Homework policy
Students must work individually on all homework assignments. We encourage you to have high-level discussions with other students in the class about the assignments, however, we require that when you turn in an assignment, it is only your work. That is, copying any part of another student’s assignment is strictly prohibited, and repercussions for doing so will be severe (up to and including failing the class outright). You are free to reuse small snippets of example code found on the Internet (e.g. via StackOverflow) provided that it is attributed. If you are concerned that by reusing and attributing that copied code it may appear that you didn’t complete the assignment yourself, then please raise a discussion with the instructor.
Your work is late if it is not turned in by the deadline.
- 10% will be deducted for late assignments turned in within 24 hours after the due date.
- Assignments submitted more than 24 hours late will receive a zero.
If you’re worried about being busy around the time of a HW submission, please plan ahead and get started early. Homework that does not compile or run will receive at most 50% credit.
For fairness to all, there are no exceptions to the above rules.
In Class Activities:
Most lectures will feature interactive activities and/or polls that support the material being presented. You must be present in class to participate in the activity or take the poll (participating in an online activity while not attending the synchronous session will be considered academic dishonesty and will be treated harshly). Each instructor may have a different style for assigning participation grades, but historical grading information suggests that each style results in a similar overall grade distribution. Participation grades will be posted on Canvas, and regularly updated.
If you join class in person, you are strongly encouraged to bring your laptop or phone to class so that you can participate in the activities.
Policy on remote attendance
If you are registered for an on-the-ground section but do not feel comfortable or are unable to attend in person, please contact your instructor in advance of class. We would like to provide the best and most comfortable learning experience, and encourage you to stay at home if advised by a medical professional.
Grading
There will be an individual and a team project (in a group of 3-4). The overall grading breakdown is:
- 30% Individual project (10% for deliverable 1, 20% for deliverable 2)
- 40% Team project (including peer evaluation)
- 10% Participation in synchronous, in-class activities
- 20% Exam
Assignment of team project grades: In cases where team members do not equally contribute to the project, we may assign different grades to different individuals, up to an extreme of deducting 50% of the team project grade for a student. We will evaluate each individual’s contribution on the basis of a variety of factors, including progress reports at weekly meetings, through inspecting version control history, through each students’ self-reflection, and through each students’ peer evaluation {during and/or} at the end of the project. We will make regular efforts to collect and distribute this feedback throughout the project — our ultimate goal is for all students to participate and receive full marks.
Assignment of final grades: Although each instructor will use the same lesson plans and assignments, we expect that there may be variation in grades when compared between sections. Hence, each instructor will assign final grades to students in their sections, and reserve the right to apply different curves than are used by the other instructors. With each graded assignment, students will be provided with the distribution of all grades in their section.
Grading grievances: If you have concerns regarding the grading of your work, please let us know right away by opening a regrade request in Gradescope. All regrade requests must be submitted within 7 days from your receipt of the graded work. If your regrade request is closed and you feel that the response was not satisfactory, you may appeal to the instructor via email within 48 hours.
Debugging
One of the objectives of this class is to provide students with experiences writing new code for large, existing codebases. We anticipate that you may run into difficulties debugging the project code: it is often difficult to build debugging skills until you have a problem in front of you that requires them. The course staff is happy to help you with debugging, with the specific goal of helping you learn to successfully apply scientific debugging.
Andreas Zeller’s Debugging Book provides an excellent guide to scientific debugging. The short version is roughly: if you can’t debug an issue in the first few minutes “just by looking at it”, it will be hard to keep all of the relevant information in your head at once, and a formal process to help you generate and refine guesses for why something is wrong can be immensely useful.
The key idea is to create a debugging note file, where you track information like:
- What was the input/application state that caused the bug?
- What was the behavior that I expected?
- What was the behavior that I observed?
- What are possible hypotheses for that behavior?
- How have I tested those hypotheses, and what was the result?
