CIS 122 Policies

Programming is about two things, making your code do what it is supposed to, and doing it in such a way that you can understand the code after the fact. Just like writing an essay, style is important. You wouldn't expect to get a good grade on an essay if you wrote it in broken english, even if it basically said all the right stuff. Similarly, even if your program works perfectly, you won't get a perfect grade if it is hard to read (poorly written stylistically). Practically speaking, probably a third of the grade for each assignment will be based on style, and two thirds on it doing what it is supposed to.

My goal is to grade homework and get it back to you the day after you turn it in. I probably won't always manage this, but it is my goal.

Double check your work before you turn it in. It hurts your grade a lot if you submit something with errors in it that keep it from running at all. And as you will learn during the term, even a single errant character in your program can wreak major havoc on it.

You may work with a partner for normal assignments, but both partners must do their own work and turn in their own version of the assignment. You can help each other out and work through things together, but you should each type up your own solution.

You should never turn in code that is identical to another students work.

You must do your final project on your own unless you get advance permission to work in a group. If you get stuck on something, feel free to ask your classmates (or me!) for help, but if you get a lot of help from someone, mention in in your submission along with exactly what they helped you with.

This class is four weeks from start to finish. That means that there just isn't a lot of time to allow for late work. If for any reason you think you can't turn something in on time, you must talk to me in advance of the due date. I really try to be as accommodating as possible. If you didn't talk to me in advance, it is still worth turning it in. In all honesty, if I haven't started grading the assignment yet I'll probably let it slide. Even if I've graded the assignment, turning it in late shows me that you care, and that always makes a difference when it comes to assigning final grades.

Please don't cheat.

I have to read everyone's code and that means I will catch you. It sucks for me to deal with and it sucks for you. You're in college now which means the consequences are real and they are big. The rules you have to follow are quite simple: just do you're own work, or when you work in a group acknowledge that fact. It is much better to say that you got help from someone (which is generally fine) than to not mention it and risk me thinking that you cheated.

Computer programming is an interesting discipline in that I strongly recommend working from example code. I can never remember how to do things myself, and I rely on google and on sample code on the web to figure it out. But you can't just copy code, understand what it does and write it yourself in your own way, don't just copy and paste.