CS 127: Data Structures, Fall 2004
Syllabus
Instructor Information
Grader
- Ben Sowell (email: sowellb)
Textbook
- Objects, Abstraction, Data Structures, and Design Using Java,
Elliot B. Koffman and Paul A.T. Wolfgang, John Wiley & Sons, 2005.
Important Dates
- Exam 1: Wednesday, October 13
- Exam 2: Wedneday, November 17
- Last project due: Monday, November 22, 5 pm
Class Website
Your Grade
- Assignments: 35%
- Exam 1: 25%
- Exam 2: 25%
- Final Project: 15%
Working from Home
- We will be programming in Java, using Sun's JDK version
1.5.0-beta 2. This will be set up for use in the Computer Science
labs. You should feel free to install Java on your home machine and
work from there if you wish. If you do so, you are responsible for
making sure that your programs work under the version of the
compiler that we have installed in the labs. I am glad to informally
provide whatever advice I can to help you get the software running
on your own machine, but home use is technically "unsupported."
Homework Policy
Each assignment will have a specific time for which it will be due, and
your electronic submissions are timestamped. An assignment turned in late
within one day of the due time will be docked 25%. An assignment turned
in later than one day of the due date but within two days will be docked
50%. An assignment turned in any time after this until the last day of
classes will be docked 75%. This policy is to protect the grader, but also
to encourage you to begin your work as early as possible.
Getting Help
- If you need help with a project, you can consult with other students,
talk to the prefector, ask a lab assistant, or come to me. I am happy to
answer your questions either in person or via email. If your question
relates to difficulties with your program, please bring a printout.
Working Together
- You may work with a partner for the programming assignments and
the final project if you like. If you do, you should engage in the
pair programming model, that is both of you should be sitting
at a single machine, side by side. One of you is "driving," at the
keyboard and mouse programming. The other is actively engaged
following along, stopping bugs, and providing ideas. You should make
sure that over the course of an assignment that you spend roughly the
same amount of time each "driving." I will also ask you to turn in a
form rating the work that your partner does.
- Before some programming assignments, I will ask you to submit a
design document illustrating how your program will be assembled. If
you will be doing this program with a partner, the two of you should
work together on the design document.
- I will also be assigning occasional "paper and pencil"
problems. You may collaborate with others in the class for ideas, but
all students should turn in individual assignments for these.
Collaboration, Cheating, and the Difference Between the Two
There are two different kinds of working together: collaboration and
plagiarism.
Collaboration
- Collaboration is good.
- You are encouraged to collaborate on ideas and program design
with any students in the class.
- Programming is often a social effort, and there is much you can
learn by talking out the ideas in this class with each other.
- If a piece of your program utilizes someone else's idea, i.e.,
someone other than the program author(s), you must give that
person credit in program comments.
Plagiarism
- Plagiarism is bad. DON'T DO IT!
- Any programs that you turn in should be the work of the
author(s) only.
- Even if the program author(s) share ideas with others, the
program itself must be written by the author(s).
The following are examples of plagiarism.
- Taking someone else's program or assignment, making changes
(such as changing variable names), and turning it in as if it were
your own.
- Finding a similar program or assignment on the Internet, making
changes, and turning it in as if it were your own.
- Finding a similar program or assignment in a book, making
changes, and turning it in as if it were your own.
I will be using software to detect plagiarism if it occurs, and I
am compelled by Carleton policy to notify the College if I find
evidence of plagiarism.