Course Information

Computers

       aphid        bumblebee    cardinal    chameleon  cicada       
       cobra        cricket      frog        gator      giraffe
       grizzly      hippo        hornet      jaguar     ladybug      
       lion         macaw        monkey      newt       peacock     
       perch        python       rattlesnake rhino      scorpion    
       swan         termite      tick        turtle     viper      

To access these PCs, you can either directly login from their consoles in the Zoo, or just remotely login from other machines across the campus.

If you plan to take the course for credit, you should get an account on these machines in the first week. Please visit the following web site to create a cs421 class directory (or to just sign up for a zoo account):

       http://zoo.cs.yale.edu/accounts.html

Do not allow anyone else to use your accounts for any purpose. They are for your use alone, and you are responsible for any misuse. Your passwords control access to your accounts and should be kept secret.

Grading

• programming assignments: 70%
• problem sets and exams: 30%

Exams are scheduled in advance; unless prior arrangements are made, a grade of zero will be recorded for missed exams.

Attendance

Lecture notes will be made available. Watch for an announcement of their availability.

Assignments

For each programming assignment, you must turn in two things: the code, and a writeup describing what you did and why, and how you tested your program. The writeup is an important part of your work and will contribute significantly to your assignment grade.

Most assignment will have style points. This style grade evaluates both the layout of your code and your use of the SML programming language. The layout part of the grade focuses mainly on your ability to make the program easily readable. As a concrete goal, we recommend that your lines rarely exceed 100 characters in width, and that spaces are used for alignment (if you want to align things). Tabulations can be used with parsimony for indentation purposes only (see this article for a discussion on the subject). Concerning your use of SML, we will make sure that you understand and use higher-order functions, pattern-matching, and more generally, functional programming.

Late-Assignments Policy

Each student is given 100 discretionary late hours for programming assignments, but any one assignment may only be up to 72 hours late (this is because we will post the sample solution after then). These are calendar hours, not business hours. As the homework assignments are submitted electronically, the "write date" on the student's homework file will be considered the completion date for late assignments.

After you use up all of your discretionary late hours, assignments turned in late will be graded according to the following formula: S = R * (1 - t / c), where S is the grade given, R is the grade the work would have gotten if turned in on time, t is the amount of time by which the work was late, and c is equal to four days. Thus, the value of a late assignment decays daily, with a half-life of just over two days. Examples: work turned in five minutes late gets 99.9% credit, one hour late gets 99.0% credit, six hours late gets 93.8% credit, one day late gets 75.0% credit, two days late gets 50.0%, and three days late gets 25.0%. Assignments submitted more than 72 hours late will not be accepted.

There will be no extensions due to scheduling conflicts, computer downtime, or other such factors, except under truly extraordinary circumstances. Extensions will be granted only for university-sanctioned excuses such as illness, and then only with the proper documentation. You are responsible for planning ahead and managing your time so that you can complete the assignments on time. You must either finish on time or accept the consequences of doing otherwise.

Collaboration Policy

Do not, under any circumstances, copy another person's program. Writing code for use by another or using another's code in any form violates the University's academic regulations and will be dealt with harshly.

How to Submit Programming Assignments

To submit your solutions to the programming assignments electronically, first change to the directory where your solutions are, and then use the following command.

     /c/cs421/bin/submit number files

     /c/cs421/bin/submit 3 README sources.cm tiger.lex

The submit command copies your files to the directory /c/cs421/SUBMIT/number/login and lists all the files that you have submitted for assignment number. Here, login is your user account name.

There is also unsubmit, which allows you to retract one or more files. For example,

     /c/cs421/bin/unsubmit 3 tiger.lex

You can also check what files you have submitted by using the check command. For example,

     /c/cs421/bin/check 3

Usually, you can omit the /c/cs421/bin/ prefix if /c/cs421/bin/ is already added to your PATH variable.

Keeping In Touch