The primary purpose of the CS labs is to provide a set of resources for all CS students to use for CS course work and projects. Lab resources are shared by all students, with the exception of some machines in the server room and labs that are used only by students taking a particular CS course.
Keep in mind that there are students at all different levels of CS working in the lab. Be helpful and respectful to less experienced students. We would like the CS labs to be a welcoming, non-intimidating environment for all CS students.
As a student working in the lab, it is your responsibility to monitor your own noise level to ensure that you are not interfering with other students who are trying to work in the lab. A certain amount of talking is necessary for students who are working together on projects. However, if you are talking, you should be aware of other students who are working around you and adjust your noise level appropriately. Other places where you can go to talk and do group work are the hallway alcoves, and the seminar room during the day.
There should be no music played in the CS labs. If you want to listen to music, please use headphones.
The default is that the lab lights are turned on. Any student may turn on the lights at any time.
Lab machines are for CS course work and projects. If you are using a machine for something other than CS work and the lab is full, you must relinquish your machine. If you enter the lab to work on CS work, and all the machines are in use, you may ask a student who is not using their computer for CS course work to relinquish the machine.
Doing non-class related activities in the CS lab during class time is a distraction to other students; any non-class related activity (like surfing the web, reading your email, etc.) should not be done during class.
Please be respectful of the fact that this is an open lab for CS work. You should not engage in activities that distract or offend others who are working in the lab. Such activities include playing games and viewing non-CS material.
The books, magazines, and journals in the lab and seminar room are for all students to use in the lab; they may not removed from the lab or seminar room. After using these resources, please put them back on the shelf.
White boards are available for all students to use. They are also used every weekday by professors teaching courses in the CS lab. You are welcome to use a white board to work out a problem, but once you are done, you should erase your work so other students can use the white board. In particular, you may not leave your work on a white board with a “saved” message and prevent other students from using it for extended periods of time, nor should you expect that other students or faculty will not erase your work if you do so. In addition, you should be careful about not leaving your private solutions to homework problems in a public place for other students to see.
When you are done using the lab, be sure to leave it in a condition that allows others to do work: log yourself out, leave the tabletop free of papers and trash, return reference books to the book shelf, etc.
If you observe behavior in the CS labs that violates the spirit of these rules, please notify one of the CS faculty so that we can address the problem.