General assignment requirements.

Programming Assignments: Individual assignments are to be completed by you alone. You may not share code with other students or other programmers. Review the class policy on improper collaboration from the class syllabus and how this applies to individual assignments.

About half the assignments may be done in pairs using a technique called pair programming (Read the paper on pair programming to understand how the technique works.). Turn in one solution  for the pair. (Submit the assignment to one partners turnin account.) Once you start working with a partner on an assignment you may not switch partners. If you do not wish to work with a partner after starting on an assignment you must both complete it individually. You must inform your TA(s) via email if you start working on an assignment with another person and decide to finish as individuals. You may not re-pair after starting the assignment with someone else. When working on pair programming assignments you are expected to spend at least 80% of your time on the assignment working with your partner, together at one computer, taking terms typing, and navigating.

Programs will be written in Java, using the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 6.0. See the software page for information on downloading and installing Java at home.

There are 11 programming assignments.

Assignments are due by 11pm on the due date.

You will have 6 free late (slip) days in 1 day units (1 second  to 24 hours = 1 day) for the semester.

• You may divide your slip days across the assignments in any way you wish to extend deadlines for the assignments except you may not use more than 4 slip days on a single assignment for assignments 1 - 8. No slip days may be used on the last assignment, number 9.
• On pair programming assignments (See above for more information), both members of a pair use their own slip days, and both must have the required number of slip days.
• You may not use slip days to turn an assignment back in for a re-grade.
• Weekends and vacation days do not stop the slip day clock. For example if an assignment is due on Thursday and you turn it in on Monday you have used 4 slip days (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.)
• To help the TA track your slip-day status you will complete the slip day portion of the appropriate comment in your source code file you turn in.

Unless prohibited, you may use any component of the language or standard library (The Java API).

Assignments must compile and run with Eclipse in the Painter Microlab.

Assignments will either be submitted as a single Java file or  in the form of a single JAR (Java Archive) file. Each assignment will specify exactly what to turn in. Assignments that are not in the correct format or not named correctly will be penalized as described below.

Assignments must be turned in via the Microlab turnin program. If you are registered for more than one computer science class you must ensure that your turn your assignment in to the correct, CS307 directory. You must turn in a file with the correct name and in the proper format. (the source code if I ask for the .java file or the source code files packaged as a jar file. The format will be specified on the assignment page.)

If you do not follow the instructions and specifications for assignments (name, where to turn in, jar file format) you cause extra work for the graders and myself. As a student and potential software developer you must follow instructions and specifications. When you are penalized for failure to follow instructions it causes you to become a special case. With over 150 students the TAs and undergrad proctors use scripts to streamline some aspects of grading. Not following the assignment instructions and specifications causes these scripts to fail and the graders must spend more time on your submission. The following penalties are in place because there must be consequences for failure to follow instructions. Otherwise there is no deterrent. Please read this account of a student who has seen the issue from both sides.

Penalties for failure to follow instructions and specifications on assignments:

• If a file is turned into the wrong account you must contact the instructor with the details. This will cost you 2 slip days. If you do not have 2 slip days the assignment grade is a 0.
• If a file is turned in with the wrong file name you must inform your TA. This will cost you 1 slip day. If you do not have 1 slip day the assignment grade is 0.
• If turning in a jar file you must turn in the source code. (The .java files, not the .class files.) If you only turn in the .class files your assignment grade will be 0. Classes must be in the default package (no package statement) unless otherwise specified.
• An assignment that does not compile or does not run, loses all correctness points.

Assignments grades are not scaled to effort or time spent working on them. (You may spend a large amount of time working on an assignment and still lose many points because your program is not correct.) The programs are not graded on a strictly linear scale. Points will be deducted for failed test cases, poor style, poor efficiency, lack of necessary comments, convoluted algorithms, lack of student provided test cases, lack of answers to questions regarding the assignment, and other reasons deemed appropriate by the instructor.

Each assignment will specify whether it must be done individually or as a pair.

Assignments will be checked for plagiarism and copying using Moss. You may discuss high level design issues with your fellow students, but sharing algorithms or code or obtaining solutions from another source constitutes academic dishonesty and will result in an F for the course. Review the class policy on cheating.

The teaching staff will grade, comment, return, and post the grade for an assignment within 5 days. A grade can only be disputed within the following week. (This isn't a weekend bazaar. If there is an error in your grade you have one week to contact your grader. We won't go back at the end of the term to look at an assignment from early in the term.) You are responsible for contacting your TA or proctor if you assignment is not graded in a timely and accurate fashion.

All grade disputes must be made in writing by email to the TA with supporting evidence or arguments, and will result in the entire assignment being re-graded. Remember, no whining.

Testing:

• Testing your solutions is an important part of programming.
• I will provide some tests with each assignment, some of which may be in error.
• You will create additional test cases for it. Programs will be graded using additional test cases created by the teaching staff.
• I encourage you to use the Piazzza discussion group to address which tests of mine are incorrect and to share tests you write.
• There is a useful tool for posting code to retain formatting and syntax highlighting. It is called pastebin and the URL is http://pastebin.com/. Feel free to post your tests to that web page and provide the link via Piazzza. There is pastebin for CS307: http://cs307.pastebin.com/

Assignments will be checked for correctness with more tests generated by the instructional  staff. Your assignment may pass all the provided tests and still be incorrect. Grading test cases will not be made available. If you would like to see the test specific test cases your code failed on you must meet with your TA during their office hours to see the test cases.

Design and style:

• Use assertions or if statements that throw exceptions to check for preconditions and post conditions on all public methods.
• Make instance variables within classes private.
• Do not use static data as a form of global variables.
• Break up long methods (over 25 lines of code) into smaller methods.
• Use consistent tabbing to make you code easier to understand and follow.
• Use a consistent brace style to make your code easier to understand and follow.
• Include white space to make your code easier to understand and follow
• Comment your code as necessary. (Complicated algorithms or sections of code should be commented. Comments should summarize what is going on, not restate the obvious.)

Documentation:

• Use /* ... */ or // style comments for implementation details. Explain your implementation so someone not familiar with your solution can understand it.
• Follow Sun's Coding Conventions.
• Use good variable names.

Efficiency: Worry about this last, but your program should run as fast as possible and use as little memory as possible within the constraints of the assignment.