CSE Courses
Course Policies
Grading Policies
Grade Components
| Homework | 35% |
| Midterm exam | 25% |
| Final exam | 40% |
Undergraduate students and graduate students will be treated as separate populations for purposes of assigning letter grades at the end of the course. Graduate students will form a single population, regardless of the amount of credit for which they are enrolled. No absolute scale for letter grades is set in advance, but typical breakpoints in the past have been approximately at 10-point intervals for graduate students (i.e., 90, 80, 70 for A, B, C, etc.) and 15-point intervals for undergrads (i.e., 85, 70, 55 for A, B, C, etc.). The final breakpoints used will depend on overall performance on the specific exams and homework for this term and on how the overall scores happen to clump.
Homework Submission
The preferred location for submitting homework is to deposit it in the approapriate box provided for this purpose in the basement of Siebel Center near the study area. Boxes are marked by the specific course and alphabetical range by the student's family name. Homework can also be turned in at class, to a TA, or to the instructor's assistant.
Homework should be submitted in hardcopy (paper) form. Materials handed in for computer problems should include source code listing, a text file and/or graphical output, and a written explanation or interpretation of results. Any graphical output should be machine generated if at all possible. If hand drawn graphs are used, they must be drawn carefully on graph paper and accompanied by separate tables of the values plotted. If asked by the TA, you must be able to email your source code to be checked. For more detailed information, see Guidelines for Submitting Homework
Any complaints about homework grades, including any claims of lost homework papers, must be made within one week after the graded homework papers for the assignment in question are returned to the students.
Late Homework
You will generally be given two weeks to complete each homework assignment, but it is a good idea not to wait until an assignment is almost due before beginning to work on it. For late homework, 20% will be deducted per day up to a three-day maximum, counting only week days (not weekends). Homework is considered on time if it is received by 5:00 pm on the assigned due date. Homework received after 5:00 pm on the due date is considered one day late if it is received by 5:00 pm on the day after the assigned due date, and two days late if received by 5:00 pm two days after the assigned due date, and so on. Homework more than two week days late will not be accepted. The time of receipt of homework is determined by when it is first seen by either a TA, the instructor, or the instructor's secretary. Homework left overnight or on a weekend is considered to be turned in the morning of the following week day.
Collaboration
Collaboration on homework is not permitted. The homework problems assigned are not of sufficient magnitude to warrant pooling efforts — they are not term projects suitable for teaming. General discussion among students of available software is encouraged, but detailed sharing of student-generated code or solutions is prohibited. Any significant help you may find on the Internet should be acknowledged. Finding a definition online is fine, for example, but handing in an entire problem solution you may find on the Internet would be plagiarism unless the source is properly cited. The homework problems are intended to help you learn the material in this course, not as a test of your web surfing ability.
Academic Integrity
Students in the class are expected to abide by the University's Student Code. Infractions will be governed by standard policies of the Department of Computer Science.
Programming Language
MATLAB or an equivalent such as Octave is strongly preferred for doing homework computer problems for the following reasons:
- Capability – MATLAB is very powerful for solving numerical problems and has many built-in routines for numerical computations and graphical output that would have to be supplied by external libraries if a conventional programming language were used.
- Convenience – It usually takes far less code and far less time to do homework in MATLAB than using other languages or software.
- Support – Links to MATLAB tutorials and other information can be found on the class web page.
- Availability – MATLAB is available on EWS and can also be purchased inexpensively for student use on personal computers.
- Grading – It makes life easier for the grader to have all homework done using the same language and software package.
- Feedback – Homework solutions will be provided in MATLAB.
Free, open source alternatives to MATLAB with similar capabilities include Octave and Scilab. Python is also a viable and acceptable alternative, but homework solutions will not necessarily be provided in Python.
Final Exam
The final exam must be taken at the officially prescribed time. No exceptions will be granted other than possibly for a documented conflict with a final exam in another course. Do not buy plane tickets for a flight home prior to the final exam, as this is not an acceptable reason for taking the final exam earlier than the appointed time, and such a request will not be honored.
Extra 1 Hour Credit
Graduate students enrolled for 4 hours credit will be required to do a project for the extra 1 hour credit. The project, chosen by the student with consent of the instructor, is generally a programming project related to the material in the course. The result of the project is either acceptable or not acceptable and makes no numerical contribution to the final grade, only to the hours of credit received.
