PRINCIPLES OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES: HIGHLIGHTS OF COURSE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Gary T. Leavens Department of Computer Science, Iowa State University $Date: 1999/10/02 15:38:57 $ This document gives the highlights of the course policies. See the complete course policies in the file ``/home/course/cs342/public/docs/policies-complete.txt'' for the details. 1. YOU MUST BE REGISTERED TO ATTEND To attend this class, you must be registered for it. 2. STAFF Name Office E-mail address Phone --------------------------------------------------------------------- Gary Leavens 229 Atanasoff leavens@cs.iastate.edu 294-1580 Abhay Bhorkar B03 Atanasoff abhayb@cs.iastate.edu 294-4377 Srikanth Krishnamohan B03 Atanasoff srikk@cs.iastate.edu 294-4377 You can send e-mail to the entire staff at once by sending your mail to the address ``cs342s@cs.iastate.edu'' (without the quotes). 2.1 OFFICE HOURS See the file ``/home/course/cs342/public/docs/office-hours.txt'' for the current office hours of the staff. 3. INSTRUCTION 3.4 REQUIRED TEXT There is one required text: ``Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, Second Edition'' by Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman with Julie Sussman (MIT Press and McGraw-Hill, 1996). 3.5 RECOMMENDED TEXT There is a recommended text for learning Scheme: ``The Little Schemer (Fourth Edition)'' by Daniel P. Friedman and Matthias Felleisen (MIT Press, 1996). You can read the ``Revised^5 Report on The Algorithmic Language Scheme,'' on-line through the course web page, or you can buy a copy at Copyworks (105 Welch Ave.). This is a Scheme reference, and also a good example of how to write a programming language manual. Students in the past have found this helpful. 3.6 RESERVE BOOKS The course text, a reference book for Scheme, and other books related to the course are on reserve at the library. 3.7 COMPUTER ACCOUNTS You must have an account on the Com S department machines (including shazam, stimpy, and popeye), which will be used for this course. If you do not already have such an account, go to the ``Unix Account Activation Terminal'' in 116 Atanasoff Hall. Then follow the directions on that terminal to get your account. If you have problems with this, contact the System Support Group (ssg@cs.iastate.edu) at 294-0179 or go to their office in 108 Atanasoff Hall. 4. GRADING 4.1 Late Policy for Homework Late homework must be handed in to a staff member, email will *not* be accepted. If you can't find your TA to turn in late homework, turn it in to me or the Com S department office in 226 Atanasoff Hall. If you give it to someone in the office, be sure to have them note the time on it. Homeworks due in lecture are due at the beginning of the ``lecture'' meetings. We do give partial credit for homework, so you will have to balance the gain from waiting to get a good version of a problem and the loss from handing that problem in late. But it need not be ``perfect''. Homework problems that are late receive points based on the following table. when handed in percentage penalty ---------------------------------------------------------- if answer(s) are given in class 25% (or more due to time) by 5pm of the next weekday 5% at the next lecture meeting 10% by 1 week after due date 25% by 2 week after due date 50% by 3 weeks after due date 75% later or during last week of classes 100% If you are consistently late with homework, we may stop accepting your late homework. 4.2 No Curve Grading Your grade is independent of anyone else's grade in this class; that is, we do not grade on a curve. Everyone can get an ``A'' in this class. 4.3 Standards for homeworks and tests Although we will not always make fine distinctions in points the nominal minimum standards are given by the following table. minimum percentage grade notes ------------------------------------------ 90% A max of late hw by next class meeting 85% A- 80% B+ 75% B max of late hw by next week (or ans. in class) 70% B- 65% C+ 60% C 55% C- minimum acceptable grade for Com S majors 50% D+ max of late hw by 2 weeks 45% D 40% D- less F 4.6 Final Grades Your final grade will be a weighted average of your fractional grades, with tests counting for 70% of your grade and homework 30%. Note this policy well. The idea is that you should: DO THE HOMEWORKS TO LEARN THE MATERIAL. I reserve the right to adjust your calculated grade downward (towards ``F'') if you do not turn in the homeworks, but get good grades on the tests. 5. CHEATING The simple rule of thumb is: NEVER GIVE OR USE SOMEONE ELSE'S CODE OR WRITTEN ANSWERS. Such exchanges are definitely cheating and not cooperation. We will take action if we catch you cheating on a test or exchanging code or written answers. Read the section on ``academic dishonesty'' in the Iowa State University Bulletin General Catalog. 6. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION The official and complete course policies are in the file ``/home/course/cs342/public/docs/policies-complete.txt'', which you should read.