Grades in the course are weighted as follows.
| Percentage | Coursework |
|---|---|
| 40% | Lab assignments |
| 30% | Final exam |
| 25% | Tests |
| 5% | Class participation and Attendance |
Academic honesty is required in all your work. Under no circumstances may you hand in work done with or by someone else under your own name. Discussing ideas and approaches to problems with others on a general level is encouraged, but you should never share your solutions with anyone else nor allow others to share solutions with you. You may not examine solutions belonging to someone else, nor may you let anyone else look at or make a copy of your solutions. This includes, but is not limited to, obtaining solutions from students who previously took the course or solutions that can be found online. The use of generative AI (e.g., chatGPT or GitHub CoPilot) is also considered to be unauthorized collaboration with an outside source and is a violation of our academic integrity policy.
You may not share information about your solution in such a manner that a student could reconstruct your solution in a meaningful way (such as by dictation, providing a detailed outline, or discussing specific aspects of the solution). You may not share your solutions even after the due date of the assignment.
In your solutions, you are permitted to include material which was distributed in class, material which is found in the course textbook, and material developed by or with an assigned partner. In these cases, you should always include detailed comments indicating on which parts of the assignment you received help and what your sources were.
When working on tests, exams, or similar assessments, you are not permitted to communicate with anyone about the exam during the entire examination period (even if you have already submitted your work). You are not permitted to use any resources to complete the exam other than those explicitly permitted by course policy. (For instance, you may not look at the course website during the exam unless explicitly permitted by the instructor when the exam is distributed.)
Failure to abide by these rules constitutes academic dishonesty and will lead to a hearing of the College Judiciary Committee. According to the Faculty Handbook: Because plagiarism is considered to be so serious a transgression, it is the opinion of the faculty that for the first offense, failure in the course and, as appropriate, suspension for a semester or deprivation of the degree in that year is suitable; for a second offense, the penalty should normally be expulsion.
IMPORTANT: We routinely run plagiarism detection software on your lab assignment submissions.
This policy applies to all course work, including but not limited to code, written solutions (e.g. proofs, analyses, reports, etc.), exams, and so on. This is not meant to be an enumeration of all possible violations; students are responsible for seeking clarification if there is any doubt about the level of permissible communication.
The general ethos of this policy is that actions which shortcut the learning process are forbidden while actions which promote learning are encouraged. Studying lecture materials together, for example, provides an additional avenue for learning and is encouraged. Using a classmate's solution, however, is prohibited because it avoids the learning process entirely. If you have any questions about what is or is not permissible, please contact your instructor.
Tests will be given at the beginning of lab on the days posted in the schedule. Please arrive at class promptly to ensure that you don't lose time on the test. If you are unable to attend class for a test, contact your lab instructor as soon as possible to make accomodations.
There will be three tests throughout the semester. The first will be worth 5% of your grade; the other two will be worth 10% each. We want to ensure that the first test does not give an extra advantage to students who may already know C++. You're not expected to know any C++ at the beginning of CS35!
Students must strictly adhere to the following policy, which applies to all exams taken in a Computer Science course at Swarthmore.
Exam takers must place all non-essential items at the front of the room (or other designated area). Unless otherwise permitted, students may not have any electronic devices or course materials in their possession during the entirety of the exam. This includes cell phones, tablets, laptops, smart watches, course notes, articles and books, among others. These items should be placed at the front of the room near the proctor. If you need to leave the room during the exam, you must obtain permission from an instructor first. Any non-permitted discussion or aide in regards to exam material will result in immediate forfeiture of the exam and a report to the College Judiciary Committee. Please discuss any concerns or accommodations with your instructor prior to starting the exam.
Lab assignments are submitted electronically using git, and are typically due by 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday nights. You may submit your assignment multiple times, but only the final submission will be graded.
The first few labs will be individual assignments to ensure that everyone knows the basics of C++ and the course material. Later, we will transition to partnered lab assignments to allow you to work on larger projects and to gain important experience working in a team to build software.
Late Policy: Lab assignments will typically be assigned Thursday morning before lab and will be due Wednesday at 11:59PM. You are strongly encouraged to start early and to attend the ninja sessions for extra practice. You must submit your assignments electronically by pushing to your assigned git repository. You may push your assignment multiple times, and a history of previous submissions will be saved. You are encouraged to push your work regularly.
To help with cases of minor illnesses, athletic conflicts, or other short-term time limitations, all students start the course with two late assignment days to be used at your discretion, with no questions asked. You do not need to notify us in advance when you want to use late days. To use your extra time, please email Charlie and let him know you're using late day(s). When you use late time, you should still expect to work on the newly-released lab during the following lab section meeting. The professor and ninjas will always prioritize answering questions related to the current lab assignment.
Your late days will be counted at the granularity of full days and will be tracked on a per-student (NOT per-partnership) basis. That is, if you turn in an assignment five minutes after the deadline, it counts as using one day. For partnered labs, using a late day counts towards the late days for each partner. In the rare cases in which only one partner has unused late days, that partner's late days may be used, barring a consistent pattern of abuse.
If you feel that you need an extension on an assignment or that you are unable to attend class for two or more meetings due to a medical condition (e.g., extended illness, concussion, hospitalization) or other emergency, you must contact the dean's office and your instructors. Faculty will coordinate with the deans to determine and provide the appropriate accommodations. Note that for illnesses, the College's medical excuse policy, states that you must be seen and diagnosed by the Worth Health Center if you would like them to contact your class dean with corroborating medical information.
If you believe you need accommodations for a disability or a chronic medical condition, please visit the Student Disability Services website for details about the accommodations process. Since accommodations require early planning and are not retroactive, contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. You are also welcome to contact me privately to discuss your academic needs. However, all disability-related accommodations must be arranged, in advance, through Student Disability Services.