in recitation sections.

Class/recitation/lab work (5% of total) refers to in-class activities.  These are generally not announced, and may be in the form of collaborative problem-solving sessions, discussion participation, pop quizzes, etc.

Programming projects (25% of total)

• Must be submitted electronically by 11:59 PM on the due date.  One of the first three programs may be submitted up to 48 hours late with no loss of credit, but any subsequent late programs will not be graded.  The submission web site can be found at: https://secure.engr.oregonstate.edu:8000/.
• Must also be copied to your ENGR (or other OSU account) before the deadline. The reason is that many students submit the wrong files. This is not discovered by the TAs until after the deadline. At that point it is too late to get the correct files from the student UNLESS the student has them in his/her ENGR account. If you submit the wrong files and you have not copied your project to your ENGR account (before the project deadline), you will not be given an opportunity to resubmit, and you will get a zero for that assignment. We do NOT accept modification dates on personal computers as proof that the files were done on time.
• Must be implemented in Java.  Tutorial help will be scheduled in Kelley 1130, which provides the Eclipse environment for developing Java projects.  Many other (some free) Java development environments are available for your own computers.  When you submit a programming project, it's OK to submit only the source code files.  Just be sure to submit all of the code that is required to run your project.  If you wish, you may submit your project as a project file with the affiliated source code files.
• Each problem definition will have an associated set of grading criteria (including documentation standards).  Programs are graded on a 50-point scale, typically distributed as follows:
             4     Identification, program description, etc.
             6     Method documentation
             20   Verification (correctness, completeness and robustness)
             15* Fulfills system requirements
             5     Readability/style of code/output
  * Programming assignments include a set of system requirements.  These specify certain methods, structures, etc., that must be used in the solution (even if they might not represent the “best” way to solve the problem).  Remember that the purpose of these requirements is to reinforce the concepts.   
  

Quizzes (15% of total) may be given in class or in recitation.  These quizzes are all announced (no surprises), and will usually comprise short-answer type questions.  Four quizzes will be given, but the lowest of these scores will be dropped.  This is intended to cover all kinds of reasons and excuses for missing one quiz, so missed quizzes may not be made up.

Exams, midterms (35% of total) and final (20% of total) will be given as scheduled on the course calendar.  The exams will contain about 80% objective questions.  The remaining questions will involve writing methods or short code fragments.

• If you have a conflict for any of these exams, be sure to resolve it by the end of the second week of class
• A student who is absent from class due to illness or family emergency should notify instructors as soon as possible (by phone, e-mail or in person). Notifying instructors and discussing missed work is the responsibility of the student.
• In serious situations or when the student is unable to contact instructors, the student or family members may contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 541-737-8748 for assistance. The Office of Dean of Students will provide notification of the absence to the student’s instructors and the college head advisor. Students are reminded that providing false or misleading information to obtain an excused absence is a violation of student conduct regulations and may result in university student conduct action. See OAR 576-015-0020(6) at website http://oregonstate.edu/admin/stucon/regs.htm
• Students who miss a midterm or final exam without an excused absence will not be given a makeup exam.
  

Grading scale
    Your term total will be calculated using the weights described above, and converted to a letter grade using the following scale: