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Grading

Tentative.

• Homework: 30%
• Project: 20%
• Mid-Term: 20%
• Final: 30%

Lectures

Apologies for stating the obvious but they bear repeating:

• Inform the instructor in advance, if you have to leave a class early. It is rude to walk out once the class has started; the class starts when the instructor enters the room.
• While light laptop/PDA usage is permitted, you are fully expected to pay attention to the lecture. Additionally, it should not become a distraction to your fellow classmates.

Late grading, questions and requests

• Clarification questions about assignments should go on Piazza or to the TA first.
• Regrading requests for any assignments should done in writing, via e-mail to the instructor and the TA, at the latest 1 week after graded assignments are distributed in class. We reserve the right to re-grade the entire assignment though.
• The assignment due date is the one posted on the web. All assignments (including Project deadlines) are due at the beginning of the lecture, on the due date.
• Slip days: To accommodate for coinciding deadlines you may have from other courses, or personal unforeseen events such as sickness, each person has an automatic extension of 4 calendar days---no questions asked. You can use the extension on any assignment(s) remaining during the semester (except for the final project deliverable, which will have a firm deadline). For instance, you can hand in one assignment 4 days late, or each of three assignments 1 day late.
  • Late days are rounded up to the nearest integer. For example, a submission that is 4 hours late will count as one day late.
  • When you hand in a late assignment, you must identify at the top of the assignment, (i) how late this assignment is, and (ii) how much of the total slip time you have left.
  • After you have used up your slip time, any assignment handed in late will be marked off 25% per day. That is, after 4 days, the grade will be zero.
  • Extreme circumstances, like medical emergencies, etc.: In such cases, additional, no-penalty extensions will be granted. Contact the instructor, with written documentation, like doctor's note.

Honor Code

The VT honor code is in effect for every aspect of this class. No one may give you the answers to assignments. You may discuss concepts with colleagues but you may not discuss specific details nor do any joint work resulting in code or solutions. In other words, students are encouraged to communicate about general principles of the course, but all assigned work must be done on an individual basis. The sole exception is the project, in which only students in the same group can work together on specific solutions. Assistance may be obtained from the instructor or GTA. You may not exchange any code or solutions, either in pieces or in entirety, by any electronic means or hard copy.

Of course, copying answers or code from anyone is considered cheating. If you suspect, or allow someone to obtain answers or code from you and that person is caught cheating, you may be held as an accomplice. Thus, if you suspect someone cheating, you should discuss this with the instructor; anything you say will be held confidential. Students suspected of cheating will be sent directly to the higher authorities in the university; in turn, if they determine that the student was cheating, the student will receive a failing grade.