CS 380 Course Policies
Prof. Richard Eisenberg
Spring 2017
| Assignments, projects | 55% |
| Class contributions | 5% |
| Quizzes | 10% |
| Exam 1 | 10% |
| Exam 2 | 10% |
| Final project | 10% |
| Total | 100% |
All assignments are graded both for correctness and for style.
Correctness indicates how well the assignment meets its specification – that is, does it work? In correctness grading, I care more about seeing your logic than about precisely what the program does when it runs. For example, a program might have everything correct except for a failed monadic pattern match early on. Such a program will simply crash when run, but it is essentially correct. I might take off just a bit of credit for the error, but you will earn the rest of the credit for having an otherwise-correct program. The moral of this policy is this: just because it doesn’t work doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Computers like to say “right” and “wrong”, but as a human, I can see the many points in between.
Style grading assesses how well you’ve conformed to the Style Guide, which dictates how you should write your code. Programming is an act of communication both between you and a computer and between you and another human. In some sense, correctness is about the former, while style is about the latter.
When we start adding more and more types to our work, it becomes much easier to be utterly stuck. It seems the stressful environment engendered by weekly assignment deadlines makes this problem worse, not better. The second half of the semester will thus use a portfolio model, where students accumulate a portfolio of type-correct functions. These portfolios will be graded on a completion (and style) basis, toward the end of the semester. (The exact date appears on the syllabus.)
There will be assignments with suggested deadlines. When you complete the assignment, upload it to your portfolio repo on GitHub, at https://github.com/bmc-cs380/<your College username>. As you do so, update the README.md file to reflect what assignment lives in what file, and any comments you wish to make about the work there. Some assignments have you figure out the right types to use. Typically, some time after these assignments have been distributed, I will release the correct types. At this point, you should return to your work to make sure that your types match mine. If you have the right type and a non-trivial implementation, the implementation is almost surely correct – which is why we don’t need to worry about correctness in this model.
Note that the deadlines are suggestions only. If you can’t finish an assignment by the deadline, do not fret. But do, perhaps, come to office hours.
If you want feedback on any aspect of your submitted work, just email. I will endeavor to respond quickly!
Your portfolio will count for 25% of your total grade (slightly less than half of the 55% total for assignments / projects, above).
This component of your grade is a reflection of how you have contributed to this class. It includes participation, attendance, and engagement. I expect every student to contribute to the class environment, both to improve your own experience and to improve the experience of others. For example, you can be an active partner when working in groups, you can post on GitHub (where we will host our question-and-answer forum) or on our mailing list, you can raise your hand in class, and you can visit my office hours – but there are other ways to contribute, as well.
A fantastic way to contribute is to find ways to improve this material. Submit a pull request against the cs380 repo!
We will have a brief quiz every Wednesday during our lab time. These will be completed online. Most quiz questions will ask you to determine the type of an expression (or, later in the course, the kind of a type), although other questions are possible, too. The quizzes will be open-note, but you will not be able to use any Haskell tooling (e.g., ghci).
This course has two exams, on March 1 and on April 24. Exams will be open-book and open-note, but you will not be able to use a computer.
More details will be discussed as the exams approach.
There will not be a final exam. Instead there will be a final project:
Toward the end of the semester, you will propose and start a final project, where you will apply your newfound knowledge of functional programming and static typing to some useful (or entertaining, or demonstrative) end. We will discuss details as the final project gets closer.
In order for us to learn from others’ travails, we will have final project presentations during the exam period. (This is in lieu of a scheduled final exam and will appear on the College schedule as a final exam. It is not a final exam!) These presentations are not high-octane – you will share what you’ve learned and show off some of your code. If you want a slide or two, that’s great, but the focus will be on the code, not on the polish.
You can choose to complete the final project with up to one partner. Both students will work together on the entire project and receive the same grade. (You will see below that there is a three-assignment limitation to partners. This does not apply to the final project.)
Assignments are due by the beginning of class on the due date written on the assignment. You will submit assignments via Gradescope according to these instructions.