The overall goal with hypothesis formulation is to come up with possible causes for why the bug exists. Then, as long as those hypotheses are testable, we can prove or disprove them. Most hypotheses will be along the lines of “did I make an incorrect assumption about how a library or API works.” The devil is in enumerating all of the possible incorrect assumptions that you might have made, and testing them. The best way to attack these kinds of problems is to start with testing some high-level, general assumptions, and then refine them.
If you come to us for debugging help, we will ask you to answer these 5 questions, as our goal is to help you get better at debugging and not to simply point out bugs that we might have seen before.
We are happy to discuss the problematic behavior that you are observing, possible hypotheses for why that behavior is occurring, and strategies to test those hypotheses.
In the past, students have found that using a variety of strategies to test their hypotheses (e.g. using a debugger, creating a minimized test case, measured application of console.log statements, internet research) are useful, and we would be happy to demonstrate these.
We may not be able to stay with you while you work on refining your hypotheses and fixing the bug, but would be happy to continue following up if you get stuck again.
Classroom Environment
To create and preserve a classroom atmosphere that optimizes teaching and learning, all participants share a responsibility in creating a civil and non-disruptive forum for the discussion of ideas. Students are expected to conduct themselves at all times in a manner that does not disrupt teaching or learning. Your comments to others should be constructive and free from harassing statements. You are encouraged to disagree with other students and the instructor, but such disagreements need to respectful and be based upon facts and documentation (rather than prejudices and personalities). The instructors reserve the right to interrupt conversations that deviate from these expectations. Repeated unprofessional or disrespectful conduct may result in a lower grade or more severe consequences. Part of the learning process in this course is respectful engagement of ideas with others.
Please don’t be late. You are an essential part of the class. Your participation is an essential part of the class. If you are late, please be courteous to others when entering.
BE PRESENT WHEN YOU ARE ATTENDING CLASS. Please do not distract yourself from the class by doing other activities such as phone calls, email, facebook, chat/IM/texting, games, web surfing – unless it has a direct bearing on the course. Then, by all means, surf away!
Attendance in the synchronous meetings is expected. Sometimes you cannot avoid missing a class. If you need to be away from class, it is your responsibility to catch up on the materials discussed in the class.
Accommodations for Disabilities
Students who have disabilities who wish to receive academic services and/or accommodations should visit the Disability Resource Center at 20 Dodge Hall or call (617) 373-2675. Please be sure to provide your instructor with DRC’s accommodations letter early in the semester in order to avoid logistical challenges. This course includes a significant group project, and providing extensions for group work can be complex. As-per the DRC’s policy, it is the student’s responsibility to coordinate with the instructor in order to provide suitable accommodations.
Title IX Notice
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects individuals from sex or gender-based discrimination, including discrimination based on gender-identity, in educational programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance.
Northeastern’s Title IX Policy prohibits Prohibited Offenses, which are defined as sexual harassment, sexual assault, relationship or domestic violence, and stalking. The Title IX Policy applies to the entire community, including students, faculty and staff of all gender identities.
Faculty members are considered “responsible employees” at Northeastern University, meaning they are required to report all allegations of sex or gender-based discrimination to the Title IX Coordinator.
If you or someone you know has been a survivor of a Prohibited Offense, confidential support and guidance can be found through University Health and Counseling Services staff and the Center for Spiritual Dialogue and Service clergy members. By law, those employees are not required to report allegations of sex or gender-based discrimination to the University.
Alleged violations can be reported non-confidentially to the Title IX Coordinator within The Office for Gender Equity and Compliance at: titleix@northeastern.edu and/or through NUPD (Emergency 617.373.3333; Non-Emergency 617.373.2121). Reporting Prohibited Offenses to NUPD does NOT commit the victim/affected party to future legal action.
In case of an emergency, please call 911.
Please visit www.northeastern.edu/ouec for a complete list of reporting options and resources both on- and off-campus.