Late assignments will lose 1 point (out of the 5-point scale) for every day late (or portion thereof). Each student gets 3 free late days for the semester. This means that the first three days (or portion thereof) that an assignment is late will not lead to a penalty. These late days are intended to account for unexpected bugs, minor illnesses, planned travel, etc. I will grant further extensions only in rare circumstances.
You are encouraged to work with others on assignments, but your submission must be your own:
All the code you submit must be written by you alone.
This means that, while it’s a great idea to discuss general algorithms or approaches with your classmates, never share code, and never submit code you found online. Violators of this policy will be asked to report themselves to the Honor Board.
There is one exception to this rule: you may work with up to one partner on your assignments, but you may use the same partner for no more than three assignments. If you wish to work with a partner, you can register your partnership on Gradescope as you submit your assignment. When you are working with a partner, both students get the same grade; naturally, the code you write is jointly yours, slightly overriding the boldface policies above.
If you have a question, post on GitHub.
Installing the Haskell toolchain (mostly, ghc and stack) can sometimes be challenging. The instructions here may be helpful. (Note: Do not do brew install ghc on a Mac. It is out of date.) This is why we have installed everything you need on powerpuff. While I can offer quick help in getting your personal machine working, it is not my or the department’s responsibility to get the tools working on your own machines, given that you can log into powerpuff remotely and work there.
This course will use GitHub to host its question-and-answer forum. If you have a question on an assignment, please post here. If you look around, you will also see that I host my own files used to run this course on GitHub. Feel free to look at any of the materials there; in particular, you might find my class notes (in the numbered folders) helpful. But be warned: these notes are written more for me than for you, so your mileage may vary.
To post a question on our forum, you will need a GitHub account. These are free. While I recommend associating your real name with your account, this is not necessary if you prefer to be anonymous.
Bryn Mawr College is committed to providing equal access to students with a documented disability. Students needing academic accommodations for a disability must first register with Access Services. Students can call 610-526-7516 to make an appointment with the Coordinator of Access Services, Deb Alder, or email her at dalder@brynmawr.edu to begin this confidential process. Once registered, students should schedule an appointment with me as early in the semester as possible to share the verification form and make appropriate arrangements. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive and require advance notice to implement. More information can be obtained at the Access Services website.
I use email heavily as a way of communicating with students and colleagues. Accordingly, I expect all my students to check email daily at their college email address. There may be important announcements / corrections / other messages there. Please read them!
As an avid emailer, I also am happy to receive email from all of you. During business hours, you can expect a response from me within a few hours of your email – often much sooner. After 5pm or so, I tend to take a break from technology for several hours, either until 9pm or even until the next morning. Do not expect me to respond to an email in the evening. Similarly, entire weekends go by without my checking my email (the nicer the weather, the less chance of a response!), and so it’s possible that something you send on a Friday evening won’t reach me until Monday morning.
In an emergency, you may call me at home at 484-344-5924 or on my cell at 201-575-6474. No texts, please.
Another small point about email: I have two Bryn Mawr email addresses: rae@cs.brynmawr.edu and raeisenber@brynmawr.edu. Both email addresses go to the same place, though, and both work. You do not need to worry about which one you send to.
My office hours for Spring 2017 are Tuesdays 2:30-3:30 and Wednesdays 1:15-2:30. This means that, at these hours, I am guaranteed to be in my office and expecting visitors – and I really do want visitors. During class, it’s hard to get to know all of you, and I’d love to know more about what brought you into my class, what else you’re interested in (in computer science and more broadly), and how your college experience is going generally. Come with a question, come to say hi, or come to play one of my puzzles. You can even use your curiosity about my puzzle collection as an excuse to get in the door.
If you have a conflict with my office hours, please email so we can find another time to meet.
Beyond my office hours, I aim to have an open-door policy. If you see my office door (Park 204) open, please interrupt me: that’s why the door is open!
For a broader discussion than just homework questions, I’d be happy to join you for lunch in the dining hall. Just email or ask!